WELCOME BACK!

I'm hoping that my negligence in posting hasn't caused all of you to look elsewhere for entertainment. I'm a bit embarrassed that it has been over three weeks since my last entry. Apparently, this prompted Dave and Irene Stonebraker to stop by the house yesterday so that could get updated firsthand on the status.

The most significant accomplishment over the past couple of weeks was completion of the screened porch. Barb and I tackled this project which involved installing the rail system for the screen (http://www.screeneze.com/), installing the screen itself and putting up the porch railing. The ScreenEze is a pretty nifty system although there was a bit of a learning curve. After having no screen in place for so many weeks, it was difficult getting used to the limits imposed by the screen once it was in place. I learned a hard lesson when I swung a section of railing and made a gaping hole in a section of screen that we had just finished installing. *&%^$##   Fortunately, I had some extra material as it is only sold in 100 ft. rolls. I actually have enough left over to replace two more sections in the event of any future mishaps. I've heard stories of large birds coming through the screen so I guess that is another potential risk.

The screen material is called Bettervue and is sold as being somewhat "invisible" but at the expense of durability. It lives up to its billing as it almost appears that there is no screen in place. If this doesn't work out, then we'll replace with another mesh called Supercsreen which is guaranteed for 10 years and is much stronger than the Bettervue. Of course, it impairs the view so I hope we don't have to go that route.

Although the photos don't show it, we also installed a 60" ceiling fan at the peak. If you are wondering about the strange appearance of the floor, it's because some of the boards are still covered with a protective clear plastic which is how they were shipped. I decided to leave it in place (where it had not already peeled off) for additional protection until we move in.

The railing is aluminum and was fairly simple to install. One of the main reasons I chose the brand (Redi-Rail by AFCO) I used is because it's one of the few that comes in sections as long as 10'. This eliminated the need to add posts between the main support columns.

A couple of days ago, I started working on the trimwork around the windows. I am planning to set all the doors after the flooring is installed and since we are still choosing the flooring I can't get started on the doors just yet.

 THE HEADBOARD OF OUR BED WILL BE

CENTERED UNDER THIS WINDOW

 WINDOW OVER THE STAIR

LANDING DOWN TO THE LOWER LEVEL

The nice thing about the design of the trim is that there are NO miters which in my opinion is the toughest part of trimwork. If the trim is going to be painted, caulk and paint can hide a lot of imperfections. But, with stained woodwork, you can't fall back on that. On the other hand, the drawback to the design above is that the header piece, the apron and all three bullnoses (in other words, all five of the horizontal pieces) have returns on the ends. I could have just cut these ends square and then sanded and stained them but the final product would not look nearly as nice as returns.

All the trim is poplar and we are thrilled with the appearance. We don't really care for oak and cherry is too pricey so the poplar turned out to be a good choice. Although it can be a challenge for a novice to get good results staining poplar, the guy that handled our staining (windows, doors and trim) did a fantastic job.

The radial arm saw that I purchased at an auction a couple of months ago has been invaluable for cutting accurate return pieces. My old trusty table saw would not have worked so well for this. I also purchased a Ryobi finish nailer and a brad nailer, both pneumatic, and I can't imagine doing this job without those tools as well. Unless you pound nails for a living, it's only a matter of time before you miss a nail and put a big "hicky" on the face of the trim. With power nailers, that problem is pretty much eliminated.

Cabinets are due to be delivered in a couple of weeks so the pressure is on to get the flooring installed. Will probably have the flooring supplier handle the installation but first we need to decide on what we want.

I'll try to post again before too much time goes by....just hang with me folks!