While eating a late breakfast Ellen and I were startled by a loud bang on the window - Oh Oh it must have been a bird. We rushed outside to see if it was dead or not. Ellen had found a dead female cardinal one time, but there was no dead bird near the window. After looking further away I saw what looked like a a fat yellow green plant and realized it was our stunned bird. Due to the the heavy rains, the bird was lying on its side in about an inch of water and could have easily drowned. I was able to pick it up and let Ellen hold it as we looked in our National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America to see what type of bird it was. Our best guess is that it was an immature female hooded warbler, another option could be that it was a feamle painted bunting. However its beak is less rounded than a female painted bunting's beak.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
A Stunned Visitor - Immature Female Hooded Warbler?
While eating a late breakfast Ellen and I were startled by a loud bang on the window - Oh Oh it must have been a bird. We rushed outside to see if it was dead or not. Ellen had found a dead female cardinal one time, but there was no dead bird near the window. After looking further away I saw what looked like a a fat yellow green plant and realized it was our stunned bird. Due to the the heavy rains, the bird was lying on its side in about an inch of water and could have easily drowned. I was able to pick it up and let Ellen hold it as we looked in our National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America to see what type of bird it was. Our best guess is that it was an immature female hooded warbler, another option could be that it was a feamle painted bunting. However its beak is less rounded than a female painted bunting's beak.
Friday, August 6, 2010
MidSummer's Eve - An Overgrown Yard and Space Cats
With the window treatments installed (bedrooms, kitchen, entry) and temporary measures for some other windows I decided to take an evening walk around the house to see how they looked from the outside. Naturally the cats followed me around, their eyes getting caught by the camera flash giving them eery, extra terrestrial feel. Having no money yet for landscaping, nor any great motivation to work in the heat & humidity, one can see what can happen to a yard left unattended! The area on the West side of the house has a temporary pond with tall grass which has proven to be a great place for dragonflies and frogs. Thanks to their presence mosquitoes have not been such a problem.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
A Hot & Wet Summer - Time for Window Treatments!
When you combine a very hot and humid summer with a sale on Window Treatments like those offered by Pottery Barn and New Orleans Bamboo you get a compelling argument for dipping into savings. Luckily our rapidly depleted funds were replenished when we received our Federal and State Tax refunds. The Solar Panels from South Coast Solar qualified for a 30% Federal and a 50% State Tax refund. The Louisiana refund (~$15000) was deposited at the end of the Louisiana Fiscal Year (end of June). So while these funds are supposed to be targeted to reducing our Addison Avenue Solar Loan, we felt that the sale on Natural Window Blinds offered by New Orleans Bamboo warranted us to make this major purchase. We really like the natural look and feel these shades have on our rooms. They help keep the intense sunlight and heat out of the house which is vital in a southern Louisiana summer! Window drapes and hardware came from Pottery Barn. The son of the owner of New Orleans Bamboo did the installation.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Costs and Financing for 199 Branch Drive - Answers
I have caught up with getting my taxes done, etc and that meant reconciling various accounts which I had left unattended for awhile due to the house construction.
We are getting comfortable in the house now. It has been a cold, wet winter and the most recent electric bill was higher than anticipated but so to was everyone else's bill. The weather is getting nice now and what rain we have had is evaporating quickly.
The house used up most of our financial resources and so we must pay off last items before purchasing other important stuff like window treatments (my wife wants drapes and I want bamboo shades).
We also want to focus on the landscaping now and we will just have to do this incrementally. The drier weather is finally here so our minds have turned to getting a garden started and doing some basic landscaping. I want to start clearing the lot of briars.
The earthwork we did went over budget by $38,000 so immediately we had to make adjustments - one was to give up the garage and the other was to have a shingle roof instead of a metal roof.
We wanted to build the house to LEED Green standards as best we could. This meant sacrificing some East facing windows (2 in the master bathroom and 2 in the master bedroom and one by the shower). Building to Green standards meant finding locally sourced materials, materials with recycled content, are durable, and are energy/water efficient. This was the goal and it probably cost us an extra 10% or so to achieve. A lot depends on what level of finish, roof type, insulation, and fixtures you choose.
When I first approached our builder we were quoted about $150/sq ft but it looks more like $175 to even $$190 sq/ft if we include the builder's fee and our consulting architects fee! If you can do more of the work, the better you will be.
Using my Quicken data I can give you some basic costs breakdowns:
ABC Lighting (lighting fixtures) ~$4000
Acadian Millwork & Supply (windows and doors) ~$30000
Antique Woods Of Louisiana (antique pine flooring) ~$5000
Builder's Risk Plan (builder's insurance) ~$2000
Flat Iron Capital (builder's Insurance) ~$4000
C-N-C Framing/Construction (framing, porch, stairs) ~$34000
Campbell Cabinet Company (kitchen cabinets) ~ $11000
Campbell Contractors (countertops) ~$5000
Campbell Roofing Materials (roof shingles, roof vents) ~$10000
Capital Security System (wired home for alarms, internet, cable, phone, etc) ~$3000
Chrisco Pumping (concrete for slab base of foundation) ~$1000
Calairain Brothers Concrete (advanced treatment system/septic tank) ~$3500
Coastal Insulation of Louisiana (insulation, radiant barrier guard) ~$9000
DA Exterminating (termite pre-treatment) ~$500
David Church (Electrical wiring, etc) ~$13500
Dupont Air Conditioning & Heating (AC/heat recovery) $ 15500
Engineering Services (foundation design) ~$500
Eric Bochmann (finishes) $3000
Floorworks & Blinds (tile work, carpet installation) ~$16500
Greg King (slab work and carpentry) ~$8000
Griffin Polk (Piers) ~$5000
Hayneedle Inc (medicine cabinets) ~$700
Home green Home (earthweave wool carpet) ~$4000
JV Burkes (surveying) ~$1500
JC & WC Construction (Earthwork, culvert) ~$76000
Joe D Hodge (builder's fee) ~$47000
Joey Gamage (roofing labor) ~$3000
Joey Pulliam (wood flooring labor) ~$6500
John T Meeker/Meeker's Plumbing (plumbing) ~$14000
Johnson Plastering (Stucco) ~$17500
KVS Architecture (LEED/architectural consultant) ~$8000
Kern Cole (house cleaning) $1000
Keith Chatigner (plastering/sheetrock) ~$6000
Ken Hamilton (Trim/cabinet carpentry) ~$13500
Kort's Trucking (River sand, gravel, crushed concrete) ~$5000
LCP holdings (tankless water heaters) ~$1500
Lex Pierpont (roof flashing & chimney cap) ~$3000
Louisiana Lumber (lumber) ~$50000
Lowes/Home depot (door hardware, mailbox, etc) ~$2000
Mike's Hardware (hardware, building supplies) ~$8000
Mitchell Lange (driveway, grading, drainage) ~$1500
Northlake Glass (cabinet & shower glazing) ~$1500
Parish Concrete (concrete for slab) ~$16000
Pot-o-Gold (Port-a-Potty) ~$500
St Tammany Parish (permits, etc) ~$3500
St Tammany Supply/Plumbing Warehouse (plumbing fixtures, etc) ~$8500
Tech-Con Systems (wire-tied foundation) ~$4000
Thomas Quave (interior/exterior painting) ~$20000
Vintage hardware (exterior lighting) ~$1500
Waterworks Pump & Well (water pump) ~$6000
William Samuel (site cleanup) ~$3000
Total: ~$527000!! ~$218/sq ft This is about what the Regions Bank Contracted Appraiser rated it, so if one includes land value then we find we have overbuilt.
Spring has arrived- birds, bunnies, and trees all active!
Easter is just around the corner and the weather has been very nice for a change. Taxes are done, the Saints won the Super Bowl, and spring has arrived - life is good!
John - what's in the attic? 03 April 2010
Well the blog has been discovered by some other Tideland Haven fans and we have been receiving some questions from other folks and even hosted a visiting couple. One person asked about the attic. So this post is dedicated to showing our little attic.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
New Year, New Camera, New House! 03 Jan 2010
After a very wet December that caused us to take our boots on/off every time we went outside and taking time to unpack our household goods, Ellen and I were able to enjoy the Christmas and New Year holidays in our new house. With some Christmas money we decided the Kodak digital camera was not worth repairing )too much dust I think) and so we bought a Canon Powershot camera. The software drivers didn't load on my Apple PowerMac but did on Ellen's iBook. using the home wifi network I was able to transfer those files, update them from Cannon and transfer these photos from the camera to the computer for uploading!