July 13, 2009, More about the back porch and gazebo area

Mom prompted this publication of the blog by asking me for some details and pictures of our back porch and gazebo area. Thanks Mom, for your interest, which has gotten me to do some more of the posting that I need to do.

This picture shows the whole back porch, hallway, and gazebo. The back porch is about 15 ft X 19 ft. The hall way is 5 ft by 10 ft and the gazebo is octagonal and 14 ft across at any point. It is all totally screened in, and has two ceiling fans, plus lights.

This is another view of that whole area. You can see Denis inside the porch, assembling some new patio furniture we bought. No pictures of that yet. In the foreground is our bonfire kettle which we use often. It was a housewarming present brought to us six years ago by brother Walter and we really appreciate it.

This is a close up of the gazebo so you can see the shape of it better. I got the idea for a gazebo from a magazine article. Theirs was not attached to a screened in porch but sat at the end of a deck. I like ours better.

Close up of back porch and gazebo. The gazebo is on the west end of the house. The porch faces north.

In this close up of the back porch, you can see into it better. There are French doors leading into the house and the double windows are above the kitchen sink.

This view taken from inside the porch shows the French doors and windows more clearly. The inside and outside of the back porch and gazebo are wrapped in locally grown and milled cedar.

When I took this picture I was standing in the hallway, shooting toward the screen door intrance to the back porch. We plan to treat the cement floor with an acid stain, but that's one of the projects on the back burner.

This is the entrance to the back porch from the patio area. I was standing in the mud room when I took this shot. The walkway to the back porch from the mud room is not covered. Some days that seems like a mistake, but mostly it's ok.

The following picture is looking into the gazebo from the back porch.

And here's a closeup of the gazebo, which is where we do our sunset watching. We enjoy it so much and every time we are there we can't help but say "Isn't this nice. Aren't we lucky."

The black blob on the floor is Nigel's hair. This is where I do most of the dog grooming.

Continuation into 2009

Well, finally I'm getting back to the blog to post some pictures as the house nears completion. We lost a lot of time in January due to the ice storm that robbed us of power for 12 days. Now we are doing the finishing steps ourselves, but also waiting on a plumber to come back and hook up all the water.

This is a picture of the nook off the kitchen where there will be a wood burning stove. That gray looking area is cement board that we will cover with some type of decorative stone. The color of the wall is not very true in this picture or the following ones. For some reason it's really hard to capture the true color. I call it Toasted Nutmeg but the paint company calls it Diablo. The beam is a dark buff color called Natural Ginger Root and the living room walls are a paler buff color called Honey Sand.


These are the French Doors leading to the patio. We had to have the hardware and hinges replaced because we ignorantly order them without specifying the hardware and they sent the brass kind. That was another unanticipated expense.

This is another view of the nook where the stove will sit. Now it's being used as a tool storage area.


In this view of the island you can see that we now have the countertops installed. It is also being used as a tool storage area. The living room walls in the distance look yellow but they are not. I guess the sunlight coming in makes them look that way.



This is another view of the island, showing the bead board on the back side, or is it considered the front? I'm not sure, but regardless, I sure like it. The beams and columns are not just decorative. They are replacing load bearing walls that were in the original house.

Here is Denis, checking out his installation of the microwave and oven. He has proven to be quite skilled in many areas since he took over the job from the contractor.

One of the boo boos that he had to fix is pictured below. That pipe coming down from the ceiling with insulation in it is the vent pipe for the vent hood above the gas stove. Notice that it does NOT meet up with the square hole beneath it. They are supposed to be lined up exactly but the contractor put the pipe in the ceiling before the stove was installed and hence the problem.

So, Denis had to widen the hole in the ceiling and add a special jointed pipe to make them meet up.

In this closeup you can see that the upper part of the pipe is slightly angled.

And here is the hole, all nicely closed up. This will be hidden by the vent pipe cover and crown molding .