Well, the hardwood floors aren’t 100% complete, but they are about 95%. The cabinet installers can now come at least, and that’s the important part. All that remains is a couple strips need to be ripped down and applied to little gaps here and there. Finishing touches if you will.
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Really, not too much hardwood floor actually got installed today. One big section of the boards that were laid out in the kitchen and dining rooms are now installed.
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The installer came today and laid out the boards for the installation. There’s an asphalt-coated felt that goes down under the hardwood. The material I picked is called “character” and is a white oak flooring that comes in 3-inch and 5-inch widths. I’m having the installer alternate rows of the two widths, which looks great (at least it looked great in the showroom).
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Eventually the trim carpenters left. But not before almost finishing the house. I say almost because the cabinets aren’t installed, and they needed to have them in to do the baseboards along a couple walls. But there are so many stylish trim details, I better get right on with the pictures and show you what’s up.
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Our stairs have all got their risers and treads. The trim on the bookcases is fixed to our satisfaction. The trim carpenters came back and applied a little more trim to the bench, making it go from being really nice to spectacularly nice. It’s amazing how little details can really carry something over like that. And the fireplace surround is done.
Plus: our electrical service is in! No more generators. The meter isn’t here yet, but that’s not big deal, the drop is installed and we’re just waiting on them to shove a meter in the box.
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Now we’re talking. The trim carpenters got lots of cool stuff got done Monday. Staircases are getting worked on, and there’s a built-in bench with storage inside in the mud room. Plus they did a row of storage cubbyholes, which is finished nicely with a face frame detail that makes it look great. A lot of teh trim details that will make our house distinctive are beginning to become visible at last. It’s really cool to see things come to life that you’ve only seen on the architectural drawings.
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Not as much progress Friday, it rained significantly, and I think they must have worked about a half day. But the trim carpenters did finish the baseboards and closets, and get the sills in place on several windows in the second story. I was disappointed more wasn’t done.
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Who would have thought: people using Google to find pictures of cows find my site on almost a daily basis. I never dreamed that there was such a demand for pictures of cows. Well, I’m a firm believer in giving the people what they want. So I am pleased to present the cow compendium, a collection of high-resolution pictures of cows, (and a couple pictures of a bull) free for your use.
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More of the same from day 1, plus a couple scheduling surprises. All the doors are hung now, and the baseboard is in place almost everywhere. Work got started on trimming the windows, but only a couple are done, which is good, because they’re not doing exactly what I wanted with the trim.
The surprise was that the kitchen cabinets, vanities, and utility room cabinets got delivered Thursday too. They’re stacked in the garage, and placed with the faces inward so I couldn’t really get a great look, but what I did see looked outstanding.
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Schedule change: the trim carpenters are here, and no sign of the hardwood floor guy. So the next 4 days or so will be trim carpentry, and the floor guy is pushed back to about next Tuesday so he won’t be in the way. Cabinets will get delivered and installed right after that.
So there’s four trim carpenters working (Amy and I spent all day at the site cleaning up trash, so we met them) on our house. They do some very very pretty work, as you’ll see in the pics. The thing that was a nice surprise was the shelving details in the closets. They do a nice setup that makes a lot more space usable than just a shelf+rod sort of arrangement. The doors are all hung on the first floor, and only two remain on the second floor. They set the height of the baseboard above the floor according to the different type of flooring in each room.