Week 11: All of Those Details

Week 11 continued with painting, trim work and carpentry. This week was really special to Matt and I, not only because it was Matt's birthday, but we had our very first get together in our new house. Of course it was just a couple of us sitting around in tailgate chairs watching some football but at least it was inside. The mess is slowly starting to go away and we are beginning to be able to use the spaces.... we even have 2 working toilets!

Our trim guy Glen is something special. The meticulous hand and patience it takes to put back up all of our door and window casings, crown moldings and baseboards is something special to see. Since we salvaged all of the wood we could, it was then his job to put it all back together. We labeled the pieces when we took them down and they were stored in the garage and Glen came in and worked out the puzzle. The walls and ceilings where we put in new drywall required some reworking because the original piece was now to short or to long with the added 1/4" thickness of the drywall. He would nail a baseboard down and if it was even the slightest off, I am talking he was shimming 1/16" of boards to make it fit right. He also had to trim out the corners in the knotty pine room and where we had knocked out walls he had to run trim to finish it out.

Glen also did some carpentry for us this week, both the living room fireplace mantel and the staircase half wall in the entry. The mantel is beautiful, it is an original piece of the house I want to keep in tact, kind of like my beloved ceiling medallion. It has both square and rounded edges, flat and beveled trims so it has a nice mix of details. However the actual mantel top was a little skinny for what we are doing in this room. How the house was laid out it work great for the space but since we have blown out a few walls now this will become more a focal point and can be seen from just about every door when entering. The mantel measured 62" long by 6" deep. We are wall mounting the main TV above the fireplace so I told Matt he could put any kind he wanted as long as it fit within the length of the mantel. Once hung both the TV and wall mount kit will be at least 4" off the wall so it is going to look a tad bit large for the beautiful fireplace. Glen installed a new mantel a few inches longer and deeper to beef it up and it turned out great. This was also a must do because I plan to add built ins on both sides of the fireplace down the road. Remember to always plan ahead :)

Before: Fireplace

 

 Before: Fireplace

 

 

After: New mantel

Now this part of the house turned out even better than I could have expected. I was going back and forth on what to do with the basement staircase... half wall, no wall, banister and rods?? But now that it is done I am super glad I stuck with my gut on this one. Glen added a mantel on top of the half wall, matched it up to the one he put on the fireplace, and also nailed my picture frames for my "knock-off" wainscoting. It turned out fantastic. I would recommend this pinterest idea to anyone looking to dress up any area in the house. Once it gets painted and caulked it will look as if the whole piece was a built custom unit. This dresses up the front entry and makes it a bit more formal. Even though I would take a guess to say that 90% of our guest will always use the side door for an entry it is still nice to have and an added bonus it is going to make for a fantastic place for Christmas decorations.  

Before: Fully enclosed staircase with door to basement. No windows, no natural light

 After: New half wall with wainscoting, all open to the first floor looking from hallway to front door

After: New half wall with wainscoting, all open to the first floor looking from front door

Another special surprise from this week was purchasing 3 new doors! We decided the front and 2 back doors all needed to be new. Not only was the casing rotting a bit on the exterior it was hard to keep those when the rest of the house is looking so brand new. I feel like we keep saying that.... "well everything else is new so that needs to be new too" and this explains why the budget and time line went up.... oops. This is one of the hardest parts about remodeling, it is so very hard to stop when it all looks so great!

Front Door: I went with just a top pane glass so I can put back the precious peep hole from the original door. We do have to get a new mailbox to hang on the brick since the old mail slot wont be able to be cut out on the new door.

 New front door

 New front door from front yard. Still needs a paint job but looking much more welcoming

New front door from front yard

Side Door: I went with the half glass here to let in lots of light and to be able to see who is dropping in for a visit.

New side door from the Knotty Pine Room 

New side door from the driveway also needs a paint job



Backyard Door: I went with the full glass here so that we can see out to the backyard. And of course this is already Oscar's favorite one because he can look out and keep watch for us :)

 

Hall Bath: We had the original cast iron tub in here refinished and it looks brand spanking new. If anyone is looking for someone in this field let me know and I will pass along his name and number. He did a great job here. We all remember what a nightmare this room was with the floor and wall pink tiles and frosted plastic metal trim door. The tub might have been in worse shape of it all. It was all nicked and scrapped up and probably hadn't got a good clean in a while. Nick came in a filled all of the little holes and dents, laid a smooth but rough surface to the bottom so we don't have to ever put on of those mats down and then resurfaced it. This was another original part of the house that I really wanted to keep in tact. It has the nice 3 line detail on the front and love how it curves in and out. And the main reason to keep is the fact that you cant buy tubs like these anymore. Cast iron is going to last forever and this tub isn't going anywhere. In an emergency of a storm this is where we would go. The whole house could crumble down but I bet that tub will still be standing.

 Before: Pink and dirty

 Before: Pink and dirty

 

 After: New floors, bead board and tub

 After: New floors, bead board and tub

 

 After: Refinished tub & tile

 After: Refinished tub & tile

 

 

Exterior: Matt did some more yard work this week too. He picked out and planted 3 Arborvitaes for the backyard where we took out all of the overgrown tress and brush. These are going to grow to be pretty tall but are easy to maintain and give great privacy.

 

We also had some grass seed laid down over all of the dirt we dropped. This will help kick start the grass growing and to keep from turning into huge mud piles. We are going to more than likely kill the yard next summer when it is the proper time and lay all new but until then we just need the grass to fill in.

 

Before: Weeds and overgrown

 

 

Before: Weeds and overgrown

 

 

After: Clean out and newly planted trees

 

The bedrooms are still in the painting phase and will be finished this week. Once the inside is done we are starting on the outside with power washing and a fresh coat of white trim. But here are a few more pics of how the kitchen and pine room are coming along..... getting so close!! And how could I forget.... KITCHEN CABINETS COME ON THURSDAY!!!!!