We moved in sometime in the middle of January.  When we can find the time between other projects and kids' activities, we have continued to work on house projects.  Brett purchased the wooden desk years ago from Penn State salvage.  He was using it for storage in the shop, but the mice enjoyed the drawers too much.  He cleaned it up, refinished it, and it's perfect!  The next project will be interior doors.  

For as long as I can remember, there was a red shed on Reese Hollow Road near Jean's house.  When the owner (my dad) no longer needed it and it was dangerously close to falling down, he could have demolished it pretty easily.  Instead, he and Brett dismantled it. Brett already used the rafters to make tops and bottoms for the railings in the Gully House.  They were surprised to find that the siding was make of white oak and red oak, so Brett saved that, too.  It was a ton of work, but that worn-out and weathered shed is now our floor!  

We are getting so close! Here are some pictures of the powder room, the master bathroom, and the boys' bathroom. The powder room is the closest to finished.  It has a vessel sink on an oak slab and a cedar accent wall.  The master bathroom was the most work because of the tile shower. Finally, the boys' bathroom only needs a shower door!  Both of the cherry vanities were made by Pure Dimensions in Port Matilda.  There is one more bathroom in the basement.  We are not planning on finishing it until after we move in.  The county assessor stopped by yesterday to see if we were done yet.  We aren't, but they are apparently tired of waiting, so he called us 95% done.  I would like to see his formula!

The main floor of the house is very open, but the stairs are a focal point that divides the space. We didn't want the railings to block our views, so Brett designed and welded rails and had them powder coated. Thanks Mountain Top Powder Coating!  I like the way the black rails look with the cherry stair treads. 

• All of the painting is finished!
• The boys' bathroom is mostly finished.  We just need to install the shower door.
• The stair treads are on.  Next step - railings!

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Finishing the exterior has many steps.  In the past couple of weeks, we finished the first layer of siding: the boards and we started on the trim.  Charlie was a huge help!  The soffit and battens will be next in part 2. 

The roof and lights are complete.  With the railing, the kids have a safe place to dribble.  Next big step: Siding.

Thanks to everyone who came out to help us raise our porch frame.  We were not sure how many people it would take to lift, but we ended up with the perfect number.  I finished the rafters for the corner after the raising. Next, we will work on the roof and then siding. 

It was cold outside today, about 10 degrees and windy.  We all worked together to fit the final wall of the porch frame as fast as we could!

Brett's been working on the porch frame.  It is very long!  

Meanwhile, some fun things are happening inside the house, too!  

• a homemade chin up bar and workout area
  
• new dishes in the cabinets
• a shiny new range hood

The patio is almost finished.  The outdoor shower will be perfect in warmer weather.

Thank you to Pure Dimensions from Port Matilda, PA.  The cabinets far exceed our expectations - we love them!

We got a great deal on large tiles for the kitchen and entryway at a building materials auction in 2014. We finally got around to opening up the boxes and discovered that we had bought seconds.  Half of the tiles had broken corners!  To make matters worse, when we went to buy more, we found out that the exact tile was discontinued.  We had two options: use a pattern and mix in a different size or abandon the original tile and look for a replacement.  It didn't take long for us to remember that the reason that we were so quick to buy the tile at the auction was because we both liked it.  There are a lot of tiles that I like and a lot of tiles that Brett likes, but there are very few that we both like!  After some time on the phone, we found our tile in a 12 x 24 size.  It was going to be expensive, but this is our forever house.