A Victorian-style turret, or tower, is probably the most prominent homebuilding feature that most people picture in their minds when they think Victorian architecture. They may not necessarily know what it's called...for instance, they may say..."that really cool looking round tower thingy", but a turret, or tower, is what likely comes to mind.

The Victorian home that I watched Bonner Custom Homes construct over a 16 month period has some very happy homeowners living in it right now. The Bonner team always does it full-blown.

This post will show interior and exterior photos of a Victorian turret (tower) during different phases of construction.

I've posted a gazillion photos of different styles of coffered ceilings in past posts (more here in the ever popular built in bookshelves post), but none quite as grand as the one I'm about to show you now.

This particular coffered ceiling looms a full 12 feet over the floor of the great room (aka, big family room) of this full-blown Victorian home. It is magnificent to see in person. You may not get that chance so here's your next best shot.

Undoubtedly one of the most overlooked features, or should I say building materials, used for this Victorian home is the smooth 3/4" solid cypress lap siding. One of the interesting things I found out several months ago after talking to Rhett Bonner was that true Victorian architecture calls for the lap siding to create deep shadow lines. 

Remember...back when they were building Victorian homes, all siding being used was solid wood and it was not a mere 5/16", as is available today.

The owners of this home originally wanted fiber cement lap siding (Hardie plank). Hardiplank does not come in 3/4" planks, only 5/16". The Bonner Custom Home team was able to convince the owners to go with the cypress siding to aid in that full-blown Victorian home look...inside and out.

Roofing...how boring...right?
 

Wrong!!! Not when you're talking about the fine craftsmanship of a Vermont black slate roofing installation. That's exactly what I'm about to share with you. The installation occurred at the Victorian home I've been visiting while under construction.

This slate roof was no small task to complete. They used somewhere in the range of 100 square of Vermont black slate. That's a LOT of slate to have to install on a private residence!

If you're looking for a gallery of images showing a Victorian style chimney and chimney pots, I think this post might fit the bill. I've also included quite a few pictures of chimney pots of various styles that are very interesting.

The chimney and chimney pot photos that you'll see in the gallery were taken in a couple of separate visits I made recently at the construction site of the immense Victorian home that I am featuring over the next few weeks-to-months. I was not present for the construction of them (darn it!) but I do have the results to share...and they are quite spectacular.

The lower portion of the gallery are photos were loaned from an exterior design contest that ChimneyPots conducted in 2008.

UPDATE 07/29/2008: I've created an entirely different post featuring many types of installed chimney pots and more information on them, including links to how to install them, the history of chimney pots and more.

Can't believe I'm saying this, but today I'm going to talk about butts...classic butts...to be specific. No kidding. I'm sure my mother is shaking her head and if my brother, Chris, is reading this...well...let's just say that sort of humor is right up his alley, but I'm not going to go there. Think I'm kidding? Look at the photo (found below). See!  What I'm really talking about are clear heartwood, western red cedar, classic fish-scale butts (shingles).

Classic fish-scale shingles (butts) were the design choice for the front gable of the Victorian home I've been writing about. When I first talked to Project Manager, Rhett Bonner, about some of the outstanding features of this home build, red cedar fish-scale shingles were one of the first items he mentioned. Yet another nod to the Victorian architectural style.

I've got a few photos of the (primed-unpainted) fish-scale butts applied to the gable if you'd like to 'read more'.

Everyone knows how devastating a lightning strike can be. Protecting your home from a powerful lightning strike could save your life, the lives of your family members, your home, its' contents and electrical components that keep it up and running. How do you prevent a lightning strike on your home? The answer is..."you can't prevent a lightning strike", but you can certainly nullify or minimize the damaging effects of a lightning strike by having a lightning protection system professionally installed in your home.

Why Am I Talking About Lightning Protection?

I've made another visit to the Victorian Queen Anne that I'm covering and my timing couldn't have been much better. They happened to be installing the lightning protection system and the owner/master installer/designer, Christian Wolf of Wolf Lightning Protection Corp., made himself available to answer a number of my questions. I learned quite a bit and you probably will too if you "read more".

I've revisited the Victorian Queen Anne house that's under construction and there is so much to report that I will need to take baby steps to get things started. That having been said, I think a good place to start would be the oval-shaped, iron foundation / crawl space vents that lace the front porch masonry below the porch.

They are unusual, to say the least, but well within keeping of the Victorian Queen Anne architectural style of the house (and they look fantastic). They were suggested to the owners by the builder and I've got a good feeling that they'll be glad they were persuaded to have them installed. Personally, I think they look great and add to the Victorian feel of the home as you approach the (soon to be built) front steps.

There's a new home on the horizon that's currently under construction and it's going to be a 'beaut'! The style of the home will showcase Victorian style architecture as it was intended. It's being built by Bonner Custom Homes on a lot once occupied by two-50's brick ranch style homes. Those two homes were demolished to make way for this very large project for the new owner.

Regular readers might recognize the Bonner Custom Homes brand from my extensive coverage of the English cottage-style home that they built in 2006. This new home will be as true to Victorian architecture as the homeowners will allow them to build it. Jerry Bonner, his son Rhett, and the rest of the staff are committed to staying true to Victorian style, just as they were true to English cottage style with his personal home...the English cottage.

I subscribe to way too many e-newsletters about homebuilding, home fix-it and organization. You name it, it shows up in my email...or so it seems. It's a love-hate thing. I get tons of great ideas but there are also a lot of 'throw-aways' that I dump in the trash. Who has the time? Well, I make time to read most of them and come away a more informed consumer/homeowner for my benefit and yours. Nah...it's all about me!

One of the newsletters I received recently was about kitchen clutter and ideas to organize your kitchen cabinets. As I'm reading it, I realize..."hey, we're already doing some of these things here in our little abode". You see, my better half has terrific organizational skills...or mad skilz! (Ok...so I'm not exactly 'street' so I'll refrain myself from that flavor of linguistic banter.) We have a small kitchen and lots of stuff. Where to put it all? It was time to de-clutter!

Links to more great organization and storage solutions at the bottom of this post.

Bed and Breakfast Inns (B&B's) are a great way to leap off of the beaten path of the all-too-easy-to-reserve hotels and resorts while staying at your vacation destination. Not that bed & breakfasts are difficult to locate and reserve but if you're looking for a fun way to shake things up a bit and have something extra-ordinary for you and your family to talk about after it's all over with, search out a B&B.

Who knows...it just may be THE talk of your trip! In fact, staying at an historical B&B is the way to go. Staying at a b&b is a centuries old practice and an excellent way of getting into the culture of the surrounding area.

Most B&B's are part of a network to facilitate reservations, where they are located within a given destination, rates and availability. See my links to them below...

If you need a few great tips to organize that oft-misused space...the garage...here are some quick links to get you started.

Updated 02/16/2008 with some great new garage organization ideas, solutions and storage systems.

Did you ever think you'd like to drill your own water well? Jerry Bonner of Bonner Custom Homes did. He put a plan into action at his new English cottage-style home at The Retreat. It never occurred to me that he would have a water well drilled on the property because he is within Marietta city limits.

Fact:
Did you know that there are over 15 million homes in the U.S. with water wells and over 6,000 are drilled per week.

When I was driving by his neighborhood on the way home from work the other day and saw a drill rig mast piercing upward through the trees, I had to stop in and see what was up. Jerry happened to be at the job site when I drove up so I took the opportunity to ask him about the water well. Here's what he had to say when I asked him about the water well...