Sink, Sank, Sunk

Even though we've been designing it for years, I'm awestruck when I see our drawings on paper materialize into real rooms. The kitchen is looking amazing. After a week or more of full days of grinding, the cultured concrete counter tops are installed, only needing to be grouted and sealed.

The beautiful (and heavy) soapstone sink was nestled into its final resting place, a sight I've been looking forward to for weeks.

A few Boston ferns now grace the porch, one of the only green plants surrounding the house, as weeks of rain have left our yard a muddy mess. The few final touches have been made to the second floor including a reclaimed oak railing and the last of the trim. We'll be cleaning and prepping the concrete floors to be sealed and look forward to starting to move in to the upstairs.

A Productive One Year Anniversary...

I spent another day on my knees scraping, sanding, scrubbing, vacuuming and mopping floors. Once the water gets turned on, it will make cleaning a little easier, but the upstairs bathroom is looking amazing. It is definitely my favorite room in the house.

Piper and I assembled the pantry shelving for the kitchen yesterday and today he finished painting it and we set into place. Bob will be coming early this week to start building the cabinets and the kitchen is really going to start to transform.

Piper did a little work on the vintage fridge this afternoon, a treasure that once belonged to his grandmother Dorothy. He updated some crumbling wires and gave it a new power cord. We plan to give it a sandblast and a fresh coat of paint as well as update the compressor.

I realized this morning that this month marks one year since we broke ground on the house. It's hard to believe its been that long and we're really coming close to being able to move in. Here's to the home stretch!

A Random Smattering of Progress

Holy crap it's starting to look like a real house! Almost all the painting is done, all the trim is cut, painted and nearly installed, we have lights, a ceiling fan and even a railing! It's amazing to look back and think that just a few months ago we still had straw sticking out everywhere.

As the finishing process continues, we're starting the mega task of cleaning up the space. So much sawdust, mud and drywall dust linger everywhere and I'm finding it hard to believe it will ever get clean!

The bedrooms are days away from being completely finished and the bathrooms are also well on there way. Piper and I started grinding down the outside of our claw foot tub with a wire wheel to get ready for painting. The cast iron beauty was given to us by our good friends Ron & Jill and I can't wait to get it installed.

The bottom photo shows a preview of a built-in unit in the 2nd floor bathroom which conceals a laundry shoot and linen closet. We used the leftover redwood flooring for the facade and the door will have a lengthwise mirror on the front.

The twin sets of french doors which separate the living room from the rest of the house were installed after a fresh coat of paint and new hinges, and now sport painted trim. I can barely keep up with all the progress that's been happening - but here's to trying to keep up with photography!

Cutting, Sanding, Painting, Oh My!

Much finishing is underway. Freezing temperature and sunny days, cutting trim, sanding trim, priming trim, painting trim. Drywall is nearly complete after which a massive cleaning session will ensue. We have the illusion of a bathroom sink - it's exact installation method yet to be decided. A tile floor in the upstairs bath, though a little wonky, will keep our tootsies warm with thermostat controlled radiant heat coils. The shower stall is tiled and looks incredible. Both bathrooms are the furthest along of all the spaces and hopefully soon a toilet will be installed. More updates to come soon I hope!

The start of the finish...

It's been a while since I've posted and the house is looking so much different. Piper and the crew have begun working on finish work!! Piper applied several coats of tung oil to the upstairs flooring and it looks beautiful. The color and grain have really come out and it looks tremendous.

The biggest change and one of the most exciting progressions so far has been the putting up of drywall and paneling. Although the stud walls have given us an idea of the layout, it wasn't until the drywall went up that we really saw the house take shape. We installed horizontal tongue and groove pine in the first floor bathroom and to the ceilings of the kitchen.

Despite some frosty walls delaying us a day, we began painting the bathroom so we can install lighting, the sink and medicine cabinet.

We're eagerly awaiting the arrival of the stove pipe roof kit so we can install the wood stove and keep the crew a little toastier during the day.