Painting…Day 71

The Carmichael Decorating guys were out this morning to finish up the five hardwood stair treads at the bottom of the basement staircase. We decided to have them re-finish the whole stair tread surface before the carpet is installed even though only the ends are going to show. With this task complete Steve’s guys are getting pretty close to being done at the “L” Shaped House.

Painting…Wrap-up

Pete and his crew of painters spent yesterday working to wrap up their work at the “L” Shaped House. They plan to be back this morning for just one more day of paint and varnish. The Photos below show a couple of the projects they are working to finish. First…the front stairs after Pete sanded, re-stained, and varnished the oak treads.

Second…Paul’s mudroom lockers after they applied the Pecan stain. Pete and his guys plan to get varnish on the lockers and the basement stairs as well as a third coat of white stain on the breezeway porches before they leave tonight.

And…just like that…they’ll be gone!

Painting…Day 70

Pete from Carmichael Decorating has been working his tail off all around the “L” Shaped House fixing all sorts of little dings, nicks, and dents in the painted surfaces. Today he tackled one of the last big jobs he’ll face at the house and re-finished the stairs between the first and second floors. They had seen a lot of abuse and were all scuffed up. By the time I showed up after work they looked better than new!

Thanks Pete.

Painting…Day 69 (evening report)

Pete and the Carmichael decorating crew spent the whole day working at the “L” Shaped House. The photo below shows the front of the house after they got almost all of the finish coat of white stain on the cedar framing and railings. The fresh white paint and new red doors give the house a nice finished look.

In addition to all the work going on outside the Carmichael crew has also been busy inside. The first photo below shows the window seat in the living room after Pete re-finished the maple tops.

Pete has been filling and painting all sorts of little imperfections throughout the including the ones seen here on the back wall in the basement family room. He started on the second floor a few days ago and is working his way through the whole house…room by room. This wall is also one of the places where we had Paul install a “picture rail” molding for hanging artwork in the “L” Shaped House. Walker Display in Duluth MN sells an entire system of art hanging accessories that work with the molding.

The final photo shows the last corner to be painted in the bonus room above the garage. With this space and the living room downstairs complete…I think we are ready for more carpet!

Painting…Day 69

Pete and his crew from Carmichael Decorating are working all around the “L” Shaped House today. The first photo shows Pete (in the far corner) and the guys enjoying the screen porch as they break for lunch. They had the finish coat of white stain on almost all the cedar on this end of the porch by noon and were heading off across the porch as I left around 1:00 pm.

The next photo shows inside of the screen porch door after painting with the finish coat of white stain. The third photo shows one of Pete’s guys working his roller into far the corner of the porch.

The last photo shows most of the trim pieces that will cover the edges of the screen on the front porch drying in the sun after the Carmichael guys painted them in the garage. The plan is to attach all of the trim holding the screen with trim-head screws making it easy to replace any torn sections of screen.

Painting…Day 68

The Carmichael Decorating crew was at the “L” Shaped House in force today working on the porches and doors. The first photo below shows the front porch after they finished priming all the cedar framing and railing elements. They plan to be back tomorrow morning to put a finish coat of white stain on everything.

The next photo shows the back breezeway porch with a coat of primer on all cedar railings. The white powder coated aluminum spindles for the railings will be installed as assembled panels later.

The last photo shows side breezeway entrance with decorative lattice and most of the railings installed. The Solid Construction guys plan to have these stairs finished by tomorrow night.

Carpentry…Porches (day 9)

Landon and his Solid Construction crew are hard at work installing the finish trim on the front porch. The photo below shows Landon working on one of the column bases on the East end of the house. If you look closely you can see the bases and caps on the columns all across the rest of the porch. This photo also shows most of the elements of the screen porch and railing painted white for the first time. Steve Carmichael and his crew have primed almost all of the wood on the porches and will double back with the finish stain shortly.

Wow…I think it looks great!

Painting…Day 67

Pete and Oscar from Carmichael Decorating were back today to paint in the bonus room above the garage. The first photo shows the East window in the room after they applied the Manchester Tan paint to the walls.

The next photo shows the doorway leading to the hallway outside Sam’s room after they finished painting the walls. Pete painted all the trim and the doors in the bonus room yesterday afternoon. This second photo does a better job of showing the Manchester Tan against the white ceiling. They are going to clean up tomorrow in anticipation of the carpet installation later this week.

Painting…Day 66

Pete from Carmichael Decorating is back today working in the bonus room at the “L” Shaped House and Oscar spent some time working on ceilings in the basement and living room late last week. The first photo below shows the basement family room after Oscar finished re-painting the ceiling. The smooth ceilings have made getting a nice uniform finish challenging. Oscar has both this ceiling and the living room ceiling looking pretty good.

The next photo shows one of the window frames in the bonus room after Pete finished applying the white enamel. He plans to get the window trim, base boards, and doors finished up this afternoon so that he and Oscar can roll out the walls tomorrow.

Painting…Day 65

Oscar and Philip from Carmichael Decorating were back Saturday working on the front porch at the “L” Shaped House. The first photo shows the bead board ceiling after they finished spraying the first coat of white paint.

The next photo shows the french doors leading to the living room from the front edge of the porch. Here we can see the freshly painted white trim all around the doorway. The whole porch looks very nice with a fresh coat of paint on all of the primed surfaces.

Painting…Day 64

Philip from Carmichael Decorating has been working to finish up painting the outside trim and porch ceilings for the last couple of days. The first photo shows the trim outside the dining room bay window after he finished applying the second coat of paint.

The second photo shows the ceiling above the breezeway entry porch after Philip rolled two coats of white paint on the bead board and trim.  All three porches on the “L” Shaped House have recessed can lights on dimmers in the bead board ceilings.

 

Painting…Day 63

Oscar finished up painting in the garage early this evening. The photo below shows the back wall of the garage and stairs to the bonus room as he and his crew were applying some finishing touches to the stairs. The grey walls and white ceiling look really nice especially with the stained wood hand rails and trim. Once we add carpeting to the stairs the garage is going to be a showplace!

Painting…Day 62 (evening report)

Oscar made a lot of progress painting in the garage over the weekend. He has pretty much finished up the ceiling in the first three stalls and the Baltic Gray paint on most of the walls. The photo below shows the first stall of the garage with paint on the ceiling and walls.

The next photo shows the interior of the garage from a spot just outside the first overhead door. Here we see Baltic Gray paint on the back walls and in the stairwell. Oscar will be back to finish up under the stairs later.

The third photo shows a close shot of the Baltic Gray paint in the stairwell and back wall. We plan to install commercial grade carpeting on the stairs to the bonus room after the big (and dirty) stuff has been moved. The last photo shows 5 gallon pails of the Sherwin Williams paint Steve Carmichael is using for the walls and ceiling in the garage.

Painting…Day 62

Oscar (Carmichael Decorating) is spending day painting the interior walls in the garage at the “L” Shaped House. The first photo shows him cutting-in edges at the top of the stairwell to the bonus room from the garage. The second photo shows the side wall of the stairwell with the first coat of Baltic Gray paint applied.

 

The last photo shows the second and third garage stalls after Oscar finished cutting-in with the Baltic Gray wall paint all around the door opener and hardware. He hopes to have all the walls painted before he leaves later this afternoon.

Painting…Day 60

Oscar from Carmichael Decorating went to work painting in the garage at the “L” Shaped House. In the first photo (taken this morning) Oscar paints the ceiling using a flat white primer. The second photo (taken this evening) shows the first section of wall to get painted using the Baltic Gray color Katie and I selected for the garage. The grey walls, white ceiling, and stained trim combine to make the garage look very nice.

Painting…Distressing wrap up

Pete (Carmichael Decorating) and Paul working together have come a long way towards finishing up the cabinetry in the mudroom, laundry, and kitchen in the “L” Shaped House. The first photo below shows the kitchen desk area with the glazing complete and all of the knobs, bin pulls, and cabinet pulls installed. The “distressed” finish Pete has achieved exceeds our expectations and the adding the oil rubbed bronze pulls and knobs “tops” off the look perfectly!

The next photo is my best (of many) attempt to capture the water-based polyurethane finish coat Pete is applying to the first floor cabinetry. The polyurethane finish coat is meant to protect the glazing used to “distress” the cabinets. The cabinets now have five coats of paint applied…the primer (kills), two coats of oil-based enamel, glazing, and now the polyurethane.

Painting…Day 59

Pete from Carmichael Decorating finished up glazing the white cabinetry throughout the first floor of the “L” Shaped House early yesterday afternoon. In the photo below we see not only the freshly applied glaze but also the very beginnings of Paul’s installation of knobs and pulls. Just as soon as the glazing was complete Pete moved right into the final step in the the finishing operations…a final coat of  water based polyurethane.

Painting…Day 58

Pete from Carmichael Decorating is back today “distressing” cabinets in the kitchen. In the photo below Pete is doing the final wiping after applying the brown glaze to the (faux) drawer in front of the kitchen sink. The process includes a light application of glaze to the cabinet surface followed (quickly) by two wiping operations; one with a solvent soaked rag and another using a dry towel. Pete is careful to wipe in the direction of the grain as he completes the “distressing” process.

The video below shows most of the glazing and wiping as Pete works in front of the kitchen sink.

Painting…Day 57

Pete from Carmichael Decorating spent the afternoon working on the cabinetry in the “L” Shaped House. He has all of the cabinets along the end wall glazed and was masking the area behind the sink when I arrived around 3 pm yesterday. The photos below show the double oven and tall upper cabinets shortly after he finished wiping the glazing away. Pete has absolutely perfected his glazing technique as he has moved from the mudroom, to the first floor laundry, and now the kitchen. The “distressing” (or faux aging) effect he is achieving here is exactly what Deb and I envisioned…Nice work Pete!

 

The photos here also show just how hard it is to get a photo that captures the tone and texture of the “distressed” finish adequately. The shot on the left captures the overall effect nicely…but the shot on the right shows off the brown tone in the glazing a little better. Finally…the photos also show just how nicely Katie Hunsley’s decorating choices work together. From the Natural Wicker wall color all the way to the warm cork flooring these materials and colors are really working great together…Nice work Katie!

Painting…The red doors

Steve Carmichael and his crew put the finish coat clear of Sikkens on the outside surfaces of the exterior doors. All of the exterior doors (except the service doors in the garage) are finished with two coats of mahogany and a clear coat of  Cetol door and window satin from Sikkens.