The garage is up!!

The garage work has begun and it's moving so quickly!  I'm pretty sure I say that about everything, but they just work so quickly on things around here!  Could be the intense heat is speeding them up so they can get out of the it!  This week they started framing the garage and the stone work has also begun.  The entire garage will be covered in stone to match the house.  The stone is a pretty close match but the only difference will be the edges of the stone for the garage don't match the edges on the stone on the house.  When the house was built, someone(or more likely a group of people) cut each stone to make the sides all straight.  Well, that is a HUGE task, not to mention costly, so the garage stone has rough edges but it will still look great.

Here is our 3 car garage.  The middle opening isn't finished being cut yet so it looks like a smaller opening because it actually is!

 It is a huge garage but it looks so small next to the house!

Here is the beginning of the stone work.  We didn't originally plan on having windows out the back of the garage but after seeing the giant wall that will be covered with stone we decided to add 3 basic windows, that will be centered on the garage doors, to help the aesthetic look of the garage.

 Here you can see an up close look at the stone we are using.  It looks great!  You can see the rough edges as compared to the straight edges on the house in the picture below.

Next week the roof will go on the garage and before we know it the entire thing will be done!  

I go out to the house just about every day to see what's going on and this beautiful plant surprised me!  When we are all done with the restoration we will do the landscaping so we haven't really moved anything or pulled out any plants because we would rather let the professionals handle that(Todd and I aren't very good with that sort of thing!).  Anyway, I try to envision what it will look like and what type of plants I want where(once again....I don't get very far because I'm terrible in this department).  I just assumed these random plants would be trashed but they bloomed and I love them!  Just wanted to share because the red flowers are so pretty and a nice surprise!

The Driveway is DONE!

We finally received the official document from the Department of Transportation stating we could continue with our double entry driveway so Jerry Livingston and his crew from Muskogee, OK finished the driveway this week.  It looks amazing!  The circle drive is so fitting for the house and I can't wait to get landscaping up around it - which will be at the very end, but it will all come together nicely!

It's hard to take a full picture of all at once because it's so big, so here it is from several different angles.

 This is the view from the garage looking out to the road.

These next two pictures are taken from the top of the porch looking out to the left and right.

The front porch is almost done!!

The work on the front porch is almost over.  It looks amazing!  Besides painting the rails, staining the floor, and covering the ceiling, the major work is done.

In this picture you can see the railing is done and you can't even tell from the front of the house that the porch doesn't extend the entire length of the house.  Remember we had to shorten the decking some to allow head room when you walk down the stairs to the lower level.  Our crew did a great job of making it look like it does extend the whole way.

 Here is a view from the side.

 The steps were built very quickly and turned out great! 

 The railing on the stairs is almost complete and then they will begin work on the ceiling.

 Meanwhile the driveway has been partially poured and the framing of the garage will start later this week!

 Our driveway is HUGE and we will have lots of room to not only get in and out of the garage with our vehicles, but also plenty of room to play!

 The circle drive hasn't been poured yet because we have to get approval from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.  I would have never thought we would need approval for a driveway, but because we will have 2 entrances onto the hwy instead of the typical one entrance, we needed to get approval.  We have been inspected and got a verbal "OK" on the driveway but we are waiting to get the official document in the mail and then they will pour the rest of the driveway.  

 Here is the 3 car garage that will be up in a couple of weeks!  They will start framing it later this week or early next week and then the roofer will be here in 2 weeks.  I can't wait to see it completed and covered with the matching stone from the house!

 All around the property, and next door on the tennis courts, there are dates and names written into rocks, walls, and concrete floors stating people who have lived in the house, or possibly just passed through at some point in time.  So we thought it was fitting to put our little stamp on the property!  These little hand prints and date mark the start of a new era at the old Officers Quarters!

Front Porch and Garage Progress

The front porch and garage are coming along very quickly!  Once they got the old porch down, the new one started to be built.  The garage and driveway has also been laid out and the concrete work began and has moved along quickly as well.

For the garage they dug out a trench and built a stem wall to support the weight of the garage.

  

 After that was poured and dried, the garage pad was poured.

The circle driveway has been dug out and will be poured hopefully this week!

After all of the posts were put up, the last 2 metal columns were taken out and then the work began to recreate the original porch.

 Wood was secured along the wall of the house to support the decking.

 Then the boards were installed across the porch.

This is the view from the end of the porch and after they finished the floor, they started working on the railing!  More pictures coming soon!

Out with the old (porch) and in with the new!!

Things inside are still coming along.  The drywall continues to go up.  It is such a huge job and the guys are working constantly!  Outside things are starting to pick up!  The front porch project is underway and moving quickly!  We are having to use a different entrance because the old porch is gone!  So exciting!  The posts are wooden and wrapped with cedar and then painted and sealed at the shop and then will have minor touch ups done after the entire porch is complete.  This will make it a lot easier to finish rather than painting it all at the end.

  

 Here the first post is going up!  It was quite a chore to get it up there.  Each post is 16ft long and is very very heavy.  

 

 

Here is a view from the top of the stairs that lead down to the bunker.  We will have 6 posts across the front like the original structure.

 2 posts up!  And as you can see the front porch is gone!  It now sits out in the yard!

 Another angle of the missing front porch.  The area looks so much bigger and it will be great to have a huge porch across the front!

 The lonely front door with lower entrance below.

 As you can see in this picture, we will have 2 posts flanking the front door and the front stairs will be the entire length between those 2 posts.  I'm jumping ahead a little bit, but I can already picture decorating the front porch for Christmas!  It will be beautiful!

Slowly moving forward!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post but you can only get excited about drywall pictures a few times before you are over it! lol  Work still continues at the house, it's just nothing too exciting.  The plumbers are still working, the electricians are still working, and the drywall is still going up!  These are all great things, but nothing to take pictures of really! But new, more exciting things are just around the corner!  The excavating for the garage is getting started - they had to wait until the electric company came by and relocated the overhead electrical lines to underground and that is happening today!  Also the front porch project is about to get started!  I am SO excited about the porch!  It will really look amazing when it is finished.  It all will, but the idea of it looking like it did back in 1867 is pretty cool.  Our cabinet sample is finished and I love how it turned out as well!

 

 This is the location of the garage.  The back of the garage will be even with the back of the house.  The driveway will come straight out and meet up with the circle drive in the front of the house.  The light pole on the left of the picture and the overhead wires will be in the way, not to mention aren't very appealing to look at! 

 Today the guys from OGE came to bury the lines!

If you remember from previous pictures, the stairs in the back were about 6-8ft away from the side of the house.  This is where the garage will be so the stairs had to be moved.

 

The stairs consisted of HUGE stones and we wanted to keep them so Spencer and his team made new stairs out of concrete and then are placing the old stone steps on top.  They will look like they have been there all along.  We need the stairs there because there will be a narrow (6ft wide) walkway between the house and the side of the garage and this will be the path from the front of the house to the back, and also access from the garage down to the back door.

 

 This is what our porch will look like!  We will have 6 square columns and a wooden porch that extends the entire front of the house.  Well, almost the entire length.  Remember there is a bunker area that leads to the basement level.  This will be under the porch so we have to shorten the porch a little so you can walk down the stairs without having to duck or hit your head.  So from the front of the house the porch will look as it originally did, but from the sides there will be a cut out so you can walk down the stairs on both sides.  Not sure if that makes sense but I will post pics as it takes shape!  We figure that the stairs going down to the bunker area were moved/changed from the original design because the original porch looks to extend the entire way across.  Either that or they ducked down to get to the basement area.

This is a zoomed in picture of the original porch to show the details on the columns that we will duplicate.  The columns and railing will be painted white and the decking you walk on will be stained and sealed.  The windows across the front(and the back) open up like doors so that will be a nice feature to be able to walk out onto the front deck from any room!

Here is our cabinet choice!  It's kinda hard to tell the dimensions on it but it's white with antiqued edges.  This will be on all of the kitchen cabinets, except on the island, which will be stained to match the wood in the house.  These cabinets are also going to be in the master bathroom, laundry room, and basement bathroom.  The upstairs bathroom will have a different cabinet style.

Tile!!

We are slowly getting to the fun part...at least for me!  This week we picked out our cabinets and stains and finishes for them.  I will post a picture when we get a sample in.  We have also chosen our tile flooring for the bathrooms, basement, and laundry room.  Todd(my husband) works for Dal-Tile so we of course will be using their products!  Along with the tile, we have chosen carpet for the two guest bedrooms in the basement.  If you remember, the concrete slab in there, which is perfectly secure and in great condition, is not level, so we will be carpeting those two rooms.  This will not only solve the uneven floor issue but give some warmth down there for our guests.  Dal-Tile is part of the larger company, Mohawk, which is where we will be getting our carpet from.  I love to buy products from such a great company that Todd works for!  The rest of the house will be the original wood floors and will be refinished in the areas that need it.

Here are some sneak peeks of our tile choices!

In the master bath we decided to go with a tumbled marble tile.  It is so beautiful and will give the space a very elegant and inviting look!  We will have a solid surface for the counter but we haven't chosen them yet.

 

  

In the basement, the mudroom, bathroom, living room, and foyer area will all have the same tile(the work out room will have a rubber flooring).  I fell in love with this tile when I saw it.  It kind of looks like wood but also has that great look of tile.  It is going to be perfect for our busy family and I can't wait to see it installed!  The color is called Espresso!  Oh, and the laundry room upstairs will also have this tile.

 

 In the upstairs hall bath we will be going a little less rustic and will have white subway tiles on the walls, from floor to about 4 ft high, and then the flooring will be a black and white octagon tile.  The sink is more of a vintage piece and I think it will all come together nicely.  Oh, and with all the white, there will be a bright color painted on the top half of the walls.  More on paint colors at a later date!

 

 Floor tile.

 

Hall bath sink.  It will have 2 faucets.  The picture below is to show you how the sink will look(although the sink in this picture is the 3rd faucet option).  The underside of the sink will be painted to match the walls, like in this picture.  **Note: this is not the wall color we will be using - although it does look really cute!