Master Closet, Fireplaces and Office

So the finish carpentry has come to a close -- we'll the wallet needs to be closed so we're done with everything that really needed to be done. Gus and Ricardo did a fantastic job. One of the things that we appreciate so much is that we felt that we could really trust these guys - they had a key to our house, worked when we were away and just got the job done. They really cared about the quality of their work and we feel that they did an A+ job. These photos show some of the latest additions to the 1790 house. Here you see the custom master closet -- we're still figuring out who gets more hanging space but this is one closet that may actually fit all of our clothes!

Master Bedroom fireplace -- we decided to go pretty simple here...you can see the sconces above it -- and the mud that we had to apply becuase we tried to install the sconces just a little bit more to the outside and discovered -- that's not where the wires were!

Guest bedroom fireplace -- this was Gus's creation -- more ornate but still classic.

The centerpiece of our living room is the old cooking fireplace. We decided to keep this one pretty true to the original. With modern code, we had to expose more of the brick than was in 1790 but we like it.

These are obviously bookshelves -- they are in our office and will finally provide a home for our extra large collection of books!

Finish Carpentry...the adventures of Gus and Ricardo

So we've been quite for such a long time that there's way too much to tell in one entry. It's been a busy summer -- we've painted the exterior of the house with Sherwin Williams Duration....hope that's the last time we have to do that. We still have a little bit left to do but it's very manageable. We've also planted a lawn -- more on that another time (the nightmare of crabgrass). And most significantly we've been having Gus and Ricardo do lots of finish work at the house. Gus is a guy that we met when Ed was restoring our house. He worked on Ed's crew. He's a great guy and has a great attention to detail. Here are some shots that are very exciting to us...it's nice to have shelves to put things on and closets to hang things in. But mind you -- just because we have these things doesn't mean that we're not still living out of boxes! This is our dining room china closet -- it's modeled after the close in my grandparents 1600's house in Marblehead.

Here you're seeing the built-in that is to the right of the large fireplace in the living room - the top has space for at 32" TV and the bottom is for man equipment -- stereo stuff :)

Coat closet! and my less than often used blue blazer

Book shelves that are attached to our kitchen island -- now full of cook books -- and Riley begging for some food...

This is the fireplace in our office -- really great job by the guys -- the design was collaborative between all of us but the execution was all Gus and Ricardo.

I'll post some more photos of their work. Fall looks like it's going to be a very very busy time but we're working hard at getting loose ends tied up!

Some updated photos

Sorry that there hasn't been much in the way of updates these days -- not much time and not too much to report. We can't take too many interior photos because the house is just a mess! Here are a couple of exteriors. We're getting ready to start painting the exterior this month -- we're thinking that we're going to do a tone on tone white for the trim and linen for the house -- and we're debating whether we'll do High Gloss or Flat for the paint -- any suggestions?

We were going to move in this weekend, but...

These were taken several weekends ago. We were going to move in, but seeing as that wasn't going to happen, our new neighbors invited us in for pancakes instead.

These photos were actually taken after some cleanup had already been done!

We're In!!

2nd floor, 2nd bedroom in the front of the house.

Master bathroom.

Stairwell.

Side entryway.

Living room.

Living room from the other side.

Leigh here...

Well, almost one year after we first started demolition, we are finally moved in to the 1790 house!! "Moved in" is of course a subjective description - we still have to collect our belongings from several locations (thanks parents!!) and there are MANY small projects to finish inside and outside the house. For example, we have no shelves and no mantles yet (although Ed was just over here today talking with us about the plan for those things), and we have interior trim and exterior everything and 33 windows to paint inside and out. It will be awhile until it's "done."

But from the first night we stayed over, which was March 13, we have been SO excited about the place. It definitely feels like home. We love cooking in the kitchen and working in the office (the two rooms that are the most set up at the moment). The house has already weathered 3 major wind/rain storms with only the tiniest bit of dampness in the basement and no other damage at all (these storms brought feet of water to other basements and blew shingles off roofs in Newburyport). Ed made quite certain that it's not going anywhere!

We really can't say enough good things about the work that Ed has done. After all we've been through with this place, he's still around to make sure that the last details get finished. He is just as proud of the house as we are!!

These photos only show some parts - we'll try to get more up soon. I especially love the exposed ceilings on the first floor in the living room and office - original beams and underside of the 2nd floor floorboard. There are funky details that come from saving some of the original parts of the house and there are great new spaces like the kitchen. Although I can't really say that I knew how it was going to turn out when we started, it is the kind of place that I have been dreaming about living in.

Floors...floors...floors

So the floors have been in process for the last couple of weeks...first we had some sanding problems (the new floors got all scratched up by the buffer so that when they were stained the scuff marks showed. Then we weren't sure that the cherry stain was really not bright orange. So things have been going slowly and we might be delayed by another week on the move in date. So it's hard to say if we were just so used to having light white pine floors and now we have these darker floors that we're not crazy about. We're holding off judgement until they are done -- in these photos the floors have been stained but no poly has been applied. There is definitely a difference between how the new floors and the old floors in the upstairs bedrooms. We're withholding our judgement until it's all done...and the trim is painted.

rounding the bend, finish line in sight...

Ok -- so it's down to the wire -- Ed and crew are wrapping up their duties and Hector has sanded the floors to prep them for stain and poly. You can see here that the kitchen hood is in which was the last of the appliances to be installed. A couple things remain to be done -- one is attaching one of the old beams from the second floor to the LVL along the peak of the kitchen -- it will give the look of an old beam. They guys notched it out so that they can fit it around the LVL and attach it with timber locks. That should happen on Monday but they'll have to do their work in socks because the floors have been sanded and if moisture or foot prints get on the floor it will show once it's been stained. Another view of the kitchen -- the plywood on the island is not staying -- it's just there to keep it out of the way for Hector. We plan on using some of the floorboards that were in the attic to make a counter top for the island. We're going to do this in my uncle's work shop -- the plan is to plane them down, biscuit join and glue them together and then treat them with something -- any suggestions for what to use to treat the counter? We don't want to use anything oil based like poly. Thoughts? The two pendants you see here will actually have two big glass globes on them...we just did want to put them up until the beam was installed.Here's the mostly cleaned out study -- I cleaned the ceilings yesterday. Lots of spider webs and 1700's stuff still up there.

Looking from the study into the dining room and kitchen beyond. May have mentioned it before but it will have a rectangular linen shade on it -- for now it's just there for people to walk into.

We're looking at the pantry in these photos -- you can see to the right of the fridge that Gus has done an excellent job creating a counter top look. Because the cabinet company didn't make 24" deep 36" tall cabinets we need to improvise to get the old fashioned pantry look over here. we bought base drawers and 15" above fridge cabinets and then we added some cabinet doors. For the "counter" we used birch plywood, like you see on top of the island. There are two pieces glued together. And to face the cabinets, Gus attached two pieces of pine. We're planning on painting it white to match the cabinets. The doors will then have glass in the open space.

Yesterday I had a little problem getting the fridge to sit flush with the cabinets like it's supposed to -- after all it's a counter depth fridge that is supposed to look built in -- BUT it was sticking out half an inch beyond the cabinets -- for various reason -- the ice machine tube, the plug, a couple of bumps on the back of the fridge. All of these things were more than half an inch deep. So what did we do - we cut out the sheet rock and plaster and voila the fridge fits -- the lucky thing was that as a practice Ed applies plywood to all kitchen walls that have cabinets attached. So we're in good shape.

So that's it for now...Leigh and I are going to head over to the house to move some wood out of the way so that we can have the storage trailer taken away next week. Fun stuff.

Just a quick update with a few pics -- stairs look great. The posts look a lot better with the balusters in...Gus did a great job finishing up the stairs.

Plumbers mostly finished up today -- here's the guest bath sink -- looks good I think..

Master Bath sink -- also looks good - unfortunately a little chip on the back that must have happened when it was stored in the basement for awhile. Here's a question -- see the two faucets in the photo? We'll they are both hot/cold water. Normally the faucet is in the middle and so the sink stop can be operated. In our case they are off center so how do we get the sink stop to work? HMMM?

Anyway, the plumbers did a good job today...and I spoke with Ed who promised to make any of the little things that I was bothered by, right. So today was a better day.

Inching towards the finish line...

It's discouraging when you have a day close to the end of the project when almost nothing gets done. We're trying really hard to get Hector into the house to get the floors done. Before he does that the plumbers need to be out of the second floor -- they were supposed to be out of there today. But for some reason they were only able to work a short day and managed to get the shower fixtures in -- that's it. So we're another day behind. Does anyone else think those posts are HUGE?

Here's the photo of the guest bath -- nice fixtures -- I'm not sure why the plumber roughed in the shower heads so low. I guess it must be to code but if I was any taller than 6 feed, I'd have to crane my head back to get my hair wet -- you know like when you stay in a 1970's hotel and you have to bend your knees to take a shower. It's not that bad but I wish they had given us a little extra height here.

You can see that the sink is waiting for fixtures.

Guest bath toilet -- the plumber made another interesting choice here too - he did a 13" rough in -- this means that the standard 12" rough in toilet sits an inch off the wall -- weird. The toilet is made to be snug against the wall -- like all other toilets...do plumbers have signatures? Could the 13' rough in be this plumbers signature?

Master Bath toilet.

Master bath shower fixtures -- low shower head.

Alas -- when we do our next house we'll be able to address all of these issues...

Getting close...

We're getting there -- not moving in over vacation week but we're getting close. We're at the point of all finish work - this past week Ed put in a good push, with four guys at the house all week...it's just a lot of details at this point. All of the trim is done with the exception of the mantels. The tile and counters in the bathrooms and the kitchen are done...pretty much all of the electric is done -- we're just waiting for some fixtures at this point. We selected a gray soapstone slab for our counters but we think it's actually green....hmmm. Anyway, here you can see the white subway tile that we selected for the back splash in the kitchen and for the wall by the sink.

A little bit closer in...

Here you can see that the pantry is coming together...since we didn't do custom cabinets we had to be a bit crafty to put the pantry together. There will be glass in the doors - we just haven't had them cut cut yet. there will also be shelves in the cabinets.

Here's the dining room -- the central pendant will have a large rectangular linen shade on it and the sconces will have drum shades.

Gus has been working on the stairs for the last few days -- they look great. He takes a lot of pride in his work. I think on Monday the newel post and the banisters will probably go in.

The plumbers will be here on Monday to install toilets and sinks -- the one major thing that is holding us up from moving in is that the floors need to be re-finished. Unfortunately Hector can't work next weekend but we're hoping that evenings this week will allow him to get lots done. We'll see...