Meet Carl

He's off topic from the house addition, but I wanted to share him with you. He's a character I rigged for the upcoming Disney animation Meet the Robinsons.

Hallway? What hallway?

Destruction marches on. Here are the before, during, and after photos of the wall that formerly defined the hallway.

Enbiggening the closet door

Here are the before and after photos of the closet doorway in my son's room being widened. (We had the same thing done in our current bedroom, too.)
This will make the closets way more accessible; until now, hanging clothes in them has been like working on a car's engine via the glove compartment.

Solarcap tiles

These nifty tiles are solar powered and covetous. At around $170 ea. I won't be doing the whole courtyard in them, but maybe a nice accent. Could also help small aircraft land at our house.

Lamp / Lamp

This abomination makes me smile. More info here.

Shady advice

I'm looking for advice on roller shades. The reality of how large some of our west-facing windows are gonna be is starting to set in. Does anyone have a line on good, moderately-priced, sun-blocking roller shades? Clean lines and chain operation are what I'm after. I found these guys, but they just look expensive, don't they?

Big window

Beatrix wasn't that impressed with the window, actually. I think this is the one going in the master bedroom upstairs.

Doors and Windows are in (as in arrived, not installed)

After about two weeks of little activity, the level of bustle is once again high; Erin just called to tell me that J.D., Kevin, and a truckload of doors and windows have arrived.
Update:
I just went over there at lunch -- the doors and windows are awesome! Some of them are insanely huge. I took some photos which I'll post later.

Insulation

Erin writes: My mother-in-law alerted me to this new British insulation that's composed primarily of wool called Thermafleece.

I'm a big fan of wool (the real stuff, with the lanolin still in it). We use it for diaper covers and for crib/bed pads. It's natural, anti-bacterial, absorbs well, and is generally a miracle product (check out this article for a better explanation).

JP priced out the insulation -- it's £117 per 20 square meters (which is around $215 for 65 sq.ft.) I can't even begin to guess how much we'd need, but I'm assuming it's more expensive than the fiberglass-don't-breathe-or-touch-it stuff. Still, we're asking JD and co. to look into it.

Rough plumbing inspection

We passed!