Morning sunrise surprise...

Morning Sunrise Surprise....

January 17th -- As I was carrying the bucket of breakfast dishes and espresso machine parts up the stairs to the second floor bathroom -- the only source of running water in the house since July -- I looked up, and was literally blinded by the light.  

The small alcove in front of the door that leads to the hallway to the master bedroom suite was lit up.  There is no electricity yet in that part of the new construction as there is only a wire hanging from the wall where a sconce will eventually go.  I stood there puzzled.  I then realized that as the winter sun circles the house from the east, it shines through a window and sends a perfect beam of light that literally lights up this alcove, as shown in these photos.

Seriously, how cool is that?  

I keep telling myself that this wonderful sunrise surprise is perhaps the first of many new surprises and discoveries I will make when this renovation project is completed, and I get to reclaim my living space from the small armies of workers who have been traipsing through.

What a nice thing to look forward to, and a good thought to keep in my head when I begin to grumble about still sleeping on my "dog bed" for over 7 months, and washing out the dishes and utensils from my meals in the upstairs bathroom.

Deck, bead board and door...

Deck, bead board and door....

January 16th -- In the morning light it was easier to see the piers for the deck (see the photos below).  The deck framers showed up before 8:00 am to take advantage of the relatively warmer temperatures today.  

 Here is the pier that will anchor the porch for the entry to the back of the house.

By the end of the day, the substructure framing for the south side deck was done and the pillars for the pergola were in place.

The framers were starting to scroll the ends of the timbers that will form the top of the pergola.

The actual decking material that will be installed on top of this framing won't arrive until next week.

The drawers are done, but the finish carpenters will need to add the hardware sliders for the drawers and the drawer facings.  The chest of drawers is really coming together.

The box for the AV cabinet has been roughed in.

The door to the basement was hung and is now operable.

 And, one of the finish carpenters spent a good part of the afternoon installing the bead board in the bathroom off the guest suite.

 Once the bead board is in place, a piece of "chair rail" trim will be installed at the top edge of the bead board.

Another finish carpenter was busy today on the construction of the floor-to-ceiling bookcases. Some of the components of the bookcase are shown in these photos.  The head finish carpenter now has all the components for the library ladder and we're all excited to see how that will come together.

 Although the finish carpenters thought they might be finished by the end of  this week, I'm not so sure as they still have the built-ins for the mud room.  I love having these guys around the house because they are so meticulous and do such great work.  I will be elated when they have completed their work, but I will very much miss not having them around the house.

I also met this afternoon with the painter to finalize all the paint colors for the various rooms.  I won't divulge my choices until the rooms are done and you'll see them in a future post.

The painters have been waiting for the carpenter and the tile setter to finish so that they can come back to work.  We are still waiting for the tile that is being shipped from out of state, but the painters should be back next week and will be able to begin finishing the various details of the drywall.  When that is done, they will begin painting in the master bedroom.

Stairs and piers.....

Stairs and piers....

January 14th and 15th -- The finish carpenters are still on site as the tile has not yet arrived, but should be here before the week is over.

The finish carpenters are so meticulous and have such a good relationship with the contractor that they have made suggestions that turn out to be improvements.  For example, there is a small ledge between the wall of the gathering room and the stairs to the basement that the contractor was going to finish in painted wood.  The finish carpenters insisted that the ledge should be an extension of the oak hardwood flooring, and voila, they made it so, as shown in these photos....which is a much nicer look than painted wood.

Similarly, the finish carpenters were tasked with replacing the "temporary" stairs to the basement with both threads and risers.  So, yesterday when I came home I was a bit surprised to see that the stairs had disappeared.....

And, I was pleasantly surprised to see that new stairs had been installed when I came home today.

Another nice surprise is that there is now a door to the crawlspace under the gathering room.

Now that I have stairs, it is back to the piers....

Yesterday, two guys from the framing crew arrived with a giant gas-powered auger to dig the holes for the concrete piers that will hold the framing for the south-side deck and the back porch that will lead to the rear entry of the house.  We had a bit of snow and the temperatures had been chilly, but everyone was a bit surprised that the ground was so frozen that the auger barely scratched the ground surface, so to speak.  They came back this morning  and had more success as shown by these holes, but they also had to use a post-hole digger as well as a pick, as shown below. 

When I got home tonight, after dark, the holes for the piers were actually filled with the concrete piers, which you can see -- if you look really carefully -- in these photos, along with the timber that will be used to create the frame for the decking planks that will be delivered next week:

The finish carpenters were also working on details inside and made great progress on the fireplace mantel in the gathering room, which mirrors the design of the fireplace in the master bedroom.  Eventually there will be a row of tile that will be set around the fireplace:

Finally, in this photo you can see the drawers that have been built for the custom chest of drawers that is in the master bedroom.

Tomorrow the finish carpenters will begin work on the AV cabinet that will go next to the fireplace in the gathering room and then they will begin work on the floor-to-ceiling wall of bookcases and the built-ins for the mud room.

If I had a hammer....

If I had a hammer....

January 13th -- If I had a hammer there is no way I could ever do what these finish carpenters can do.  While still awaiting for the trim materials, the head finish carpenter and one of his crew showed up this morning ready to start on the custom carpentry and the built-ins.  The plan was to first come up with a design and then while the head of the carpentry company went to another job site, one carpenter would work to build the custom chest of drawers that will fit between the western wall and the fireplace in the master bedroom.

They drew their design on a piece of board, called me in to discuss their thoughts, and to ask for my contributions.  After they sketched things out and discussed measurements, the rest of the day was spent on building the chest of drawers.

The board that they sketched their plan on is actually the bottom of the cabinet, as shown below:

  

Here is the location of the chest of drawers.  It needs to be custom made because the height of the mantel and the height of the chest should meet and be smooth, as well as fill the space below between the fireplace and the west-facing wall of the master bedroom.  The overhang of the mantel and the chest of drawers will meet, and below the trim will be a designed gap so that I have access to the electrical control switch on the side of the fireplace.

By the end of the day, the main structure of the chest of drawers was built, with each of the drawers and the installation of the drawer hardware to come tomorrow and the next few days.

 

As you can see, there will be two smaller, shallow drawers at the top of the chest, with three deeper drawers below.  The chest trim will align with the fireplace trim.

 

 I am just blown away by how skillful these carpenters are and how much they seem to enjoy their work.  The guy who spent the day building this chest of drawers was signing along to the songs on the radio as he worked.  When I him how much I admired his work he smiled, and then said that the more difficult part was to come with the building of the actual drawers.