We have stair! bromeliads and the final second story wall

Jerry sent pictures from his iphone today of:

1. The stairs (in progress) that will lead from the downstairs patio to the upstairs terrace

2. The final second story wall to be framed

3. His treasure trove of bromeliads that he acquire Tuesday night at the Clearwater Bromeliad Society monthly meeting!!!!

We ascend to the heavens...okay just to the second floor

Met with John and Emil at the house. Emil had built a scaffolding so jerry and I could climb up to the second floor for the first time. It was really exciting. They’ve been doing framing inside so we can see our bedrooms, bathroom, and closet. Walls are going up around the upstairs lounge. Views are great. Space is great. Love it, love it. Roofers were there doing the “stuff” that will go under the tile.

Captions from top down:

Framing second floor wall for "lounge"...roof section will follow shortly

Emil standing in the door to "jerry's closet"

View out of Jerry's bedroom door onto the covered terrace.

Jerry and John relaxing in our "lounge"

Those will be concrete stairs from 2nd floor terrace to ground floor

My room...the arched window will be stained glass (roseate spoonbill)

Jerry and John contemplating many lazy afternoons on the covered terrace.

Team Meeting

John, Emil, Jerry and I met with Dan WElls, the LED lighting consultant the other day to discuss Dan's first concept plan for lighting in the house. Pretty excited both about the visual effects and ambience as well as the ultimate savings in energy and money. Its amazing how much less energy these lights use and how much less heat they give off (saving on air conditioning expense...a BIG expense here in Florida). Gave feedback. Will review plans more and give final feedback to Dan to prepare next level of plans. here we are getting ready to work:

John is on left, Dan Wells in center, and Emil on the right.

Where Old Meets New

Photos of the second where the new first floor joists abut the old second floor framing. Evidence of a past fire (that's the second fire we've found evidence for) and indications of past attempts to level the upper level floor (somewhat unsuccessfully). Fortunately this old wall and framing is going...as a new doorway will be framed in that location.

Thinking Ahead.

We had a powwow brunch this morning at Fresko’s. Talked windows, slanting floors, stair treads, lighting, air conditioning etc. Lots of decisions coming up. We had a good rain this morning…but not enough to even dent the drought here. We’re now in the weird position of loving and hating any rain we get…want to get the roof finished and the windows on before we get really excited about increased rain. But the trees are thankful.

Welcome Home!

We used Welcome Home, Inc to help unpack mom into her new apt at the Fountains. Oh my gosh…what a godsend. Two pleasant, hardworking, organized women showed up on time to unpack, clean, and organize all of mom’s stuff. They did a small one bedroom apt with a teeny kitchen in 3 hours. 3 hours!!!! AND they took away all the boxes, packing paper, and trash. What a godsend! We will be using them when we move down for sure!

In the Heights!

Roof Trusses are up over most of the addition. Here are a few cool photos of the crane (and the men) in action.

We have Roof (truss)!