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.

The “L” Shaped House…Spring 2010

The temperature outside jumped to 65 degrees this afternoon. Helen, Anna, and I visited the house and dreamed a little as we wandered around. The photos below seemed appropriate given the change in the  season and state of construction. The first shows our familiar old friend…The MUD…in the front yard in the early morning fog on Friday. 

The next photo…shot from the front wall of the dining room…shows the living room, foyer, and kitchen with the newly installed cork flooring extending throughout the space.

The third is composite sketch showing the basement kitchen area with the Great Woods Cabinetry perspective drawing superimposed on top of the photo. It gives us a pretty good idea of how this area is going to look after the cabinets are in place (it’s also a fun Adobe Photoshop exercise).

The video shows Helen reacting to the new floor in the dining room…as only she can!

Flooring…Day 4

Jeff has pretty much wrapped up installing the cork flooring in the “L” Shaped House. The transitions to the ceramic tile in the hallway and the carpet in the living room remain to be installed. We also are pondering exactly how to terminate the carpet at both stairs. The first photo shows the kitchen and dining room from the far corner of the cabinets. Both Deb and I absolutely love the look of the cork!

The next photo shows the transition strip we received from the cork flooring supplier in place (but not yet permanently attached) between the cork and ceramic tile. It is made from a composite wood material and is finished to match the cork. We have also looked at some metal transition strips…but this one is starting to grow on us.

Flooring…Day 3

Jeff finished installing the cork flooring in the kitchen, dining room, and foyer this afternoon. The first photo shows the back wall of the kitchen from the dining room with the cork on the floor and the base for the island in place. They have attached the island base directly to the open web trusses using lag screws in an effort to make as secure a connection as possible.

The next photo shows the cork flooring along the back of the island base and the transition to the ceramic tile at the hall. Jeff has placed one (of a few possibilities) transition strip in the gap for us to consider. The last photo shows the cork floor running all the way to the front door. We will have to cover the whole floor as the Carmichael crew prepares to paint the trim and cabinets on the first floor.

Flooring…Day 2

Our carpenter (Jeff) has been busy installing cork flooring in the kitchen. The first photo shows Jeff working his way across the field toward the dining room as he installs individual planks of cork. The second shows the floor as it spills out toward dining room from the kitchen along the oven wall. He has been especially careful as he lays out the planks to ensure that the seams are randomly spaced and there are full width planks at the stairs.  

 

The last photo is yet another shot of the laundry room from the far end of the kitchen. This view…with the cork and ceramic tile floors beneath the arched entry to the hallway and laundry…shows off the architectural “layering” Mike Kloti has been planning since the beginning especially well!

Thank you, Mike!

Flooring…Day 1

The carpentry crew started installing the cork flooring this morning. We decided to run the planks parallel to the sink wall in part because they will then be perpendicular to the floor trusses. The first two photos show the back wall of the kitchen with the cork flooring installed. The beginnings of the support structure for the island base cabinet is visible in the center of the kitchen. The cherry drawer fronts (from the island) sitting on the cabinets provide a nice preview of the the final finishes in the space.

The next photo shows the oven wall of the kitchen with the cork floor extending all the way to the ceramic tile in the foreground. Here you get a sense of the wide plank look to the flooring. The last photo shows a close up view of the cork material. As you can see; getting a photo that accurately reproduces the color and texture of the flooring is a challenge. The floor already looks great and will only look better when its completely installed and cleaned.

Flooring…Day 0

The cork flooring for the kitchen, dining room, and foyer was delivered yesterday. We are using New Dimension narrow plank natural cork from US Floors. The narrow cork planks, with beveled edges and ends, have the look of a traditional hardwood floor.