Window Art

I know I said we were done with our project but we learned that wasn't true. We have this window we really like in our living room but the sun likes to shine through it rather intensely. We couldn't come up with a way to shade it that we liked so we asked for some help from Gil Reynolds, a local artist. We threw a couple of ideas at him and he returned the favor with a couple of dozen more.

He made several trips out to measure, make a template and show us his design ideas. We visited his studio last weekend to see what was being created. Today he showed up with scaffolding.

The final design was put on six separate pieces of glass. I could never explain the entire process but he hand painted this and the paint is really ground glass. Each time he added color the pieces were fired in a kiln. The 'paint' then becomes part of the glass pane it's painted on. It took six or seven firings to get this completed. Here they are putting each piece in place.

The end result is a very nice picture that also dampens the sun, the original problem we wanted to overcome.

We really like the detail he put into our window art and we will enjoy it every day. That's one more project completed.

Done And Final

Susan was here today working on some minor details to the landscaping. We have to wait on the clay for the bocce ball court but it is ordered and on the way. We are declaring our home building and landscaping project done. This is the last post on the blog for our project. Thanks to all that worked on our new home. We met a lot of nice people and some were true craftsmen. Thanks to everyone who followed along on the blog. It was fun to put together and I enjoyed the comments posted or otherwise. Now even though we moved in last June, we still have to complete the task of unpacking boxes and getting everything where it belongs. That is proving to be one of the more difficult things to accomplish. Thanks again.............

Bird

It's not a bird bath anymore. This weekend I reassembled our fountain in the front of the house. I keep tweaking the water flow so it doesn't just splatter all the water out on the ground. It looks better now that it's all in one piece.

Still Finishing

Plants were planted today around the fountain. Soon we will finish putting the fountain together so it isn't just a big bird bath.

They have even made out transformer look good.

Susan is still finishing up the arbors and benches. We caught her sanding down the caulking in the nail holes. They had a reprieve from the rain today but it's supposed to start back up tomorrow.

Benched

Landscapers got rained on today but they stayed with it. Doug is connecting lights up. He says they will all be ready to go tomorrow.

I caught Susan building a bench under one of the arbors. She has two of these to do so I expect they will also be done tomorrow. Pavers are still being filled in but it also looks like that should be finished up tomorrow as well.

Friday's Here

Friday's here! Woohoo! Holes are disappearing in the pavers. There are still quite a few to fill in but this part of the walkway is done.

Arbors are done. Now they just need benches under them to sit on. There is now oyster shell in the bocce ball court and some of the caps are on top of the sides.

A couple of pictures to show how all of this is coming together. Top is the south end of the house going up to the front yard and bottom is the back yard. Lookin' good.

Some Finishing Touches

Now that they are close to being done, they are completing some of the finishing touches. Bark dust now goes up to the new approach to the storage shed.

They are also getting the last pieces cut and put in place for the pavers.

The rock retainer is done below the bocce ball court.

The raised beds are done with completed steps and walk ways. We're getting very close.