A New Pathway

With basic landscaping in place thanks to the Go2Guys (especially Floyd and Brad), my final summer of 2012 house project was to replace the pathway leading to the front door.

When the house was redesigned, the front door was shifted to the right and the existing asphalt pathway from the street dead ended in the middle of the porch. It looked kind of funny and I really didn't like the look of the asphalt.

After looking at a number of design ideas, I went with a mosaic flagstone walkway embedded in rock dust so that I can run the mower over the pathway. If, over time, the spaces between the rocks fill in with moss that would be great. So now I have some beautiful perennials planted in the front yard and a beautiful pathway leading to the house from the street and the driveway. Next year I'll focus on the landscaping for the side of the house with the entrance to the downstairs apartment and to planting a butterfly garden along the strip of land that separates my property from Acadia National Park.
The last project Matt did for me this year was to put in a kick plate for the front door.It matches the stain on the door pretty well and is much nicer to look at than the black house wrap material that is underneath!

Landscaping!

There is a little break in the action on the apartment renovation while Malcom and Matt take well-earned vacations. But in their wake the Go2Guys landscaping team lead by Floyd and Brad are on the scene and have already transformed the Zen garden area and the front lawn. So glad to have the two sentinel muga pines gone!I've got new lilacs, a rhododendron, some azaleas, and two beautiful hydrangea. I need to decide on how to lay out the new front walk and what to plant in the perennial bed that will border the sidewalk.

Moving right along

The work on the downstairs apartment is moving right along. The kitchen cabinets and the vanity base in the bathroom are in. Matt designed a really nice counter/bar/room divider to separate the kitchen from the living room and to provide a small space for eating. Malcom has been busy with trim work and Paul has been in and out a couple of times to work on putting in outlets and other electrical stuff.


I bought a new compact oven and fridge for the apartment and they were delivered yesterday. This week I will get the counter tops for the kitchen (just off the shelf stuff from Home Depot) and then start some painting. It is starting to look like a real apartment!

Parental Work Camp

My parents came to visit me for a couple of week in May/June for their annual "work camp" visit. We did a few fun things...like going to Asticou Gardens to see the spring flowers and eating ice cream at Blueberry Hill in Ellsworth...but mostly they worked on many of the projects around the house I haven't had time to get to.

It is so wonderful to come home now to finished trim painting and a front door that is stained exactly the color I wanted. My Dad got particularly ambitious and tore apart the downstairs garage, painted the walls with a water barrier, and rebuilt my storage shelves. He also helped me build a couple of bike racks out of PVC pipe. It's great! Everything is organized and cleaned and ready for a summer of fun. Thanks Mom and Dad!

The Work Never Ends ! June 2012

Well, it has been almost two years since my last post on the house renovation project. Last fall I added a deck to the house. The deck is located in a private "nook" on the backside of the house overlooking Acadia National Park and it gets great afternoon sun. My folks gave me their deck furniture so I have a great table with an umbrella and a nice lounge chair

This month Matt and Malcom are back to finish the downstairs apartment re-enclose the three season porch. It is coming along really well and should be done in another week or two.....just in time for me to spend my annual July "staycation" on doing the interior painting.

The apartment renovation includes installing a new bathroom, new kitchen cabinets (which I got for a great price because of a closeout at Home Depot), and new laminate flooring. By enclosing the porch again it adds some nice weather proof space to the apartment..but it is not heated so it won't work for the winter.

A great thing about having the apartment finished is that I'll finally be able to finish unpacking and will also have a nice space in the winter to use as a gym of sorts. My plan is to set up my indoor cycling trainer in the apartment for the winter so that it doesn't have to be sitting out in the middle of the living room in the main part of the house.

Week 43: More progress!

I took my annual "staycation" this week and worked on the house..unpacking and cleaning and puttery stuff. I certainly won't lack for things to do for the foreseeable future!

My friends, Lynn and Michael, came over to help me install a garage door and I took the opportunity to set up the grill my parent's sent me. We had a great cookout with burgers and brats and corn on the cob. Took me awhile to get the grill up and runnig but it works like a dream now!

My custom garage doors are in (for the street level garage) but the installers haven't called to schedule yet. I've got my blinds on order and at some point in the next few weeks a crew will show up to start on exterior trim painting.

 
 
 
 

Weeks 40-42: Home Sweet Home

Forty one weeks after the start of the renovation project I finally received my occupancy permit! The replacement windows look and work pretty good even though I'm not that fond of casement style windows. Bottom line is that I'm in the house and that's a good thing!

The project is far from over. There is still plenty of work to be done. The downstairs porch and apartment are yet to be started and my deck won't be started for at least another year. In the meantime I have lots of interior work to do in addition to unpacking and sorting my "stuff".

I really like the house and the neighborhood is great. Very quiet and lots of friendly folks. Feels great to have made it this far.