Kincaid pays us a visit

Marc, Lesley and Kincaid came down for a week spanning the 4th of July weekend and Great Grandma came up from Florida to meet Kincaid for the first time. A good time was had by all, especially the great showman who thoroughly enjoyed all the attention!

There were a number of firsts for Kincaid who arrived to find a walker, something that there is not much room for in the NY apartment. As the picture shows, I believe that he liked it.

Then there was the swimming pool with nice warm water and a number of big clowns to entertain us. Here he is with Daddy.

The pool was cool, but not as cool as the beach. Hot sand does not bother you when people carry you around and Grampa keeps watch over me as I experience my first waves!

Finally, here is Great Gramma with me as I eat one of my toys.

Now that we're in...

Some of you think that all I do down here is laze about. That isn't so!

The work dosen't stop once you move in! There are pictures to hang, curtains to order and all kinds of other stuff that Donna does well. Nonetheless, our typicall weekend begins with a Friday night arrival, early golf on Saturday(see pic - lucky there was no sound; this one found the sand), a quick dip in the pool to cool off, then rushing around to Lowe's for plants, hardware or similar. Often it has been dinner out on Saturday evening and early to bed. Sundays involve a bike ride or rollerblading, a swim followed by a lazy breakfast then more running around.

Mondays begin with a dawn trip to the airport and back to DC.

We have broken in the house in with visitors as David's Mom came up over the May long weekend and Noelle and Stuart spent a week here over the same period.

The pictures to accompany this include some little friends we have seen in the neighborhood including a fox squirrel. We also get deer and have seen a wild turkey but did not have a camera at hand.

We crossed the Finish Line!

The week of April 14th was a busy one. We moved condos in Washington within the same building and packed for our move the Charleston arriving here and taking possesion of 54 Watroo Point, Charleston S.C. 29492 on the afternoon of Thursday april 17th! The house looks fabulous and we are delighted with every little detail!

The movers arrived with our stuff from Washington and storage early on the 18th. It was a pleasure working with an efficient mover for a change and the process went quickly - almost too quickly at times, as packers unpacked before we could decide where to put stuff. Suffice it to say that everything arrived in good shape and we busied ourselves with the organizing all weekend long. When we got tired or hot, we jumped in the pool for a quick dip. Falling asleep this past week has not been a problem! The first couple of nights we were guests of Bob and Catherine Lee, our builders, who graciously provided their guest cottage so that we could escape the mess.

Now that we are in the house, we realize that this place is much larger than it appeared during the building process and larger than our previous house. On earlier trips we had ordered new furniture that arrived on Tuesday and was quickly absorbed. We need more! We have enjoyed sleeping in our new master bedroom and waking up with the sunrise (no curtains yet) and sneaking in some exercise either roller blading or biking before the day gets going.

The landscaping was done just before we arrived so it was new to us and once again, they did a nice job. I guess it is my job to add annuals for color, but the palm trees, oak trees and evergreens they planted are large and very nice.

The views from the deck off the master BR are spectacular and most mornings there has been a low mist hanging over the golf couse behind the house - very pretty. (Photo below shows the house from the golf course early in the AM. It blends in nicely with its surroundings.)

Despite being slaves to the inside of the house, we have met our neighbors who are very nice and welcoming. Everyone is from somewhere else. Donna attended a ladies dinner at the Daniel Island Club together with 176 other ladies and we participated in a couples golf tournament on friday night. Both occasions have led to lots of introductions. While on the golf course we met a couple of aligators natives to the area - but they were not as friendly!

Tomorrow, we head back to Washington leaving the builder some time to finish some of the tasks that did not quite make the deadline, such as put the finish on the deck, seal and coat the garage floor etc.

Only a few shots of the interior this time (including one of the guest suite sitting area) but we promise to add more later.

End of March Walkthrough

We made our final walkthrough on March 28th to see the last mad rush to the finish line. It was 81 degrees and sunny again (yawn)!

The progress is impressive and there is a lot of activity as contracors vie for a window to do their thing. The upstairs is practically done and looking good!

The master bedroom is great with the recessed ceiling (above to the left with the evening deck through the doors). Bedrooms 2 (above right) and 3 (blue) below are almost finished and as we left they were completing the floors upstairs.


The master bath came out better than we hoped for. The walkin glass enclosed shower looks great and our tub is fabulous. The photos below show two views of the bathroom .

We are very happy with the way it all came together.











These exterior views reveal some of the touches we have added. The mahogany railings with copper-capped newell posts. Back deck lighting and the diveway.















Finally, below a few views of the interior lower level including the butler's pantry, the great room mantle and built-ins, kitchen (still underway), the dining room and entryway lighting, and the all of us in the den discussing stain colors.

The team is into the final push to complete the main floor interior, final pool work, and the garden plantings. We will arrive to move in on April 18th at which point 54 Watroo will become the Ryan residence waiting our friends and family's visits.

Mid-March

We got some new photos showing some of the progress. We are now one month away!

This first shot is of the shower in the master bath.

Now don't you know that my voice will sound just like Andrea Boceli in there?

This second shot is of the den with shelving and paneling , but before the stain and finish has been added.

The third photo is of the great room with the lower shelves of the built-ins completed, but the upper section still incomplete. It does, however show the ceiling with the trim completed. (The fireplace is hiding behind the wood.)

Finally,we have a photo of the progress on the outside. The columns are in and the railings for the stairs are in but unpainted. The louvres are completed but none of the landscaping has started yet. You can see the bridge between back deck and the FROG is finished so the guests can come to visit the main house.

February - nearing the end!

Things are moving quickly now, as we get near the end of this project, so we drove down on Feb 14th for another round of decisions and revisions. Arriving late on Thursday we got up at the crack of dawn and headed over to the house for a full day. As always, the weather was great but a fog hung over the marshes giving it a beautiful ghostly appearance (see photo).

Our first meetings were with Dennis and Dave the project foremen, to discuss issues such as the size of the painting to go over the fireplace, height of the mantel, the location of the gate on the side of the house, location of the railings and all those things that not many people spend much time over - but we do!

Our tour of the house confirmed that we are in the final stretch. As the photo shows, the painters are in , the railings are going up and the place was buzzing with activity. It was nice to see the wall color in the kitchen (not blue, this is the primer under color) so that we could make some decisions about backsplashes. The fireplace coping is on, but the surround was awaiting our comments. Pool and decking are in, the final touches and interior coating for the pool will be one of the last items.

Next to arrive was the "Wall Candy" lady who is doing the faux painting in the power room. Wait until you see the color David picked! She was followed by the shower door guy to discuss the type of glass we wanted for the shower doors. I bet you didn't know that, in addition to different thicknesses, you can get different types of beveled edges, framed or unframed yada yada. You will just have to wait and see what we eventually chose. The final visitor of the morning was the Landscaper who stopped by to discuss placement of individual pieces and was assured that we had full confidence in his decisions.

Catherine Lee joined us after a quick lunch and we headed over to the ceramic store to pick out a backlash for the kitchen. Did you know that they make the 1/4 inch glass mosaic tiles worth $7 each! We quickly moved to our preferred solution of a graduated mosaic with different colors (It's hard to describe) and looked at a couple of back-up options in case we didn't like the actual samples, when they arrive. I wonder why it is that whatever option we seem to like the best, is outrageously priced?

Back to the house to meet with the architect to get his views on some proportions in the great room, louvres under the house, gate placements etc.

We were on the road by 4:30 headed for Columbia SC for the night. In Columbia we dined at Garibaldi's, a hoppin' Italian restaurant. We ate at the bar and sipped a some delicious white wine, nibbled on calamari while we waited for the best flounder that Donna has had in years. We got back on the road early Saturday and headed to High Point NC for more furniture shopping! And then home by 9:00 pm - tired and hungry.

David's quick visit

David made a quick visit to Charleston on Tuesday 22nd as decisions had to be made - again! This time it was to sign off on driveway layout, make the final selection of paint colors, approve landscaping plans and sign off on design of column supports and more... It was cold in Washington but much more pleasant in Charleston once the morning chill wore off. The paint decision was a choice between two finalists where the differences were subtle and the main concern was to avoid going too dark. Unfortunately the primer was baby blue and it is hard to look at any samples without being influenced by the blue background. Nonetheless, David summoned all his courage and decided! (We now know who to blame).

The upstairs deck is now finished and looks great! Only some trim and railings are missing. I can see us now with a margarita in the late afternoon... The pool tiling and coping was being installed although the final finish to the pool must cure underwater and is one of the last things to be done. Most of the activity was with kitchen cabinets and trim work on crown molding and wainscotting. Trust me, the blue walls in the photo will not be staying!

Another feature that is looking very nice is the staircase. We are very pleased with the look.

A tour of the property with the landscaper, a meeting with the electronics company, a quick bite for lunch and then back to Robert Morgan to go over the budget. (ugh!) The final discussion was over stain colors for the panelled study. A direction was determined but no final decisions. That will wait until our nextvisit in mid-February. By then the painters will have completed their first run and we will have a much better idea of what we have created.