Cliffhanger

We have STAIRS! Going up anyway...it's a little precarious as the stair installation precedes the wall installation so you need to watch every step, especially because all the diagonal support beams are still scattered around. They've removed them all downstairs and put up exterior walls so it is starting to feel very much like a real house. But the second floor feels more like a treehouse! It has, however, really taken shape over the course of the week and despite an anxiety attack over the high roof line, I am now convinced that once ALL the pieces are in place it will be terrific. I just don't have much vision/imagination when it comes to roof lines (again, that spatial deficiency!)

The upstairs consists of the master bedroom suite, Conor's room which has a 2nd huge walk-in closet (that kid's got A LOT of stuff!), a hall bath which will have the only bathtub (a nice 6' shower/tub combo for this long-legged family), a guest room and a hall linen closet. As I mentioned, the master sits in the dormer over the front porch. It is supposed to have sloped walls and a nine foot ceiling. However, after they framed in the roof, Brian and I both really liked the peaked roofline from the inside, so we asked them not to level off the ceiling at 9' but, rather, take it all the way up to the peak. However, I just talked with the builder and, as is often the case, it is more complicated than we anticipated (& therefore more expensive) so I think we'll just leave well enough alone. The sloping slides will add some interest (& remind me of the room I grew up in on Sheridan Road).

As you enter the room there's sort of a little alcove which has a lower ceiling and a built in bookcase which eases the transition to a new space. Or so it says in my new house bible The Not So Big House (great series of books btw). It amuses me!

Here's the north side of the house with Conor's bedroom under roof. He'll have a normal 8' ceiling with a nice big window. The garage roof trusses will come to a peak, they're still working on it. When I went over this morning the first floor was all puddled (it rained pretty hard last night). That's very disconcerting even if rationally you know it's because you don't have a roof yet! They tell me they'll be done with everything (except the basement) by the end of next week. The cement floor in the basement hasn't been poured yet (need to check with Dave on when that is scheduled to happen), so they'll come back to frame in the basement and build the lower set of stairs.