Lights! Camera! Wrong Bulbs!

A lot of our decorative lights are in but most of them don't have the right kind of light bulbs. Here is a random selection.

Master Bedroom hall. Thomas O'Brien for Circa Lighting.

Same as above.

Bathrooms. Thomas O'Brien for Circa Lighting. In polished nickel.

 

Mudroom light in brass from Cedar and Moss.

We have this same fixture in the basement in oil rubbed bronze.

Mudroom porch from Cape Cod Brass.

Two of three Thomas O'Brien sconces in polished nickel without their shades.

 

Master closet from Schoolhouse Electric. Again with the wrong kind of bulbs.

Guest bath, Thomas O'Brien for Circa.

 

Italian light from Ferroluce purchased through German store Manufactum.

 

We have these in three bedrooms.

Barnhouse Electric

Weekend Update: It's almost looking like a finished house from the outside

  I'm sure that headline must be trademarked by SNL, but I doubt there are any NBC lawyers among my readers, so I won't sweat a lawsuit.

Things are reaching fever pitch at the house. We are having a walk through with our architect and our contractor on Tuesday morning so they are trying to tie up all the loose ends. It is one of those situations where it seems to get messier and messier as things get closer to done. Today while we were there they were installing door hardware, painting, and putting in more retaining wall next to the driveway since the new finish grade is quite different from that of our next door neighbor. We saw most of the plumbing fixtures in place, most of the decorative electrical fixtures, the banister has been stained, tile is up in the kitchen as are the open shelves, the exterior railing is up...you get the picture, its just too bad we didn't actually take pictures of all of that. Maybe tomorrow.

So, in no particular order...

You've seen the railing before, but not in this location. It certainly helps anchor the old porch (still waiting for its screens) and helps balance out the house.

The shutters that we had made in 2011 have been painted and reinstalled. The door surround has been installed. The new copper scupper for the two downspouts on the right sure looks nice.

Good spot, if not the best shot, to see the relationship between the old screen porch and the new master bedroom deck over the new family room and kitchen. You can also spy the new Bevelo lanterns on the first and second levels. And there is no missing the shiny new copper.

Lanterns in place as is the hardware on the French windows.

Add caption

Can't wait for the construction junk to go away and for the board to come off of that window on the garage.

I'm not thrilled about this light. In general I liked it and was happy to choose it, but something about its location doesn't work so well for me. This may be something that gets swapped out in a few years.

Glad this light is on the back of the garage where we won't see it much. It will be useful however, as there will be garbage cans, a grill, and eventually pool equipment hiding back here that will occasionally need illumination.

Rail against the machine (these babies were hand made)

Just when we thought most decisions were made little things with big consequences keep popping up. And now that I am working full time, they are especially hard to take care of. Instead of worrying about it or going into more detail, I  am just going to show some pretty pictures.

As with most things on this blog, I will have more to say about these gorgeous Chippendale railings, but for now I will just say they are a triumph of craftsmanship. One attempt was made to procure these custom designed railing panels from a company that specializes in such things, but in the end the design was too particular for them to pull off. So our contractors put their carpenters to work making about 16 of these modules.

I thought the railings would be nice, but they are much more impressive in real life.

Even a portapotty can't distract from the beauty of these railings.

 

It will be a few more weeks before I can warm up some Spaghettios

There's never anything good to eat in the fridge. Especially when it isn't plugged in.

If you think new cars have a smell, you should get a whiff of the inside of this baby.

Just wait to you see the glass front when the cardboard comes off.

Jenn-Air microwave on top and conventional electric oven below. The cabinets above the newly installed counter will
eventually sit right on top of it. That's a Jenn-Air microwave on top with a conventional electric oven below.

 

I'm supervising the counter installation.

I think John and I are so excited for our new Lacanche range, that we seem to be a little shy around it. We've hardly even
opened the doors.

Some of the tools of the marble trade.

Imagining what the Barber Wilsons faucet will look like when it is installed.

An elegant toothbrush holder

Marble arrived yesterday...

Hard to picture it with all the cardboard, but our overnight guests will have a very elegant place to brush their teeth.

One of the basins in our master bath vanity.

 

My books are getting antsy

The library is in the process of being installed. I will have much to say about this particular room in the weeks to come, but I thought I would put up some progress pictures.



I'm already worried this won't be enough room.

Mainly fiction along the wall on the right.

Art books go on the deeper shelves on the end wall.

If the room was wider, there would have been shelves on this wall to. But being a narrow room I had to settle for this really lovely wood paneling.

Questions about how the new stone surround will meet up with the chimney breast.

Looking from the hall into the library.

Who knew that a range hood could be this exciting?

Figuring out what our range hood would look like was no easy task. Originally we were going to have a stainless steel wrapped hood enclosure. But then I began to feel like that might be more stainless than I wanted given that our kitchen opens onto the family room. In the end we decided on a painted hood with straight sides to meet the open shelving that will flank it, and a slight slope on the front up to the ceiling.

Having it in place was giving me a real groove. I am now able to imagine cooking in this space.

The bottom of the hood will have a very simple wood molding. I didn't want it to look fancy.

 

Just waiting for the counter and appliances.

Just a simple bead on the top and bottom of each drawer.

The drawer beneath the wall oven is going to fit more than one Le Creuset  and the top drawer on the left is where I am going to keep the cling film and aluminum foil.

The Butler's Pantry is almost ready for the butler

The uppers and the lower doors have their first coat of Farrow and Ball's Hague Blue.

 

That hole in the walnut countertop is going to have a beautiful, hammered, polished nickel sink in it.

This backsplash, walls and ceiling of this alcove are all paneled and will be painted the same color
as the cabinets. The effect should be quite striking.

Driveways are boring but necessary

    
Lot of unsexy stuff happening in the driveway. We have grade issues, buried drainage lines, use easements...it gives me a headache. Just want it to be done.

The garage door arrived!

 


The mudroom door with its first coat of Farrow and Ball's 'Pigeon'

Even though the driveway will be about 12" above the lower existing grade, you can see we will have some transition issues to connect with our neighbor's yard.

 

The edge of the new driveway.

A sample of the granite edging for the driveway.