The Brandt Blog

With the holidays firmly behind us there should be no further delays in the house, right? If only… This weekend was a great start…we had carpenters, painters and the fireplace masons all working on Saturday.  Their reward – lunch from The Picnic Basket.  The masons were so inspired that they came back on Sunday! On Monday, all […]

The flooring guys used the Christmas week time-warp to their advantage and sanded/stained/varnished the floors while the other trades were all at home snug in their beds.  Besides, the main flooring guy, Jim forbade entry of anyone to the house. The results were phenomenal!  And despite all of the “DO NOT ENTER” signs, we snuck around the […]

Anne and I met Ryan – the floor finishing expert to select the stains for the floors.  Like so many of our previous meetings…the process when quickly and smoothly because of the experienced and talented people that Rick brings in and because Anne and I don’t have much trouble making a decision…for fear of delaying our […]

Now…we’re really getting excited.  With practically nothing left in our ‘creative’ tanks for additional architectural flourishes and no patience remaining for additional ‘changes’ our minds have turned to the finishing touches the guys have all been working on.  Well, that AND the small matter of preparing to pack-move-unpack and settle into our new home. Anne said […]

Looking strictly out for the welfare of the electricians…Anne advised Rick about six weeks ago to have Dan and Al install the exterior coach lights.  Thirty degrees and fifty days later Rick acted on Anne’s sage advice and, voila – we have working coach lights.  In addition to the electrical kind…we also had dug (AFTER the […]

Despite being the architect …we’ve not yet walked through the house with Adam.  So, when I drove up on Friday afternoon as Adam was backing out of the driveway, I asked that he re-park his truck and we walk through together.  Bottom line – He’s very happy with the outcome and says that we’re ‘doing his design […]

Between the difficult-to-notice type of detail work the guys have been doing and the general hustle-bustle of the holiday week we haven’t posted any house progress in over a week…but…we were happy yesterday to see the trades back in the house hard at work. If all goes according to plan – and if Rick wants […]

Well, now that the lot is completely graded we can actually call the exterior phase of construction complete…at least until Spring when we will add the landscaping, top layer of driveway and the rear patio. On the inside, the carpenters have been busy installing doors, moldings, trim and cabinets while the electricians pull their wires […]

The 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s destruction occurred nearly to the day that our own “wall” came down.  Of course, the occasion was not nearly as historic nor was the scene anywhere near as dramatic as was Berlin ’89 but believe me, there were tears streaming down the cheeks of one Type A, soon-to-be-homeowner who wonders […]

After eight long months of walking on the dusty gravel to enter to the house – we’re very happy now to have a driveway.  Almost as soon as the driveway pavers left the landscapers brought up their Bobcat and starting excavating the ground for what will be the pathway to the front door.  Yes, somewhere behind […]