Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are looking forward to a great 2013! 

Since our last post we have put some art in the Maple Grove House and have arranged the furniture again! 

Here are some pictures:

Mike and Harry also turned the upstairs fireplace on.  I love the flame! 

The shrink wrap came off the tram in the big winds last week so I guess it will have to be done again!  It would be ok without it but the members voted to close it up in the winter for safety's sake which is a really good plan.


This is also an exciting thing happening for the area!

Julie is on the Board of the Friends of the Blue Star Trail and would like you to check this out and consider becoming a member or making a donation:

www.fotbst.org

The Friends are trying to build a non-motorized, paved pathway along Blue Star Highway (separate from the highway!) that would link South Haven and Saugatuck and would be such a great asset for people living in Casco Township.  The path would be on the west side of Blue Star Highway so it would be easy to take a walk to the new parks or ride a bike into South Haven or Glenn or even Saugatuck or visit friends in the neighborhoods along the Lake Michigan shore. 

Last year we got a new tram to the beach and hopefully next year we will start on this trail!

Again, Happy New Year to all!!!! 

Mike and Julie

Merry Christmas!  Happy New Year!

The pictures were done by the professional photographer and they look awesome!

You can see them at swmric.com and look for listing #12060748. 

I'm not sure if we can use the pictures on our blog so we will have to get permission first.

The 70mph winds blew the shrink wrap off the tram and we didn't have power here all day on Thursday.  Everything is back to normal now other than the dead trees all over the road!!

We are going to put some more art on the walls this week and I will take some pictures if we can't use the professional ones.


For now, we can think about the summer.......

Mike and Julie

Hello and Happy Holidays!!!


We got our Occupancy Permit today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are working on cleaning and little projects now and the house is looking fantastic!

We are so grateful to Brandon at Country House Furniture for helping us out and helping us to furnish the house for showing.  All of the furniture will be available to the buyers so they won't have to worry about getting beds and couches and tables, etc.  And if they like something better they can exchange it for something else!

While we are looking forward to Christmas and going to Florida we were kind of bummed this week that the tram got shrinkwrapped for the winter. 

I guess we are lucky we were able to keep it open this long with the warm December weather but the snow will be coming soon!

The professional photographer comes on Thursday so I am really excited to see his pictures (they will be much better than my sideways phone pictures for sure!)

I will have some more pictures soon!  Come on out and see what we've done!

Mike and Julie

This house is starting to come together!  The carpeting is in and the wood floors are all newly polished and look beautiful!  We are working on detail work now so this is the fun part!  Mike and I went to Country House Furniture in South Haven yesterday to meet with Brandon Cook about the furniture.  This is the part of doing a house that I really enjoy!

Here are the latest pictures!  I even took some pictures of the sunset and the tram tonight.  Enjoy!

Julie

 

We even put a Christmas tree in the house!

 

 

Here are the tram and the beach tonight!  The weather has been so nice I can't believe it's December!

Tomorrow the carpeting gets installed!  AND the wood floors are completely refinished!  We are almost done!!

If you have time on Sunday come out and support Hospice.  Our house (the one we live in) is on the home tour on Sunday.  Buy a ticket and tour the homes and make some money for hospice.

I'll have lots of pictures after tomorrow!  I think we might even have a Christmas tree in the Maple Grove house!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We had a very productive week.  The claw foot tub is in.  The shower is tiled and grouted.  The wainscoting is in the entry.  The wood floors are sanded and ready to be finished and the carpeting is coming on Friday!

Mike and I worked all day today - no Black Friday shopping!  Painting, painting and painting - and some grouting!

The wet bar is done and the gas meter is hooked up - we will have the furnace on next week which will be very nice. 

I can hardly wait to start furnishing and decorating now!!

Here are some pictures of our recent accomplishments.  It is really starting to look like a house!

OK I have the shower sideways!

The landscaping is done and it looks awesome!  The kitchen is almost completely finished and Mike and Harry have been working on the oak floors in the new living area upstairs.  Bruce and P.J. have finished the drywall and are now installing doors.  We have to hurry up and order carpeting and figure out this wet bar for the lower level! 

My next assignment is staining - doors and trim!  Harry and Mike will start tiling showers pretty soon too! 

It is all coming together and I think it's looking great!!!

 

Julie

The siding is all done!   The deck railing is up!  The kitchen backsplash is installed and the drywallers are getting ready to sand!!

Rosemont Nursery is going to get the landscaping in too!  I can hardly wait to see it.  Hopefully they can get some of the sod down before the remnants of hurricane Sandy start showing up here later. 

Here are the latest pictures:

Julie

What a beautiful day!  And the Detroit Tigers won last night too!
So many things have been going on with the house that I have hardly had time to post anything (and I lost my camera again). 

We have been painting and staining and building decks and the contractors have been building stairs inside and outside and installing siding and kitchen cabinets and getting the electrical and plumbing and mechanical done!  It has been so busy!!

Today the guys from Classic Stone Creations delivered and installed the kitchen counters.  I love them!  We had the stone leathered so it has an awesome texture.  The guys are also working on a new counter of carrara marble for the upstairs bathroom. 

Here are some of the latest updates! 

Here are the latest pictures!  Koops drilled the well, the electrical inspector was here and the lower level master suite, half bath, laundry room and utility room are all framed in.  They are working hard to get the new kitchen ready because the cabinets are in at Hannapel Home Center!  Things are starting to come together!

The stairs and decks are going up so it will be so much easier than going up a ladder to the second level! 

AND the furnace was installed today too!

I hope to have many more updates this week.  We have come a long way from when the house was moving down Blue Star Highway!

Hope you all saw the dedication of the Casco Nature Preserve in the South Haven Tribune this weekend and the picture of the Maple Grove Cottage!

Julie