The house is finished, but not without some tweaks. The only taboo showing these pictures now is that we are waiting for the loan to go through. Nothing like jinxing myself.
We are still waiting for our High Point, NC furniture to come.
We are still waiting for our High Point, NC furniture to come.
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| Our friend showing my husband 'how to correctly split logs.' |
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| Reviewing the 'house control system' on the TV and staining the stone mantel: work is never done, no matter how smart the house is. |
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| Retirement?? Once we walked through the house to see visual problems that needed corrected; we discovered other less visible problems. The flow of subcontractors reminded me of crawling cock roaches, swarming all over the house to fix problems; and or, give us a run down of how the mechanical room worked with two water heaters, humidifier, soft water, well-water thermal heating, and the heating pipe system in the basement floor. We also had a review of the "smart house" features which sounds less smart today than 15 years ago when computer companies were still trying to work out their innovative bugs. Although, I don't have a mechanical, electrical or mathematical mind, I can follow step by step instructions. Our hot water is on a timer and can be timed to the minute for hot water. I don't know how to explain the two well water tank system. Since my husband wanted a 'smart home', we are able to use an iPad in California to control our Montana home to some degree; however, it's still a work in progress, just learning how to use it enough to see if there are any problems with the system. The iPad should control the lighting, music, heating and security system which has two live cameras and a water leak alert alarm. We also have a central control panel in the television sets and on a hallway wall by the entry. We can set the temperature of the Montana house before we leave California. Control music in any room. It sounds so easy and it's all in the wiring system. By next year this should all be obsolete. What do you think? Steve Jobs is already putting out the icloud. We added a central vacuum system with some kick open vents under the bathroom and kitchen cabinets that suck the dirt directly into the main vacuum container in the garage. |
I don't cook much these days, so I am wondering if I will start now that the kitchen has two Wolf ovens and a stove; if not, I know my daughters will use them.
Yes, we have to drive our trash to the dump site since we are in the country. But, I can remotely control my house while sitting at the dump. Modern living? Beaming up my trash, would be nice.
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| Library: the desks and rug arrived from High Point, NC |
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| Great room adjacent to the hallway and Kitchen |
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| My Orange Tree will go here between the kitchen and the Great room. A drawing I did years ago, fits perfectly; which tells me that some things planned in the past, actually makes it into future. |
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| The pullout for the juicer There are two pull up shelves from lower cabinets for the mixer and juicer. They are hidden until I need them. For some reason the Interior Designer said I should not clutter the counters with mixers and juicers, etc. Too late. Once you have a family, you can't get away from clutter. I have adjusted the cells in my brain to accommodate for clutter, so I wouldn't commit suicide. |
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| Art Studio: shelves and more shelves elsewhere |
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| Art studio: sink and TV |
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 Since my art studio is on the ground floor with doors, I do think about Black bears, Grizzlies and Mountain lions coming in to entertain me. Our cabinet guy said a bear tore his garage door off. Our first night, lying on the floor, on our air mattress, it was deathly silent in the woods. Then I heard a snorting noise similar to what I had heard from bears on TV. The North side Master bedroom windows are level with the ground since the home backs up against the rock hill. I was too afraid to look out the window knowing I would be eye to eye with whatever it is that is making that sound. Then the sound changed. It sounded higher in pitch like a whining sound. Maybe, it's a mountain lion. I started imagining both creatures prowling around in the distant wooded area, coming closer. It must have been some hours, lying there listening, not sleeping, before I lifted my head, slightly, so I could hear a little better. As I moved my ear slightly to the left, the sound got louder. It was coming from the pillow next to mine. I think they call it snoring. |
The architect came by, the one we fired. His plans started out with over 6,000 sq ft which we cut to around 4,000.
Our friend in Montana said that our basement should not be a 'crawl space' because it would be too difficult to manage the mechanical and electrical problems of the house.
As we blasted, at a greater cost, to make a basement; we added the theatre and gym in that expanded crawl space; thus the extra approximately 600 sq feet. One thing always leads to another.
Theatre: High Point, NC chairs we had not planned to buy now, but the prices were too low to walk away from; in fact, he fell right to sleep.
As we blasted, at a greater cost, to make a basement; we added the theatre and gym in that expanded crawl space; thus the extra approximately 600 sq feet. One thing always leads to another.
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| A military charity auction purchase for the theatre wall: One of my old time favorite comedy teams, Abbott and Costello in their movie, Who's On First? |
We felt comfortable in our new home. We didn't want to leave Montana, although it rained all week. As soon as we boarded the plane, it felt as if, we had never been in Montana, as we were already replacing those Montana memories with the tasks ahead in California.
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| Whitefish Lake from the Master bedroom window: when we clear some of those branches; there should be a better view. Now if we could only live there. |
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