FIRE!, part two

For months now, Ted has been grumbling about the fireplace.  "Lucy'" he'd say, " that fireplace is going to wreck the downstairs.  It's going to chop up the room.  You shouldn't do it."  I bought the fireplace anyway. The grumbling continued.

Last Friday, Ted started the installation process.  He built the wall and put the unit in the base of it. Unadorned by mantle or surround.  That night he came for dinner.  The master builder walks into our apartment at around 6:30 p.m., all cleaned up from his labors.  Kiss, kiss, looked down at the floor, and sotto voce remarked," It's really nice Lucy. You were right."  I SO resisted crossing my arms and saying," Hey Ted, this is not my first rodeo."

Wednesday evening Chet our plumber, installed the gas line.  Today Ted will wrap the unit with a fire prevention material.  Then, he will dry wall and trim.  Here is the unit so far:

It's Official

Our stored furniture will arrive at the house on April 24.

Glory in the highest.....

We have Doors

Doors change everything.

And finished floors.

Looking Less Like a Construction Site

The house has been cleaned out so that the floor guys can start today.

Granite, Part 2

 Better pictures with backsplash:

Now you see him

Now you don't

And the baths:

Guest

Master

And then he left for Vieques.

Bye Bye Lucy

Don't leave me, daddy

 

 

Granite, a Preview

Today, Granite Creations arrived at the house at 9 a.m. By the time I got there at 10:30, everything was in except the backsplash, and the guys were installing the sinks. My jaw dropped.  The stone is much more beautiful than I had thought.  The cuts and polishing are stunning.  Below are some rough pictures.  It was hard to day to get good color because it is a cloudy day and the little phone camera sometimes just doesn't cut it.

Tomorrow, after everyone cleans up, (the floor sanders come on Sunday) I will take pictures with the good camera.  The backsplash will be on then also.

The finished carpentry is 95% complete.  Here are some details

 

Half wall cap detail on third floor

Day bed platform on third floor

Jeremy installing the crown molding

Ted and Dan figuring out how to frame the triangle windows on the third floor

Ted is going on vacation Friday night.  If there are any small details that remain undone, Jeremy will work on Saturday.  While Ted is gone, Jeremy will prepare the cherry ( from a tree on Ted's property in Ashfield that went down in a storm) for my desk top, Dave's desk top, and the eating bar in the dining room.

The eating bar will run along the top of the wainscotting.  The tops of the two columns on either side of the counter will also be cherry.

The door hardware arrived this week.

Seems like a pretty simple look after all my hand wringing.  They are Emtecks: they feel heavy and easy to turn.

Two weeks ago, I ordered plantation shutters for the first floor hall, living, and dining rooms. Each window will have a single shutter with 3 1/2 " louvers. The shutters are custom made of American hardwood, such as Poplar or slow growth Basswood.  The mill custom paints the shutters to match the trim, in this case BM Mascarpone.  I wanted to keep as much light as possible in the room, so the shutters will have no divider rail.  They will have two tilt bars, so I will be able to open the top half of the louvers, while maintaining privacy on the bottom.  The examples below aren't quite the thing, but they provide an idea of the shutter look.

I decided to order custom cellular shades for the master and guest bedrooms.  I looked on line, thinking I could save money.  I ordered samples, and the colors were all wrong and so were the fabric types.  Budget Blinds, a local franchise, has a private label shade with the same quality as Hunter Douglas, but with half the price.  One of the unique attributes of these blinds is that the valence is covered with fabric.  Most shade have metal valences, and boy, are they ugly.  The shades are cordless (hah! hah! Theo and Harvey you destructive little cats) and when the blinds are folded up, they are quite compact.

I haven't decided about the master and guest baths.  I could do cellulars that open from either the top or bottom.  They are expensive, and I am not sure that they are sleek enough for me. A really nice  roller shade might be the item.  I bought some Japanese decorative papers to cover the lower windows this summer.  It will give me time to decide.

I used this paper on my windows in Asheville.

The final countdown begins when Ted returns from Vieques (lucky Ted.)  First job will be to build in the double fireplace.  I am going to write to the gallery from which we purchased the art which will hang over the fireplace. It was one of the last paintings that John Grillo, my favorite artist, completed before his death last winter at age 97. They are going to frame it for us.  I need know its framed dimensions so that everything is to scale, including any mantle we may install.

Now you can see why I have tried to keep the trim and details simple.  We have some mighty vivid art.  I don't want the house to fight with it.

The guys will install the shoe molding all through the house, the baseboard in the kitchen and the crown molding around the range hood.  Ted has finally acknowledged that I have asked him 7 times to build in some bookshelves for Dave on the third floor.  (Jeremy says Ted has historically selective hearing.) Then, there are the doors, appliance installation, tiling the backsplash in the kitchen, finished electrical and plumbing. Finally, they will paint the entire house and install the door and closet hardware. I am out of breath just thinking about it.  Oh, and I forgot that the front door has to be stripped and refinished.  Ted claims he can have the old mortise lock modernized.

April 20, here we come. ( I just picked that date out of thin air, but it's good to have a goal.)

Slowly We Build

No recent blog posts because its hard to show the progress.  It's happening, just hard to show. There's a lot of trim to install: window, baseboard and crown molding.  The first floor has all its windows and baseboard molding done.  Jeremy is now working on the baseboard in the second floor bathrooms.  We have chosen the crown molding.  It's a 2 1/2" cove, which echoes the crown molding on the top of the kitchen cabinets. Ted is hoping to install the crown on the first floor next week.

Currently, he is finishing the stairs.

Steps to the third floor

Carpenter Ted and his Helper Dan

Ted was hand crafting a bead to run along the top of the stair skirt so it would match the baseboard.  He admired his work and said, "You are lucky that you got me to do this now. I am a much better carpenter than I used to be." My thought was that he must have been pretty good before. 


Here's how the baseboard looks in the bath:

I ordered a couple of mirrors for the master bath.  After spending 2-3 hours searching the internet for something appropriate, I ended up with a cliche--Pottery Barn tilting mirrors (on sale of course.) These mirrors were the right shape ( almost square) and the right size.

I will use an antique wood mirror in the guest bath.  It's currently being used behind the bar in our apartment.  I will hang it vertically.

The third floor bath is a bit of a challenge because the ceiling slopes down in front of the sink.  It will require a small mirror with a small frame to allow the glass to be as close to the edge of the wall as possible.  I don't want force people to squat to see themselves.

The half bath will have a small oval mirror that was my mother's.  Here it is in the Asheville bedroom.

Yes, that's Harvey.

Oh, and an important change of plans.  After some scheduling challenges, we have changed course and chosen different counter and vanity tops. 

It's called Blue Flower Granite.  As you can see, it's a perfect match for the cabinet colors.  It also sets of the bathroom tile perfectly.  The guys from Granite Creations (shout out to Vern Harrington, my second favorite contractor) are coming to the house on 2/11 to make the templates.  We won't have the guest room vanity until the following Friday,  but we will have an electronic template to give the granite guys when they come. Then, it takes 2-3 weeks to fabricate.  Stone in March! Now, that puts us really close to completion. 

I have ordered and received most of the bathroom accessories.  Still to go are the DOOR KNOBS.  Ted keeps putting me off on these.   I will persist though.  Next week, little brother.