Painting…Day 22

Rick and his crew from Carmichael Decorating are busy preparing to spray inside the “L” Shaped House. They have a whole bunch of sanding, cleaning, and masking to do before the spraying commences. The first photo below shows the kitchen and dining room after the cork floor was swept, wet mopped and about half covered with paper. This masking will almost certainly stay in place until all the painting is complete.

The next photo shows the front stairs after sanding the first coat of sealer. Rick and his guys plan to have the stairs and all the second floor cabinetry cleaned ready for the second coat of varnish tomorrow morning. The last photo shows one of the basement walk-out doors (hemlock) stained with the same stain we applied to all the poplar doors earlier. I think it looks great and gave Rick the go-ahead to stain the remaining doors.

Countertops…Cultured Marble

The folks from Central Marble Products stopped by yesterday to measure for the cultured marble countertops in the bathrooms. We decided early on that molded marble sinks integrated into the countertop fit nicely into both our decorating plans and budget. Our color selections for the bathroom countertops and sinks (as well as the laminate used elsewhere) are seen in the sketches below. All of the sinks will use the Central Marble Standard Oval bowl.

Cabinets…The Basement Kitchen

The Great Woods Cabinetry folks delivered the cabinets for the kitchen area in the basement of the “L” Shaped House early this afternoon. The first photo shows the two base cabinets sitting in front of the upper for the microwave in the background. The cherry top for the dining room hutch was also included in this delivery and is sitting on one of the base cabinets.

The next photo shows the upper corner cabinet we have nicknamed “colossus”. Anna decided it might just become the ultimate hide-and-seek destination!

Painting…Day 21

The Carmichael crew stained the landing in the front stairwell on Friday are were back today to get it sprayed with the first coat of polyurethane. They now have the whole staircase ready for the finish coat of varnish. The stairs look very nice!

They also started to prepare the kitchen for the first round of spraying. Once they have the island varnished Steve and his crew are going to spray paint the kitchen cabinets in the “distressed” white color we have chosen. This whole operation is going to be interesting to watch as they move forward. The first step is covering the Cambria countertops…as seen in the two photos below.

Carpentry…Day 9 (Evening report)

I visited the “L” Shaped House on my way home from work Friday evening and took a few more photos of the progress. Over the last two weeks the basement has been transformed from a chaotic mess into a bright and inviting space. The first photo shows the stairs and hallway to the mechanical room from a spot just in front of the fireplace.

The next photo shows the new doors in the hallway leading to the mechanical room with almost all the trim and baseboard installed. The last photo shows the stairs leading to the first floor foyer with the newly installed particle board treads and plywood risers in place. The stairs to the basement will be wall-to-wall carpeted with only the ends of the first five treads exposed (shown in the photo above).

Hardwood Floor…Day 1

Much to the dismay of the good folks at Courteney Floors…we are going to have only one small section of hardwood flooring in all of the “L” Shaped House. The 2.5” oak hardwood flooring in the landing between the first and second floors was installed this morning. They did a beautiful job in an amazingly short time.

A close up of the first  floor landing…hardwood installed…filled, & sanded…ready for stain and varnish.

The floor was installed so fast I got only this fleeting glimpse of the Courteney Floors truck instead of a business card.

Carpentry…Day 9

The Solid Construction crew continues their work in the basement of the “L” Shaped House. The first two photos below show the newly installed media shelving built into the end wall of the basement family room. We intend to use the shelving to store CD’s and DVD’s used in the home theatre system planned for this space. The photos also show the door trim and baseboard winding all around the room.

The last photo shows the two sets of by-pass closet doors installed in the basement guest bedroom. The “L” Shaped House is characterized by an abundance of closet space…this basement bedroom is no exception!

Ceramic Tile…Day 30

Matt continues his tile work in the first floor bathroom. He has tile installed up to the built-in shelves on all four walls of the shower. The rich tones in this space set off against the cherry cabinetry looks very nice.

Carpentry…Day 8

The Solid carpentry crew spent the day hanging doors and installing trim in the basement. The first photo shows the new doors to the; closet under the stairs, the basement bathroom, and the mechanical room at the end of the hall. The second photo shows the view into the same hallway from inside the storage room. The storage room and the mechanical room have open ceilings to allow easy access into the open web floor trusses above.

 

The Fireplace…Choices

As we move toward finishing the “L” Shaped House we have to finalize some important choices. The choice in front of us right now is selecting the stone to be used in the living room fireplace. Adobe Photoshop is a wonderfully useful tool in an situation like this. The two Photoshop creations below show the fireplace area adorned with two cultured stone color selections from Owens Corning.

The first is  Drystack Ledgestone in Mist…

the second in Chardonnay.

The screenshot below shows the Adobe Photoshop file open on my computer. I started with a carefully framed photo of the fireplace and added individual bits of the decor on separate layers. This allows me to not only position things like artwork above the mantel but also “paint” the walls and “carpet” the floor. Each layer may be toggled on or off making it easy to switch between different elements with the click of a mouse. Items like the bricks, hearth, & mantels are copied from the manufacturers website and then pasted into the “photo”. It is surprisingly easy and provides a fabulous way to…“look beyond what you can see”.

A special thank you goes out to my nephew Matthew Ecklund…without his patient counsel I could never have come this far!

Painting…Day 20

The Carmichael crew spent yesterday painting in the basement of the “L” Shaped House. They sprayed the ceiling with two coats of the final color and rolled out the same paint on the walls as a primer. The photo below shows the freshly painted ceiling and walls in the basement family room.

The next photo shows Martin working in the storage room as he rolls paint on the walls. The basement is whole lot brighter as a result…the carpenters will follow right behind installing doors and trim.

Carpentry…Day 7

The guys from Solid are moving right along with the finish carpentry at the “L” Shaped House. The first two photos show Dan working in the front staircase installing balusters. The Painters were in early and sprayed the first coat of sealer on the treads and handrail after staining yesterday. The combination of a nice finish on the oak and the finished carpentry going in is dramatic…It Looks Great!

The next photo shows off more of the carpentry work nicely. The work being done on the staircase is shown on the left. Both the door at the top of the basement stairs as well as the doorway into the kitchen are seen on the right. Look closer to see the baseboard at the floor winding all around these new elements.

Dan also knocked off a couple of less dramatic jobs. The first photo below shows the arched support bracket (by Great Woods) in place under the countertop framework in the mudroom. The second shows the stairway to the bonus room with newly installed poplar trim pieces capping the half-walls in the stairwell.

Electrical…Day 10

Luke continued installing electrical devices throughout the house today. The photo below shows one of the bathroom switch boxes with two conventional light switches and an electronic auto-off timer (Intermatic) for the exhaust fan.

Sheetrock…Day 32

Brett and Bob from Big Sky Construction spent the day sanding in the basement at the “L” Shaped House. The photo below shows the family covered in a  fine layer of sheet rock dust after they packed up and went home. We are getting very close to the point when all the drywall work will be done. These guys have done a fabulous job!

Carpentry…Day 6

Dan and his crew from Solid Construction are back to continue the finish carpentry at the “L” Shaped House. They are working on a bunch of unfinished items including doors, cabinets, and trim that could not be installed earlier (for a variety of reasons). The first photo shows the stacked washer/Dryer cabinet and upper installed in the second floor laundry. The second shows the doors to the built-in closet in the first floor laundry room.

The next two photos show opposite ends of the book nook desk area. The first shows the lowest shelf being fitted to the back wall on the East end. The second shows the completed West end with all three shelves in place. The electrical boxes at the top left will supply power and cat-5 connections for our wireless networking system.

The next photo shows the desk area in the kitchen with bits and pieces of the baseboard lying on the floor waiting to be installed. The base is used to capture the edge of the cork flooring all around the kitchen, dining room, and foyer. The last photo shows the custom trim piece the Solid guys fabricated to secure the cork at the front door as well as the newly installed closet door in the foyer.

Painting…Day 19

Rick and Martin from Carmichael Decorating are hard at work staining the oak stair treads, newels, and hand rails in the front staircase at the “L” Shaped House. We decided to use a color very close to the stain used on the poplar doors…adding just a tiny bit of red. The stairs will end up being pretty dark and should look very nice set off against the white enamel risers and balusters. The photos below show each working on his own flight of stairs. Rick plans to spray the first coat of sealer on the surfaces tomorrow morning.

400!

This is posting number 400 on the “L” Shaped House Blog. I never imagined the blog would come this far. I remember telling someone in the beginning that I thought there might be as many 250 entries. What started as a vague plan to document the building of our new home has grown into a rather elaborate and lengthy documentary (some have even used the word obsession). Its way too late to stop now and I have both had fun and learned along the way. I sincerely hope that you have also enjoyed it as much as I have!

No posting is complete without a couple of photos…The first is a panoramic view just inside the front door to the house. This seems an appropriate milestone photo.

The second is a panoramic shot of the back side of the house from a spot near the outlet for drains coming from the paver patio outside the basement walk-out doors…The drains have worked perfectly…phew!

Ceramic Tile…Day 29

Matt was back setting ceramic tile at the “L” Shaped House this morning. He reached an important milestone as he added grout to the floor in the upstairs laundry room. This is the first (of many) Ceramic tile surface to be grouted.

He then went to work adding tile to the first floor shower. He has worked his way up to to the height of the Corian shelves and will have this space covered shortly.

Electrical…Day 9

At first glance this may not seem like an “electrical” photo but it does a nice job of showing master Luke’s work over the last couple of days. He has been busy installing outlets, switches, and lighting fixtures. All of the lighting cans in the living room ceiling now have reflectors & bulbs and the real switches are in the walls. The adjustable spot light over the fireplace looks especially nice!

Ceramic Tile…Day 28

Matt is back this morning working on the “emergency” drains in the laundry areas of the “L” Shaped House. The photo shows the upstairs laundry room floor with 3” ceramic tile pitched to the drain where the stacked washer and dryer will be placed.