Silver Spring Dream House

January 2016 update: As we celebrate New Years Day, we are racing against the weather to finish a number of projects and hoping to be able to get an occupancy permit in the next few weeks. Here is the the house so far.

You can see our exciting progress.

Landscaping, finishes, permeable paver driveway, a new retaining wall / planter (ingenious idea from Tad) protecting the grade differential between our house and my Dad’s property, is complete! The cedar trellis on the upper sun deck is in place. The landscaping is complete.

Here are earlier pictures from November 2015: Much still is left to do, but each day brings exciting progress. The wonderful modern wood and glass front door (and separate in-law-suite door) were just installed.

Now the stone masons can come back to complete the front door, planter and walkway to give the front of the house its polished look. The porch and side steps are in and look wonderful and make for a great entry way.

The stone is going up on the front door (that’s one our gifted stonemasons) brought to our site by Andrew Deschler of Classic Craftsmen, our contractor.

The driveway is going in, carefully, with layers of gravel and brick. The back yard and all side yard doors are similar in look to the front door. Decking is being put in place. Our current crew, headed by the talented Daniel Bartolo, of Azteca Contractors, stopped for a well-deserved lunch break.

Rear plantings are going in with landscaping plan to continue around the entire house, we are fortunate to use local designer Cathy Carr and our installer is Great American Landscapes.

We are also completing the roof terrace, see below.

Inside, the wood floors are in place and stained but not yet sealed. The transparency of the rooms as they move around the 3-story atrium, filled with glass block, stairs and bridges, show the interior progress.

The architect considers his work.

The kitchen is also in process and we are able to begin to peel back the blue film that covers all the cabinets to see their true colors (grey and yellow).