Dare I Mention....

 ....that I changed the floor plan a wee bit more?

Not to worry though, it's not drastic. This came about because Hal and I discussed last night ways to make the home more uniquely our own (yes, I know we're building it, how more our own can we get?) What we mean is not just a bunch of rooms with painted drywall. So we had talked about an accent wall of knotty pine or some other wood and this morning decided the best wall would be the one in the living room opposite the kitchen. But the way the plan was designed that wall would include the door into the master bedroom suite and I felt it would look odd, so I bumped out the door to put it in-line with the dining room wall instead. Now the living room wall ends neatly at that little 1 foot deep side wall making it more symmetrical. I think  it will look pretty nice.

In this photo, the black wall with door is where it was, and the white wall and door is where it now is planned.

And this is kind of how it would look.

I think it will look rather cool.

Even More Trees

I emailed the Alcona Conservation District over the weekend with another tree order. Hal decided he wants to plant evergreens along the front of the property as w ell  as a couple lines of trees closer to the house. No, they won't make an effective windbreak in our lifetime, but in 10 years they may  help a little, if nothing else they will look nice.

So, I ordered:

Balsam Fir - 25 

Norway Spruce - 100 

White Pine - 200

May 8 is the pickup day for these and the other order. Hal is going to use the plow to break up the ground to make planting easier but still, it will be hours and hours of planting fun!

And Yet More Subfloor

Last week we added another row of tension bracing.

I threw my back out right before the end when I bent over to pick up an air hose. That was 4 days ago, I'm definitely better, it wasn't as bad as it can get. Yesterday Hal and I installed another 5.5 sheets of OSB subfloor. We needed to have the propane  heater on because it was cold and windy outside. We got the interior up to a balmy 45 degrees.

The subfloor now goes right up to the new scuttle hole he made which will be in the laundry room floor.

He hopes to get another6 or 7 boards trimmed and fitted today so we can install them tomorrow.

TREES! and Shrubs

This year I ordered a bunch of plants from the Alcona Conservation District. Usually I buy windbreak seedlings and the occasional small plant like hardy geraniums from them, but with plans of moving to the new house this fall I went a little wild and got a few things other than just evergreens.

Shrubs:

5 Ninebark - a hardy native shrub with tiny white flowers

5 Common Lilac - though I already have a couple elsewhere on the property, a few more wouldn't hurt

5 Saskatoon Serviceberry - a medium height (8-10') shrub with white flowers and edible purple berries

5 American Mountain Ash - a native MI tree with tiny white flowers and orange berries

10 Winterberry Holly - likes set soil and we have a lot of that

10 Gray Dogwood - I like dogwood, I hope they can withstand the winters, most dogwoods are Zone 5 and up, we're in Zone 4 despite what the re-drawn zone map says. This one is a shrubbier type with tiny white flowers and the Morton Arboretum says Zone 3 so I should be good.

The evergreens I'm getting are 5 black spruce and 25 Norway spruce to replace dead trees in the windbreak. we really need to trench and drain the north side to keep these trees from drowning like the previous ones. I even lost balsams there and they like it wet.

The other day Hal and I discussed a second windbreak closer to the house. Now starting with seedlings won't it will be a couple decades before these trees have much height but what the heck, got to start sometime even if we aren't around anymore to see it. 

I ordered 50 Black Hills Spruce from the Arbor Day Foundation yesterday, they are one of the faster growing evergreens and don't mind the wetter soil we have. I don't know if it's the same as the 5 I ordered from the conservation district, but I guess I'll find out when they come in. These 50 new seedlings will  be in 2 staggered rows on the opposite side of the driveway from the house. 

I also bought 50 tulip tree seedlings from them, I always liked those and why not have 50? At least a few ought to survive, now I just have to figure out where to put them and the 3 American hazelnut that I also bought. Hal says those never survive up here, I guess we'll see. Those are taller than seedlings, 2 or 3 years old so 2-3 feet tall.

I have my work cut out for me!

YES, this MUST Be the Final Floor Plan!

So as anyone knows who follows this blog, my floor plan for our new  home has changed many times. I did it again in February. Right below is the new one. I pushed the wall to the left of the dining table out a foot, then I was able to I flip the walk-in closet with the laundry room. The laundry room became bigger and you no longer have to walk through the closet to access it from the master bedroom.

Another advantage it allowed me to move the guest room closet up, increasing it's size to be equivalent with the other small bedroom. There was extra length in the guest bath that wasn't needed and as the walk-in closet is smaller now, the door into the guest bath also shifted, a small hallway had to be created to accommodate the door.

Below is the January plan. The smaller guest room, walk-thru from the laundry into the closet and excess space in the guest bath always bugged me. Now it doesn't'

The photo below shows the old walls in white and the changed walls in black.

Since I did this the only changes has been fairly innocuous, an inch here or there to smooth things out. I am rather pleased (yet again.)