20 X 36 1 1/2 story in north Georgia

[Redoverfarm]

Christina how is the wood stove working?  Mine is still going 24 hours a day.  Did let it burn down yesterday so I could get rid of some ashes as the temps were up. Looks like I will still be using it for sometime til the frogs start.

[CWhite]

Hi Redoverfarm,
The stove is by far the best I've ever used.  It burns very efficiently down to a small amount of ash, and heats the entire house in about 20 minutes from cold. 

I hate to pull the "southern" card, but the frogs have been up and active for awhile here, and we already have hatched out tadpoles in our pond.  The weather here is warm enough to only light the stove to take the chill off now. 

I will be posting more pics of our progress soon.  It is hard to photograph around the construction right now, but the stairs are almost done, and I brought home the travertine for the shower yesterday.  I'm hoping that most of the plumbing will be done his week too, but it's still too soon to tell.

How's your place coming?
Christina

[glenn kangiser]

Wake those frogs up, John.  Ours , like Christina's have been going for weeks --- spring peepers.

[fishing_guy]

Ours are still frozen under the ice.

Maybe we could chip them out?

[glenn kangiser]

I think frogs break -- like fish do -- if you chip them out while frozen.  They may sound like a broken record when ribbeting if that happens. hmm

[fishing_guy]

Everything you wanted to know about how frogs freeze:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002118796_frogs14.html

They just do it a little faster here in Minnesota!

[Redoverfarm]

Wonder how the fish like them once they have been frozen?  Gold fish I think also act like this in the little fish ponds that freeze over the winter.  Got an aunt who says they will come back after the thaw. But she once lost several when a warm snap happened and then it got cold again.  Look I have almost hijacked Christina's site. Sorry. 

[williet]

I have a set of custom made gun stocking tools that have served me well for about 30 years. A master gunmaker made them for me when I was twenty or so..... I've never used either the Flexcut or Phiel...but have heard good on both. Thanks for the advice. I look into it some more.

Got frogs here too....even a few flys...hot weather is on it's way!

[deertracks]

See what you started Christina.... everyone on the site is so excited for Spring to be here
that we are all excited about the frogs return.
The warmer weather means all of us self-builders can get all the outside
projects done that have been waiting since last fall.
Happy Spring to All... those with frogs talking and those still waiting!!

[CWhite]

Weird weather going on here....snowed off and on all day, but none left on the ground since the ground temp was nice and warm...just weird.

The crews are all gone, and the rest is up to us now on the house.  The staircase is done up to the second floor, and we'll finish up the railing upstairs to match it next week. 

I've loaded a few more interior detail snaps if anyone would like to go see the snapfish album.

The frogs are very unhappy tonight with the temperatures going down to 27 degrees tonight.  I had to go put huge plastic tarps over my blueberry bushes hoping to save some of the blooms. 

Christina

[Redoverfarm]

I told you it was too early for frogs. At least here as we had flurries today as well. Temp this am was 22-24F. My DW early flowers are dreading it too. All the ends of the new chutes are brown from abuse by Mother nature. 

Debated on Chinking today trying to second guess the weather. A little cold (down to 20F will not effect it ) as long as it doesn't persist for a couple days. It will put off it's own heat the first 12-24 hrs. It was inside and I went for it.  Tired of chinking. Got 36' done today with about 800 more to go.  The outside took 80 hrs. So I am guessing the inside will be close to the same. A little longer as there are inside walls that are not exposed to the outside as the  opposing walls.  If there is anything I hate is being stuck on one aspect of a project for an extended period of time.  Variety is the spice of life and right now I need some more variety. But if there is a up-side to this ramping it would be that the more I do the better I get I think?

Christinia be careful about using plastic to cover things. It transmits cold the same as it does heat and it will burn(freeze) your plants. I use cloth material if possible.

[williet]

Hi,
Have ya got some new pictures yet? I was looking for the finished floors....

[CWhite]

Hi WillieT,
I'm not ignoring you, I just haven't had time to take pictures.  The floors look terrific.  Not for everyone, but just exactly what I was hoping for.  One thing I was supposed to be prepared for, but now, don't think I really was is how slippery the epoxy on the concrete is. 

I just this evening put the 3rd coat of polyurethane on the wooden floors upstairs. 
One more coat of epoxy will go on the concrete floors this week as well.  Life happened and got in the way of our great plans to be done with this by now. 

I'll try to post pictures in a day or two.
Christina

[CWhite]

It's Wednesday morning, and I just took more pictures of the interior of the house, and loaded them to my snapfish.com account.

If anyone is interested in acid stained cement floors, then this might interest you. 
We will put one more coat on the floors of the epoxy before it will be called done, and I don't know what will happen to the color.  Right now, the green is very "water-in-a-lagoon" looking, with these large purple/blue splotches.  I didn't expect the splotches, and really like them.  That color came out of no where when the epoxy was applied.  It may disappear when we do the second coat for all I know.

We have finished the upstairs floor (also pictured) with 3 coats of clear satin finish polyurethane, and I'm very pleased with the results. 

The peacock on the porch railing is Petry.  He has taken the porch as his own, and I am glad it's concrete so I can wash it easily.  Peacocks are very special and to be treasured, but they sure leave their mark often.

Christina

[Ailsa C. Ek]

Wow.  I love your floors, and your peacock is lovely too.

[Sassy]

So do I!  That would be exactly the colors I would like if I didn't those types of floors - hope its stays that way - seems like it should, don't you think?  The 2nd layer of epoxy won't contact the acid wash floor...  and what a pretty peacock.  Glenn used to have all sorts of exotic birds, including peacocks - the colors of your floors...  they're pretty noisy, though...

[CWhite]

Thanks Ailsa and Sassy,

I love the floors too.  We still haven't put on the second coat of epoxy, because then we can't work in the house.  It will get done this week sometime.  We are now finishing up the stair rails and the kitchen cabinets are next.  Then, we get the occupancy certificate (hopefully without drama....it will be the same (cue the shark music) building inspectors.   Without it, we have no power.  Afterwards, we can move in, and I have hot baths! 

2 weeks....2 weeks...2 weeks....I hope.
Christina

[John Raabe]

This project is turning out very nicely. I'll post some photos uploaded to Photobucket.



Slab floor with an acid wash (see notes)



Upper wood floors.



Nice tub!

[BiggKidd]

Hey John Raabe,

  Thanks for posting the pic. Those floors do look great. The acid wash concrete turned out super. I would love to have that tub too.

Larry

[pericles]

Those floors ARE great, and the window frames look very stylized and unique - I really like them.

[Redoverfarm]

Christina my hat's of to you.

[CWhite]

BiggKidd, the tub was one of my finds from craigslist.com.  I silver leafed the feet and painted the outside green.  It looks terrific, and fits the spot very well. 

Pericles,  the floors are a very good way to treat a concrete slab.  We are looking for low-maintenance forever, and this seemed right.  The colors are excellent to me, but my husband thinks they are very dark. 

John, thanks for putting those pictures up.  It sure must be strange to watch your original design get so distorted and changed in so many ways. 

Thanks Redoverfarm.  By the end of the week, I should have a lot more parts finished.  I'll put more pictures up then.  We hung 3 cabinets yesterday, and finished the railings upstairs already. 

It is also 39 degrees here this morning.  Not cold enough to freeze my blueberry buds, but pretty chilly.
Christina

[glenn kangiser]

Changing his design and making it your design is John's design, Christina, and you are doing a great job of it. 

Quite a showpiece there.

[Redoverfarm]

Christina finally got a chance to go look at youor recent pics other than what John had posted.  You've done a good job.  The floors turned out real nice looking.  Now just get you a can of "stove black" and hit the fisher once you don't need the heat.  That shouldn't be too long for you in the south.  As for us flurries today with lows pred to lower 20's tonight. Suppose to warm up Wed here. Lack about 2-3 days on the inside chink and then onto something different. I need your artistic flare.   

[Bishopknight]

Amazing pictures, I just looked at all 184. The petry in the last one is a sight to behold!

I love the etched floor and the hand carvings you did!

Thanks for sharing all that with us