Hey folks! I hope all is well with our friends and family who love to gather with us here at 10 Sutherland Avenue, Charleston South Carolina!

No one said it better than John Fogerty. “Come on the risin’ wind. We’re goin’ up around the bend!” Yes, we are headed around the bend. Or as our contractor says, “We’re headed into the fun stuff!” They both hit the nail on the head.

There is so much going on that to tell you the truth, I’m a little overwhelmed as to how to convey it all to you. I figure I’ll just dive in. Here we go!

I guess if I had to use one word to describe what is going on it would be”finishes”. Folks have been scraping and puttying and caulking from one end of the house to the other. There have been plumbers, electricians, HVAC crews, painters, wood workers, closet installers, cement crews and cabinet makers working diligently to get us ready for the final inspection. Yes, you heard me right, “FINAL INSPECTION!” The goal is to have us ready to move in by mid December. It is simply unbelievable. Marc Engelke is without a doubt a miracle worker. A very skilled and artful miracle worker at that.

Let’s get to the good part. I know what you like, pictures! And I have plenty of them. Let’s start with the stairs.

I cannot imagine how anyone could do a better job than the crew that is painting the entire house. As you can see from the pictures below, every surface is scraped, caulked, primed if necessary and painted or stained. It is a family owned company, and let me tell you, their momma raised them right.

For example, I sat on the floor going over some measurements last Sunday (yes, that’s right they work 7 days a week) and watched Jenny sitting on the stairs painstakingly puttying every little teeny tiny indentation on the kick boards. It took her hours. As you can see from the third picture, it was worth it.

The beams were installed a couple of weeks ago. If you see Marc somewhere around town. Please don’t mention the word “beams” around him. He might break out into a cold sweat. We were back and forth on whether to install them for weeks. It was something we wanted from the very beginning but as the character of the house evolved, we weren’t absolutely sure that they would work. I’m glad we decided to include them. They do a good job of breaking up the open floor plan.

Because we had to rip out so much of Sutherly’s poor little soul due to the horrid  smell, we have tried at every turn to reintroduce some of her original elements. The beams are an example of that. They are beams taken from underneath the house during the original demolition.

Did I mention we have electricity? Just in time for a little heat for the crew! NO -MO-T-POLE!!!

Remember the cabinets I told you about that we planned to install under the kitchen stairs? They were delivered this week. The trim crew will work on the finishes and then the paint crew will step in to work their magic. Stay tuned folks. I can’t wait to show you the finished product.

Moving right along, lets head upstairs. The bathroom vanities and the floor tile have both been installed. The pictures below are of the master bath. The counters are due to be installed on Monday.

Here’s a couple of photos of the hall bath.

One of my favorite parts so far is the master bedroom. I think the exposed rafters turned out nicely. The floors will be painted a soft gray and a ceiling fan should be installed shortly. the closet system was also installed this week. I’m running out of breath just typing it all!

Let’s head out to the backyard.

Remember this.

Well these days it’s looking more like this

The slab for the utility building. Or as I call it, “The Out House”. 🙂

Busy beavers building beautiful backyard. 🙂

Some of the items on the to do list for the next week is as follows:

• Install counter tops & appliances
• Install light & plumbing fixtures
• Frame & roof storage building

Oh yes, I almost forgot. This week’s induction into our “Lest We Forget” section. Poor Sutherly. I bet she wishes I would keep these photos to myself.

I guess I’ll just leave her there for now. I’ll try not to stay gone so long next time so there won’t be so much ground to cover. Thank you so much for reading. It brings me great joy to know that you are interested. And don’t forget, questions and comments are always welcomed.

Bye y’all!  You’ll be hearing from me soon.

Note: When I woke up one morning this week I walked into the living room and there sat David on the sofa with his Ipad. That in itself is not such a rare occurence. I asked him what he was doing? He said, “I’m re-reading your blog. I’m up to Back on the Road Again.  I like reading it” 🙂 Gee thanks, Davy!

Don’t forget to listen!