Nearing the Finish Line - Sneak Peek Time

There is so much going on, it's hard to keep track of it all.  But some rooms are almost done and I thought it might be fun to share a few sneak peeks.  Once I get each room completed, I'll be sure and share the full 'before & after'.

Have you ever wondered what it's like in the last couple of weeks of a project?  Totally crazy!!!  All of the final trades are at work, doing a synchronized dance to work around one another.  Thankfully these guys have worked together for years and have a good working relationship.  Check out the video below to see the craziness in action!

The kitchen is really coming together.  We love the dark lower cabinets and the light colored ones at the top.  We debated doing panels over the refrigerator and I'm so glad we didn't.  Somehow that extra tall stainless fridge looks very mid-mod in the room!

The guys created the giant butcher block countertop for the island.  The island will seat 6 and is the perfect spot for an informal family meal.

And the bar???  Well Richard loves this bar.  Despite all the chaos around it, he had the 'trophy case' sliding glass doors installed and re-installed the original glass shelf.

Did someone say cocktail time???

Recreated door and window trim to match original

We spent a huge amount of time recreating all the original woodwork, to match the original.  Since we had to replace all the windows and sliding glass doors, this meant redoing everything.  And it was a huge task.  We quickly discovered that new pine trim has a much bigger (and also uglier) grain pattern than the original trim from 50 years ago.  But they had such an opaque stain on the original, we needed to find something with the same opacity so the grain difference wouldn't really matter.

I made more trips to Sherwin Williams than I can count, to come up with a wood stain that would match the original (and even more hours staining all that trim!).



We also matched all the wooden pegs that they used on the original trim.  Such a nice detail!

The cantilever walkway is such a great detail, but at 30" tall, the wood railing didn't meet current building code.  And that was particularly important with the new stairway we added. So we had a new metal handrail custom made, to match the original metal supports.  It's integrated with the new staircase we added, so now we're up to code and it looks fantastic!

New custom code-complaint handrail getting installed

In the den, the gas fireplace has been installed, but we had to wait 4 months to get the propane installed.  Geezzz.....  But they came yesterday and now I can start tiling the surround.  Wait till you see the handmade tile we're using - it's amazing (and yes, it would have been much more logical to install the tile before the floors went in, but given all the schedule challenges, that didn't happen)!

And the guys are custom building bookcases for me - an adaptation of Finn Juhl style.

The flooring was probably the biggest hurdle on the whole job.  My usual installer was able to do a little, but was so overwhelmed with other work, he couldn't support our schedule.  I was able to find someone else to do all the bedrooms, but he didn't have time to do the living spaces.  Finally, Richard and I put on our knee pads and got to work on the dining room and den, to keep things moving along.



Since the living room is so huge, we were glad to have the pros (yes, a 4th installer) come finish it up.  It took almost a week, but looks fantastic!

The living room.....floor install in progress

Lighting is going in - what a difference it makes!!   The support beam runs through the center of the dining room, prohibiting a central light fixture.  So we used the same approach as the original design and installed two smaller fixtures over the dining table.

And the bedrooms and baths?  We have made lots of progress - but I think I'll save that for later!

Pin It