Foundation is in Place and Walls are Started

Despite the recently cold temperatures, lots of progress has been made on the patio. They have laid the foundation material and started to build the walls. The block has arrived and they plan to start laying that on Wednesday.

The foundation materials have been laid:









Blocks arriving:





Wall starting to be built

Wall by the firepit area

Step between the main patio and the firepit area

Patio work has started

We have signed a contract to get a new patio (and do some other sundry stuff in the backyard). Work commenced last week with the removal of 3 large pine trees on the side of the house and a large locust tree from the back of the property as well. We are using techo bloc for the patio. There will be a main section outside the addition and then a smaller section with a fire pit behind the addition. There will also be two walls (one in each section of the patio). The fire pit area will be lower than the main area - requiring a step down into that section.

Tyler up in the Locust tree we took down. Leslie was not happy I was taking a picture of this. He is 15-20 feet in the air and there are no branches between him and the ground. He was higher in the tree when Leslie found him in it and called me to come get him down.

Before picture

Another before picture

One of the big pine trees coming down

Another big pine tree coming down

The side of the house without the three big pine trees. Its looks pretty bare at the moment.

Taking out the grass to form the shape of the patio

The outline of the other patio section

With the grass removed they used spray paint to indicate where the walls will be built. Is around the outside of the dirt area - a little hard to see

Spray paint marking where the new step will be built out of the addition

The second part of the patio - a step down into this section and a fire pit in the middle

The second part of the patio from the other side

The stove is Installed

The new stove arrived this week and was installed on Tuesday. Now we have an operational kitchen again. The ceiling fans were also installed in the new room and our new dining table arrived on Friday.

Next week the tile backsplash in the kitchen will be installed and the carpet for the basement may also get installed.

The new stove


The ceiling fans


The new dining table

The Flooring is In

The new bamboo flooring was installed this week in the whole downstairs of the house except for the old living room. They also installed the dishwasher and refrigerator. They installed most of the lighting in the kitchen and eating area - some of our lights are still on order and some we have yet to order. They also installed a custom made retaining wall around the double windows in the back of the basement.

Next week the stove will be installed and our kitchen will be fully operational again. They will be working on the molding around the edges of the floor. Our new table and chairs are also meant to be delivered late next week.

The new retaining wall around the basement windows in the back of the house.


The installation of the floor in progress


The installation of the floor in progress


The dishwasher getting ready to be installed


The installation of the floor in progress


The new floors (and the new refrigerator). They installed a paper path on the main walkway to prevent the constant foot traffic from our dirt backyard from damaging the new floors.


The new floors in the eating area.


The new floors in the kitchen


New floors in the new room



The new dishwasher is now installed.

The Counters are Installed

Hello Vandy Construction Blog faithful. Another week has passed and we are hopefully closer to getting a working kitchen again. Things are starting to take shape and you can now finally get a good feel for how everything looks.

The counters were delivered and installed this week and the kitchen is really starting to come together. They also painted the kitchen, the fireplace room, and the new room. The siding is nearly complete. They ran out of siding and needed to order more (that takes about a week to come in) so all but one side of the house is complete. The shutters are not on the house yet, but the new siding looks very good.

Next week they plan to install the new flooring in the kitchen, fireplace room, and the new room. They also plan to install the lighting fixtures (if Leslie and I can find ones we like). Enjoy the pictures!

Wide angle shot of the new counter tops in the kitchen.


You can see the new sink and faucet on the left side and the new bar area on the right side of the picture below.


The desk area


This is the living room wall - you can see our new microwave as well


The new siding on the house


A picture while they were putting it up


The new room is a blue color (I have no idea what the official name of the color is)


The new color of the fireplace room and kitchen. I think its meant to be tan in color, but it looks greenish to me. I think this color is called canvas sneaker (whatever that means).

Basement Is Painted

This week the basement was painted, the molding on the kitchen cabinets was completed, the siding was removed from the house, they started putting on the new siding, and they finished the fireplace surround.

The counter top people came this week to and measured for the counter. They will deliver and install the counter next week. The flooring for the kitchen and new room was also ordered and will be delivered next week.

The new lime green basement.



The newly painted stairway to the basement. A new step was installed at the bottom of the stairs and the half wall on the side of the stairs was cut back to make a landing at the bottom of the basement stairs.




The siding was removed on most of the house


They started to put the new siding on the back of the house. This work will continue next week.


More pictures of the new siding


The molding was installed above the new cabinets and the walls in the kitchen and new room were primed for painting


They also painted the sliding doors between the kitchen and the living room.


The fireplace surround was also completed this past week.

Kitchen Cabinets are In

Last week they installed the kitchen cabinets painted the master bedroom and started to build the fireplace surround. The old siding is coming off the house right now, so next week you may get to see pictures of the new siding. Now that the cabinets are installed, the counter top guy is coming on Monday to measure for the new counter top.

Our master bedroom is now green.

They started work on the new fireplace surround.

The kitchen cabiners on the interior wall (between the kitchen and the living room)

Same cabinets taken from the front of the house looking towards the back

The main wall of cabinets - looking towards the front of the house - the desk area is at the left side of the picture

Main wall of cabinets - looking towards the back of the house

The desk area