Author: David Boufford

Time seems to be flying by faster…. Is that because we’re almost at the end of the build? Another month, and we should be almost finished with 95% of this project! 

I love the guys on our job, but this week I got a breath of fresh air as Les, my right hand from the Montana projects, arrived on Sunday late afternoon. On our Montana projects, he built the hidden bookcase to the turret, and has helped me with many of the starry ceilings. He also did all of the finish carpentry for the treehouses and the chalets at Snow Bear Chalets. It’s wonderful to have him here! Thank you Val and Shaden for sharing him with us!

Les spent time designing and building the hidden staircase in my office to provide access to the starry turret. He still has a lot of the work to complete, but the hardest part is finished. 

He also brought the iron mountain backsplashes with him from Montana. These will be used in the kitchen, coffee bar and great room bar. They are made of mill scale steel and are rustic, yet really pretty. And, they fit in the limited space we had available on the western countertop, due to the induction range and the down draft taking up almost all of the space. Thanks to Marty at Solid Iron for creating them for us, and to Les for transporting them here!

Allan and James worked on designing and building the components for the curved mud room wall. It will be great to have that complete, hopefully by the end of next week. It’s fun to watch it come together. 

The screen for the master patio door was scheduled to be installed this week, but there was a problem with the height due to the door being about 2” too tall. Long story short, Windows, Doors and More had to order a new one, and now we need to wait a few weeks for the new one to arrive. 

The great room fireplace mantle was installed and it looks beautiful! Thank you Allan and James!

The closets were finalized and should be installed within the next 2 weeks. It’s all coming together! Thank you Olya and the team at Smart Space Closets.

The iron guys worked on the spiral staircase which is scheduled to be installed on the 27th. The copper vein powder coating is the same that we used at the treehouses and the chalets. It looks so pretty here on our outside deck!

The siding crew completed all of their tasks on Friday afternoon. All of the exterior siding is complete, as well as the installation of the front and back deck soffit (1 x 6 T&G), and the ceiling of the primary suite (inside). The siders were great guys and I’m going to miss their smiling faces each day.

Rafi and the crew from Mr. Garcia’s Painting started on the exterior painting of the house. The original choice of paint was wayyyy to light, so after trying 5 other colors on the exterior of the house, we chose Casa Blanca, which is a creamy, happy color. It looks beautiful next to the wood soffits, the dark brown fascia and exterior window trim, the Montana Moss rock as well as the beautiful Washington landscape. 

Slavic and his crew moved to the turret and are making great progress on covering the turret with beautiful Montana Moss rock. The entire turret should be complete in about 10 days. It looks so pretty so far!

Lakeside Plumbing started the plumbing trim. Several of the toilets are installed and the shower and sink trim is underway throughout the house. It’s starting to look like a home!

Juan and his crew returned to finish the puppy relief area. As you can see from one of the photos, Koko loves it already! 🙂

JP Landscape planted the restoration plants on the buffer area by the Critical Area Designation (the steep slope at the east end of the property). It will provide stability with the introduction of about 100 additional indigenous plants. 

Thanks to the great subcontractors that make it possible to complete this project. We appreciate you sharing your talent with us!

It was the first beautiful, sunny week of the spring! The weather was great and the ground had a chance to dry out. 

Finally we were able to do the final grade of the exterior buffer area. Thank you Mike! 

The week started out with Granite Marble Specialties installing the quartz countertops in the kitchen, the laundry and the bathrooms. I’m happy with most of it but we’ll have to make a few tweaks in some of the bathrooms.. 

James, Allan and Jaden completed the decorative beams in the great room and they are impressive. They’ll be stained next week. The mantles for the primary bedroom and the exterior great room deck are now complete. All of the pieces are coming together!

Alex and his crew of trim carpenters installed many of the interior doors/door jambs and baseboards throughout the house. I love the trim around the interior of the front door in the great room. This house will be beautiful when it’s complete! 

Alex, Victor and their crew of very talented siders have had a busy week. As the siding progresses, the house looks better every day. The east side of the house is almost complete. The only thing remaining is the cedar T&G soffit on the great deck exterior porch, The trim on the turret windows has been completed, preparing the way for Slavic and the masons to start the installation of the Montana Moss rock on the turret next week.

Slavic and his team completed the rock around the front door. Wow, it’s amazing!

Inside the bathrooms, the floor and showers are now all completed. The tile and quartz countertops look great. 

The folks from Windows Doors and More came to install the screen for the great room, only to discover that it’s about 2” too tall. Rather than lower the floor, we’ve ordered a new one that should be here in a few weeks. 

The biggest noticeable change started this week with painting of the exterior of the house. Gina and Rafi from Mr. Garcia’s Painting started the front of the house so you’ll be able to notice changes on the time-lapse video. We’re finalizing the exterior color which will be something between Sailcloth (what we used at Glacier Bear Retreat in Montana) and a creamy paint. Next week you’ll see photos of the almost finished product!

Looking forward to an amazing week coming up. Thanks to the entire team for all the time and talent you shared with us this week!

Another busy week! 

Alex and his crew completed the floor installation. The floors are beautiful!

Our finish carpenters worked on several things this week. Allan completed the window seat in the primary suite. Jaden, Alan and James installed the huge glulam beam on the east side of the primary suite soffit and finished the prep for the sliders to install the Hardie board on the exterior soffit James and Allan also completed two of the three mantles for the exterior and primary suite fireplaces. They are gorgeous! Thank you, Mike, for the beautiful beam!

The siders continued through the rain and only have another week or so until their job is complete. They are so good and we’re grateful to have found them!

The iron railing was complete by the end of the week. The exterior deck is almost ready for the puppies to make it their home! Thank you Phil!

Alex installed the remainder of the kitchen cabinets. They’re still covered with cardboard to protect them. I can’t wait to see them when everything is in place. The quartz countertops are being fabricated and will be installed next Monday!

Things progressed even with James out two days with some kind of bug. I missed him!

The siding team added the cedar trim to the front entry. Slavic and his crew did a great job on the installation of the stone on the front entry of the house. It makes everything look so pretty! 

I worked with Rafi, our painter who is going to apply the stain throughout the house, to finalize the color choice. The trim came a bit too dark and so we had to rethink our stain choices to make sure that everything ties together beautifully. 

Phil worked on the interior railing for the spiral staircase and should have that ready for installation very soon. 

The closet design for all of the bedroom closet has been finalized and ordered! Installation will be in about a month.

Due to a problem with the natural stone we chose for the primary suite bathrooms, we spent a day this week choosing a quartz that will work. We’ll save the Blue Gaya natural stone for my library/office.

The tile for the primary suite bathrooms is complete for the shower and the floor. The steam shower ceiling still has to be installed. Due to a tile fiasco with delivery, broken tiles, late delivery, wrong sized tiles, different surface tiles, different dye lot…. You name it, it happened this week with getting the proper materials to complete this job. I ended up at the tile shop late on Saturday to find an alternative to end the confusion. The new tile will be installed next Monday and the tile will be complete!

Our excavator, Mike (THANK YOU again for the mantle!), visited the site to check on the condition of the ground. It was still a bit too wet to do the grading, so he’ll be back again early next week. 

All in all, it was a very good week. The house is really starting to look like a home! Thanks to the great team sharing their talent!

What a busy week, with so many things going on simultaneously. The front door was installed by James and Jaden. It’s 6’ x 9’, super thick and is a gorgeous fir. It will be stained in the next few weeks.

Monday the countertops were measured for all of the cabinets throughout the house. The quartz countertops are being fabricated right now and will be installed 4/6. It’s really starting to look like a house! Thank you to Nayyef from Granite, Marble Specialties for all the hard work, design advice and kindness.

We had some issues with the house and want to send special thanks to Kyle and Tyler at Lakeside Plumbing and to Mike and Grant from Janes Radiant Heat. You stepped up to help with just a phone call- and we greatly appreciate you!

Slavic, Peter and Vitaly installed the rock on the front of the great room fireplace. Yes, it’s my signature Montana Moss rock that we’ve used in all the prior builds. I love the look against the warmth of the fire. Slavic and his crew might be the happiest sub we have on this job. They are always smiling and always make me laugh. I appreciate that everyday, especially when things don’t always go as planned. 

Tughan, our electricians started their trim out, as did the audio/tech company, Essen Technologies. It’s amazing the difference light can make in a house!

Our great crew of tile guys finished all of the tile in the lower level bathrooms, and is still working on the main level. Alex and Vitaliy are really good! They speak Ukrainian so we use a lot of hand signals and pointing to communicate. Fortunately their boss, a different Alex, speaks English and is usually available as a translator. 

The installation of the walnut wood flooring continues with the main level. The lower level was finished and it looks great! Flooring is easy, right? Well, with angled rooms with rounded walls it makes it much more difficult! I have a great appreciation for the talent of these craftsmen! Thank you to  Andrey and David for all of your hard work!

The kitchen cabinet installation is almost complete. Thanks to Alex and his crew for sharing their talent with us. I can’t wait to see the cabinets when they’re not covered with cardboard!

On Wednesday, Windows Doors and More returned to fix the buckout windows in the turret windows. Then Insulation Northwest fixed  the insulation in the turret. By Friday they were all finished and we’re now ready for the stone installation on the exterior of the turret. I have been waiting for this since we broke ground!

Gil,with JCR Roofing- our favorite roofer- spent a few days installing the gutters on the house, where the siding has been completed. Wish we’d had these gutters installed prior to the rainy season we just went though!

Allan, a great finish carpenter, worked on building the window seat in the primary suite. I can’t wait to have this finished and installed! Koko and Kuma will love it as he even built a drawer that pulls out which is actually a step, so as they age they can still have access to the top of the cushion to look out the window. Brilliant, thank you Allan!

The siding crew is almost finished. Alex and Veaceaslav, from Moldova and Victor and Vladimir, from Kazakhstan have been great to work with. The back side of the house still needs to be covered with Hardie Board and Batten, on the upper level. Once the siding is complete they’ll cover the exterior great room deck soffitI, the master suite deck soffit and the master bedroom ceiling with T&G cedar. They should be completed within the next two weeks. Now all we need is a few weeks of sunshine when the siding is complete so that we can paint the house!

Thanks to everyone who helped get us where we are today. We’re so close to the finish line!

This week started off at 90 miles an hour! Our kitchen cabinets were delivered on Monday and WOW, they are so very pretty! The kitchen and primary suite cabinets are stained blue (naval), and the guest bathrooms are Alabaster, by Bellmont Cabinets. Thanks to Don at Style and Rails for all of the design assistance. Alex and his crew installed all of them by the end of the week. This kitchen is going to be stunning!!

Alex has been busy this week. His flooring crew was also at the property, installing the Bjelin engineered wood floors throughout the house. Thanks to Chris at CedhECO! These floors, made in Sweden, are sustainable and add the perfect addition to our home. These guys are so good! The downstairs is almost finished, and next week the crew will move to the main level and hopefully have it complete by the end of the week.

In spite of the rain all week, the siding crew has progressed with the installation of the Hardie Board and Batten around the front of the house. They also installed 1×6” cedar T&G on the soffit of the front entry. It really adds a lot to the look! By the end of the week they added the trim boards around the front entry. Currently the unstained front door is stored up in the garage (where the apartment is). It will be installed this next week, so Slavic and his crew can complete the rock trim on the entry of the house.

Tuesday morning Vascily and his crew started on the tile in the four showers and on the floor of the laundry room. By the end of the week they started laying floor tile and did the pans for the showers, complete with under tile electric radiant heat. It’s going to be cozy!

I was busy planning ahead and met with several finish carpenters about railings and details for the office/turret and the mudroom. Also, Allan started the built-in window seat for the master bedroom. Looks great so far! Thank you James, Allan and team!

Slavic and the guys are almost finished with the back deck fireplace. It still needs the mantle and the mortar to be added between the rocks. I’m looking forward to nature covering this fireplace with moss within the next year.

Tughan Electric was back to start the installation of the electrical trim. When I went down yesterday afternoon I took an exterior photo of the east side of the house- and I saw LIGHTS ON INSIDE THE HOUSE! I didn’t expect that and went racing up to the house to walk inside. Tughan’s team has installed the ceiling light in about ½ of the rooms on the main level. WOW, what a difference it makes to the feel of the house. Thank you Ryan, Zach, Chad and the whole crew!

It was a busy and productive week. The house is coming together so beautifully! Thanks to each of the team members for all of your help!

My apologies for the delay- my “weekly update” is a three week update today! Can you tell it’s been a crazy busy time on the property? So much progress has been made since I last posted. I feel like we’re at the point that I can now focus on the fun stuff.

My first photos in the gallery are of moss. Why moss and what does that have to do with a building project?? We live in the lush green of the Pacific Northwest. Everything is green most of the year. I love the moss that blankets our forests and trees. We have a wall inside the house that I initially created as a live plant wall with edible goodies, but I’m not sure we have enough sunlight, so I’m now researching making it a moss wall. Most indoor moss that you see for sale commercially is dead moss, but the marketing companies call it “preserved” moss. It’s no longer alive and there’s no health benefits from it other than esthetic benefits, so I’m researching how to create an actual live moss wall in our dining room area. Moss is one of nature’s best air filters! When complete, it will have an automatic misting system to spray a fine mist 3x/day. The moss should be happy!

The moss wall is 8’ tall (then open above it for about 3’ to the ceiling). It’s 12’ wide and curved. We’ve already installed the electrical and plumbing to the wall, complete with drainage as well. Now we just have to get the rest of the specs completed. Stay tuned!

As for the construction progress, we started off in mid February with part of the drywall crew hanging the remaining drywall, while another team was applying tape and mud to the sheetrock already installed in the garage. Another team was covering the wood windows to protect them from sheetrock dust and mud debris. That was followed by mud and taping, then sanding, then repeating with more mud and more sanding. Then we progressed to adding primer to the walls, ready for paint (which starts 3/9).

You’ll notice in the photos that the masonry for the exterior chimney has started as well. We have a wood-burning fireplace on the outdoor deck, with a rock chimney that is 6’ wide and will be about 30’ tall. We’re using Montana Moss Rock, of course, from Montana. It’s the same rock we’ve used at Glacier Bear and Snow Bear. Some of the rock pieces are covered with lichen and for those that aren’t yet, they will be within a year or so. This is the same rock that will cover the front entry to the house, the entire turret and also the face of the great room propane fireplace. I can’t wait to have these completed soon! Thank you Slavic and crew!

Two weeks ago we met with Chris from the King County permitting office to review the final plan for landscape restoration. You can see we posted our Critical Area Designation signs as per the County’s request. (If you look at that photo you can really understand what I mean by the moss in the area!) The restoration landscape planting will happen next week.

We met with landscapers and are creating a plan to finish the exterior very soon. We’re also researching the best way to install our green roof.

In the meantime, we’ve been busy getting everything lined up for all of the subcontractors so they have everything they need for the next few weeks. I’ve been busy making final selections for the quartz countertops, choosing sinks, final electrical fixtures, plumbing hardware and drawing designs for the finish carpentry projects. We’ll be building a mudroom (of course on a concave curved wall!), an office by the entrance to the turret, a built-in window seat in the primary suite, cabinets in the lower level and much more. We’re getting to the creative part of the project!

Last, the siding just started on the project. We’re using Hardie Board and Batten. You’ll notice on the photos that the siding is a yellowish color. That’s just the primer and the house won’t be painted that color. Exterior painting will happen as soon as the siding has been completed.

Thank you to the team of incredibly talented subcontractors. A special THANK YOU to Kevin at Chinook Lumber- who ALWAYS goes above and beyond to make sure we have what we need, and ALWAYS does it with a smile. Special thanks to the drywall crew from Summit Drywall. Wow, I’ve never worked with a crew like these guys before- kind, happy, cheerful and super competent. It was a joy to see them bring their hot plate and cook and eat their lunch together, sitting in a circle outside on the deck. It made me smile to see everyone enjoying the beauty of this home. Last but not least, thank you James and Darryl! I can’t imagine better sidekicks to keep this project on track.

The week started off slowly with delivery of sheetrock on Monday, a scheduling snafu on Tuesday, and finally the sheetrock hangers showed up on Wednesday. Thank you to Summit Drywall! By the end of the week the crew had the garage fully hung/taped and sanded, and the majority of the rest of the house had been hung too. We still have the turret, the small office, the art room and the spa room to hang. This next week everything will be hung and hopefully taped by the end of the week. The sheetrock on the ceiling between the glulam beams is stunning! 

The three pocket door frames were installed this week. Speaking of doors, Darryl picked up the interior doors, and all of the window, door trim and baseboard and drove them to the jobsite. They’ll be installed in the next month or so.

We found damage to the sill for the exterior door into the lower left bedroom, at the doorway from the back yard into the bedroom. Fortunately Loewen is able to replace the sill so it will be back to “new” very soon. 

Janes Radiant completed the heating system and we now have radiant heat throughout the house! That’s just in time for the sheetrock crew to tape and mud the drywall. We need the heat to help the mud dry.

Slavic, our mason, started the fireplace off of the great room deck on Wednesday. YAY! This fireplace is 27’ tall and will take a few weeks to complete. Then, we have three more masonry projects remaining- the face of the interior fireplace, the exterior face of the area around the front door, and the exterior of the turret. We’re using Montana Moss rock and it’s going to be beautiful!

Speaking of moss, I’m hoping to create a work of art, with moss as the medium on the curved wall in the dining room. It’s about 8’ tall and 12’ in length, so it will be quite a project. I mentioned to my friend Jon that I need to meet a “mossologist”. He smiled, told me that (of course) he studied moss at UW (University of Washington). Jon pointed me in the right direction to find a connection to a bryologist- yes, a mossologist! I’m learning more about moss than I ever knew was possible. If this works, it will be quite beautiful and very healthy for us too.

Our stars arrived this week for the ceiling in the primary suite above the window seat. I can’t wait to hang the stars in the sky! We’ll get to the turret soon, but I want the sheetrockers out of the way before I head up that confined space. Soon!

Thanks to the team for another successful week. Getting the sheetrock on the walls has changed the vibe of the whole house. It’s almost starting to feel like home. Thank you!

The primary accomplishments this week were….

• Thanks to Insulation NorthWest, the insulation has been installed in the house. The first thing that I noticed when I walked through the house after the insulation was installed, was how quiet it is now…. And sadly, I can no longer see through the walls. I’ve lost my spectacular views from anywhere, as I’m so accustomed to seeing through the walls. 🙂 We’re using Rockwool insulation throughout the house, as well as spray foam and some blown in batts. This is a highly efficient home for sure, and oh so quiet. We passed our KC Insulation inspection on Friday and we’re now ready for sheetrock next Monday. (Check out the guy on stilts on the spiral steps!)

• The “Disney bark”, which is what I affectionately call the rubber Flex bark from Replications Ltd, has been ordered and will be here soon to wrap the tree in the center of the spiral staircase. We used this product for the “trees” supporting our treehouses at Snow Bear Chalets in Whitefish, Montana, and it looks SO real!

• The exterior deck off of the great room has been completed and looks beautiful! Thanks to Chris at CedECHO for introducing us to this quality product. 

• I also ordered the fiber optic kits for the starry ceiling at the top of the turret and above the window seat in the master bedroom. The ceiling will be covered with 600 fiber optic stars in the form of constellations, then painted to form a night sky. I’ve done more than a dozen of these starry skies, but it’s been quite awhile since the last one was completed. Hopefully this one will be as easy as the others have been. 

• The week ended with a survey of the North, East and South boundaries of the property. Thanks to Ian and Lucas from EastSide Consulting. This was the first time I’ve walked the boundary of the property since we bought it 2 years ago. There are some gorgeous spots on this 8-acre parcel!

• Thanks to Garrett for finishing the trim on the landing at the top of the spiral staircase. It’s beautiful!

• Thanks to Guy and his crew at Chieftain Construction for the extra effort to install the Zip panels on the lower section of the house. We’re ready for siding now. 

• On Saturday, two guys from Windows, Doors and More came out to replace one of the Loewen windows that had been damaged during the initial installation and had to be reordered. Thank you, the new window looks great!

• I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our amazing project manager, James Ramsey, with Ramsey Construction. Not only is he capable and professional, he’s no-drama, happy and also kind and funny. He has a way of taking anything that happens and when he presents a potential problem to me, it’s always accompanied by a recommended solution too. I would give James 5 stars and would recommend him to anyone looking to build a home. I’m so grateful we found him!

Wow, what a FUN week!

I was busy with finalizing the stain colors for the interior windows, trim and beams, as well as lining up all of the remaining subcontractors. We ordered our Thermador appliances from Frederick’s in Redmond and look forward to installing them in a few months. 

Garrett and Patrick spent the week working on installing the two decorative trusses in the great room. The one on the outside deck has been installed for a month or more, but these two interior beams finally made it to the top of the list. There are some great photos of them being installed. It was fun to watch them do this work. 

The framers built the soffit for the Zehnder manifolds in the lower level. What an improvement from what we had earlier that we tore out! This looks intentional and will be very pretty when it’s completed. They also added a soffit to house the Zehnder flex ducts in the wine cellar as well.

Mercer Painters will be painting and staining our house. This week they started by cleaning the natural glulam beams with an eco-friendly chemical that removes any residual from the water damage from being outside and exposure to the elements. We’re going to leave the glulam beams natural as they are so pretty!

The trench was dug to bring the propane to the house for the linear fireplace in the living room

On 1/29 we passed our final framing inspection- YAY! During the week we also passed our electrical, plumbing,and mechanical inspections. It was a big week in moving forward.

Friday was Patrick’s last day on the jobsite as most of the finish framing is now complete. Thank you Patrick for sharing your time and talents with us. 

Thanks to the entire crew for another great week!