Choices

We are at the point where we start picking things out. They put the re-bar on on Friday and will be pouring the concrete on Monday.

We are going to use pebble tech for the surface and some form of blue tile as the border. They brought over about 4 boxes of samples tile, but we were able to narrow it down.

We are going with Caribbean Blue Pebble Tech and this Old World Tile. The Caribbean blue is a popular color and Donnie's choice. We picked the tile because it coordinates well with it and should also coordinate with our taupe/gray pool coping.

So that's where we are right now. We are so excited to be able to have a backyard we can enjoy. 

Can you dig it?

We can dig it!

It took them two days to dig the dirt out.  You can see how they dumped the dirt on the side making everything level.

We are going to have a bench seat going down the entire length of the pool.

The steps are going to go all the way across the shallow end.

Guess what?

It's pool time! Oh yeah! Woo hoo! Can you tell we are very excited about this?

We are using Eagle Pools as our pool contractor. They used to live across the street from us at our old house and are a very nice family.
This is the layout. It's going to be 18 feet wide and 36 feet long. It is centered on our back doors and we'll be looking out on it long ways.

You can see how dirt will have to be filled in around the deep end to make everything level. You can also see how the retaining wall now looks short compared to the pool. It's hard for me to picture things until I see them come together.

Back it up, back it up

We're moving to the backyard!

Our house is up on a bluff. There's a pretty large vertical distance from the house down to the river. Donnie wanted to build a retaining wall in order the break up the backyard and have a nice flat area for the pool.

From this view you can see how high the house is from the water level.

 Jay is a very good friend and spent his Sunday helping Donnie out.

 The next weekend, Donnie had some of his guys come over. They were able to knock out quite a bit because there was more of them. This is what the wall looks like from the house side. Dirt will need to fill in all the way to the top of that wall.

This is the view from the river side. 

Can you see that "cut in" in the middle? That's where the stairs will be to get down to the water level.

We're back!

It's been awhile. Things have been going slow. We had a very rainy summer and have been busy with the kids. The older they get, the more our weekends and weeknights are occupied with activities. Not complaining, just explaining. :) Here's the finished garage.

You can see how much taller it is than the house. We will be connecting both structures with a roof that will provide covered parking and a walkway to the laundry room.

We used dual black shingles, walnut garage doors, and black goose neck lamps.

The paint color is Stone Lion and the trim color is White Dove.

We love the way it turned out. Once the back yard is done we will work on the driveway and improvements to the front of the house.

So close…..

 

This update is for you, Mom. :)

The garage is getting there. All we need is siding, paint,  the metal roof, and garage doors.

This is the side that will have the covered walkway connected to the house. We will park to the right of the garage.

This is the inside. It was just painted white today. When we got home Donnie was in the process of cleaning everything up.

Anyone need a broken grill?

That’s the side entry to the garage.

Here are a couple more views of the inside. It really is quite large. I told Donnie we can rent it out for functions.

So that’s where we are. The siding should happen on Monday. We have picked out the style of garage door, we just need to find a company that has the size.

In the trenches

Yesterday was the day to make the preparations for the power line to be buried. The guys needed to dig a trench from the power pole to our house and lay the conduit that will hold the new power line.

This is the view of the garage from our house.

When we got home, Donnie had to help the girls cross the trench to get to the house.

This is the view from the end of the “driveway”.

This is the street view of the garage. You can see there are a few windows and the trench is running behind it.

 

This is the backside of the garage…..also the neighbor side.

There were two times of excitement during the day….first when they hit a water line and second when they hit the cable. Ha, Ha. Obviously these things happen, but the good thing is they know how to fix it right away.

The little helpers helped Brian put a foot of dirt back over the conduit so that he could place the caution tape. The caution tape warns any future diggers that there’s a power line under there.

So tomorrow the electrician will be here to put a box on the wall and the power company will come and run the wire through the conduit.