Back to the Porch

It rained much of the weekend, more than an inch, which is pretty strange for this time of year. I spent a little bit of time working on the back porch on Saturday, but by Sunday it was too wet to continue. I did more buying than building this weekend, although I did reach one key milestone. I got the tile for the tub decking in the master bath grouted. Now, we can install the jetted tub (although I think the electricians need to do some work first). Speaking of electricians, they came on Friday and put most (but I don’t think all) of the circuits in the breaker box. This is another major milestone.

A went to the Hell Depot again on Sunday. That place really wears me out. But, I bought a ton of things that I really need. I bought the plywood for the porch columns, the fencing for the porch skirt and railing, a 24’ extension ladder, a 70” pipe for the back hose bib, 8 shutoff valves for the bathrooms, grout for the tile, an electrical box for the outlet for the future over-the-stove microwave in the kitchen, 4 8’ cedar 4x4s for the newel posts on the porches, a couple door mats, and I’m sure some more things that I can’t think of now. Whew. Total cost: nearly $1100. Ugh. But, I should now have everything I need to finish the porches. Total cost of porches: about $5000. Ouch. But, they are going to be worth it.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time over the past week thinking about the porch and what the columns and railings will look like. I’ve decided to go with Bob’s original design for the columns. However, I’ve added two ‘half-columns’ to flank the front steps and I’ve changed the design of the rails. The half-columns for the front steps will have the same at the bottom and the same tapered angle, but they will only be about 3 ½ feet tall with a flat top. Visually it will look like the other columns, only cut in half. For the rails, I’m going to use cedar fencing boards, spaced 4” apart, and some may have patterns cut out of them. I was thinking about the classic ‘Dard Hunter’ Rose, but I’ll work with Jenn to pick something that we both like. If not a rose, then maybe an iris or something more abstract like the McIntosh squares. I don’t have to decide for a while.