And The Winner Is - Right!

Wow, you all were fantastic in helping with this decision!!!  Ha ha, but I think you struggled as much as I did. The comments matched my thinking - Left was a little more formal, right a little more whimsical with a 'pop'.  Oh and by the way, right was half the price of left!  That doesn't happen when I pick things out very often.

We ended up with 29 for 'right' and 20 for 'left', when I went through both the blog and Facebook feedback.  Not exactly a landslide, but a clear winner.

Thanks so much for the input.  Now that I know the color of the wreath, I can get some mums to match!  Stay tuned for more photos soon.

Laurel



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Curb Appeal - Input Needed!

Curb appeal is incredibly important when you're selling a house.  Whether it's the first look people get when they look at a house online, or when they do a drive by, the house has to look inviting to make potential buyers want to come in.

So that might (or might not!) explain why I'm agonizing over a fall wreath for the front door.  I bought two of them, but just can't make up my mind.  So I'd love your input.  Which do you like better?  Left or right?

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Lighting

I love finding creative lighting for our projects.  It's a great way to update each home and give it some style.  And with the new rooms in this home, there are some fantastic spaces for special fixtures.

First up - the new master bedroom.  With it's vaulted ceiling and hand hewn beams, we wanted something really special for this room.  I've become a fan of the Shades of Light catalog and found this unusual fixture.  The wire, urn shaped styling works really well with the ceiling line.

We added this unique sconce from Pottery Barn in the hallway to the master bedroom.  With the kraft paper shade, it adds light as well as style.

For the master bath, we found these unique marine style fixtures for either side of the medicine cabinet.  What a great look for a house near the water!

The foyer had a low profile, brushed stainless fixture that we wanted to update to go with our new style.  We added this Restoration Hardware fixture.  

The big peninsula in the kitchen needed its own task lighting, whether you're having a meal there, doing homework, or just chatting with the cook.  This Pottery Barn accordion fixture is just the ticket.  It can expand or contract, to give multiple lighting options.












Over the sink, we wanted a task light and loved this light from the Home Decorator's Collection.














And last, but not least, the first floor powder room has Pottery Barn's Mercer fixtures.  They give a classic look, with the chrome finish and milk glass.

So, what do you think?  Do you have a favorite?

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Saving Old Floors

We've tried to preserve the original floors from this 120 year old house as much as possible.  But it hasn't been easy.  There was a lot a lot of work involved.

In the living room and kitchen, we have wide pine boards, that have been covered with carpet for decades.  They have a beautiful patina, that we didn't want to lose by sanding them down.  After thinking through our options, we opted to do a 'buff and coat', which left that beautiful deep color, but added a new layer of protection for years to come.

The back of the house, the new dining room, has an unusual floor.  Most of it has alternating wide and narrow boards across the room.  Many of them are very long - 12-13 feet!  If you buy flooring now, you usually don't get lengths greater than 6 feet.  So these are a wonderful bit of history!

Unfortunately, one section of the room had a big cutout in it, almost like a trap door to the basement.  We had this repaired with other boards from the room and tried to continue the alternating floor boards as much as possible.

What kind of wood is it you ask?  Well, it's pretty interesting - the flooring includes maple, birch and beech.  So it has lots of variation!

The guys had to do a lot of sanding, to get it ready for coating.  They started with a 20 grit paper and worked their way up to get a beautiful finish.











Look how much the first coat of sealer brings out the color in the wood!










And after two additional coats, these old floors are a thing of beauty.

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Kitchen Progress!!!

The kitchen is coming together very quickly.  The guys got the cabinets installed in no time.  The crown molding and decorative trim elements took a little more time, but add those custom touches that make the kitchen look so nice.








As a reminder, here's the 'before' kitchen.  We kept a similar layout, but made it bigger, with more space for the cook.

We all love the key element of the design - a big peninsula that's situated beneath a large antique beam.  It's the perfect place to sit on a bar stool and chat with the chef!  We've also added extra tall cabinets, to provide lots of storage space.  And gleaming new stainless steel appliances.

Another feature of the design:  built-in display cabinets along one wall, with a cozy window seat in between them.  The cabinets will be lighted, with under cabinet lights to provide a bright work space.  And we topped the cabinets with butcher block countertops, to provide a furniture look to the built ins.

The rest of the kitchen has beautiful new granite counter tops.  I love watching the installation process.  Look at the giant slabs of stone they carry in to the house.  To assemble the slabs, they use a contraption they call the 'gorilla', which uses vibration and suction to level the large pieces of stone and provide a uniform line of adhesive to bond the sections together.

But my favorite feature in this new space?  We added a chalkboard to the far wall and framed it with some pieces of salvaged wood we took from the basement.  This is a great space to keep track of family 'to do' items or for whimsical drawings.  Can't wait to try it out!

This week the new light fixtures are going in.  We are using 4 layers of lighting in the kitchen.  1)  We added recessed lights across the ceiling.  2)  We added pendants for task lighting.  I can't wait to show you the Pottery Barn Accordion Pendant light over the peninsula!  3)  We'll also have under counter lighting to make it easy to see when you're doing food prep.  4) And last, but not least, we'll have bright halogen lighting under the exhaust hood.

We still need to get the backsplash and plumbing fixtures in, but it's really coming together quickly.  I hope to have finished photos for you next week!

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Exterior Paint Job - Before and After

It was a huge job, but the painters have finished the exterior paint and it looks amazing.

Exterior - Before

As a reminder, we had a lot of prep work done to make the job lead paint safe - see story here.  But that was only the starting point.  Once that was completed, there was still a lot of work to do.

Prepped and ready to paint!

1)  First, they prepped all the old nails with metal primer - creating a dalmation effect, which the kids in the neighborhood thought was really fun!

2)  Next, the guys did two coats of a Peel Bond priming product, to ensure good adhesion with the old siding and fill some of the bumps and ridges.

Back of House - Before

3)  And finally, the finished coats went on the whole house.  As a reminder, here's where we started, right after the garage was removed.









 And here's a first peek of the new rear of the house with the windows and siding complete!

Back of House - After

We still need to get finishing touches (mailbox, house numbers, light fixtures, etc) up, but don't you think it's a nice improvement?






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Not a Flip....

I continue to search for a term to replace 'Flip' for the work we do on houses.  Whenever we hear 'Flip', it conjures up an image of  quick, cheap (aka low quality) updates.  I keep thinking there has to be a better term!  But recently, NY Times Travel editor Suzanne MacNeille came up with a great quote in her article about Portland.  She was talking about restaurant design, but I thought it was a perfect way to describe what we try and do with these houses.

Corner Cabinet - 1892 New Englander

Reclaimed Materials:  I'm on a first name basis with the folks at the local salvage yards and Habitat's ReStore.  Our most recent projects have used antique beams from local buildings as well as old doors and hardware.  We also try and reuse all of the existing materials from each house.  Our current project has some wonderful hardware and a built in corner cabinet that we think dates back over 100 years.

Doorknob - 1900 Victorian

Restoration:  Rather than gut each building and replace all the elements with new, we try and restore old plaster, woodwork and architectural elements.  We love steam heating systems and the wonderful old radiators that go with them (seriously, don't you love the heat they throw off in the middle of a cold winter - without drying out the whole house?).  

Window Hardware - 1892 New Englander

Rosettes - pre restoration

Doorknob - 1932 Cottage, pre restoration

Newel Post and Balusters - 1892 

Closet Built Ins

Tapered Columns - 1930 Cottage

Local Craftsmanship:  The team of folks that work on our homes truly are craftsman.  We don't complete a renovation in a few weeks.  It takes months and months to do it right.  The work that these guys do (and they're always guys.....not sure why more women aren't in this business!) is beautiful.  They really care about the quality of the work they do and it shows.  

Waterhouse Builders

So, maybe we don't have a one word replacement for the term 'flip'.  But Reclaimed Materials, Restoration and Local Craftsmanship says it all.

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Windows, Walls & More

We've gotten so much done in the last couple of weeks, as we put this great old house back together.  I wanted to share a few photos, so you can see our progress.

We replaced the old single pane windows in the back of the house.  And now that the garage isn't there, we were able to add 4 new windows on the east facing wall - flooding the house with morning sunlight!

New Window Getting Added to East Wall

Our friends from Elldee Electric came out and ran power to all the new outlets and lighting fixtures that we are adding. We've installed lots of recessed lighting, as well as cabinet lighting, undercounter lights, and new ceiling fixtures. Can't wait to get the fixtures installed (but we're a long way from that point!).

The drywall guys quickly got to work and we now have real walls in place.  I love watching Dan Caron on stilts, getting all the tape and mud work done.  And it wasn't an easy job.  Working around those antique beams in the master bedroom was a challenge.  But, what a difference walls make!  Oddly, they make the rooms look bigger than just the studs.

The old roof has been stripped (all 3 layers of it!) and new, architectural shingles have been installed.  As well as brand new Velux skylights in the bedrooms and bathroom.

Of course we still have a lot more to do, but it's getting pretty exciting around here!

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