The new yard

We had a marathon weekend of house prep that spilled over into Monday, but we managed to get eveything ready for the final grading around the house to be done. Now that the backfill covers the basement the house no longer appears too tall from the outside. Much better proportions. A bonus is that we can now reach most of the house with ladders - much easier for putting up the insulation. The birch are yellowing quickly now that the nights are cooling down. It won't be long before our new yard will be covered with dropped leaves.


Here's the back yard. Unfortunately we've run out of time to get grass seed on the ground. Something to look forward to for next spring.

Now that the grade reaches the first floor we can use the front door for the first time. The entrance steps will be built into the deck walkway which will wrap around this side of the house. Ron also did some nice touch-up work on the driveway while he was at it.

We had the plumbers run the radiant floor tubing while they were here last week. The concrete guys are scheduled to pour the main- and top-story floors on Friday, which will cover the tubing. Until then we're on hold for interior work. This photo shows the kitchen with the base cabinet footprint blocked in with 2x4's. The sink will be centered below the wide window straight ahead.

Nice view out the kitchen window. This looks out towards our second lot that borders the one we're building on to the east. That means we won't have neighbors building a house right outside our window. At the moment all sides of the property are nicely buffered from any unexpected or unwanted development.