The Final Countdown (Months 12-14)

The last update to our house project was in February 2014.  Its now the beginning of May 2014 and while we are not yet in our house, Jon and his crew have made real strides, despite an incredibly harsh winter.  Here is a picture of Jan and Ben (who is turning 16 soon) at our house during one of the milder days in February.

Jon and his crew worked through a lot of mud and rain and snow in early 2014.  Below you see Jon's crew and Jon (on the ladder) braving the elements as they continued working on our house. 

Speaking of houses, you may be asking yourselves, where are Dave, Jan, Ben and Hannah living while the Hopewell Design construction crew builds away.  Well, we have been very fortunate to be able to live in the same neighborhood during the whole process in what we call "The Priest Cabin".  We call it that because (1) its a cabin (like so many of the original homes in the Cliffs) and (2) its owned by the Priest Family, who graciously offered it to us as a place to stay while 2716 Aspen road was being built.

Below are 2 pictures (1) of the Cabin and (2) a view out the cabin across a ravine looking out on the Bay during a snow storm.

During the February/March time period, the crew started to work on some of the "details" of the outside  of the house before turning their attention inside....below you see Jon working in the "kitchen" on something that eventually you'll see over our front door.  The second photo below you'll see Jon standing outside the front door under the "entry porch" that he's building.  Notice the lamp behind him?  That's a propane-fired gas lantern that Jan and I had made by a company in Charleston South Carolina..it should look great at night!!!

Our house is what we call a "Craftsman-Inspired" home with a Nautical Theme..and since we're on the Chesapeake Bay, we thought it'd be cool to add a little color to the house to accentuate this "nautical theme" idea.  So we added a metal Red Roof to 1 section of the house with the hope of mimicking a "lighthouse" look...for those of you reading this in MD, I am sure you are aware that the lighthouses in MD often have red roofs.  In any event, in mid-March, the metal roofers FINALLY CAME and here is there work...can you see the "lighthouse" theme in the second picture below??

Starting in March, the drywall was installed...and later....the staircases!! See below....we're getting close!!!

During this time (March-April), we started to get a lot of material for the house, like kitchen cabinets, furniture, dumbwaiter, etc...  Below are 2 pictures.  The first picture is of the "kitchen" with the cabinets all over the floor.  The second is Jan standing by her island with the granite now in place..WOW what a difference a beautiful wife and dedicated mom finally in her kitchen!!

This (below) is a picture of the center hallway of the house where the upstairs meets the living room and kitchen area and where the stairs from below...where our foyer is...come up as well...this is the center of the house

Toward the latter part of Spring 2014 and into May, a kind mason named James began the stone work on the front of the house.  He'll also do the fireplaces inside.  We are so happy with his work!  He is a skilled and creative craftsman.  Can you tell which stones are real and which are fake??

So at present, May 2, 2014, here are 2 views of the house...front and back..we can't wait to move in!!

One final note.  Jon's "main man" is a fellow master carpenter named Miguel, who in addition to building the house with Jon and leading a team of several other carpenters, also built the retaining walls on the driveway, built the roof, etc...and led the team in tiling our bathroom...see below...Miguel is one of Jon's great assets!

Stage 4: Roofing/Windows/Siding the House (Months 6-10)

After October, the crew started working on siding the house.  But first, they had to shingle the roof and install the windows. We were really pleased on how it turned out!  Here is a view of the back of our house!

Around Christmas, Jon's crew had to install our heating/cooling system.  We chose to install a geothermal heat pump, where holes were drilled from the bottom of our hill up into the basement of our house.  Then a set of tubes were pulled down from our basement under ground (about 10 feet under the ground) back to the road below.  Eventually, water will run in these tubes and heat/cool our home.  Here are some pictures of the process..which was very interesting to watch!

First snow of 2014:  Here is a view of the house in the snow..take a look at our beloved dog Morgan in one of the pictures below!

By the end of January, Jon and his crew braved one of the coldest months that I can remember and finished "siding" the house.  We were amazed at their work ethic...6-day weeks...working in freezing temperatures....we brought them hot chocolate from time to time...and they kept on working.  As you see below, the results of their hard work really paid off!  We are so pleased and proud of how our house is shaping up! Soon (in February), the subcontractors will be back to install plumbing, insulation, drywall and more!  We can't wait to watch... Stay tuned.....

Stage 3: The Framing (Months 3 through 5)

It took quite a while, but Jon and his crew are building the Huether family a beautiful house.  During this blog post, I will document the different stages of the framing of 2716 Aspen Road.

The three pictures below is the framing process of the "basement" level, which is built into the side of a hill.  The cinderblock walls on the right hand side of the first picture is on the "bay" side.

In the second picture, you see the "basement" level from the western side (away from the bay) which is where we will drive up from the road below.

In the third picture, you will see the "basement" framed out from the view of the back yard.

The next stage is the first floor. The first picture you see below is Jan looking out (toward the west) out of what will be the guest room window.

The picture below is of the western side of the house as the first level of the house gets framed. You will notice that the wood is being covered by a "foam" product which will add insulation to the house and hopefully keep our energy bills down.

The picture below shows continued framing of our house. We're getting there!!

The picture below is a view looking west at what will eventually be our kitchen.  The big window on the right is where our sink will go and the smaller window on the left is where our kitchen "office" will be located...

The picture below is our first look at what our living room will look like. The room will be 22 ft by about 17 ft...we hope the view of the bay will be great!!

So now we are onto the second floor!  The picture below shows Jan standing on what will eventually be our master bedroom.  Notice all the trees in the background with red ribbons around them...the won't be around too much longer!

The picture below shows Ben (on the right) and Hannah (sitting on the left) standing on the the second floor.  The house in the distance (to the south) is our neighbors the Boniors.

 

As you can see below, the second floor is coming along...from left to right, there is Hannah's bedroom, then Ben's bedroom and the master bedroom on the right.

 I took this picture below to highlight all the work that Jon and his crew did to build our roof/second floor....it was a real construction project...everything was built by hand...with great craftmanship

Here is a picture of our builder Jon Bird working on the second floor roof...a true craftsman!

Finally, with the second floor coming into shape, we can now see what our house is going to look like from half way down the driveway..Wow!!...we can't wait to move in!!

Below is a view from the south east...as you see there is a dormer (on the left) facing the south...this eventually will be Hannah's closet.

Here is a view (from the East) of the house.. As you see, the second floor is coming together.  Ben's bedroom is in the middle..Hannah's is on the left and Jan and Dave's in on the right....

Below, you see Jan (in front of the window on the ground floor) standing in front of the back of our house as our master "copula" is being built...

Here is Jon's crew, led by Migal, building our "copula" in the master bedroom.  It took Jon's crew about 3 weeks to build our roof...but the wait was worth it...they did a great job...

Hannah and I went out on the water (Chesapeake Bay) with our good friends the Serpans (Dave, Felecia and Lilly) in their motor boat and I took this picture of our house from the Bay!!

Finally...the roof is on and the second floor is complete!!  Now its off to roofing, windows, siding and starting on the interior!!