Building our home

In August, 2005, Anita and Dan sold up in California and moved to an old family home in Dan's home town of Malvern, AR. This home was built in 1919 for Perla Strauss, for whom the community of Perla, AR, just outside of Malvern, is named. Dan's sister Linda now owns the home, and she is giving us a great deal on rent while we build our new house near Mountain Harbor Resort.

Vestor Tabor of Ouachita Builders is doing the dirt work for our new house, and he finally was able to get started. We couldn't be on hand when the first trees fell, But we did make it up to get a good sense of the work.

Vestor and crew have made a lot more progress, cutting a trench that defines the dirt that has to be excavated for the basement, and finishing cutting the driveway.

Anita and I took a quick trip to the home site on Thursday afternoon to see what we could see. We forgot the camera, so we used Dan's phone for a few photos.

The footings for the concrete basement walls have been poured. Also, you can see a bit more of how the circular drive will look.

On the day after Thanksgiving, we took Aunt Betty Thompson up to the site to review our progress. We also enjoyed lunch at Mountain Harbor Resort with friends. We get many grey days in Arkansas during the winter, but this was NOT one of them!

A few pictures of Hot Springs, AR, from West Mountain preceed these photos of the forms ready to assemble for the basement walls.

Here are some photos of the forms for pouring the basement walls being erected. There are also a few photos of Bill Barnes launching a Joplin Fire Department Fire Boat, which we had the pleasure to ride in.

The basement walls have been poured. Haltom says "good looking pour"! The transformer is up to supply electric power to the house. Wide view of both entrances to the lot.

Here we see the footings that have been poured for the garage and for the back of the basement. And, there's a picture of our builder, Mitchell Lawrence.

All of the rebar is in place in both the basement and in the garage, and the plumbing under the basement slab has been roughed in.

The slabs for the basement and the garage have been poured, along with a strip for a patio area on the west side of the basement.

The basement framing got well under way this week, with the only remaining framing work to be to get the some of the window and sliding door framing done and then to place the floor joists.

During the past week, the floor joists were put into place and the flooring added. Also, the deck on the west side of the house began to take shape.

Exterior Framing.

Interior Framing

More Interior Wall Framing

The roof is now completely on. Photos here show how steep the lot is.

It's starting to look like a house, so we brought Aunt Betty, along with Linda and Haltom to see what was going on and to christen the deck with a wine and cheese party.

A lot going on that will be buried behind walls.

A visit to the house at night. Exciting pictures, eh?

Sliding doors installed. I like the sunset reflection in the family room door!

Nothing finer than dogwood season in Arkansas!

Favorite pastimes - measuring stuff and sitting on the deck!

Slight diversion in the house building. Trapped this beauty on the back porch of "Trembling Timbers" in Malvern.

Cypress siding being installed on the house, a great visit with friends on Lake Ouachita, and a visit from the "dreaded greenhead".

More siding going up, and a picnic on the deck.

Here's a good look at what is in the walls behind the kitchenette in the basement.

The cypress siding was just beautiful. Wish we could have kept it this way - natural - but the powers that be said "stain it"!

Blown insulation in the walls. Good stuff. Dries sort of hard, flame retardant, bug proof, and the builder says the stuff really works!

It took a while to get the drywall guys scheduled, but they finally showed up, and what a difference the walls being closed in makes to the feel of the house and the way it will flow!

It had to happen! The pretty cypress is now stained, but we're very happy with the color.

We were nervous when we first saw the stone, but we changed our attitude quickly!

What a difference a week makes. The stone looks terrific!

Almost done now. We're really pleased we decided to put stone instead of split face block on the south side of the house.

The stone looks terrific - all done. And, we can stop worrying about falling off the deck!

The hardwood flooring has been delivered and is acclimating to the house (yes, the air conditiners are running a bit).

We visited the house on a rare Wednesday evening in time to see the last planks of the hardwood flooring being installed.

More trees lost, but the septic is buried, and the rip-rap is ready for the hills.

Getting exciting, with the interoir doors getting hung, windows and doors trimmed, and more rocks on the vertical earth.

The trim, hanging of doors, etc., is taking a bit longer than hoped, but the work is looking great.