Our Green Bungalow

The outside done.

2009-08-23T19:43:00.002-05:00

I realized today that we have not posted a shot of the outside of our house now that it is done and has the landscaping. Everything up front is drought resistant and most are native to our area. We like all the flowers and the kids like climbing on all the big rocks!

A testament to building green... we have lived here almost 4 months now and have not had a combined set of utility bills (gas and electric) over $110. That is what I like to call NICE!

Housewarming Party!

2009-07-23T20:49:00.003-05:00

So we had a real fun housewarming party last Friday and we would like to thank everyone that came by. We fully intended to take more photos of everyone that came but the margaritas were flowing and the camera did not come out much. This is Teagan in the clothes off (for 1 year olds) portion of the party.
The HM crew taking full advantage of the nook.

John and the Baum girls getting a snack...they needed it since we were up late finishing the margaritas.

Thanks again to everyone for coming by!

Photo Shoot!

2009-07-04T16:57:00.004-05:00

Happy 4th of July to everyone!

This week our house was used as a location for a photo shoot touting energy efficiency for customers of electric co-ops around the country. It came together very quickly. Our architect, Jeff Day, recommended our house to a location scout, who showed photos of our house to the client, who decided to use our place for the shoot. Potentially 4 different scenes may be used in ads. Below are a few pictures showing what they were doing and how they took over the house.

It was pretty neat to see how it all came together. All together there were about 15 people involved with the shoot at the house most of the day. They were all very nice and they really liked the house. We were glad to show it off!

USGBC House Tour

2009-06-20T12:16:00.003-05:00

Long time no post...

Things have been busy around the Pocius house and we are enjoying our new home to the fullest.

Today is an exciting day because our home is part of the US Green Building Council tour of homes. About 50 people are scheduled to arrive this afternoon to walk through our soon to be LEED Silver home. I hope to post about how it went tomorrow...along with some pictures if time allows.

We would like to thank in advance Go Green Clean (www.gogreen-clean.com) for doing a wonderful job cleaning our house yesterday. It is looking the best it ever has and not a day too soon!

1st Floor Pictures

2009-05-17T20:46:00.006-05:00

Heading downstairs to the first floor.... this really shows how beautiful our stairs, banister, and newel posts are.

The locker in the mudroom.... Love it!!!!! Thanks Sergei!!!!!

A shot of the study (this will eventually be a spare bedroom, if we ever get around to purchasing a murphy bed...)

A shot of the stair case - this is what you see when you walk in the front door.

And this is where I'm sitting right now... watching a tivo'd Southland and blogging! Hooray for wifi!

This is a shot of the front door, taken by the base of the stairs.

Here's a shot of the dining room. I tried to get the built-ins in the shot, so it is kind of far away. We've already had some great pizza in this room!

Now, the kitchen. Please pardon the dishwasher with little handprints all over it! I should've cleaned it before the pictures. But we love the kitchen, it is really set up nicely for prep work and cooking. We've made some really great meals so far - crab legs, spaghetti and meatballs, stuffed peppers... yum. The cooktop is induction - kind of crazy to hear the magnets "whirring" when it first starts up. But there's no flame and no big orange ring - it actually keeps the cooking area cooler. The only heat is from the pan.

We also love our big giant farmhouse sink. It is surprisingly easy to keep the cast-iron clean and the size is great. I also love, love, love our chalkboard. And our lights. Oh, really I love the whole thing.

Here's a good shot of the nook with the table. The kids love hanging out here.

We'll post pictures of the basement, yardwork, pimp shower and master bedroom tomorrow... I'm tired!! Thanks everyone for your patience. And thanks to Jason Stone and Sage Homebuilders for building our dream home. This house is truly amazing and we are so happy. It was all worth it!!!

We're Home! And (mostly) Settled!

2009-05-17T20:24:00.006-05:00

It's been 16 glorious days and we are so happy to say... We're home!!!!!

We're exhausted, sore, and loving every minute of it. We moved in on 5/1 and we've had very few glitches since. There's nothing that we've said we wished we did different, and we really can't believe how quickly this house felt like home to us. There's only one thing left for "others" to do - and that's yardwork, which will hopefully happen tomorrow. Otherwise, we're just working on the basement and a few boxes here and there.

Enough already... you are here for pictures, right? :)

Outside - the garage (first night with both cars in is tonight! Hooray!) and the gorgeous front door with the wheat glass.

Detail on the front columns. Our painters suggested two-tone and we love the way it turned out. They color-matched our exterior window trim with the door and columns.

Here's John's bedroom - can you guess the theme? Thank you, Fatheads!

Teagan's room is a little more understated. We still have some decorating to do in here.

1st Floor will be on the next post...

Moving Along!

2009-04-27T18:09:00.003-05:00

So things are flying along at the house. This picture above is to prove that not all the work has been done by our dedicated subs. Amanda and I were at the house Sunday putting together some closets. This is in Teagan's room. Special thanks to the Belgeri's for watching the kids and the Baum's for recharging us with refreshments.
Today the plumbers put in their final fixtures, the kitchen faucet and garbage disposal. They also had their final inspection and passed.
Sergei, the finish carpenter, was in the garage putting together our bench and lockers for the mudroom. This is the base of the lockers. Above will have an area for hooks and some storage.

The big ka-pow today was the glass tile back splash. It looks amazing. It does a great job pulling the countertops and moss cabinets together. It should only need grout tomorrow and the kitchen will be nearly complete.

Painting was nearly finished inside when we were there at lunch. It looked like the inside should be done except some touch ups. Rain is predicted most of the week so I am not sure when the exterior will be painted. The electricians were putting the finishing touches on their work too. They need to hook up the appliances in the kitchen and get their inspection tomorrow or Wednesday. Our site superintendent Jim is working his tail off getting everything in place for the tradesmen and doing things around the house like hang towel bars and re-assemble vanity doors. It is a lot of work but it seems like it is all coming together quite nicely!

Other updates from Friday

2009-04-25T09:34:00.002-05:00

The driveway was finished today.
So was the walkway and sidewalk. The rounded walkway was a nice surprise for us. We were not sure how that was going to turn out and we are really happy with it.

The guest shower in the basement is nearly complete. When we have guests it will be nice for them to have their own quarters in the basement. They will just have to get around without stepping on the large number of toys that are going to be down there!

The study, living and dining rooms were painted. The red you see is the study and we absolutely love it. The living room color is hard to see but it is a light grey/tan. The colors all work so well together. We could not be happier with them. The interior is supposed to be all painted by Monday. They had to wait for the carpet to be done before starting on the stair area.

Amanda and I are planning on going to the house Sunday to start putting together some closets and determine where mirrors and stuff are going to go. Our good friends the Belgeri family are helping us out by watching the kiddos for a while so we can be as productive as possible!

Carpet and Counter Tops!

2009-04-25T09:08:00.003-05:00

Big day at the house on Friday. Amanda and I went two separate times to check out the progress. Amanda was there when they were installing the Cambria Quartz counter tops. They look better than we could imagine.
This is the island where our cook top is going to be. This color does not show very well in the picture but is a grey/green color. The green goes great with the moss color cabinets and will tie in perfectly with the tile back splash going in today.

Around the outside of the kitchen is a speckled gray color counter. It pulls the grey from the island counter. Again it looks better in person. They guys installing asked Amanda how much we liked the sink you can see on the left. That is because it is huge and weighs about 120 pounds! We do not plan to remodel this anytime soon.

Then upstairs and in the basement the carpet was installed. We purchased a "green" carpet from Shaw. Here is a link outlining their commitment to environmental sustainability, http://www.shawfloors.com/Cms/Home.aspx?DN=304350a3-77f6-4118-96db-775897b579cc. Our carpet was made using recycled materials. It looks great. This is from our bedroom.

This is in John's room. We picked this carpet so long ago we were not sure how it was going to look in place. We really like it.

Plumbing Fixtures Installed

2009-04-23T20:37:00.004-05:00

The plumbing fixtures were delivered Monday and they did not waste any time getting things put in place. This is a shot of the powder room on the first floor. We used all low flow plumbing fixtures. The Kohler toilet uses only 1.28 gallons per flush, http://www.us.kohler.com/pr/pressrelease.jsp?aid=1176777713648&prdaterange=&prsubject=&prcategory=. The faucets by Delta (http://www.deltafaucet.com/smarttechnology/watersense.html?filter=all) are also water sense rated.
This is the water heater for the house. It is made by Rinnai (http://www.rinnai.us/tankless-water-heaters/r94lsi/ ) and instantly heats up hot water when needed. This is more efficient since a heating element does not need to keep a bunch of water hot all the time.

The master shower has it's final touches put in. This is Amanda's side with an adjustable hand held sprayer with two body jets.

This is my side, one fixed shower head (mounted high to accommodate my stature) and three body sprays. You can see the water running down the tile...I could not help myself and needed to try it out.

I will have a lot more pictures tomorrow. The counter tops and carpet are installed. The concrete walkways will be done and maybe a little more finish work inside. The first floor should have most of the painting done too!

The Driveway!

2009-04-23T20:13:00.004-05:00

I probably should not be so excited about a non-porous surface but I am. We have looked at dirt for so long it is refreshing to see the driveway poured today. We flirted with doing a grass driveway early in the project to be more green but that was one of the first budget cuts.
This is a shot from the back of the garage showing the 6' extension we need to pull in and out of the garage.

The view from the front yard looking back. Each side of the driveway has a gravel drainage area for rain runoff.

This was taken from the breakfast nook. I can see us keeping an eye on the kids playing from this spot quite a bit in the future.

Front porch almost done

2009-04-23T19:19:00.004-05:00

It has been a while so we have a lot to catch everyone up on. First off the crews are working really hard to get our house done by next Thursday. That's right we should be moving our stuff into the house in a week. Very exciting. Above is the view from the street. All of the rails are up and the posts are finished being built.
Here is a view of the post close up. You may remember a previous blog post showing the posts looking different. Our architect, Jeff Day, did not like how the posts went into the house and did not show from the street...curbside appeal and all. We think he was right on.

Another view of the posts.

Many a trick or treater will be using this railing to climb our steps for candy in the near future.

That is just the front of the house. I have a couple more posts on the rest of the progress.

Shower tile done and paint upstairs

2009-04-16T20:25:00.002-05:00

The upstairs is almost completely painted. This is the yellow for the kids jack and jill bath. It is hard to pick a color that suits both a boy and girl. We think this works pretty well for the space.
The blue is John's pick for his room. Of all the colors we chose we were the most iffy on this one. Now that it is up we think it is pretty cool.

The picture of Teagan's room is very hard to see the color, but it is a very pale yellow...I swear. Amanda says it is the perfect color for a little girls room. Since she was a little girl once she should know.

This is the master bedroom. A grey/brown color really pops with the trim. As we posted before, the colors are all from the arts and crafts collection from Sherman Williams. It is one thing to see the paint chips but quite another to see them on the wall. We are very happy so far.

The grout in the master shower is now done and it looks amazing. The camera does not do it justice. Now all it needs is some plumbing fixtures and we are set!

Believe it or not we have been told that we should be done on April 30th. We are very excited to finally get into the house. A lot of work still needs to be done but we are confident the guys can do it!

Railings and gutters

2009-04-16T20:16:00.002-05:00

Things are moving along outside. The railings on the front porch are almost done. We were short a bit of material for the right stair railing.
Another shot of the front of the house.

The gutters were also put up today. With all the rain we are expecting this weekend they will be tested very soon.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T10:13:00.003-05:00

Happy Easter to all of our family and friends. We hope the Easter Bunny delivered lots of candy to everyone!

We went by the house yesterday after a day at the zoo. Everything is coming along nicely. Above is a shot of the fireplace area without a big door in the way.

In our basement there is a graveyard of interior doors getting painted.
Outside the AC unit has been delivered and hooked up.

Up in the master shower we are finally able to get a good idea of how everything is tying together. The guys with Innovative Tile Pros are prepping the area for grouting so they took all the protective cardboard off.

Another shot of the shower. I stepped into it this week and there will be no claustrophobia issues when cleaning ourselves. Big yes...but I am a pretty big dude that needs his space!

Upstairs update

2009-04-08T20:58:00.003-05:00

The glass tile in the master shower is almost done. It has been a tedious job for the tile guys but the results are incredible. Each square foot is put up on the mortar, left to set for a while, then the piece of paper keeping the tiles together is wet down and taken off...hopefully without taking many small tiles with it.
Here you can see the corner. Originally we had square corners. The tile installers recommended a rounded corner and boy are we glad they did. It really makes it look cool.

The bathroom vanities are being set in place. This one is going to be Amanda's sink in the master bath.

And I finish this post with a very exciting ceiling fan and light in John's room. The upstairs does not have much left to do before carpet is put down and paint applied to the walls. Finishing the tile in the master shower, a couple of lights in the master, and a cabinet in the laundry room will be set in place.

Stay tuned for updates later this week!

On the first floor

2009-04-08T20:45:00.003-05:00

There has been a lot of progress inside the house too. The slate fireplace has been completed and sealed with a color enhancer. Looks fantastic. Sorry the door is in the way of the view!
The light fixtures are being installed around the house too. Here is the main light in the dining room. It has a really cool granite shade on it. Can't wait to see it lit up.
This is a late addition to the plans. We decided to put up a chalkboard in the kitchen. Thought it would be fun for the kids, good at relaying reminders, and displaying menus for parties. We are going to paint the inside with chalkboard paint.

Here you see the kitchen lights. We love the pendant lights over the island. There are two matching lights over the sink and nook. They all look awesome together.

Outside posts are going up!

2009-04-08T20:29:00.003-05:00

On Tuesday we went by the house to look at the posts going up on the porch. We like how they look.
The detail at the top on the inside is pretty cool.

A view from the front of the house. The rest of them should be done by Thursday or Friday. Hopefully the rails and spindles will be done then too!

Tile work is in the home stretch

2009-03-30T21:33:00.002-05:00

Out at the house today there was a lot of progress to report on the tile work. The fireplace has the grout put in and the slate looks great.
Another shot of the slate.

The tile in the Jack and Jill bath is done too. Looks great. I hope that tile can hold up to bath finger paints!

And last but not least the master shower is well on its way. The floor and the bench have been done.

This is a shot of the floor, that is protected by a bunch of cardboard right now. The bus stop shower will have the maple colored tile put on the walls, the same as the light brown above. It will definitely be a neat look. Can't wait to see it all complete!

Trim Work Update

2009-03-30T21:07:00.005-05:00

I have a couple of posts for tonight. First a couple of pictures of the final posts. We decided on some smaller posts than the original plans.
Another shot. They will be painted white to match the rest of the trim in the house. The guys did a real nice job on them.
The cabinets are ready for the counter top templating. Although dusty, they look awesome.

The green paneling has been put on the island. It really looks like a piece of furniture now. This paneling really ties in the ...

Breakfast nook. I can see a lot of meals and homework being done in this area. It has come together better than we could imagine.

I need to thank Bruce and Sergei for all their help today moving the bathroom vanities and appliances today. They took some time out of their day to get some heavy pieces into the house.

Kitchen Cabinets!!

2009-03-26T21:04:00.002-05:00

This afternoon I went with the kids to the house again to look at what had gone on this afternoon. The guys let me know that the cabinets were going to start today. Above is the view from the breakfast nook. (not all the cabinets have been put in their permanent home yet!)
The green cabinets for the island. The cooktop and ventilation will be on the middle cabinet.

The corner cabinets.

Looking from the stair area. Can finally see where the fridge will go.

This is a good shot of the wall cabinets. The oven will be put in the base cabinet closest to us. The carpenters said they should all be in place by the end of the day Friday. We should post final pictures this weekend!

Also today I finally met our future neighbor Melissa. She was moving a few things into their house. They only have painting left to do on the inside. The Baum family should be in their beautiful new home the middle of next week. We can't wait to join them next door!

Tile and column update

2009-03-26T20:48:00.002-05:00

A lot going on today. All the tile floors have grout in them now and they look real nice. This is in the master bath.
Jason with Innovative Tile Pros (www.innovativetilepros.com) was finishing up the slate tile on the fireplace. It is quite a sight in my opinion seeing it when you walk in the house. The colors on the slate are outstanding.

Our last post talked a little about our post quandary. Bruce and Sergei put together a new post for us to look at. It is a couple of inches smaller all the way up and is the better look for the spot. The one on the left is the smaller post.

Another shot of the post. You can also see a little of how it will be trimmed out when done. They are going to try and knock the other 3 out tomorrow or Monday.

Just Some Pictures!

2009-03-25T17:46:00.004-05:00

Progress, progress, progress! Here you'll see some shots of the built-ins, along with some great shots of the kids discovering their new home. More later this week, I'm sure! Enjoy.

The kids are hamming it up in the basement...

Here's a shot of the built-ins around the fireplace... love it!!! These will be painted white with the rest of the trim.

These built-ins will separate the space between the family room and the dining room. The shelves look fantastic! (We think the columns are kinda big, so they'll probably be making them smaller for us.)

This is the back side of the shelving, facing the dining room.

And Teagan, ready for the camera...

Three at once!

2009-03-23T20:05:00.003-05:00

So when I went by today we had 3 different crews working at once. Outside the brick team was back putting brick on the front of the porch and columns. If the weather holds out it should be completed by mid-week. All they will have to do is the side of the house after the driveway is poured. It is really starting to look complete on the outside.
Inside I met with the finish carpenters to go over the built in bookcases. They are really making a lot of progress. Each doorway has 6 different pieces to it. I am sure it is a very time consuming process. The plan is for them to start the kitchen cabinets soon.

The master shower is moving along. They are finishing up the mudding of the wall for the glass tile. The tile installers recommended rounding the corners of the shower. It will really look cool.

Videos of the Progress!

2009-03-23T10:20:00.012-05:00

The family took a field trip on Sunday to visit the house, and we didn't want to leave! It is looking absolutely amazing. We are in awe that it's our house.

Rather than pictures, we're trying something different this time... videos. We tried this once before and the file was too large to upload. These videos are about a minute each... Hope you enjoy them!

Starting with the basement:

Next, the first (main) floor:

And finally, the upstairs:

We have a very busy week... The trim carpenters are in working on doors, window casings, and built-in shelves. The kitchen cabinets will start to go up. The bricklayers are back, finishing the porch brickwork and columns. The tile guys continue to do an amazing job - this week, working on the master shower (the bus stop), and finishing up the fireplace & grout work. Busy, busy, busy! One thing is quite clear: Sage doesn't cut corners, and they pick subs that don't cut corners either. We continue to be amazed at the quality of work going into our home.

Adam went out during lunch today and took more pictures so stay tuned...

Speaking of Adam - since I hijacked his blog again... Adam could be the single greatest person in the entire world. And I'm not even exaggerating. Today I am 10 days post surgery. In the past 10 days, Adam has taken EXCELLENT care of me. He's been pretty much the sole caregiver for our two wonderful children, he's run the household, and he's kept tabs on the progress of our new home. All while still checking in at work and getting paid! He's my rock. Thank you Adam. I love you!!

Outside...

2009-03-20T10:15:00.002-05:00

The front porch columns have started! It may not look like much now but they will be looking great in a week or so. The bottom will have the same brick as the rest of the house. On top of that will be tapered columns.
Side view.

They also put the beadboard on the ceiling of the porch. This will be painted white to match the rest of the trim on the outside. We can't wait to put a couple of chairs or a porch swing on it and hang out.

Inside..

2009-03-20T10:08:00.002-05:00

The crew is making quite a bit of progress. Most of the windows have been framed out.
I had to include another picture of our newel posts. Love them... They are made of reclaimed lumber from a school house. They look great.

Tile is going in the jack and jill bath for the kids.

The floor in the master bath is in. On it you can see the tile for the master shower.

A lot of trim work is going on right now including the doors.

The Wood Floors and Stairs are Finished!

2009-03-16T11:46:00.003-05:00

Stopped by the house this morning on my way back west to check out the finished wood floors. To my surprise, you can see, they started putting up the slate tile around the fireplace. It looks awesome in our humble opinion. We spoke to Bill Newberry about a mantle. He has some reclaimed lumber that we can use for a very simple mantle above the fireplace. I hope to go by and pick out a neat piece for that spot.
There were big signs saying to stay off the floors until Monday. It was killing us this weekend not knowing how they were turning out. My first impression was WOW! Above is a close shot of the finished newel post and stairs. They are exactly what we were looking for.

This is looking at the dining room area from by the fireplace.

Close up shot of the finished oak floors. Patrick O'Brian with O'Brian Construction and Flooring
(314-223-4691)was in during the weekend sealing the floors. He used a low VOC product from Minwax (http://www.minwax.com/products/hardwood_floor_finishing/super_fast_drying_polyurethane350.html). It was something I noticed when I walked in...the lack of smell from the floor.

This is a far shot of the stairs. They used two differnt types of wood for the stairs. The risers and spindles are poplar and the rest is oak. After agonizing over the decision we decided to just seal both types of wood even though they would look different. Patrick and Jim told us it was worth a try since we could easily paint them later if we did not like how it turned out...easier to go that way than take off paint to stain later. As of right now we dig how it is looking.

Should have some trim work, cabinets, outside posts starting and more tile work done this week. Every day is one day closer to us finally moving in!

Floors and Doors!

2009-03-06T19:14:00.002-06:00

So the wood floors are coming along beautifully. Above you can see the integrated vent covers being put in on the first floor. We are excited to not hear the banging of hot wheels cars being dropped down the vent supply lines.
This is a shot of the kitchen looking towards the front of the house.

This is the view from the dining room looking into the living room. The big stack of wood is for the staircase. They are slated to start putting them together on Tuesday. The newel posts outlined on a previous post should be ready then too! The crew was hoping to finish laying the floor today. They are then going to come back and start the finishing process next Thursday.

Looking out at the garage we see all the doors have been delivered. They are solid core MDF doors. Jim, our site supervisor, was moving them while Amanda was there Thursday. He was getting quite a workout since they are so heavy. They are really cool and just what we had in mind.

Upstairs the tile installer started putting down the subfloor for our bathroom. We are meeting him on Saturday to go over grout colors.

It should be a busy week of stairs, tile, wood floor finishing, and a little trim work.

The flooring has started!

2009-03-03T19:05:00.003-06:00

Amanda and I went to the house today to meet with our landscape designer and see the progress inside the house. We hope to have an update on the landscaping soon. There is a lot of movement inside. Most of our tile has been delivered (see the Modwalls boxes above) and hopefully will start to be put in this week. The boxes contain the glass tiles for the "bus stop", otherwise known as the master shower. We've gone with Backgammon for the floors and bench, and Maple for the shower walls.

We also had the kitchen cabinets delivered from Capitol Group. Can't see much of them right now but they will be out of the boxes soon enough!

The most exciting part of the visit was seeing the first part of our hardwood flooring being put in. We decided on unfinished wide plank oak hardwood floor. Even unfinished they look awesome. This is in the dining room.

This is a view from the dining room into the kitchen. The crew was very nice and talked to us about colors of stain. We are leaning towards keeping them in their natural color since they are so beautiful as is - which would mean, no stain, just a poly seal. If we go this route we will lower the amount of VOC's potentially released in the process. Evidently manufacturers haven't mastered a low-VOC staining product, but the polyurethane seal is low VOC.

It's definitely an exciting week!!! Stay tuned!

We are "primed" for a lot of progress

2009-02-24T20:14:00.005-06:00

I went by today to check out the house and was very happy to see that the drywall in the basement was being taped and that the walls on the first and second floor have been primed. Above is a shot of the study.
This is a shot of the kitchen.

And above is the living room.

You can see the difference in the ceiling color and the primer. The primer, along with the paint that will be put on, is going to be a low/no VOC (volatile organic compounds) product from Sherwin Williams ( http://www.sherwin-williams.com/pro/green/greensure_designation/).

We can't wait to see the colors we chose up on the walls soon. We stuck with a very traditional arts and crafts palette from Sherwin Williams (http://www.sherwin-williams.com/do_it_yourself/paint_colors/paint_color_palette/color_themes/interior/int_arts/index.jsp)

The house is looking more like a home every day. The wood floors should be delivered in the next day or two. After a couple of days to acclimate they will be nailed in place. The front porch and stairs should be poured either Wednesday or Thursday. Then the front columns can be completed and the true face of the house will be revealed.

Long awaited update

2009-02-20T20:36:00.002-06:00

We apologize for the long delay in posts. Not intentional, but a busy life has gotten in the way of our blogging. Just because we have not posted anything does not mean things are not progressing. The drywall has been put up and the taping/mudding is basically complete. Above is a view of the dining room.

This is from our master bedroom looking into our bathroom.

This is our kitchen.

And this is the view from our study into the living room.

The drywall team has done a great job with all the mudding and taping. After the paint is put on (which starts with the priming Monday) I don't think any of the lines will be visible.

The next couple of weeks are going to be BIG. Wood flooring, cabinets in the kitchen and the aforementioned painting will be done soon. So we will keep you posted!

2-8 driveby update

2009-02-08T21:02:00.003-06:00

After meeting about the newel posts we drove by the house to see what was done Friday afternoon. To our delight almost all the exterior siding and trim work was complete and it looks fabulous.

As we were walking around the house (since we could not get into our home) our soon to be neighbor, Kevin Baum, poked his head out the back door to say hello. Kevin was nice enough to give us a tour of his home (we kind of forced him into it, really). I think he got more than he bargained for since the kids were with us! Their home is going to be beautiful, that's for sure. Outdoor speakers will provide the perfect party patio, and plans are definitely in the works for a BYO event. They anticipate moving in sometime in mid-March.

We also saw two gentlemen looking at the still-vacant lots just north of the Baum's property. Rumor has it, those lots have sold as one... hopefully they'll be on board for a Boone's Farm Party, too!!

And it would just be wrong, wrong, wrong if we didn't mention meeting one of our younger neighbors, 10 year-old Ray. Ray lives just across the street from our home, and he serenaded us with a little Iron Butterfly on his un-amped guitar. He's a boy of few words, but he made it quite clear that John shouldn't call him "kid," because he's 10 years old and NOT a kid.

Big week coming! We'll keep you posted, of course.

Newel Post Meeting

2009-02-08T20:37:00.004-06:00

Today the whole family took a trip into Richmond Heights to meet Bill and Julie Newberry to talk about the design of our newel posts at the new house. They first showed us around the "green" town home they built and currently have for sale. It was beautiful. It was neat to compare notes on green construction. We knew when we walked up we were in good hands since all the woodwork you see above was done by them.

They then took us to the woodworking workshop in the basement of the adjacent town home. It was a pretty neat operation they have. They showed us some examples of what they have done and the type of wood they use. They let us know our posts are going to be made from quarter sewn oak...should make a beautiful set of posts. The original design for the posts were not going to work with our railings and spindles so they came up with a couple of new designs to compliment our craftsman theme. It may be hard to make out on the picture, but we decided on the drawing on the right to be the design for the posts.

Above is the stack of quarter sewn oak that will be used to make our posts. If anyone is interested in what Bill and Julie can do please check out their website, http://www.newberryfurniture.com/. We are excited to be working with local artisans that obviously puts a lot of care into what they do.

Insulation Everywhere!

2009-02-06T08:17:00.005-06:00

Amanda here... This morning I drove by the house on the way to work and there was so much to see! I haven't been to the house since Monday and I can't believe how much progress everyone made this week.

First, the exterior - I/we couldn't be happier with how it is turning out. As Adam has explained, they placed the Hardy Board on both sides of the house, and on the sides of the porch. Once the siding is around the master bedroom windows, it will really look complete! Also, they installed a bronze-colored flashing, which I absolutely love.

Second... INSULATION!!! Woo hoo! The guys worked hard yesterday and almost finished insulating the second floor, and they were already back there this morning at 7:30 working on the first floor. I'm glad - they gave me a little lesson on the stuff. I thought we were just getting the standard pink stuff on rolls, which can be pretty good. I was quite wrong! The top picture of insulation gives you a good idea of what we are getting. It is blown insulation that - according to the installer - is a fancy version of recycled paper and corn starch. I think he was dumbing it down for me, but that really helped me understand it. So they spray it in place and it will dry today & over the weekend. The big yellow thing in John's bedroom is a heater so they can accelerate the drying process.

Because our exterior walls are built with 2x6 construction, the exterior wall R-Value will be about an R21. He said that the interior walls (including the mud room wall that's shared with the garage) will be and R15, because that's a 2x4 wall. Pretty amazing. Evidently rodents and bugs hate the taste of this insulation - so there's a little extra bonus.

Next week... DRYWALL! Stay tuned! Have a wonderful weekend, and as always - "big ups" to the folks at Sage and their subcontractors. Thanks for the education and for another great job!

Our first decorating post

2009-02-04T20:07:00.003-06:00

We may not even have drywall yet but we are going fast and furious on making final (or near final) decisions on how things are going to look on the inside. Tile has been a major area of discussion in our house recently. We got a great deal on some floor tile to be used in our bathrooms and laundry room so we were able to look into glass tiles for some other areas. Always loved the look but did not think we could swing it.

We met with Jason Stone from Sage Homebuilders today at Capital Group Kitchen and Design Center (http://capitolgroupkitchenandbath.com/) to compare our cabinet choices with countertop samples and some glass tile samples we ordered off the internet from http://www.theglassmosaicoutlet.com/. Above is the Key West color tile with our cabinet and cambria counter top for the perimeter of the kitchen. (Note: the counter top looks more green in this picture than in person...it is more of a grey)

This combo is the green color cabinet and countertop for the island with the tile sample.
We are very excited with how it is all looking together.

I could not post on this blog without talking about the green nature of the products. If you are interested, check out the websites for cambria (http://www.cambriausa.com/learn_green.cfm) and Merillat Cabinets (http://www.tomorrowsthinkingtoday.com/green/index.aspx and http://www.merillat.com/).

Exterior Update

2009-02-04T19:39:00.003-06:00

Quite a busy day for selections and progress on the Pocius palace project. On the outside the siding has started to be put in place. We are using a James Hardie cement board product (http://www.jameshardie.com/homeowner/). The picture is a little washed out but we chose a color called Timber Bark.

This product is, of course, quite environmentally friendly. To see all the reasons it is considered green check out http://www.jameshardie.com/homeowner/green_testimonials06.shtml. The most important in my eyes is the durability of this product. It has a 50 year warranty so we should not have to worry about it for a looooong time.

The crew started on Monday but had to stop for a while due to the cold. It has been freezing here. We also had to choose the aluminum fascia wrap color so they could continue. We decided on a color very close to the color of the window exteriors. It should be pretty sharp.

Cool Website

2009-02-03T20:09:00.002-06:00

We were introduced to the walk score for our last home on St. Vincent Ave by our real estate agent Dawn Griffin. It is a calculation done based on how many conveniences you can walk to from your home. Things like grocery stores, restaurants, movie theaters, parks, coffee shops and on and on are used to give a score. 0 is horrible, 100 is you don't need a car for almost anything. Our last house was a 72, not shabby (very walkable). The new home's score is a 95, aka walkers paradise (http://www.walkscore.com/get-score.php?street=1061+yale+63117). Now we are not planning on giving up our cars anytime soon, but we are really excited to be able to walk around our new neighborhood for most of our everyday conveniences.

For those living in more urban areas check out the site to see if you can beat a 95. There are just over 140 walkers paradise neighborhoods in the biggest 40 cities around America (of course Richmond Heights did not make the list because of the size of the city). We are stoked to have this opportunity at our new home.

No Pictures...just an update!

2009-01-31T16:03:00.002-06:00

Sorry we don't have any new and exciting pictures this week although there was a lot of work being done when it was not snowing! I spoke to Jim, the project superintendent about the progress. We are one step away from the plumbing inspection being complete. The electrical and HVAC inspections are Monday. Once we have those in place they are hoping to have the insulators in by the end of the week. Drywall will be delivered this week too and that should start the following week.

On the outside, our siding above the brick will be going up Monday and Tuesday. It will really look cool once that all goes up. The exterior will be near complete except for the front porch area.

We will have many pictures to share this week so keep looking!

The basement decision

2009-01-27T08:29:00.005-06:00

So the big decision we have been dealing with the last few weeks is do we finish the basement now or do it ourselves later (like at our last house). Well as you can see in the video above, we have decided to move forward with framing out the basement and getting the rough in work done. Having the experts do it right away will save us time and probably money in the long run. The video starts at the base of the stairs showing the open area, works towards the bathroom then down the hall and to the right is the bedroom.

The plan is to have a open space, most likely for the kids toys, two storage areas, a bathroom with shower, and another bedroom. This will serve as the guest suite for our visitors until John gets sick of sharing a bathroom with his sister 10 years from now. Our original plan had us using a murphy bed in the study for our guests. We still love this idea and plan on adding one in the future but for the money, adding the square footage in the basement is a better idea.

Are you Sick of our Brick Yet?

2009-01-21T08:56:00.006-06:00

Well, too bad if you are - we aren't!

More pictures for you to enjoy. The brickwork is now finished - at least until the stairs for the front porch are complete. Once the stairs are up, they can finish bricking the bottom of the porch.

Think warm thoughts!!!! Have a great day everyone.

Weather hasn't allowed for much else lately - but the electricians are staying busy, and I believe we're doing a good job of keeping Jason Stone (principal at Sage) pretty darned busy... Poor fella.

Anyway, enjoy this morning's pictures!

And on the inside...

2009-01-10T13:49:00.003-06:00

We keep putting pictures of the master shower, showing the rough in work. It looks like all the valves have been installed on the second floor. What some of you may notice is the piping is mostly not traditional copper or PVC. The "green" alternative is PEX water supply pipes. If you are interested in many of the "green" aspects of PEX check out this link, http://jobsite.buildiq.com/articles/greener-building/pex-plumbing-green.aspx .

This may make my plumber father roll around in his grave but this is the way of the future. Besides the potential benefits listed in the article, it is quicker to install since the lines are flexible.

A couple of guys came while I was there to start sealing the building envelope with spray foam insulation around the windows, and caulk around exterior outlets and at the wall/floor joint. Doing this is one easy way to save energy in heating and cooling the home. I found some interesting studies on line (the scientist in me I guess). The Department of Energy states that up to 40% of heating and cooling costs are due to air infiltration in the building envelope. A recent NAHB study (1997) showed that a good caulk-and-seal (foam-and-seal) package reduces annual heating and cooling costs from $150 - $300, on average. Also check out this pdf from energy star, http://www.energystar.gov/ia/new_homes/features/AirSealing1-17-01.pdf .

Finally, the electricians are about done on the second floor running the wire and installing the recessed lighting. They are planning on doing the first floor next week.

Finished Brick Pics- at least the garage

2009-01-10T13:43:00.002-06:00

Here are a couple of shots showing the finished brick on the back of the garage. The crew was hard at work on the North side of the house Friday. It looks like it will be about another week until they are done.

Brick, Plumbing, Garage...

2009-01-07T12:31:00.007-06:00

Another hijacking by Amanda...

Thank goodness for space heaters, as they are allowing our brick crew to work diligently in warmth rather than the 32-degree elements. They are doing a fantastic job! We visited the site during lunch today and snapped these shots. As you can see, the back wall of the home is now completed - they just need to go back in with the grout. We're thrilled with the results - I'm no expert, but I can't tell the difference between regular-thickness brick and this thin-brick product. It looks beautiful, and I particularly love the detail around the windows. They will also add a cement sill under each window as well. Here's their set-up - you can see how they are staying warm!! Probably not the "greenest" aspect of our project...

"We" (and I use that term very loosely) are also making great progress on electrical and plumbing. Here, you'll see that they've plumbed for the tub in Teagan & John's Jack-n-Jill bath, and they've also plumbed for the pimp shower in the master bath. The shower is ridiculously huge, but it is being fitted with low-flow body jets and shower heads - so we're keepin' it green as much as possible. That's a bench where all the tools are...

I can't say enough about the crew - they all seem fantastic, professional, and like they are actually having fun. They actually care about the project and ask us things like - did we place the can light in the right spot? I didn't even know I could have an opinion on such things! Lovely to see. Kudos to Sage and to all the subs!!! Can you tell I'm excited?

And one last thing... the garage floor! Hooray!

The brick is going up!

2009-01-06T17:11:00.003-06:00

Happy new year to everyone! We hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday season.

Have not posted in a while due to the holidays but that does not mean things around the green bungalow were not being done. Our brick is being put on this week. I went out today to see a small sample of what it was going to look like before they went crazy and set a ton of bricks. Above is a shot at the back corner of the garage.

This is a shot from straight on. We went with a older looking brick to try and fit in with the surrounding homes. What you may notice in the first picture is the brick is real thin. Let me assure you it is not a fake brick product. It is brick...just 1/3 the thickness. This makes it more green than standard brick for a couple of reasons. First, it does not take as much material (obviously) to make the brick as a standard brick. Second, since the brick is thinner it takes less energy to make (when they fire the brick to harden- I read somewhere that it takes 1000BTU to harden a thin brick vs. 4000BTU for a standard one) and less energy to transport because they weigh less. It goes on like cultured stone and has the same kind of mortar between bricks that a standard brick has.

Our fireplace was also set over the holidays. I can see Santa fitting in there next year!

Check back again soon for more pics of how the brick is looking!

The last window

2008-12-21T13:03:00.002-06:00

Amanda and I went to the house around lunch on Friday just in time to see they guys put in the 12' window in our master bedroom. It took 4 guys to lift it in place and it made one future female resident very nervous watching. Once they had it in place all it took was some nails outside to secure it in place.

And here is the view from the street with the window in place. We love how it all is coming together. Inside, the HVAC crew was busy running a lot of duct work.

We took Amanda's folks out on Sunday morning in the freezing cold so they could look at it first hand. We are not the only ones that like how everything is turning out.

On a personal note, we would like to congratulate my sister Katie for graduating from the University of Wisconsin Whitewater this weekend. We are all very proud of her and wish we could have been there to celebrate with her.

Windows almost all in!

2008-12-18T15:22:00.005-06:00

After a few delays due to the weather we finally were able to get the windows put in yesterday. The only ones that needed to be done yet were the master bedroom windows (second floor above) and the windows in the kids bath.

This is the view from what will be our back driveway.

A close up of a couple of the windows.

The view from the north side of the house.

The view from the South side.

We are using Kolbe and Kolbe (http://www.kolbe-kolbe.com/) classic series double hung and casement windows. They are all energy star rated windows which will help save money by reducing heating or cooling loss compared to standard vinyl windows. If you are interested in the technical details check out their website. I would like to thank Joe Aleto with IHP Windows and Doors here in Saint Louis. He walked me through all of our options and gave us some good recommendations. We are really excited for how they look on the house and can't wait to see how they pair with the brick and siding we chose.

The kids love the house!

2008-12-13T15:48:00.009-06:00

Well since we are doing all of this for the two little Pocius' it is great for Amanda and I to see how excited they both are when we go and check things out at the house. The pics above and below are from our trip Friday. As you can see John already loves his backyard. They also both stood in the kitchen for the first of a million times.

This was the first time we let Big T down in the house since most of the materials were picked up. She loved it (as you can see on the left). The shot on the right shows the first time she set foot in her room. She actually jumped up and down...well more liked bounced a bit.

Work from Friday.

2008-12-13T15:24:00.006-06:00

Hello again everyone. We went by the house yesterday again to see what was done on Friday. The roof was completed and we were able to see the whole thing without any footers. We love how it looks. From the front...

From the back showing our place and the quick progress of our neighbors abode. They are trying to get a lot done before the predicted ice storm on Monday. With our roof complete we should be in good shape. It might delay our windows again.

The side facing the garage.

They were not sitting on their hands inside either. The HVAC plans were put into motion and the floor cutouts for the vents and returns were opened.

And finally showing some plumbing work. They actually started to run some of the supply lines up to the second floor.

The Green Critic

2008-12-12T09:27:00.002-06:00

It's official! Our architect is not just severely bald...he's also joined the ranks of geeky bloggers around the world. Welcome, Jeff!

When you get some time, check out his new blog at http://www.jeffdaygreen.com/. I particularly like his tips on "Tightening Up that Old House."

Big John is watching

2008-12-11T19:44:00.008-06:00

Hello to everyone ...hope everyone is staying warm! We have had some cold wet weather around Saint Louis recently and that has slowed down the progress a little bit. Things are still moving along at a real exciting pace though. As you can see above the shingles on the roof are almost complete. We were hoping to get the windows put in this week but the weather did not allow for the roof to get done thus the windows are scheduled for installation next Monday. I thought I saw a roofer pull up as I was leaving the house today so hopefully it is now done. Even without the windows in things are still getting done inside. You can also see in the picture on the bottom, that our neighbors, the Baum's, have a first floor studded up.

The picture on the bottom shows the staircase down to the basement. This needed to get done so the plumbers could get down there and start the rough plumbing. I met with one of the guys today to go over shower head placement for the huge master shower. I will finally have a shower that I don't need to bend over to wet my head (plus each of us will have some body sprays...should be nice). The picture on the top shows one of the guys putting some drain pipe coming from the kids jack and jill bath. If you can believe it the 3 guys doing the plumbing said the 29 degree temp was not that bad. I was out there for 30 minutes today and my teeth were chattering.

As most of you know my Dad John was a master plumber for many years in Chicago. So I know he is watching over the job being done, and will make sure everything is up to his high standard.

That is all for now. Hope we can show everyone some windows soon!

12.8.2008 - Hard at Work in the Cold!!

2008-12-08T13:46:00.003-06:00

Amanda hijacking again... The fellas are hard at work today in the cold temperatures, getting our roofing shingles on before tonight's rain. I'm glad it's them on the roof and not us! That's actually a guy all the way on the top of the roof. I'll stick to my desk job, thanks very much.

Come back later this week for another update - we hope to have the finished roof, and - fingers crossed - windows. Maybe that will be John's 5th birthday gift on Wednesday - a window in his new bedroom. Otherwise, the loot from his grandmas, grandpa, and friends will have to suffice.

More to follow!

The roof is up and shingles have started

2008-12-06T16:27:00.004-06:00

Hello to all!

Sorry we have not posted in a while. Things have been pretty crazy around the Pocius house. Plus the weather has not cooperated with our building project. Although we have not gotten much snow, we have had enough rain and cold to cause problems.

Amanda and I had to decide the color of our shingle before Thanksgiving. We settled on a color called Weathered Wood by Certainteed. We got samples of our brick and James Hardie siding color to put next to a bunch of different shingle

types. We did not want to go too light (does not look good with the other colors) or too dark (creates a lot of radiant heat in the summer thus making the air conditioner work harder to cool).

I went out with the kids on our way home Friday and the roofers were out there still working even though it was after 4 and about 27 degrees out. My fingers start to hurt just thinking about it.

The weather is supposed to be dry (and cold) so the roof should get done early next week and the windows should be put on Wednesday (little Johnny's birthday).

We have a house next door that has started too. The Baum family is building next to us so the neighborhood will be quite different by the spring!

We have a roof over our heads (almost)!

2008-11-26T20:03:00.006-06:00

First off Happy Thanksgiving to everyone checking out this blog. We in the Pocius family have a lot to be thankful for this year especially all of our family and friends.

So as you can see above we are very close to having a roof on the house. This was a short week, but the crew did a great job getting a lot done. As the roof is getting put on, the classic bungalow lines are really starting to show.

We were also able to get up to the second floor for the first time now that the temporary steps have been put in. John was so excited to see what his new room was going to look like he giggled almost the whole way up to look. Looks like a bunch of lumber but the first picture is a view from the top of the stairs into the master bedroom. The second one is of Johns previously mentioned room. He already decided to go with a Star Wars theme room. Like father like son...

I talked to our site supervisor, Jim. The crew is going to be really busy next week. Finish putting the trusses on the roof, lay all the shingles, and possibly get the windows put in. I hope they all get enough Turkey this weekend. They are relly hoping to get the house "sealed up" before the cold and sleet of St.Louis winter hits.

11.20.2008 Update

2008-11-20T13:10:00.003-06:00

This is Amanda hijacking Adam's blog... I drove by before a lunch meeting today and snapped some pics. Now you can see how our back yard is shaping up (without that huge retaining wall). They're making great progress on the second floor as well. You can really start to see how the front will look.

Hope you like 'em as much as I do! that is, enough to take over my husband's blog...

A preview of what's to come???

2008-11-17T21:48:00.004-06:00

The fine guys at Jeff Day & Associates were kind enough to send us the above Google sketchup of what our house will potentially look like when it is complete. Architectural Project Manager, Kyle Jones, of Jeff Day & Associates, produced the rendering of our home and we are very happy with how it looks. The fellas might have more sketches in the future and we will post them when we get them.

It is nice to have an architect that is almost as excited about the project as we are! I just hope my grass looks that green next spring!

We have walls!

2008-11-17T19:33:00.006-06:00

Amanda went to look at the house today at lunch, and much to her surprise, nearly the entire first floor was complete. Here is a view from the outside. Jason with Sage decided to get the exterior walls made off site. This keeps them away from the elements (which we have had a lot of recently) and reduces waste. It also goes up a lot faster than if the carpenters had to do it at the site.

This is a shot of what will be our living room fireplace.

This is a shot looking into our kitchen and breakfast nook.

Here is John loving the new digs...

I think you all get the idea. Word is we are on pace for getting the second floor installed in the next day or so followed by the walls on the upper floor. If you love shots of lumber, check back frequently.

No more retaining wall!

2008-11-13T14:02:00.004-06:00

Just a quick update...

The kids and I went out yesterday to look at the progress. We saw the huge pile of dirt had been cut in half...what we did not see anymore is the retaining wall in the back!

The top photo shows how the grading is going to what will be the entrance to the garage.

The bottom photo does not show much, which is good. Last week there would have been a 5' high retaining wall in the picture.

Deciding to fill that area in, is going to give us a much more usable backyard. It returns the land to its original grade so it will blend in a bit better with the neighboring houses. We are also going to use most of the dirt we excavated for our foundation which means less a dump truck needs to haul away.

Up next (hopefully) walls!

November 10, 2008

2008-11-11T19:00:00.002-06:00

We've made some great progress in the last week!

Starting with the top picture, workers raised the height of the manhole cover for a drainage pipe in the backyard. Sounds terrible, we know - but this will dramatically improve the usability of our backyard. We can now have a level yard, instead of having a large retaining wall in the back. The other option: a moat. I'm sure the kids would've loved that.

As you'll see in the second picture, workers poured the basement and finished the base plumbing. You can see the rough-in for the toilet - we're not finishing the basement right away, but we have plans for when we do.

And in the third picture... Hooray! Our first floor! Now just imagine it with a whole house around it... Or just keep coming back to the blog and we'll show you. Eventually.

Stay tuned... next week, we should have walls, and the backyard should be filled in.

Laying the Foundation - Literally

2008-11-03T19:33:00.000-06:00

On October 30, 2008, the cranes started placing our basement walls. The top picture is the "finished" basement, and the bottom picture shows a section of how the walls are "placed" - unlike traditional poured basements.

The system we chose to use is Superior Walls ( www.superiorwalls.com ). This is a system that consists of insulated pre-fab concrete slabs. At least, that's the layman's version of the product. I'm sure their reps have a better way of saying it. The product comes with a continuous layer of insulation that's bonded directly to the concrete - thus creating an instant R Value, and reducing the amount of energy lost through the basement walls.

One thing you'll notice about the pictures above: how clean the site is so far. Pre-fab means less waste overall, and no on-site soil contamination.

And the added bonus: The wall system is pre-studded and ready for drywall, just as soon as we're ready to finish the basement. So we'll save money down the line because we won't have to pay for lumber, and we'll be saving natural resources as well... Of course, we might want to finish the rest of the house first...

Plans for our Bungalow

2008-11-03T19:12:00.000-06:00

Before we get too much further, we should probably tell you about the project. Our vision was a bungalow. We wanted something very traditional, Craftsman, and quintessentially American. Really, the perfect family home. And if the origins of the bungalow include the Sears catalog, we figured it was a good starting point.
We looked online for examples of modern bungalow floorplans and found one that loosely fit our desires. We took our ideas to our architect Jeff Day, and after he worked his magic, our vision was officially on paper.
The above picture is the front elevation. We don't want to share too much - after all, Jeff did copyright the plan! But the basics include:

2,500 square feet of living space
Attached 2-car rear garage (so it doesn't spoil the front elevation)
Breakfast nook in the kitchen, along with a center island
Center split staircase
Three bedrooms
Three full baths - one on the main level off of the study/guest room, one jack-and-jill bath between the kids' rooms, and one master bath (including a 6x9 shower)
Upstairs laundry

Sounds pretty inefficent, right? WRONG! We can do all of this, and STILL go for LEED Silver certification. It is absolutely a traditional house with modern conveniences, and it will be built with efficiency in mind.

If you like the look of our elevation and have specific questions about sharing the floorplan, we suggest you visit our architect's website: www.jeffdayllc.com . He's really great to work with and really embraces his projects.

Our First Entry!

2008-11-01T18:50:00.000-05:00

Hello! Welcome to our blog! We are building an environmentally friendly bungalow in St. Louis. This has been quite a journey for us, and we only broke ground two weeks ago... We thought it might be fun to share the journey from here, on, with anyone that's interested.

Above is a picture of our vacant lot, prior to the ground breaking. We've had the land for about 6 months, and we've used all 6 months for the planning of the home. We are working with Sage Builders ( http://www.sagestl.com/ ), and our goal is an efficient family-friendly home. So far, we can't say enough about how great Sage has been to work with. When we started the process, we knew little about building green; we now can credit most of our knowledge to the team at Sage.

Considering this is our first post, I think we've said enough so far! Stay tuned for more info on the ground-breaking, plastic soil, and the setting of the Superior Wall Systems foundation...

Best,

Adam & Amanda