building for our future

Yea, I know...long time, no post. Life has been busy this month. The good news is that all the great folks working on this project have really been doing wonderful stuff.

January brought us to the point of getting the 11" wide pine flooring down. It's all in except on the two small landings on the stairway and in the master closet. This was one of the tasks where I lent a hand in between business calls, etc., on the days when Michael had to send Jim and Keith to another (very impressive) job. There were a few boards that needed more than two hands to coax into their permanent places. Laying wide flooring is a bit harder than the typical narrow strip hardwood that goes into many homes. The glue is sticky and on a much larger surface, so sliding the tongue into the groove can take a bit of persuasion at times and with wide material, even the slightest deviation is harder to adjust for. That all said, these floors are going to be "wow" when they are finished in a few weeks.

Our doors also arrived and have been installed by Jim and Keith. It's not a quick job to do it right, and these folks do it right. I'm also very pleased with the doors, themselves. We specified flat panel doors with two panes to match the old doors in the center section of the original house. The doors that Michael supplied are dead ringers. And because they are made with MDF, they are dense, heavy and will be absolutely stable "forever". The oil-rubbed bronze hardware also works very nicely.

The piece de resistance in the last few days of the month was when the green Vermont slate went down on the floors of the bathrooms and the foyer. Wow...I knew it was going to be nice, but it's beyond nice! And Barney, a master tile layer, and his son Chris really work fast. Using no special alignment aids, etc., they absolutely blew through getting the slate down and grouted and every line is perfectly aligned. Barney also did the wet bed and tile floor in the new master shower. At this point, it's very easy to imagine the upcoming wonderful experience of using that shower once this project is done. Barney and Chris will be back in a bit to do the slate on the shower walls.

Other activities this month included selection of our counter material...absolute black granite in a soft, "antique" finish. This finish is silky, NOT shiny (!) and should look super with the cherry cabinetry I've created for the baths and am in process of creating for the wet bar in the multi-purpose room. And as of this writing, the siding folks are back working on my shop building, bringing it into visual compliance with the house.

One last thing. About a week ago, I had the pleasure of visiting another project that Michael and his team have been toiling away at for some time. It is a wonderful stone farmhouse in a beautiful setting. The owners added on a major two story addition in order to make the property meet their needs in many ways. The work that Michael and his folks have done is about the finest craftsmanship I have ever seen. You cannot tell with the old and the new start/stop, both in the stone work on the exterior and in the incredible details within the interior. This just cements my contention that I picked the right people to do our job. Bravo!

And, of course, here are a gazillion pictures of the past few week's work for you to enjoy!

Since my last update, the holiday season has passed us and we find ourselves into a new year. This is more or less the beginning of the third year since this project “officially” started and we have a couple more months to go until completion. (Some outdoor work may or may not be done in that time frame.

What’s very nice, however, is that we are fully engaged with interior finish work, starting with the stair railings and soon to move on to the 11" wide pine flooring and trim work. The slate for the foyer and bathrooms will be arriving in about two weeks and we recently picked out our door hardware, too.

Relative to the stair railings, Pete from Slabaugh Custom Stairs Ltd., got to work on Saturday the 29th, starting with the railings on the loft landing in our great room. (in the original house) I had already removed the old barn wood railings (good riddens!) as well as the pine floor nosing at the edge of the landing in preparation for this work. As Pete got the new newels installed, I followed behind, reinstalling the nosing so it would be ready to support the balusters under the railings.

Pete returned after the New Years holiday and has been working meticulously to get everything installed correctly and with precision. Since all these wood parts will be clear finished after dying them to color, the newels that touch the walls have to be carefully coped so that there is no gap of any kind between them and the wall. No caulk can be used...this is just plain great woodworking craftsmanship. As I write this, he has about one more day's work to finish the installation and I’m extremely pleased with the results.

Below you’ll find a number of pictures from this process, but first...a quick look at the exterior on Christmas Day after the gutters finally got up. I though it might stop raining at that point, but alas, it stayed wet for a few more days.




And I just couldn’t resist “trying out” the hall table I made for this specific spot earlier in 2007...yup, it fits!



Stair work in progress: