Billie's Folly

Best day yet!  The work has been steady since spring, and the weather has been extremely accommodating, so I can't complain about the progress so far.  But today I saw the first signs that I might someday actually have a house to call home! This is the cottage.  It will continue to be a step ahead of the house.  First there was a basement, then a floor, then the walls were built horizontally on top of the floor. And today was like a modern day version of a barn raising--making use of equipment and manpower.  There was lifting, leveling, bracing, attaching--over and over*--amazing and impressive.  They even blew away the sawdust beforehand, so there wouldn't be dirt in my walls. The real milestone will be when the same happens with the house.  But today was pretty great! * A footnote to say I learned a lesson today--too late--since I don't expect to ever plan and build another house.  As I've said, I naively began the plan...

I'm very pleased with the revised elevations showing the steel windows.  I mentioned that the window panes were enlarged--initially to reduce the amount of steel (and thus cost)--but it ends up I'm much happier with the less busy look.  I think during the planning stage I wanted more traditional sized panes.  But with the stone exterior and conservatory addition, fewer panes give a cleaner look.  Here's a comparison of the original versus the new. The difference is especially noticeable with the sets of doors and windows at the sunroom and the master above.  We re-sized the overall spaces to create more consistency and alignment.  I think it will really open up the view.  (The following views don't show the breezeway and garage.) And finally the West side.  The process of going to steel was an opportunity to make slight (3") changes, to make the windows more uniform in shape and size.  I tried not to alter the openin...