The "Ryan Residence"
It was cold when we left Washington but the weather in Charleston was beautiful on Thursday Nov. 08 when we arrived for our latest visit. As you can see from the photos, the house is coming along and looking more and more like a house rather than a construction site. The shingles are up and the sheet rock has been installed on the ceilings; the staircase is in and the roof is almost there. We love the detail in the shingle design and are very happy with the roof.
As always we covered a lot of ground. First we met with Dennis, our project manager (see photo) at the house where we ran through the lay-out and reviewed a number of small issues. After a quick lunch we met with Laura Boyle our decorator who is helping us pull things together. We reviewed furniture, rugs and lighting selections and discussed paint colors. From there, back to the house to meet with the carpenter who will be building our "built-ins" on either side of the fireplace. This is a tricky decision as the ceilings there are 13 ft high, which is a lot of space to fill.
While admiring the shingles, David discovered that the siding crew were all Brazilian, so he had a good old chat, made some friends and was immediately enlisted as translator. Apparently the majority of the siding crews working on Daniel Island are Brazilians
Dinner at another local Charleston eatery "Coast Bar & Grill" where obviously seafood was the dominant choice. A casual restaurant with a very good menu and reasonable prices, we were not disappointed with the food or the bill. - A keeper.
7:30 Friday morning found us at the house with everyone invovled - Wayne, the architect and his assistant Marc, Bob, Dennis and the two of us. Decisions about a couple of design features caused this conflab - we scrutinized pillar sizes and discussed the addition of steps from the deck back down into he backyard.
We then met Catherine at 9:00 to begin foraging for granite. Having made preliminary selections during our last visit we intended to confirm these choices - not so easy- what we liked before was no longer available. So off we went again to various wholesalers and found some replacements, with just the kitchen remaining to be selected. On the way to one of the more remote granite places, Catherine introduced us to the "My Thai" Restaurant which turned out to be surprisingly authentic and tasty lunch.
One final stop at the house to meet with Dennis before heading for the Club for a glass of wine, then the airport and home.
