December

Tiles around the front door.  We will "mud" them in when the glue is dry.

Throughout this process of building our strawbale house, some things seem to just take forever.  That's how December has been.  It just seemed to drag on, and then BAM!  Progress is made.

The stove in front of the rock wall.

We hired a "mud" guy (sheet rock mud, that is) to finish the drywall taping, texturing, etc.  He finished all of the texture today.  He did it by hand, because for one thing, it was easy for him.  For another thing, if we had sprayed on the texture, we would have had to cover everything.  And I mean everything.  Walls, floors, and even our beautiful ceiling.  It would have taken twice as long to cover everything as it did for this guy, Manuel, to walk around on his stilts and give us our fine texture by hand.  He really hated doing the skylights, but c'est la vie, huh?

We have our full first coat of cement on the insides of the walls now, too.  Tomorrow they will start on the second coat, then finally gypsum plaster.

We should be able to start painting the sheet rock next week.

And, we finished our rock wall today.  Got everything all cleaned and trimmed out, then we put in the wood stove.  It looks wonderful.  We even started a little fire today.  We put the tiles around the front door this week, too.  When the lights are all hung, it will look stunning.  (To me anyway.)

Success!!!

I'm so happy that progress is happening.  Les lugged some of the granite we had behind the garage over to the house so that I can start my window sill project.  I took a good part of today breaking the pieces for my mosaic.  It's going to look lovely.  And the back splash I have planned for the kitchen will be one of a kind.  Les isn't sold on it yet, but he just can't see what's in my head.  After the kitchen is installed, I can lay it all out for him so he can see what I mean.  It will be so unique and beautiful!

The granite pieces I will use for the window sills and back splash.

Our beautiful home.

Progress

David finished the last part under the west porch today.

Little by little, day by day, progress is being made.  The stucco guy, David, finished the outside of the house today.  I really like the color of the wet stucco, not so much the dry.  But I will get used to it in time.  It's still beautiful, though lighter and not as rich as the wet.  I just love saturated colors.  None of those wimpy pastels for me!

Then it's time for him to start on the inside.

Need to grout in between the rocks

We started on the mud and tape for the sheetrock on Saturday.  Kent worked with Chuck on that, while Les and I put the rest of the rocks up on the wall behind the wood stove.  I started on the grout and, "YIKES!" wrong color completely.  So, another trip to Pueblo is in order to return what we never opened and get another color.

Pueblo, being 80 miles away, is our nearest Home Depot and Lowe's.  We have a local "builder's supply" store, Trinidad Builder's Supply.  But if you need soffit vents, they only have 7 of them instead of the 30 that I need.  Or, the other day I needed bullnose for the arches and I needed mortar mix.  The bullnose they had, the mortar mix, they didn't.

In Raton, (in New Mexico and about 20 miles away) there is a really good builder's supply.  Raton Builder's Supply has supplied most of the materials for the house.  But still, being in a small town, their choice of grout colors may not be all that big.  And, they're not open Sundays.  So, it's off to Pueblo we go.

We get shipments nearly every day via UPS.  Friday, they delivered the granite counter top and sink for the guest bath.  Today, they picked up the broken counter top and sink for the guest bath.  Amazon will have another one delivered.  I've become best friends with Amazon, Signature Hardware, Build.com, Lowe's.com and Home Depot.com.  You know me... love to shop online.

It's a boy!

Work

It's coming together.  Fortunately, and unfortunately, my business has been slow November and now December.  This gives me time to work on the house.  And it's coming together.

Hoar frost
 

Chuck hired a new helper.  His name is Jared, he's just out of prison after 10 years for shooting 2 people (gangs!)  The kid is 24 years old.  But he seems honest and hard working.  He has bright, intelligent eyes when you talk to him.  I like him.  We invited him to Thanksgiving dinner, now that both of our boys are in Utah.  It would have been just the two of us.  Kind of a bummer.  Jared accepted, and came exactly on time for dinner, wolfed down 2 heaping plates of food, said thank you very much and left 35 minutes later.  I couldn't expect an unrelated 24 year old to hang around 2 old farts like us, though.  So we packed up the leftovers, did dishes, then went about our normal routine.  I was still glad he came.  He definitely brought his appetite!

The view from my living room window

Quite a bit of the drywall is up now.  The showers all have their cement board on them.  Les and I started to put the rocks on the wall behind where the wood stove is going.  But as the day got colder, the mortar wouldn't stick.  So we quit that for now.  But it's going to look spectacular.  Our neighbor, Cindy, gave us all of the leftover rocks she had for her project.  She put them on the outside of her house. 

Friday I sealed the ceilings in the mud room, the powder room and the laundry room.  Jared did 1/2 of the ceiling in the living/dining/kitchen area.  I'm glad I'm not doing that room.  The peak of that ceiling is 14' tall.  Too much for me.  Three steps up on a ladder and that's just about how high I'll go. 

Les working on the master shower

The past several days have seen frigid weather.  For several days, it didn't get out of the teens during the day.  There was an icy wind blowing.   There was a lot of fog, which caused ice crystals to form on everything.  That's a hoar frost.  But there was a phenomenon I've never seen before. There were very swift, low lying clouds for the past 3 days.  There were blue skies above these scattered clouds, but the moisture in the air was crystallizing and caused a glitter effect.  What a magical effect, although none that I could photograph.  But these little crystal glitters floated in the air for 2 full days.  Just gorgeous. 

Can't wait to live in my new house!

Looking toward the kitchen with skylight.



The rocks coming together - wood stove will be in front.

Nature

The house is coming along really well.  We got most of the ceiling up, and are now onto drywall.  It's really exciting to see the rooms take shape.  Things that I hadn't noticed before, like a sconce being in the (horribly) wrong place are now easy to see.  Les promised to have Tom come out to fix that light.  But everything else is absolutely wonderful.

We saw a bald eagle fly over the house on Friday.  I am taking it as a very, very good omen.  This is the first bald eagle I've seen (in the wild) since a trip to northern Wisconsin many, many years ago.  I know they're very common in the Northwest, but it's rare to see one here.  I didn't think to grab my camera, but I did think to grab my hubby.  I ran back into the house and yelled for Les to come quick!  Both he and Chuck rushed out to see the magical sight.

Our neighbors had a visitor

We had snow early last week.  And our neighbors had a visitor.  This truly gives testimony to the fact that we are in God's territory.  What a wonder.  I know I wouldn't like to come face to face with this critter without shelter keeping me safe, but they're sure beautiful.  It looks like this one is a little female.  It's the adolescent males you really have to watch out for, but I'm sure this girl could do quite a lot of damage if she were so inclined, too.

Slinking away into the snow.

See that sconce connection to the right of the door?  NOT OK!

We have purchased just about everything needed for our home.  We have the remaining payments to go to the plumber, cabinet maker, and granite dealer.  Chuck still has a lot of work to do, but we seem to be running out of money again.  We had to extend our initial loan once already.  That's what happens when you do the contracting yourself.  You have no guidance as to the cost of things.  Chuck has been a God-send.  And I have been watching every penny and shopping til my eyes are sore for the best bargains.  I'm proud of myself for getting some really great bargains, too.  But still.  There is only so much money to go around.  I figure this build will wind up costing us about $105 per square foot.  And for what we will have as our finished product, that is a bargain!

Ceiling and Stucco

Look at that beautiful wood!

Chuck and Kent started putting the ceiling up this morning.  It is exactly as I imagined.  The blue stain (beetle kill) pine is absolutely gorgeous!  This will go throughout the entire house and will be so beautiful.  As I've said before, there is only one good thing to come out of this bark beetle epidemic.  And that's the wood.  The beetles, as they are gnawing away at the cambium layer of the tree, introduce a fungus that turns the wood blue.  It's sad, but it's also started a new industry here in Colorado.

Over the living room windows.

Our kitchen cabinets will be made out of this, as is our arched front door.  The bummer about this wood is that it's really soft.  I'm not sure how long our front door will last.  So far, the door jambs haven't survived very well.  Chuck has had to make 2 jamb legs.  We think that the arch of the jamb, and also the door, will be just fine.  It was a mistake to make the door jamb out of that wood.  A mistake I've drilled into our door guy.  But for the price we paid, what are you going to do?

Les and Kent hanging stucco netting on the bales.

The second coat of stucco.

The stucco guy was there again today.  He's working slowly, but surely on the second coat of stucco.  As soon as he's done with the second coat on the outside, he can start working on the inside.  The inside will have plaster to cover all of the straw.  The dividing walls will just be sheet rock.  There will just be the final coat of stucco, the color coat, to go on the outside once this coat has a chance to cure.

Once the plaster is done, the rest of the drywall will go up - then it's just finish work to be done.  Hang the interior door.  Install the cabinets and vanities.  Hook up faucets and door handles.

Then, it will be time to move in!

The south side of the house.

One of the 4x4 tiles I will use on the outline of the front door.

Heading Toward the Finish Line

The bank approved our loan extension.  Thank you First National Bank in Trinidad, Laura Aiello and Jeff Mangino!  It is just so cool to work with a small-town local bank who knows you, knows what you're about and is there to help.  Now if we can't come in under this revised budget, I'll just have to go out and kill myself.

Granite for the Kitchen

We picked out our granite for the kitchen on Monday.  It's so beautiful.  Me, always the bargain hunter, went for this beautiful couple of slabs.  They had a hole in the top of the slabs, and therefore were marked down.  I think they look beautiful.  And of course, after they lay out our kitchen and start to cut the slabs, no one will ever know that there was a hole there.

I'm trying so hard to build this house within budget.  The stucco really screwed things up.  That alone is taking 10% of my total loan.  Not a good thing.  I had hoped that Les and I would be able to do the inside ourselves.  It's just not going to happen, though.  It sucks getting older.

Look at that beautiful stone!

 We bought our kitchen table the other day while we were in Pueblo.  It's just so fun to go into places like that with Les.  He's such a character.  We walked into the dining room section, and within moments found our table.  We both walked up to the same table set, sat down and said, "This is it."  The salesman strode up while Les was checking the sturdiness of the table.  Then Les mentioned something about having sex on it. 

I know -- Too much info!

Les has fun no matter what.

Progress

There's our house on our mountain-top

After much negotiation, I finally have a deal I can live with on our stucco.  David came back last Thursday to go over things.  Chuck laid it all out on the line.  "You will respect this house, this land and these people!" he said to David.  "And you will do a better job than you did."

And sure enough, he did, too.  Chuck knows that David is able to do the work.  He's seen it many times before.  It's just that David seems to be too full of himself to pay attention to the details.  So Chuck just deflated his ego and made him do the right thing.  Which he seems happy to do now.  I'm so glad that Chuck has our back.  He's a good man.

The stucco wall under the west porch.

I picked Les up at the Denver airport Thursday.  I got a ticket while driving up to the parking area.  I was going 57 in a 35 mph zone.  What a bummer!  I haven't gotten a ticket since I was 18 years old.  I knew I was going a little fast -- I was just anxious to see my honey!

We stopped at a granite place in Denver on the way home.  They had aisles and aisles full of granite slabs.  Basically, you go in, pick a couple, then they do the math and see if they can work a deal.  No deal from them.  Way too expensive.

Then we stopped at another place in Pueblo.  Their prices were much more down to earth, so I think we'll be getting granite countertops.  I've always loved granite.  My whole home is made from earth and earthly products.  Straw, reclaimed standing-dead wood, and now stone.  I just can't wait to move in.  We've waited so long, and we're so close now.



Need ideas!

Check out the picture on the right.  That's our beetle-kill front door, covered by black plastic while the stucco is being applied.  I thought of putting an outline of the door in wood around the door.  Then covering that with some copper that Les has had for years.  Then, I wanted to put some dragonfly tiles here and there around it.  What do you think?  I will certainly be unique.  What I have in the picture is made just from scraps, but it does give an idea of what I'm talking about.

We're also working on colors for the color coat on the stucco.  Thinking of Buckskin.  Any thoughts?
 Stucco Colors

Stucco and Insulation

The south wall

We finally have our first coat of stucco on the house.  We can finally breathe a huge sigh of relief - almost.  For those of you who have been following this blog, we have had a horrible time finding someone to do our stucco.  Chuck has interviewed so many people.  They either don't call back, they don't show up in the first place, or their prices were way, way, way too high. 

Ceiling insulation.  The straw is the insulation for the walls.

Finally, along came David Johnson.  He and Chuck have known each other for 30 some years.  David had been working up in the Denver area, but is now back to being a local boy.  I was thrilled to pay him a huge sum of money, just to get the first coat of cement on the house.  David talked like he knew what he was doing.  He's very energetic and talks a good talk.  $5000 later, I have one coat of stucco on the walls, and I'm so not happy.  I bought all of the materials, and David provided the mixer and the labor.  He didn't clean up after himself.  He insisted that Chuck and Kent cover our windows and doors rather than having his crew do it.  He left a massive mess.

A reminder of why we're doing this.

Chuck called him back up there today to fix this.  I was almost in tears to even be talking money with this guy knowing that he'd want another $5000 for another day's work.  Oh, it was awful.  I'm just going to sit back and let Chuck tell me what to do on this guy.  It's a nightmare.

The front porch

Les has been gone for almost the last 3 weeks.  I need him home so badly.  He's coming tomorrow.  I'm exhausted.  I'm completely drained, financially and emotionally.  And I have to hit the bank up for more money.  Hopefully he'll be up to picking up some of my slack.  Can't wait until this house is done and we can move in!

Water & Power

Dining room and kitchen

The "trades" have been busy at work this week.  We now have electricity into our new house.  And the water is almost in, too.  Of course, none of the fixtures are in yet so it's not like I can turn on a faucet or a light, but getting utilities into the structure is a big step.  We hope to be inspected next Wednesday for our framing, plumbing and electric.  Then we can start closing everything up.

Chuck and Kent have been busy at work putting up the soffits, the attic vents, the stucco mesh, the flashing, etc.  Come next Thursday, we should be starting stucco.  I met our stucco guy, David.  What a character!  His arms fling everywhere when he talks.  He sounds like he knows what he's doing.  Chuck has known him for the better part of 30 years.  So if Chuck trusts him, he's good enough for me. 


In the guest closet

Today David asked me if I'd like some kind of design over my doors.  Got me to thinking -- maybe a gecko?  How about a sun ray?  I'll have to put some thought to that over the next few days.



Let there be light!  Tom working in the mechanical room.
 

Then, when he's done with the first coat outside, I'm just going to have him start on the inside.  I thought that Les and I could probably do that, but who am I kidding?  I did the inside plaster on an adobe house when I was 22.  But that was hundreds of years ago, or so it seems.  It wasn't hard, just time consuming -- something I have very little of in the first place.  Les wouldn't like it, either. 

We'll probably be going over budget with this stucco/plaster job.  What are you gonna do?  Still hoping to be in my new house in the next couple of months.  Wouldn't that be so great?

Weather

Look at the beautiful wood grain on our door.

Wow, Wow, Wow!  Things have been so incredibly busy, it's hard to pick up where I left off.  We picked up our front door.  IT IS GORGEOUS!  It's a bit rough, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Our house is designed and built by regular people.  I don't need perfection, I just need character.

We drove about 160 miles west to meet Ab Yoder.  He's another Amish gentleman who will be building our kitchen cabinets.  We asked him to build them from beetle kill pine, again, because the wood is gorgeous.  That's what our front door is made of.  And his price was about $3000 less that our local kitchen cabinet dealer -- which was about $5000 less than Lowes.  It's not like we have this massive, elaborate kitchen design, either.  I just want simple, decent quality, and rustic.

The new windows finally were delivered and installed the moment they got here.  The house is now, more or less, secure.  Almost all of the doors are in, but I'm waiting (2 months now) for our front door hardware.  So Chuck just nailed a piece of plywood over the opening for the front door.  All of the other doors are in and locked.  Just don't want any bears sneaking around in my new house or anything.

Windows are going in.

Once the plumbing and electric are in, then we can get it inspected and can close up the walls and the ceilings.  We also are waiting for stucco.  But since we can't get any reasonable bids for stucco, we're just going to do it ourselves.  We got one bid this morning and it ate up 1/2 of our remaining budget.  No way!  Chuck will just hire some people, hire a cement mixer, and we'll do it ourselves.  What could possibly go wrong?

Straw gets EVERYWHERE!

It's snowing today.  The house is wrapped in a blanket of black plastic.  Gotta get it in stucco ASAP.

Les "weed-wacking" the walls.

The bales are all stacked.

Bales

Almost through with the bales.

Oh what a job this is!  The bales are about 50 pounds apiece. Before you stack them, you have to measure each one, in several places, for moisture. Then, most of the bales need to be notched. This is done with a small electric chainsaw. The point of notching is so that the bales will fit snugly around the post and beam frame of the house. While you're notching, cutting, stacking and tying the bales, straw flies everywhere. I mean everywhere.

Lucy and Mindy just love the straw!

It gets in your mouth, your hair, your shoes and down my bra. I don't even need to be the one cutting for that to happen. Talk about uncomfortable!  The second I get home I strip and shower. I take a Benadryl and I put lotion everywhere.  Every place where the brittle straw touches leaves a little irritation. We all feel so beat up. Hands are cut, knuckles scraped, knees bruised and backs sore.

But it will be so worth it. Look at what we've accomplished. I get such a kick out of watching it take shape. And Les is my hero. He works so hard on it. He and Chuck (also my hero) have hired one more guy. The 3 of them  are about 75% done with the bales. The septic was inspected and approved yesterday.  We just need to finish the bales and get it dried in  soon. The windows should be delivered next Tuesday.

It's really going to be so beautiful!

Oh, to be a dog in a loving family.

Les notching the bale.

This is the north wall under the porch. Just have to finish a little on the top.

The corner next to the front door. 

Dogs

Dogs and straw - seems like they're just made for each other.  The yellow and the stubby tail dogs are ours -- Lucy & Mindy.  The shaggy boy is Trooper, he's my neighbors' dog.  And the older, grumpier dog is Doogie.  He's very sweet, but tends to want to straighten the "kids" out when they play too hard.

The house is coming along.  The hold-up this week is the windows.  I was told that they would be delivered today, but alas, it's not to be yet.  Not until next week.

The front of the house

We are really hoping to have the stucco started next week.  I am desperate to get dried in by the end of the month.  I'm constantly checking the weather.  It's been in the 20's at night.  Days are in the low 70's.  And, (Thank you, God) there is no rain in the immediate future.  But I'm holding my breath.  The bales can't be more than 14% in moisture content.  So we measure each bale with our moisture meter.  Some we have to toss outside to dry a little more. I, fortunately, ordered about 75 more bales than we needed.  Whatever is left over I will either sell on CraigsList or we will build a greenhouse or a chicken coop.  I'll be happy as can be either way.  I've always wanted a greenhouse.  And I love chickens.  Chickens are cool.

Putting in bales in the mechanical room.

 Andy is up there working on the house today. I've been up there daily, but I've also been neglecting my business a little bit.  So I'm forcing myself to stay home to work today.  Sigh!