Renovations!
Jun 29, 2009 07:04 AM Filed in:
Day To Day
This
is the Summer of Big Projects, and so far it’s going well. My
neighbor Dave and his crew have made some great progress on the new
front porch. That’s the biggest of the big projects.
We’re at about the 50% mark now, and it is looking really
nice. You can definitely see now how it’s going to change the
whole look and feel of the house. The porch is wide and chunky and
spacious, and I think it’s going to make for a very inviting
front entry way, the kind of porch that makes people smile when
they pull into the driveway and see it.
You can see from a few of these pictures that Dave is showing a lot
of attention to the detail. I especially love
the
long 20 foot planks he found for the flooring. With the long planks
there are no vertical seams halfway across the porch floor. Instead
you see nothing but nice long horizontal seams and it looks really
nice. The steps are going to be 5 feet wide so nice and roomy. The
front entry steps leading to the front door will have handrails on
both sides. The second set of steps will open at the other end of
the porch facing up the hill. These will have only one handrail on
the south side of the steps to help keep the open feeling where it
will be facing the garden yet to be.
The
roof of the porch is a cathedral style, so it will remain open and
breeezy up there from the inside. Eventually we will put in a light
and ceiling fan in the middle of it, something to help stir the
heavy summer air that we get down here in Kentuckiana. Also the
front
peak
of the porch roof will remain open the way it is now. Our rainy
weather usually comes from the southeast which is basically behind
the house, so having the front open won’t be letting in the
wind blown rain for most of the storms, but it will let in a lot
more light and more of the breezes which should make the porch area
a more cozy setting for just sittin’ and
rockin’.
It’s
all looking really good. And I especially love the new
Chateau Green roof
shingles which I think cheers the place up a lot. When the porch is
finished there will be railing all the way around the perimeter
with nice white spindles and an 8 inch wide top rail, nice and
solid for comfortable and secure sitting on. The corner posts too
are 8 inch posts, so the whole porch has a nice substantial feel to
it. Next summer after the treated wood has cured I’ll paint
the whole thing. The floor and steps will be grey to match the
foundation of the house, and all the railings, vertical posts, and
underside of the roof will be bright white. It should be a very
happy looking porch, the kind that says “Come on up and sit a
spell.”
And
just to drive that feeling home I’m going to have I think
three brightly colored rocking chairs on the porch. I haven’t
completely made up my mind yet, but right now I’m leaning
towards a white, a red, and a yellow rocking chair, each a slightly
different size. That along with a couple of small footstools and
maybe a low bench of some sort should be enough to make the porch a
comfortable gathering place for any and all who stop by.
Okay, I’ll stop for now. There’s also work going on in
the back, front, and southeast side yards, but I’ll leave
that news for a bit later. If you want to see more pictures though
I’ve loaded quite a few in the
Pot Luck photo
gallery. More to come!
Cheers,
JB
