Lots and lots of progress has been made over the last two weeks.  Here’s the state of the house as of this weekend.

The door will be removed and reused and a window will go here.  This was used when the home was duplexed years back.

Framing is almost completed.  The house is wrapped.  Next up is the installation of the windows and the roof.  One thing we are really happy about is that our house looks exactly the same from the front. All you can really see from their is one of the gables. Contextually it still fits in the neighborhood.

The entry is pretty much the same, except now you can see all the way out to the back.  The amount of light that has been created is tremendous.  Our house was always a little dark in areas.  That will no longer be the case.

This is the music room.  It used to be where we watched TV.  Now, thanks to our friend Kevin who moved to NYC, we will have a baby grand piano here. Addison and I will be taking piano lessons – something I’m really excited about.

This is the view to the dining room and to the kitchen. There are now two ways to enter and exit the kitchen.  No more traffic jams during entertaining.

This is the second entrance we created.  It brings in a lot of light and exposes the window that was concealed in the pantry.  We are moving the original butler’s pantry to this side.  And the closet behind the butler’s pantry will be our walk in pantry.

This is the kitchen towards the porch from the sink wall.  We will have a 10′ island for ample seating.  Chez Jonathan will now have an audience to watch him create many of his masterpieces.

This is  about where the island will sit.  To the right is the lounge area where we’ll have a couch and two chairs and a TV.

This is the view from the lounge looking towards the kitchen.  The windows came in this week and will be hung shortly.  They are sitting against the walk-in pantry.  Storage has always been a pain point in this home and now it’s solved wonderfully with the huge walk-in pantry.

I’m excited about a lot of new features of our home. This is one of my top three.  Our large screened-in porch will hold a large dining table and bed swing.  I imagine we will live out here for many months out of the year.  We’re really excited about finally having a screened porch!

Here’s the second floor landing.  The wall was extended to accommodate a linen closet and upstairs laundry.  That is another feature I’m jumping up and down about!  No more having to carry laundry up and down stairs.  Huge quality of living adjustment – check!

This is the view of the master bedroom/bathroom.  I love the tree view here – it’s very calming.  I see some nice, long baths in my future.

Another view of the master suite.

Master bathroom.

OK – I will admit that this is a little over the top, but, while we were at it, I created a mega-closet.  No more cycling the seasons.  EVER. AGAIN.

This is the view of Jonathan’s closet and the laundry room.  Our dumb waiter will be in here and will serve all four floors.  And it fits two of our largest pieces of luggage.  This means that we will actually bring our suitcases up as soon as we get home from a trip, which means a clean house after a vacation! (I’ll admit – something we have not been the best about in the past.)

This is my upstairs office.  There are now two windows instead of the one.  I know that this is going to be a very productive space.

This is the view from the hall with the stairwell to the third level.  This level was really a bonus.  It was easy to add where we were expanding the house so we did it.

Third floor stairwell.  Under the stairs will be in my closet – a perfect place to store extra items…like shoes.

Upstairs will have a bedroom.  Currently that will be Jonathan’s office.  (Much better than the dining room table!)  When Addison turns 11, she’ll move up here and it will be her cool-kid suite.

Upstairs also has a bonus area.  Here we’ll have a TV and play area.  We are not a fan of carpet, but this level will be carpeted.  Only because it’s above our master and we don’t want to hear the clumpity, clump, clump, clump of kiddos feet over us.

View of the yard from the third level.  We’ll be doing a co-landscaping project with our neighbor to the right and take down the overgrown fence.  It will be nice to have lots of grass for us all to enjoy.  And finally, Addison and her friends will be able to play in her playhouse that Jonathan built last year.

Last but not least, the wine cellar.   This is Jonathan’s baby.  It’s really more than a place to store wine.  We are putting our existing dining room table there, and will use this as an area for dining and entertaining.  I anticipate we’ll start to collect some wine mementos from upcoming trips to display.  It’s nicely timed that we’ll be visiting Tuscany this summer.  (Guess I better check on the shipping rates.)

Now that we are able to walk through and feel the spaces, we are very excited. Additionally we are thankful that weather dependent phase is almost behind us.  That means that moving back in over the fall is really becoming a reality.  Yippee!