The joy of watching work

The Deyo family crest has a moto "Lascivite de Joux" which is translated as "The gaiety of the house of joy".  How accurate this was to express the emotions of visiting DeJoux house just before Christmas.   The joy of seeing real work taking place for the first time in many,  many months.   It truly is a joy to see progress and to see lots of work happening on lots of different fronts.    The joy is back and thanks to Neil and his guys for bringing this in time for Christmas.   

So, as a quick update, we are pushing forward to get the insulation in and the walls closed up so the plasterers can start work in January.  Electrician and plumber are finishing off small changes to the roughing.  Framing is complete and just some door frames and some duct work to frame in.   That is all meant to finish this week.  Next week we plan to insulate and then we can start sheet rocking and plastering.


Neil has finished the patching of the floor and is working on a few new saddles, including on the Mow door.   He has also put a concrete base for the stone slab that will act as a step below the new door in the center hall.  This will be made of a local quartz stone that can be seen all around the property.

Neil working on the Mow Door saddle

Quartz stone door step inside and outside the new door

For the first time in a long time we saw the door/window without the plywood in place and it looked fantastic.  Although there was a pile of debris outside the house you get a sense of what the view will be like from the center hall.   You get a great view of the maple tree and the lake.

View from the new door (with construction debris)

All of the old beams are now covered in Tyvec to protect them when we do the insulation.  Neil even built a platform so we can easily walk around above the master bedroom and the insulators can do the insulation easily.  (It's a bit like a fashion runway above the bedroom...I'm tempted to keep it!).

The Fashion runway

Ah, so this is what a real working job-site looks like.

Daniel spent part of the day designing the seat that will be in the dining room/center hall next to the new door.  Because of the plumbing chase we have to build out that wall a bit and we have decided to put a small seat under the window.   We are going to use the old wainscot wood that is a single piece of over 30 inches wide for the seat.   The front of the seat will also be paneled with the original wainscot from the kitchen.  No doubt this seat will be much loved as it will provide easy access to sunny spot for the elderly pussy cats. 

Designing

Corner detail

Window seat

While Daniel was planning the seat, I checked out the bathroom shower.  It's going to be located right in front of one of the middle dormer windows.  I had not been there since they had built the step up to accommodate the plumbing for the bath tub.  The extra step gives you an amazing view while taking a shower. 

The view while showering

Master bath window

All in all a lot of progress and excitement.  I can't wait to return after the holidays.  OK, not much will have been done, but I can once again enjoy everything that is great about this house.    Now, lets get the insulation and the plastering done and we can start believing it's a house again.