Taking advantage...

Taking advantage...

January 17th --The usual freezing winter temps of January have not yet settled in, so we are taking advantage of the "unseasonably" mild weather both in and outside of the house.

In these photos you can see the bead board and chair rail that the finish carpenters have installed in the guest bathroom.  Soon, the original claw foot tub will be re-glazed and moved back into this room. 

The floor-to-ceiling bookcases are coming along.  Below you can see the basic design, which is to have a top row, near the ceiling, that are fixed shelves.  Then the library ladder rail and hardware will be installed right above the trim of the top of the pocket door that leads to the stairwell to the basement.  Below these fixed shelves and the library ladder rail, the bookcases will have adjustable shelving and there will be trim facings for each of the five "sections" of the bookcase, as shown below.

The framers worked on the deck substructure for the small porch in front of the rear-entry, as shown below.  Now that the deck substructure is set, they will wait until the TimberTech decking is delivered later this coming week.  There will be a couple of steps off the porch and a short walk to the garage.

The substructure for the south-side deck and the cedar pergola are in place, again awaiting the deck material that will arrive later this coming week.  There will be one to two stairs down from the deck to the yard.

The good weather is supposed to continue this coming week, which means that I am optimistic that the framing for the greenhouse will begin while we await the delivery of the decking material. 

Also, in the week to come the tile setter should be back to complete the tile in the master bathroom, now that it has been delivered.  The granite counter tops have been cut, but not yet installed, and that should happen soon.  The painters are eager to get back to the drywall and will start in the master bedroom and bathroom as soon as the tile setter is done.

After the bookshelves in the gathering room are completed, the built-ins in the mudroom will be constructed.  I was so pleased with the chest of drawers that were built for the master bedroom that I asked the head finish carpenter to give me an estimate to build a headboard to match the fireplace mantel in the master bedroom.  Given that the original staircase in the house has a wicked turn and is narrow, it might be best to have furniture built for the rooms on the upper level rather than try to buy furniture that will be impossible to get up the stairs, unless it needs to be assembled.

I also hope that the gutters will be installed soon during this nice weather.  Every time it snows, there is a mini-moat around the house, and it would be nice to have gutters to control the runoff of the melting snow.