The Story of Cedar Ridge

It all starts with a hole in the ground...

After a few months of contract negotiations & finalizations with our contractor, mountains of financing forms and loan paperwork with the bank, thorough final material selections, house placement surveying, sticky permit situations & regulations, work has finally begun on our dream home.

These photos were taken nearly two-weeks ago, on Wednesday, July 21st. But with the limited time surrounding CHA preparations, we are just now able to scrape aside a little time to update everyone with our progress.

Of course, a journey like this begins with a hole in the ground.  The hole for our daylight basement to be exact.

David and I surely had eyes as big as saucers when we first pulled up to the top of the ridge to see all of this.  We were beginning to wonder if this day would ever arrive, and here it is!

 

These shots were taken from the "back" of the house, looking towards the front.   

The daylight portion of the basement will be facing towards the view.  This here at the right is the side of the house where my office will be located.  I think I'll be able to see a tiny piece of those Tennessee rolling hills while designing on the ol' iMac!

This is looking towards the driveway, where people will pull up to the house.

 

Seeing David & Ethan in "the hole" gives you a bit more perspective! 

The large area of dirt that was left untouched in the left-front of the house will be where the garage goes.

The very front line of the hole will be where the large front porch is located.

This is the basement as would be seen when pulling up the driveway.

Now, this photo may not look like much, but this right here is a newfound piece of heaven up on Cedar Ridge.  A little something that our contractor doctored up and prepared for us and exceeded our expectations.

This area wasn't always a tidy little clearing.  It was a wooded area with a 15 ft. deep 50+ year old sink hole that had large trees growing up and out of it.  Our contractor had the foresight to clear some of the area and fill-in the sink hole, which has provided us with one of the most picturesque sitting areas on the property.

Several large trees create a perfect semi-circle around the cleared area, reaching their branches skyward, making a perfectly dense canopy of shade.  In this hot southern heat, this heavily shaded spot has proven to be at least 15-degrees cooler than the rest of our yard.

The contractor has begun the preliminary work to inlay a set of stone steps, through this cluster of trees and up to the driveway and garage of the house.  David  I have already spent several hours dreaming big about how this little spot will be turned into a quiet sanctuary at the side of the house.  

It feels so good to finally begin, to see something taking shape.  Everything will be moving a long quite quickly, as our contractor expects to have us in the house by Halloween or Thanksgiving of this year.  Nonetheless, it is a whirlwind of a ride that we are happy to be on!

All blocked in...

These are photos that we took on Monday, August 1st, the morning after we had returned from Chicago at nearly midnight the night before!  We had to rush up to the lot because the plumber was there roughing in all of the water lines and I needed to pick out where the sink was going in my studio.

When we pulled up to the building site we were absolutely delighted to see that the basement's block walls had been completed while we were away!  The house is actually taking form and we can see how the perimeter walls will fit into the landscape!  The large narrow area at the front is going to be the front porch.  David had the foresight to dig out & block the walls of the front porch instead of having a slab underneath it so that we can use it as a storm shelter.  As many of you know, the tornados have been bad in this area of the country over the last few years.  It will be very secure with 12" thick walls, floor & ceiling.

 

In case the layout looks a bit backwards compared to floor plans I showed earlier this year, we ended up "reversing" the whole house so the garage is on the other side.  Speaking of garage, here David is, standing at the corner of it near the doors where we will pull in.

 

It appears that our carefully laid plans for house placement are paying off ten-fold.  The house is facing the view of the hills perfectly, just like we wanted.

 

Here is the left side of the house where the garage entrance will be.  

 

this is the view of the house from the new shaded clearing I spoke about in my last post.  You can't see much yet, but  thought it would be fun to document how the house "sprouts" into view from this vantage point.

 

This is the back of the house, where the plumber and his crew are busy at work laying the water lines. They are the last crew that needs to come in before they put the rest of the gravel down and pour the concrete floors for both the basement & garage.

Every little bit of progress gets us more and more excited for the final move-in day!
 
 
 
 

And the framing has begun...

David and I visited the building site today to go over a few things with the contractor and take a look at the progress.  Framing has officially begun at the basement level and it is so incredibly exciting to see some of the rooms begin to take shape.

 

Several bundles of lumber had been dropped off at the site between Friday and Monday so just about everything is there to complete the framing of the entire house by the end of the week.

There was an entire framing team assembled to keep the momentum going and complete the basement walls and joists by the end of the day today.

 

David and I have been saying all along that it would be very exciting when wood was actually present on site and being added to the house, and we were right.  This just marks the next step towards completion!

 

I just love this shot.  This is a common sight whenever we visit Cedar Ridge.  David touring the progress with our contractor.  And having the presence of all those joists ready to go into place provided the perfect foreground for this happy memory.

 

Here's a bird's eye view of the framing that was completed while we were there.  The angled "hallway" area you see towards the front is where the stairway to the basement will eventually go.  The room to the furthest right-back is my office/studio.  The center is David's pool table area.

 

The windows you can now see on the left belong to a small sitting area off the pool table room that we will be using as a gaming area for the kids.  The Wii and other gaming systems/equipment will be housed here and provide a separate area dedicated to these activities so I don't have to try to compete with all of it in my living room any longer!

 

It's a little difficult to see here, but there is an additional room to the left of the gaming area which will be our dedicated guest room.  

 

This photo shows two additional areas that you couldn't see in the previous photos.  A walk-in closet at the back of the guest room and a full bathroom off of the pool table room/gaming area.

 

You can also see that the garage floor has been poured and sealed.

 

Here's another shot of all the stacks of lumber patiently waiting to be used in the framing.  It is somewhat amazing to look at these boards now, knowing that they will be turned into our dream house.  They will make up the walls that will soon hold all of those memories that we will be making here in the future.  

 

the daylight basement exterior wall is almost completely lined with windows and french doors to allow lots of natural light to flood in and allow the entire area to feel like a natural additional story of the house, not just the "basement". 

 

Three sets of double windows along with a set of french doors flanked by two single windows.

These are the openings in the pool table area that will eventually house the french doors and two single windows.  You can get a little glimpse of what the view will be like through them as well.

 

This is the double window opening in my office/studio.  I'll be shopping around for a big comfy chair to set near them!  We will be moving a bit more of the dirt that you can currently see through the window to allow more of the view to be visible from here.

 

This shot was taken standing near the edge of the basement wall right next to my office/studio.  You can subsequently see the pool table area, the sitting area and the guest room.

It's so exciting to see all of this progress.  We have a scheduled meeting with the contractor later this week to hopefully do a full walk through of the framed house to make sure everything is as it should be before they start closing everything in with plywood.  David and I are thrilled with the idea of pulling up the driveway and actually seeing a "house" in place beyond the basement level the next time we visit!

The first floor...

David ran up to the building site today while I was working and took these shots.

 

Since yesterday they finished getting all of the first floor joists into place as well as all the plywood decking.

So David & Ethan got to be the very first Heady family members to stand in the future living room and see how the view is.

 

David says that he took this shot standing approximately where the front door will open into the house.  The large window wall in the living room would be the first room you see as you walk in, so a piece of the view will most likely be visible as soon as you walk in the front door.

Another shot of of the view standing from the first floor of the house.

 
 Here's how the house looks so far from the garage.  You can just barely see the hole in the sub-floor where the stairwell to the basement will eventually go.

All of this means that the basement level is officially framed, every wall in place.  I'm looking forward to going up there myself later this week so I can get an even better feel for my office as well as the rest of the house. 

 

Getting closer to home....

We checked in on the house and were so pleased that practically the entire first floor was framed, and a bit of work had been started on the second.  Things are definitely moving right along! 

This is the front of the house.  The cement blocked area is the circumference of the front porch that hasn't been decked over yet.  You can see the headers for the two front windows and the opening for the front door.  The dormer in Hannah's room on the second floor is also taking shape.

The garage is almost completely erect with just a few roof rafters to go.

This si the side of the house looking at the garage door openings.

Towards the back of the house looking at the garage again.

The next few photos are the back of the house.  You can see all the openings for the basement windows and doors more clearly then before.

The window wall in living room is now partially erect as well.

It is so surreal to see our drawings on paper become 3D.

Everything is definitely coming along nicely (and fast!).

I know we are just going to love this place when it's done!

Here's a shot inside the basement standing in the guest room looking towards the game room.

This was taken in my studio, looking down the length of the back wall of windows.

Here is the studio specifically.

The wall has been closed in now so I can get a better idea of what the room will really be like.

I got to explore the walk-in closet off of the studio as well which was very exciting.  It will definitely have plenty of storage space.

This is the game room, with the late afternoon sun pouring in.

This is the guest room window.

We have official "temporary' stairs to the first floor now.

So exciting!

I love the way they turn on the way up to the first floor.

As I was reaching the top of the stairs, I saw David deep in concentration as he was checking measurements. 

I love the angle at which I was able to take these shots with the camera on the floor.  It even captured the bits of sawdust on the floor.

They are in the beginning stages of framing out the fireplace in the living room.  We will be adding a ventless gas log system with a full-face stacked stone fireplace all the way up (20ft.) to the second story.  Now that we've *seen* the living room, I think it is going to look so great!

The windows in the living room have been partially framed out.

As I've stated before, the view is going to work out perfectly.

Opposite the windows in the living room is the entry foyer.

The music room is off to the right of the foyer.

This is looking into the kitchen/dining area from the living room.  They haven't finished with window/door openings in here yet so it's a bit dark.

This may not look like much, but this is the big walk-in pantry off the kitchen.

For my friends and family who have been in my current kitchen, you know how *desperately* I am looking forward to this little room!  It has been decided that it's getting a window after much debate.  I'm excited to see what it looks like one that feature has been added.

Another shot of the kitchen/pantry overall.

This is where the french doors will go off the master bedroom.

It will be such a pretty view to wake up to in the morning.

This is the corner of the master bedroom closet.  There will eventually be a window here as well.

 

This is the future shower.

 

and the tub will be going beside it, directly under the window opening you see.

 

The master bedroom has two windows besides the french doors.

 

The bed will be going right between the two of them eventually!

 

a shot of the rafters over the master.

 

again at a different angle.

As a parting shot, I will leave you with David, barely visible, studying the plans in our master bedroom as I am shooting photos around the outside of the house.  So fun, so exciting, SO can't wait to move in!
 
 
 
 
 
    

Second Story and Stone...

We checked in on the progress and despite some rain delays, they have completed many of the roof rafters and the final shape of the house is coming together more and more each day.

 

You can now see the beginning of the main roof line.

 

Here is the start of the peak at the garage end of the house.

 

I got a chance to walk around the second story of the hose for the first time since they have almost all of the floors completed.  This is looking down into the great room from there.

 

Another view of the great room.

 

The peak of the roof over the hallway area upstairs.

 

The corner of the house from Hannah's bedroom.

 

It won't be too much longer until we can no longer see the blue sky overhead!

 

The bonus space above the garage.

 

looking out towards the great room from the hallway upstairs.

 

Hannah's bedroom & dormer area, where she will eventually have a built-in window seat.

 

David going over everything with our contractor, Dwight, near the upstairs bathroom.

 

The view through the living room windows from the upstairs hall.

 

Looking down into the music room.

 

This is going to be the view from Owen's upstairs window.  The contractor agreed with us that he is going to have the best view in the entire house!

 

And lastly, another shot across the bonus area in the garage.

   

We went to pick out the stacked stone that will be used on both the foundation level of the house and the fireplace.  We decided to go with a manufactured stone rather than the real thing since the cost difference is very substantial for the quantity we need.  Besides which, the manufactured stone now is SO realistic looking, you can hardly notice the difference between it an the real thing.

 

Ed from Centurion Stone was the gentleman that our contractor likes to work with and who we met with there.  Here's David talking over all the details with him.

 

There were SO many more options than I was anticipating at the showroom.

 

Even though we had a very good idea of what we wanted, it was still hard to decide.

 

Little Ethan has done such a wonderful job of attending appointments and meetings with us now that school has started for the other two.

 

Here is the stone we ended up selecting.  It is a dry stacked Kentucky Ledge.  It looks very native to the area and the colors in it will go really well with the mossy green color we have selected for the siding.  I love that it looks like it has some age on it as well, which is the whole goal with Cedar Ridge.

 

This isn't the Kentucky Ledge specifically, but this is how the stone is being used along the bottom of the house.  The stone will be stacked approximately a foot to a foot and a half from the ground level with a stone water drip edge around the top.  Above that will be our vinyl siding, just like this example demonstrates.

 

Again, this isn't the Kentucky Ledge specifically, but we are also going to have two stone posts, like this one, created on either side of the end of our driveway entrance.

 

We are also in the beginning stages of making final choices for the kitchen.  We have selected the cabinet style & color.  

 

They are a simple mission style with a small peg joinery detail in each corner.  The wood we settled on was cherry stained this exact color.

 

The knobs are a antique oil-rubbed bronze, whcih we are using throughout the house.

 

We aren't using any glass in the doors like this example, but it gives you a better idea of how everything will look together.  The molding around the top of the cabinets will be a bit different on our finished product as well.

There are some special cabinets being added to the butler's pantry area off the kitchen.  The overhead cabinets there might possibly have some glass insets, we haven't officially decided about that area yet.  However, if we do opt for glass it will be this Antiquity style that looks old and rustic, which carries over well into the rest of the house.  We are meeting with a kitchen designer later and I will be sure to update all of you on what kinds of decisions we make there...

Up on a rooftop....

We make it a habit of taking all three kids up to the house on Fridays after school.  We were thrilled to pull up today and see all of this...

 

The house is just about completely *dried in* with all the sheeting in place.  It is very clear now what the entire exterior of the house is going to look like.

 

There was a last minute addition, suggested by our contractor.

We added a shed dormer to the space above the garage.  Originally this space was not going to have enough headroom to be usable, so we hadn't thought much of it other than storage.  Our contractor had the foresight to drop the ceiling in the garage by a foot, which in turn allows enough headroom in the bonus space above.  By adding the dormer now rather than later, we saved thousands of dollars.  We won't be finishing out the space now, but all it will need is a little sheetrock and flooring to complete the room at a later date.

 

This is the view of the house now from our little clearing in the woods.

They are gradually making their way down the back of the house, adding window openings & headers.

 

The great room window wall is taking more shape as well.  You can see the second row of windows framed out, with the third row in progress.

 

The roof rafters are now in place over the master bedroom as well.

 

Things are definitely coming along nicely!

Right before we arrived, a delivery truck had delivered these three pallets of shingles and roofing supplies so the crew can get a start on the roof covering on Monday.

I love, LOVE, love the next few shots.  This one is of the boys climbing a gravel pile next to the house, pausing for a moment to look out over the hills.

Here's David, deep in thought, checking over the house.

We are just thrilled with the way everything is shaping up.  I can hardly wait to go up there again in the next few days to check out the progress!

Progress Report

We spent some time up at the building site on Sunday, August 22nd, and took these photos while we were there.

 

The roofers were actually there on a Sunday (can you believe it????) in the beginning stages of the roofing process.  

 

They had all of the tar paper rolled out and attached and had packages of the shingles laid along the ridge ready to be easily accessible.

 

The window wall in the living room got the remainder of its headers and is just about complete.

The temporary stairs to the second story of the house had now been added.

It is so nice to have easy access to look around at the progress up there now.

 

Definitely a major milestone since the kids could now come upstairs to check out their bedrooms for the very first time.

 

This is looking towards the boys bedrooms from the upstairs landing.

 

And looking out into the great room towards the window wall.

 

Here's Owen getting his first peek at his new room.  He shares a teeny tiny bedroom with Ethan right now, so he is very much looking forward to having his own space.

 

Here's Hannah in her room.  She is very excited about having a window seat along with a bigger closet to keep all of her things organized.  She has even been sketching out designs for a special vanity she would like in her room!

   

Here's Ethan in his room.  He is most looking forward to having his Thomas the Train table in his bedroom with easy access so he can play with it every day!

 

Hannah actually took this shot of Owen & Ethan together in front of Ethan's future window.  SO cute!

 

This is inside the bonus space we were able to add above the garage.  

 

The dormer area turned out even better than we expected.

This weekend we also managed to find the perfect "rustic" ceiling fan for the great room.  Since the room has such high ceilings, air circulation will be very important.  

  
We'll be getting two of these to flank either side of the fireplace.  I love how chunky the fan blades are and that they are carved from real wood.  The oil-rubbed bronze color of the center component also coordinates with many other aspects of the house.

Dirt Work

A quick check in at the building site on Wednesday met us with a completely shingled roof, ready for whatever weather comes our way!

 

There was also heavy equipment on site in the beginning stages of pushing all of the dirt back in on the basement since the cement is cured.

 

I am sure the next time we visit, the piles of dirt long the front of the hose will be gone and we will be able to walk in through the front door!  Should prove to be very exciting!

 

Perhaps I will even begin to be able to envision how I want the landscaping along the front to turn out!

The back of the house looks pretty similar to Sunday's visit, except the shingled roof on the back is now visible.

 

They finally finished the window and door opening in the kitchen (to the right of the window wall in the great room).

 

The wide opening is for french doors that will lead out onto our screen porch.  And beside that is the opening for the window that will go over the kitchen sink.

 
Here's David & Ethan checking out the progress on those openings from the inside of the house.

 

They also finished the opening for the window in the pantry.

 

It ought to let a lot of natural light into the space.

 
The kitchen window is nice and big and spacious, just as I have always dreamed of.

 

I'll have a fantastic view to get me through the drudgery of doing dishes for a family of five on a daily basis!

 

I have special plans for this window and have given the contractor very specific specifications.  The window sill will be even with the countertop.  The countertop will be cut to fit perfectly INTO the windowsill, creating a nice smooth, easy to clean area for small post of herbs and such.  Very excited about that.  I've hung onto this catalog cover since 2006 in the hopes that ONE day I would be able to have something like it in my own home.

 
You're probably wondering what this is.  Little 4 year old Ethan wanted to take his own pictures around the house while we were there, so I let him have at it.  Most of the shots were blurry & out of focus, but a couple of them were cool abstract shots that I thought I would share for fun!

 

Dining Room Dreams

These photos were taken on during our weekly Friday check-in with the kids after school. 

The framers finished all the little tasks that were left to do for their portion of the job.  The house was completely wrapped in the house wrap.  They trimmed and tucked almost all of the windows in so the finished product is a bit more visible.

The only windows they haven't trimmed and tucked are the large openings on either side of the front door.  They will be pouring cement on the front porch soon and they didn't want it splattering into the house too much.

 
 The back of the house looks so nice and neat with all of the house wrap completed.

A wonderful glow surrounded everything since the sun was getting ready to set while we were there.

It gave us a good feel for how warm & inviting the great room will be.  Can hardly wait to sit in there on a piece of furniture.

They finished framing the fireplace bump out all the way up to the ceiling so we could begin to visualize it in it's entirety. 

 

They also dug the trench for the footer to be poured for the screen porch on the back of the house.  This is off the opening at the end of the dining area.

 

Speaking of dining area, we ordered the new dining room set that will be gracing the space.  The Tuscana table from Pottery Barn.  We chose different seating than what the photo depicts above, but you get the general idea.  I loved this photo from their catalog so much, We are also getting the light fixture hanging above it.  The letters are removable and we will be opting to leave them off.  I didn't order the shades since I'm more of a simple gal, but if I feel like it needs them after the fixture is hung in place, I just may go back to get them!