Bad weather's made building both the house in Chesapeake and the Duck house difficult. While we'd hoped that the Duck house would be done by now, it's not yet complete -- but it's getting close!
Note we've now got a driveway and all the outer trim is painted. The entranceway is done, and it turned out as I'd hoped.
Not necessarily as Darcee hoped, however -- but we'll get to the chandelier in a moment. The banister, newel post, and balusters are all in place.
Moving upstairs...
There will ultimately be carpet on the stairs; carpet's about the main thing not yet done.
See, even the ceiling fans are in place. The electricity's on and so is the water. To the left you can see a bit of the fireplace and nearby shelves for the TV/stereo.
The cabinet above the fireplace is where the TV goes. In case you're wondering, the fireplace is ventless and doesn't put off that much heat, so the TV's safe there. The cabinetmaker built these and did quite a nice job. The curve you see in the lower left is the kitchen bar.
Turning around, you see the counter and the kitchen. The cabinets, fridge, and range are in place, the microwave and dishwasher are yet to be installed. The counter turned out much better than expected -- we feared there would only be room for about two people at the counter, but four will sit comfortably.
Should have used the flash on this one. The dining room, the windows from my office (upper left) with ceiling fan in place.
Backing up a bit and looking to the right, they've got the glass brick in place in the top part of the walls of my office. If you're wondering about all the little white rectangles in the wainscotting, those are outlets for power, phone, and Ethernet -- the house is, of course, wired for 100 megabit networks, buzzing at the speed of light. And speaking of light brings us to the chandelier.
You can't tell from the perspective, but it hangs above the foyer. Darcee's less than happy with it, but I like it. And besides, they didn't have a lot of stuff to choose at the light place. Oh well.
The beach walk is about 90 percent done. It changes the view from the dune a bit:
And you're no doubt wondering what the mini-submarine to the right is; well, let's take a closer look...
That's the gas tank. Kaz tells me he's going to box it a bit with some trellis. The house uses gas for heat below some given temperature -- the heat pump handles it down to 40 degrees or so -- as well as running the fireplace and the range. (I forget whether the hot water is gas or electric.) Where you see the sawhorses and the notched planks is where the dog run will go.
I'd been concerned that the beach walk could affect the view, but Kaz built it down low and it's going to work just fine (this is the view from the dining room).
It's a bit more overpowering from my bedroom door, but not terrible. And only three steps up to the platform. On the platform, there will be a couple of benches and then stairs down to the beach -- I presume that's what the notched planks do. (Why do I care about the steps? Because I'm hoping to get a 10 inch reflector telescope and take it out to the platform to stargaze -- but 10 inchers are about 80 pounds and I'm hoping to use a dolly or the like to transport it.)
Two quick shots of a couple of completed things.
The showers are in. They're set up with lots of extra shelves so that someone can essentially camp out if he/she doesn't like the bathrooms inside. (That's not as goofy an idea as it sounds; in the summer I've often found I enjoy outdoor showers in the morning more than bathroom showers.)
Second minor item: they've got the outside outlets, the lights, and so on all attached. This may be the actual penultimate page!