They really focused on getting the trusses up this week, and unfortunately it’s going a bit slower than expected. The framers had committed to another job (before taking ours) so they only had a couple of people out there Monday-Wednesday and then nobody worked on Thursday or Friday. Matt’s expecting that next week it’s going to be pretty slow out there next week too. Luckily the other job is a pretty small remodel, so it should only take about 10 days to complete. Nevertheless, that still leaves not too much progress happening on our project, but they did get a lot more of the trusses up!
By Wednesday I think they had the majority of the trusses up and in place – it looks like they’re still missing some over the mudroom.
Another view from the other side of the front of the house.
The entry started to take shape this week – the doorway and the big dining room window on the right will eventually both have arched tops. I’m loving the oval window up top in the bump out though!
Here’s a view of the dining room ceiling and you can see that we added in a 10″ tray ceiling into the truss design.
Another view of the trusses from below in the dining room. Here you can really see the tray ceiling.
This is the ceiling in the laundry room. I went round and round with Matt on the best look for the ceiling in here – I never really liked what the architect came up with, but I’m super happy on what Matt & landed on. The ceiling will be sloped and will be raised up in the area where the window is located.
For the main roof trusses that run from over the main massing of the house, the trusses were so tall they couldn’t fit on the truck (and be able to fit in a standard driving lane). So the top of the trusses come separate and will eventually be installed.
The trusses are up in the great room!
Another view of the trusses from underneath. Love the blue skies!
On Wednesday during the day Matt called to ask what shaped ends I wanted on the barge boards…the what? It’s basically the ends of each of the gables, and the tails at the bottom can be cut at whatever angle I wanted. Most of the homes in the Pacific Northwest have a craftsman look and feel so the barge boards end up being cut with a straight vertical edge to them.
Here’s a home that was recently for sale in our area – typical northwest style. Do you see the white trim at the ends of the gables? Those are the barge boards.
In the close up you can see that the ends are cut vertically.
Matt says that ALL of the homes around here that have been built recently have them cut vertically. Of course, I HAVE to be different though. I know it looks just fine, but really I’m not a fan. I think that it screams craftsman and I’m tired of that look – like he said – ALL homes around here are like that. The homes that I really like the look of have the ends cut at a right angle (90-degrees for all of you who don’t remember that from geometry class).
Here’s another house built on Lake Washington. Do you see the ends of the gable on top of the house? That’s the shape I want, 90 degrees. So maybe not ALL homes around here have vertical ends, do they!
So, the first ones went up and our house and I think they look great. I can’t wait to see how they look on the front of the house!
After installing just a few of the barge boards, I can already tell I made the right decision. Love ’em!
Coastal Hues 
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I’m with you on the barge cuts at 90 degrees!