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.