Appraisal done, mantel installed just in time

It's been a crazy morning .... well last few days actually. We furiously toted and unpacked and stuffed and cleaned and hung pictures and touched up paint and cleaned out mouse dropping out of sock drawers. All done just in time for Renee to come appraise the place for our refinance. She loved it, took pictures, looked at plans, and commented all the way through how beautiful it was. She even asked how much we paid for the renovation which hopefully will give her a context for where we need the appraisal to come in. Our cleaning lady comes this afternoon and she's going to faint to see how much we've gotten done since she was here two weeks ago. I told Jim this morning as he was installing the mantel (a piece of the tree we previously used as our old window ledge) and helping us hang the Avignon picture that the fireplace alone should bring at least 100K! More pictures later but enjoy what I'm looking at right now from my couch potato position. Judy made sure the mountains were visible too. There's something about that view that opens the soul....let's hope it did for Renee!

Stone fireplace installed!

What a difference a day makes! Our mason got here today - yes on a saturday - to do in the inside masonry in time for our appraisal on Monday. Jim will come back and install the hearth stone tomorrow so we can put on the faceplate and cut the mantel piece (from the window ledge we had in the old front room which was a big piece of tree) but I couldn't wait to post the photos and turn the thing on!! It couldn't be better. Frank, the mason, continues to rave about our fieldstone. He loves working with it and the finished product is 100% better than any cultured stone can look. Our goal with the colors was to bring the outside in -- and now we have literally brought it in. Can't wait to have you all visit. See you soon!

Chimney done, Fireplace installed

The scaffolding for the second chimney was dismantled before I left on my trip to Florida last week. It looks as wonderful as the first one of course, also built from the stones on our own property. They still need to come inside to do the stone around the fireplace but at least the fireplace is installed and working now. After the scaffolding was gone, the trucks came in to regrade the ground, level the piles. They can't seed for grass until spring now but it looks much much better than it did when I left. David's been hard at work while I was gone last week moving and storing bins and boxes downstairs. We've got more to do before the appraiser comes (cross your fingers that it comes in where it needs to for our loan) on Monday but things are looking great in here! We've been privy to some spectacular sunsets and it always reminds us why we did all this.