Congratulations are in order to fellow RDM'er Matt Lero & his wife Sara on the birth of their first child on Friday night. Baby Isaac weighted in at 8 lbs. 2 oz. & went home yesterday with everyone healthy & doing well.

In going through photos and files during the building of the new website we came across a VHS tape of an episode of About Your House With Bob Yapp that featured the Ellis residence that RDM completed back in the late 90's. Filmed over the course of 2 days the video, which featured historically sensitive renovations, shows some great shots of the house and a short interview with Rick. We had the video transferred to a dvd not long ago and got in touch with Mr. Yapp (http://www.bobyapp.com/) and he was happy to grant permission for us to post it. Its a great chance to see the 1999 version of Rick McDermott and a nice project. Take a few minutes and take a look. (this aired Aug. 28, 1999 on PBS)

We've got another update on the Belvedere new construction. Rick went out there earlier in the week to check up on the progress of the roof framing and the tower. Projects being framed always make a huge amount of progress between site visits, even when its only been a week. The Belvedere project is no exception, the scale of this project makes it even more pronounced. In the view below from what will be part of the new drive you can see the real shape of the house. The "white box" at the top of the image is the top of the tower which will contain the helical stair.

The below view is from the center of what will be the stair, looking up at the tower. We've got windows on all sides of the tower so that in the evening the ring of lights will glow and during the day the top of the tower will be far from dark and gloomy. The steel and wood projection at the base is the mounting point for the helical stair.

From this view you can really start to see the hierarchy of public to private. From the foreground back and from public to private: Screen porch/ sunroom, great room, master suite and finally the master bedroom.

Below is a shot from within the screen porch. This will be a vaulted space so this is a lot like what its going to feel like. I think it looks great.

The view below is looking from the great room back toward the front door. The ceiling joists really help to give a good sense of the shape of the finished space. To the left of the photo is where the balcony overlooking the great room and allowing access to the upper bedrooms will be.

We'll have more pictures of this house soon, we're very excited about it. If you want to see the full progression of the project you can go to our Facebook page here. We head out there every week or so so if you want to see more pictures or have questions feel free to comment on the album or drop us a note on our wall, we love to hear what people think.

We posted some install pictures of this not too long ago but its come a long way since then, at least it feels to us like it has. After a lot of trimming and sanding to accommodate the uneven floor and a dimensional mistake by the stair fabricators up north this stair is in and will not be moving any time soon. The glass and handrails are in with the exception of the last panel at the top which is still being cut and tempered. The far left picture is a little deceptive since the protective cardboard hasn't been removed yet. The open risers are going to really make this stair appear to float.

This stair is the focal point of the space and we're glad to see that the long design process we've gone through on it paid off. We went though 10 different iterations of this stair before arriving at the final version, a long process for us and for the clients but once the final finishing and cleanup is complete you'll be able to see that a stair isn't just to get you from one floor to the next.

We'll have some more pictures in the next 2 weeks as they start to wrap this project up.