Cabinet sneak peek

A lot of the cabinetry has been delivered but not installed. We couldn't help ourselves taking a peek under the plastic and cardboard that covered things up.

A mish mash of cabinets and appliances sitting in the Family Room

A little sponge hopper under what will be our kitchen sink. Cabinets were painted with Benjamin Moore Smoke Embers.

rubbish and recycling

Slide out shelf from the corner dead space.

This unit will sit on the counter top on the same wall as the wall oven and fridge.
It is the only place where we are having upper cabinets.

 

Vertical dividers for sheet pans, trays, cutting boards, etc.

Another shot of the vertical dividers, this will be directly above the microwave/oven combo wall oven.
The two big drawers in white behind this cabinet are the base for a window seat going into one of the bedrooms.

Master bath vanity has been installed.

Those holes in the walls are for medicine cabinets which you can see in the next few pictures.

Inside one of the new medicine cabinets.

Not only is this a thing of beauty by it is solid as all get out. So much more so than the Waterworks version it was
modelled on. And at only about 60% of the cost of the Waterworks version. It was even less expensive than a
Restoration Hardware version we were considering.

How Screenporch Got Her Groove Back

Made two trips over to the house this weekend. We both wanted to go back today since the painters were busy there yesterday and it was a little hard to see everything as close as we wanted to. Besides seeing more of the cabinets that have been delivered, the big excitement this weekend was the framing out of the screen porch. It already makes the house look better and feel more balanced and grounded.

 

 

You can see how the lack of screens (and balustrade on top of the porch) makes the house unbalanced and the porch
look like an afterthought.

Lucy inspects the progress

Still waiting for something dramatic at the house. Chippendale railings. Kitchen cabinets. Garage Door. We are dying to see something flashy happen. But I guess we need to be patient. The painters have begun their work and there are places where one can really see the beauty of the project starting to peek through the mess and chaos. Of course a good paint job is no small deal with all the prep work and such. So patience. Our master vanity was delivered this week. That was quite exciting to see.

And of course it was time Lucy had the opportunity to inspect the progress. If she doesn't approve I don't know what we will do.

From Family Room looking toward Dining Room.

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Although they are still in the early stages of painting the casing is really starting to look beautiful. Picture is taken from the Family Room looking toward front door.

Lucy advises that you make sure you take care when using solvents,

I can't even begin to tell you how exciting this vanity is. In our previous "master" bath, John and I had to share a single pedestal sink and a narrow, plastic Container Store drawer thingy on wheels. I've already started to plan what goes where.
Vanity color is Farrow & Ball's Shaded White. It looks whiter then it is when it isn't up against a whiter white.

You'll be hearing a lot more about Ivan C. Dutterer as the weeks go by. Look at those dovetail joints.

I think she approves

Random Progress Photos

As I mentioned in my post from earlier today cabinets are coming soon and there is a whole slew of other things set to happen soon that will really start to make the place look different.

I thought I would just throw out some of the random photos we have taken over the past several weeks. Many of them not very exciting.

Mock-up of the deck railing detail. Much more on this when they begin to install.

The very dirty tub in the guest bath. A Carrera marble apron will surround the tub. 

 

Flagstone in mudroom and powder room.

Mudroom

Mudroom the space to the left will have built in bench, cabinets, and coat pegs.

 

The new front door and transom have been installed. Door surround still be installed. For picture of door itself, see next interior photo.

Still wet new floors looking toward new front door.

New floors looking into dining room and screen porch beyond.

 

Appliances (Vive la France!)

Yesterday turned out to be appliance day at chez nous.

Our French range was ordered from Lacanche in late December to take advantages of 2013 pricing. Sometime in early spring it got on a boat, and because it was shipped to take advantage of a full container, it was sent to Seattle rather than the east coast. I guess that means it went through the Panama Canal. By the end of May it was in Seattle, had been inspected, and was waiting for its journey to DC. A couple of weeks ago it was put on a truck bound for Baltimore where it cooled its heels until yesterday when it made its way to Chevy Chase.

What we didn't realize was that our contractor decided to have the other warehoused appliances delivered as well. Unfortunately the floors in most of the house have recently been stained so we couldn't really get in to take pictures. John had to bend around a corner to get the picture of all the boxes.

The kitchen cabinets may arrive as soon as the 18th. Those should make for some interesting photos.

Bonjour mon amour.

Stairs ahoy!

Well, really, stair railings ahoy.

The new stair railings are in place and they are a thing of beauty. Ours is a modestly scaled, 1934 Colonial Revival house, so a truly grand stair was not really appropriate. But we did think the old railings needed a bit of an update.

The handrails and newel posts waiting patiently.

 

Detail of mahogany handrail pieces. The curly part will terminate over a mahogany newel post at the bottom of the
staircase going from the first floor up to the second. If you look at the rounded piece standing vertically to the left
of the curly piece, you can see about six inches up there is a seam that doesn't look very smooth. That troubled me
until they explained that there is only so much they do in the shop and that the finishing touches done on site would
take care of all transitions between pieces. You can see that in progress in the photo below.

Our handrail artisan using a good eye and fine motor skills to perfect the seams in the mahogany handrail.

Before and During

There was nothing wrong with the old newel post except for the fact that it was scratched
up to high heaven. But more than that, we did want something that was a little more refined
and one that sat under the handrail itself.

Originally, the plan was just to put new wood on the treads of the existing stairs but
for much less than we thought, we opted to have the entire staircase structure replaced
to ensure everything was nice and plumb and solid and squeakless.

The pickets on the old staircase were just rectangles which seemed a little too Arts and Crafts-era, while the scrolly brackets
on the stringer seemed a little too old lady precious.

The new pickets (or balusters) are round and taper gently toward the top. The newel post sits on the bottom tread and
is capped by the lovely new handrail. And we opted for no scrolls on the stringer.

Looking at the new railing from above.

And shown here with a section of paneling in process. The newel post will be painted the same white as the pickets which will be painted Benjamin Moore Moonlight White.

Where once before there was a twisty, steep, enclosed stairway up to the attic we now have this lovely open stair.

And here is the railing at the top of the house in the attic bedroom. The striped floor is where they had to notch in heart pine
to match the existing. All will be sanded and painted Benjamin Moore Moonlight White. The pickets and newel posts will
also be painted Moonlight White and the Mahogany handrails will be stained a dark walnut and have a waxed rather than
poly finish, to allow a patina to develop over the years.

Looking from the attic to the second floor.
The open triangle to the right will be filled in with wall (the backside of our linen press.)

Even the little bit of railing going down to the basement got the royal treatment.