Porch Progress

Lots has happened on our front porch since my last post related to our renovation.  Greg and I have spent pretty much every weekend working on the dang thing, but at least we're making progress.  Totally worth it, right??

Here's a picture from last weekend, sometime on Saturday evening when we had finished installing roughly 60% of the deck joists (notice the nicely re-faced and re-supported piers that the framing is resting on -- those were a bear and took a lot of time, making it look like we had made no progress for several weeks).  Also, you can't see it too well here, but we also re-surfaced the exterior concrete foundation wall that is below the porch, and also replaced the window that lets us see out under the porch from our laundry room area.

And, here's a picture of me sometime on Sunday afternoon - drinking some much needed caffeine (and, yes, eating some munchkins - or maybe I had eaten them all already) taking a break from lifting, cutting, and hanging one of the million joists we put in.  I'm pretty sure I had just told Greg I was "King of the Castle" before he snapped this beaut.  I know I look nothing like a Marine, but the shirt makes me feel more powerful and strong than I actually am, which prevents lots of episodes of crying and whining by me - don't judge!

 And, below are progress pictures from this past weekend, where Greg, his friend John, and I had accomplished my most feared task of this entire project: placement of the new roof-supporting columns.  Kudos are definitely owed to John and Greg, who lifted all 4 of those columns (which probably weighed something like a million pounds each) into place while holding them level and plumb while I tried in vain to get screws into brackets to hold them in place.  I am so weak!!!!  But at least we got those done...and our house no longer has those awful looking (but effective) temporary supports in the front.  Our curb appeal just improved significantly -- and our  neighbors are all so relieved :)

Our next steps will be to lay down the decking and frame out the roof to install the ceiling.  Ideally, we'll be installing ceiling fans on either side of the door -- so we have to come up with a plan to raise the ceiling a bit to give us enough clearance to safely run the fans without threatening decapitation of anyone who dares walk toward our entry way.  We also have to build stairs so we can get to the dang door.  And, yes, we plan on power washing our siding...notice the dirt and grime...especially where the mailbox used to hang.  Also need to pick out colors for the shutters and front door, which will be re-painted.  Suggestions welcome!