Home Sweet Home - March 2011

The evolution of the Lakeview Dream was finally completed on March 15, 2011.  We have been living in the house since February 23, but we had to be up early every morning as workers were still completing work inside the house and we needed to be out of the way.  Well, the completed (we still need landscaping and grass) project looks like this:

I don't think I have ever shown the picture of the wood burning stove we have in the living room upstairs.  We have used the stove numerous times since moving in late February.  It will really heat up the upstairs when we get the fire going real strong.

The next two photos are the completed stair railing in the upstairs living room and the staircase down to the basement.

We had some nice weather in late February and I needed to be out of the house, they were not generating on the river, so it was time to catch some trout.  The fishing has been great and I get a limit almost everytime I go out.

Well , a house completed is an open house.  We got to visit with all the kids and grandkids during the first two weeks in March.  Laura and her family were here to help move and Tom (the Dr.) worked three days at Baxter Hospital in the ER.  Brent's family came during their spring break and Ann flew in for a few days during her spring break.  We had a great visit and everyone enjoyed their stay at the house.  A few favorite pics during the visits are included below.

Pictured above is Melissa  (Brent's wife) and their two kids, Hannah (6) and Jake (4).  The second picture is the trophy trout Jake caught on the White River.  We had a great afternoon with the kids catching trout.  Hannah and Jake each caught 3 or 4 trout, Jake even got a nice Brown Trout, but we had to release it since it was under 24 inches long. 

This is Laura and her two kids, Clara (3) and William (17 Mos).  They had a good time at the playground while everyone else was fishing and Tom was working at the hospital.

Not to be outdone by her cousins, Clara was able to land a nice rainbow before we had to leave the river and head home for lunch.

Well, one last picture of the house.  One of the main rooms of the house is Steph's Sewing Room and it is everything she has dreamed of having.  She is busy making a few specialty quilts for family friends and lots of baby blankets for the Prayer Shawl Ministry at our church.

Well that's it for now.  The Dream is open for business and we are ready to receive guests.  If you need a few days of fishing (trout, bass, crappie,etc), sightseeing,  boating, including water skiing and jet skiing then give me a call and get your reservation.  We would love to see and visit with all our friends and family.  The WELCOME MAT is out so come on down!!!

February 2011 Update #2 - The February 9 Snow Storm

Since my last post was mostly about the weather delays we are experiencing I thought I would just show you the results of the latest delay to pass through the Ozarks.  It started snowing about 4am this morning and finally stopped around 4 pm this afternoon.  We have around 8 inches of the fluffy, white stuff and the temps are falling.  This picture is looking from the back of the Ozark Dream down toward the boat docks.  The shoreline is covered with the white stuff that is delaying my moving day!!!

We have not had a recent photo of Beau so thought I would sneek one in today.  He just had a fresh grooming yesterday and is not real pleased with the snow and cold weather.  This should give you a fairly good idea of the snow depth around the house.

Not many external changes to the house since our last update, but we do have most of the soffits and trim work completed around the house.  We are still waiting on warm weather to complete the railings on the deck.  Lowe's is waiting for their supply truck to arrive with a fresh batch of support columns and spindles.

Wish we were in the house and could build a big fire in the wood stove.  I would much rather have the wood burning than covered in snow.

My new snow plow!  Don't you just love "GLOBAL WARMING"!

I've shown enough of the back so I guess I need a picture of the front.  We've had enough of this stuff, but the house sure looks like a mountain chateau in Vail with all the snow!

This photo is a snow covered Jims Road looking west from the Ozark Dream.  Well, that's it for now.  I have shoveled snow at our rent house and at Mom & Dad's all afternoon and I'm tired and sore.  Stay tuned for the next update when the temp is above 50 degrees and concrete is poured.

February 2011 Update #1 - Will It Ever Stop Snowing!!!

The "Two Weeks" bug has finally struck at the Ozark Dream.  We can't blame the builder since Ole Man Winter has taken over the final stages of completing the house.  As I sit at the computer updating the blog today we are getting another round of snow, hopefully the last for awhile.  We are forecast to get only 4 to 6 inches, but last week we were forecast for only a light dusting of 1 to 2 inches and we got 6 inches.  It is February 9th and we still need warm weather to complete concrete work on our front porch and the driveway.  Despite the cold weather we have progress to report on the inside so let the update begin:

We had a special treat on January 24 as Brent stopped to check on his Grandfather after his knee surgery and personally wish him a happy birthday.  He also wanted to see how the Ozark Dream was progressing since he is planning to visit in Mid-March.  Thanks for the visit Brent!!

Now, on to the house updates.  Well, we did get a little concrete work completed before the snow and cold weather took over in late January/early February.  This is the back patio and walk-way from the back door to the shop door.  Steph selected this while I was in Waco/College Station helping Ann and Jared relocate.

I don't think we will ever finish the kitchen.  The tile blacksplash is the latest edition. 

Our Master Shower is now complete, except for the shower door. 

We now have a nearly complete stair railing in the family room and a handrail down to the basement.  As soon as the snow lets up we will get the rest of the parts needed to finish the hand rail down the right side of the stairs to the basement.  The spindles down the staircase will match the spindles in the family room.

The Queen's Throne Room, sorry the sewing room, is starting to take shape.  Steph has two ceiling fans and the slat boards for displaying her sewing utencils has been installed.

This is the chandelier in the dining room.

This is the chandelier in the entry way.

This is the chandelier for the Breakfast Room.  All three chandeliers are from the same "family" of lights.

The downstairs Master Bath is ready for use. The downstairs will be ready (finished) before the upstairs due to waiting on the concrete work and then finishing the wood floors.

Well, I wish I could say the we are open for business, but it looks like two more weeks.  We are scheduled to visit Springfield the week of February 16 to take care of Clara and William while Laura and Tom visit Vail, Colorado.  Hopefully, we will begin to experience"serious" moving plans as the weather takes a turn for  warmer in the next "TWO WEEKS".

January 2011 Update #3 - Door, Floors, Faucets, and Winter

The move-in date of end of January/Early February continues to remain on track.  We had electrical, tile, finishing, central vac, and security in the last couple of days.  Many of the purchased lights and fans are now up, the central vac unit is ready to go, grouting of the downstairs and the kick-plates in the kitchen and baths are complete.  Trim work and painting continues in many of the rooms.  Next week (January 24th) we will get appliances, downstairs vanity, laundry room, and continue work on inside trim and outside soffits.  Now for pics of the of the above subject matter:

A peaceful scene around sunset after the light snow on January 20, 2011.  This picture is looking at the lake from the deck.  It gets cold in a hurry when the sun goes down and the yard is covered with snow.

Welcome back to the inside of the house.  This is a picture from near the door to the deck looking back to the front entrance.  Well, how do you like the floors?  This is the first coat of stain.  They will come in and buff the floors once more and then apply a polyurethane finish to really shine them.  We think they look great.

A view of the family room with the semi-finished floors.  The darker stained wood is the heart-cut material and the lighter is the more traditional hickory floor.

Dining Room

Master Bedroom.  We used the same stain in all rooms, but the lighting and amount of heart-cut can make the floors look different.

Sewing Room

Office

Special order doors for office and sewing room.  Notice they are the same grill pattern as the windows. Pretty neat don't you think?  The doors will be painted white.

This is the faucet in the Master Bath.  Each sink will have this style faucet.

Last photo, this is the faucet for the sink in the kitchen.  Well we have had an exciting week of change at the house and helping my Dad through knee replacement surgery.  He is home and mending and now I get to go to Waco/College Station to practice my moving skills as Ann and Jared leave for their new home in College Station.  Jared got a nice promotion and Ann gets a brand new house to decorate.  Hopefully she will update her blog with her new home pictures.  Well, we hope to have a lot of new items to report at the next posting so stay tuned.  We should be open for business (receiving guests) by March 1 so make your reservations early.  

Update #2 January 2011 - Cabinets, Vanities, and Granite

Well, let's start this posting with perhaps one of our best bargins for the house.  This is a very exotic piece of granite that the supplier had left over from another job and it just fit the vanity in our master bath.  Remember that the master bath has a different tile than the rest of the upstairs and it was chosen to compliment this special piece of granite.  The vanity is made from hickory, just like the floors, and was custom made by a very gifted and talented cabinet maker in Mountain Home.  The company has been around for 30+ years and he has recently finished an entertainment center and kitchen for our daughter in Springfield, Mo.  We will be doing the kitchen, sewing bathroom, laundry room, downstair bathroom, small kitchen downstairs, and an entertainment center in the downstairs family room. 

Staying with the granite work, this is our selection for the kitchen.  The granite is called Ornamental and it is a mixture of brown and gray spots on a white background.  It is very complimentary to the floor tile and the cabinets. 

This is the raised bar behind the sink.  This is some of the cabinet work I mentioned earlier.

This is the long counter with the stove and the upper cabinet for the microwave (see opening at left ).  This gives you a good view of the tile, cabinets, and a little of the granite in the kitchen.

This is the small counter with the opening for the ice maker and the slot for the refrig at the far right.

This is the vanity in the sewing room bathroom.  The counter top will be white  marble.

These three pictures are the buffet and china that Steph designed and our cabinet maker was able to produce.  The kitchen is a dream and is everything we hoped it would be.  We are very pleased with the

quality of the work by Staley and Sons Cabinets shop.  Well this will get to the latest stage of the house.  We will update on the sealing and staining of the wood floors very soon.  The week of January 17 will be busy as we get all outside metal installed, connecting water to the house, install all plumbing, lighting, ceiling fans, and tile for the downstairs family room.  We needed to have extra heat in the house for the wood floor work so the geothermal unit was turned on to help dry the floors.  I think we are going to be very happy with the geothermal system as it was able to warm the house to the low 70's even though we have not completed sealing the house from the outside.  Stay tuned for another update very soon.

Happy New Year 2011 - Update on Floor, Ceilings, and Outside

Well the new year is here and we received a little dose of winter.  This is a picture looking out to the northwest of the back of the house.  Our land runs down to the tree line and that's the lake in the upper right corner of the picture.  The trees are virtually bare of leaves and we can see completely through the woods.

Moving to the inside of the house, the wood ceiling in the upstairs family room is finally complete.  The work was more involved than originally expected, but Pat and Niles stayed with it and the result is outstanding, in our opinion.  The wood is pine and the stain is a light cherry.

Well, let's start showing off the floors since we have the ceiling all finished.  This is the master bedroom with the hickory floor installed.  Installation is just step 1 in a multi step process.  The next step is to sand, then stain and seal, a coat of polymer, and then a final polyurethane coat right before we move into the house.  The hickory was grown,  milled, and made into flooring all in the state of Arkansas.

Continuing with the floor theme, this is Steph's sewing room.  Like the master, this is just the installation phase.  Notice the light and dark shades in the wood.  We have selected a mixture of hickory heartcut (the darker pieces) and regular grade hickory (the lighter material) to give different shading when stained.

This is the family room with the flooring and the wood burning stove  under the wrapping on the brick hearth.  We have peeked at the stove and it is as pretty as the picture (see earlier posting for website).  We have kept it covered to avoid any accidental damage with all the work on the floors and ceilings.  We hope to unwrap it soon and season it with a big fire while the nights are still cold.

Another picture of the wood floor in the family room and my office.

Back outside, a very important part of the house was recently completed.  We now have a state approved septic system.  We have a large holding tank in the ground behind the house and it drains to the septic system in the above picture.  We have 6 lines and a water curtain to divert run off from the house and driveway.  Well that's it for Update #1 for 2011.  The exciting news is we are on track to begin moving-in by the end of January.  Keep your fingers crossed all goes well and on schedule from now until the end of the month.