Construction continues

The patio room is up but not 100% finished. Here's what it looks like from the outside.

See the narrow boards at the top under the eaves? Those will be replaced with windows soon. They had to be special ordered to fit after the frame was up.

The next step is having an electrician come to wire up some outlets, a ceiling fan, etc. I'm waiting for a phone call as to when that will occur. Then Champion will come back to install those upper windows and fix the inside wall where they ripped the siding off the house. This is what it looks like right now. It can't be fixed until the electrician gets through poking holes in the wall. It will be covered with a white wall covering to match the rest of the room.

Once that's finished, we have to address the floor. Old rough, stained, concrete is not a nice surface for furniture. We've been debating our options. Carpet would be the cheapest option but not good for our allergies and hard to keep clean. A tile floor would be best if we can swing it. It will last a lot longer than concrete and be much easier to keep clean.

With our patio room having a south facing exposure, we will be able to take advantage of passive solar to help keep the room warm in the cold season. The lower winter sunlight will shine into the room and warm it up. We have a temperature sensor out there now that shows how much the temperature jumps when the sun is out. (Not much sun lately, but it has happened.) A tile floor in a mid to dark color would absorb more of the sunlight (heat) and radiate it back out at night to keep the room warmer during the colder months. The Hunter ceiling fan we're having installed in the room has a ceramic heater in it too. That will help add some extra heat in the winter.

Our kitties are enjoying exploring the new space. See the purple kitty hut in the corner? And a cozy rug to sit on and look out the new door. Plus a box and a folding chair serve as other viewing places. We're not moving any real furnishings out here until the floor goes in.

I'm so looking forward to being able to use this space for family gatherings, parties, and knitting/spinning frolics with friends. In the meantime, I have to be patient and wait until everything is finished.

Thursday morning I spotted our first snowflakes of the season. :( So far for the month of October, we have been below normal everyday. Not much different than the whole of 2009 for us. Our daytime temps recently have been in the 40's (she says incredulously)! They should be in the low 60s. I am so hoping that November turns out to be much warmer and includes a nice long Indian summer.

Here's a picture of a knitted scarf I finished last night. I posted it today for my test knitters to try out. I was thinking of calling it Starlight. Hmm, maybe Tilting Stars is a better name. What do you think?