Building The Chirping Frog- Part 23

Things are really taking off right now at The Chirping Frog.  Lighting is going in, wall insulation is in the works, remaining wall metal is going up and H/C is in the building.  We've been working on concrete out front and I've been trying to get some finishing touches done on the inside.  Very exciting.  

Here's a peek inside this week's progress:

The lights are LED's. 

It took them a day to put them all together and get them prepped, now they're working on getting them installed.  Things are moving right along.

H/C dropped off the spiral runs (this is just a few of them), not sure when they'll start installing but the materials are ready to go.

It's been so hot I haven't been able to get too much of the "decorative" things I've wanted to work on done.  I managed to get a coat of mod-podge on the bathroom doors that I covered with Antique Price Guide pages and this door leads into the storage room.  I got it primed and papered as well.

What do you think of the paper?  It's wrapping paper that I found easily 10 years ago that I couldn't resist, been saving it ever since.  I don't plan on plastering frogs everywhere but I thought the storage room door would be a perfect spot for another little touch of whimsy.  I need to sand it a little and get it sealed.

All the wall boards are on and I've gotten them sealed.  A couple years ago we were at REI and noticed the checkout stations have a neat pressed board finish.  I'm sure it cost a lot more than our plywood but we got a very similar effect without the cost and dealers can nail into it as much as they need to.

If you look at the very back wall you'll see the mesh that holds the insulation in.  They've blown it into the majority of the bottom portion of the walls and now the mesh gets applied before the top part goes in.  The finish guys are getting the 1x's installed so that the metal for the rest of the walls can go on.  It's really coming together nicely.

This is the entry vestibule.

Working on getting it primed so I can apply the wallpaper, well, maps.

By the end of the week all the concrete will be done and we'll be ready to work on the parking lot.  Saturday we poured the entry "patio".

Here it is nearly ready to be stamped.

We had lots of stamps.  The flex and skins were necessary when working around the pillars.

The concrete was colored with Butterfield Color, Smoke and the release being thrown on is Colina Tan.

The stamping process embeds the release into the concrete giving the color variations and of course, the pattern of stamp you're using.  It's quite the work out, especially as you get towards the end and the concrete is hardening up.

Here it is right after stamping.

Working around the pillars was interesting.  We needed a variety of stamps to make it work.

 Here it is when we finished on Saturday.

Sunday evening it got cleaned off, saw-cut and we sealed Monday morning.  Turned out pretty nice.

The sidewalks got framed up Monday and the side pictured was poured Tuesday afternoon.

Pour days are always a little hectic, it dries don't ya know, so there's an urgency to get it finished before it hardens up too much.  Always a flurry of activity.

My son and I did the broom finish.  Not too bad!

We also poured this little pad off one of the side doors.

Wednesday morning the other side of the sidewalk got poured.  We still have the small pad like the one pictured above for the other side of the building and the handicap parking to pour, sounds like Saturday's the day for that.  Then, its off to work on the parking lot.  Can't wait to see what next week brings.

Here's a look back at how far we've come:

• Part 1- Clean-up
• Part 2- Dirt Work
• Part 3- Tons of Rock & Footings 
• Part 4- Foundation Walls
• Part 5- Foundation Walls Poured
• Part 6- Forming Bathroom Walls
• Part 7- Bathroom Walls Poured
• Part 8- Rock, rock and more rock!
• Part 9- Concrete Floor Pour
• Part 10- Clean-up
• Part 11- Framing is Underway
• Part 12- Trusses
• Part 13- Trusses Are Up
• Part 14- Metal Started on Roof
• Part 15- Roof and Concrete Wainscoting
• Part 16- More Carved Concrete and Pine Log Entry gets installed  
• Part 17- Concrete gets stained, doors installed and grouted, still working on getting us closed up.  
• Part 18- Framing interior walls.
• Part 19-Miscellaneous projects
• Part 20- Electrical has begun.
• Part 21- Water line trenching, plumbing is in.
• Part 22- Lots of miscellaneous

Lots to do but wow, its really coming along nicely.  Hoping to get started on the parking lot before next time and who knows what other fun stuff I'll be able to get done.  The list is long so we'll just have to see what I can get checked off!