Counters this weekend....

Butcher block counters to be installed this weekend. That's the easy part. Modifying the uppers over the range to become 6" wider, should be a challenge, then, of course, we have hood venting! Ouch. Not fun. Plumbing in the new kitchen sink needs a wider trap. Must make custom. Should be a long weekend. Backsplashes will be primed pine with brass finish washers for easy removal. Dumpster coming as well for basement & garage clean out.

2nd Floor Plans

After months of deep reflection & part-time design on the 2nd floor, the best solution came to me while neck-deep in procrastination on another project. The new plan is, most-importantly, economical regarding what we'll be gaining with relatively little work (no bearing walls removal, etc.). Best of all, the wife thinks it's a home run!

Strike plate

Our side entrance door has to be deadbolted to remain closed due to not having a strike plate. After a 4+ month exhaustive search, I've decided to stop playing games + go custom.

Photos & Update

Removed the old refrigerator & the old water heater. Then brought to local transfer station for recycling. Many thanks to my buddy Brett for flying in from San Francisco to help with this endeavor (if only he knew ahead of time).

Latest design challenge: Creating more contrast in the TV room. The yellow sofa is overshadowing the room with it's amber glow (think McDonalds circa 1978). TBD

Wooden Blinds

I'm hoping these blinds are going to be worth their weight in gold this summer by reducing the solar gain on this side of the house (which is hard to think about when it's so cold right now). My wife picked the blind colors, and I think they're perfect for the space.

On a separate note, something about this photo (couch color?) reminds me of a Crate & Barrel catalog.....in a bad way.

Touch up painting around new fridge, then butcher block kitchen counters next.

Burning fire, hot water & cold food

Burning Fire: After about a 12 step process (no not alcoholics anonymous), we had our first fire. It's probably been close to 15 years since I've built a fire from scratch, and it was very satisfying. The final piece of the puzzle was a 3 month search to find a fire screen that would fit our firebox opening just right. Thank you craigslist.org!

Hot Water: My new local plumber friend Jim, tweeked the hot water in the master bath, by installing a new cartridge at the shower valve, an anti-scald valve at the boiler, and a couple of new ball valves to throttle down the hot as it comes off of the boiler. Long story short: long, hot showers without needing to hookup a water heater (all off of the boiler). Life is good.

Cold Food: New (almost new) fridge. The fridge that came with the home would mysteriously open during the week spoiling all of the food for our return. This quickly became a priority. Worthy of a future blog entry, by the grace of God, I found a Sub Zero 650 on craigslist in mint condition. I spent last weekend doing finish carpentry, rough plumbing (ice), & electrical to get ready for it. It was installed Monday!

Next on the 'list' in chrono order: Hanging wooden blinds in the den and side entry. Touch up painting around new fridge. Plumb ice-maker. Recycle old fridge. Modify (move) existing kitchen cabinets to accept 36" LP range. Plumb range for LP. Touch up cabinets/ re-paint. Replace countertop & backsplash.

Happy Snow-White New Year

Let's see....Summer is just a memory. Just got back from from a long and wonderful weekend. On the house front, I installed 2 hall pendant fixtures, hung curtains in the master bedroom, wired and hooked up the stereo, and did a bit more caulking/ wind-proofing. The stereo being hooked up (it's been over 6 months since I've experienced real bass), made it feel like a true home. I found a box of old CD's in the attic, and reminisced in the old school beats. Did some sledding around the yard with the little guy, and basically enjoyed being snowed in so to speak. A fireside, pub dinner on New Year's Day at the DPI, certainly completed the warm & cozy weekend.


Plumbing (not there yet)
The heat is working great actually. I can't say I've mastered the hi-tech energy star thermostats, but we were toasty all weekend. I had a local plumber friend stop by and take an unbiased look at the boiler regarding the lack of hot water available at shower time. There is a domestic hot water loop in the boiler that supplies the hot hot. The hot & cold valves going out & in of that loop were adjusted completely wrong (thanks to me). He took a shot at them, and drastically improved the hot water situation. It's not there yet, but he should come by this week to install a new Honeywell thermostatic valve just downstream of the DHW loop. This will help with any initial scalding water (which is a problem). Next, he will pull the Moen 'Dialcet' shower valve & replace the guts of it. He thinks this might help as well. I'm not so sure as when I can't get hot shower water, I can't get hot lavatory water either. So...we'll see.

He says that with the DHW loop, I, theoretically, don't need a water heater as part of that system. I have a Seico tankless from a prior job, that could be added easily enough, but again, he says I 'probably' won't need it. My (and my wife's) issue is that I would like reliably hot water when I want it. Is this asking too much? I'm so close to buying a 100 gallon water heater at Home Depot and just tossing the thing in there. I could install it myself in an hour. The environmental issue of leaving the thing on & heating while we may be gone for extended periods of time, is what kills me. I'm not there yet. Perhaps if I'm not taking a steamy shower by February, I'll punt then. Cheers.

Late Fall Updates & Fireplace Design

It's been quite a while since my last post. I've been slowly chipping away at cold-weather sensitive projects like cracked window panes, caulking, etc. & making good progress. Installed a product called 'winter watchman' that turns an outlet on if the temperature drops below 40 degrees. I hooked it up to a light with a red bulb pointing to each neighbor's home on either side of us. Basically if the boiler fails or we run out of heating oil, this would give me a slightly larger window of opportunity to manage it and get it resolved. Sadly, we're not going down quite as much in the winter months for obvious reasons. As mentioned in another post, I had the opportunity to design something (a rare moment in this house where almost everything's original): the fireplace mantle. Restraint was tough as the original woodwork in the house is extremely simple, and I didn't want to overdesign it. My wife said it best, "You need to design it like it's been here for 150 years". The following fireplace pics are in chronological order.

Existing (but not original) wormwood cypress paneling.





















Post-demo fireplace. (Nothing salvageable)





















"Since all walls are open, we should re-wire, huh?"





















Board hung





















What a difference paint & cleaning make

















Mantle design






















Primed (not painted yet), and not installed, but you get the idea.

The Summer is quickly fading....

What a great July. Tons of progress on the house, and most importantly, everything seems to be up & running in good working order. The clothes dryer needed a service call as did the fridge. There are still dozens of outlet covers that need to be replaced from the painters mistakenly throwing them away. The painters need to return for their punch list despite being paid in full, and the garden is producing some serious herbs. We picked our first tomato (an early girl) this weekend, and it's nice having fresh herbs around the house all summer. We've had many visitors which has been great, and no immediate need for a previously considered third bathroom. The front formal room still needs to be carpeted, but I found a great local source for wall to wall sisal: Merida in Boston. Can't wait to get that room buttoned up. Once that's complete, then I'll move on to the mantle in the TV room. Then blinds/ shades, and so on....

I keep reminding myself, I can't win the lottery if I don't buy tickets!

We moved in; had our first weekend guests; and first al fresco dinner

The title says it all. We're in! We moved, hung black out shades for the little one, and put sheets on the beds. I had to remove a 2nd story window's upper sash in order to fit in a queen boxspring. The trim in the TV room looked great, and the exterior of the windows also looked nice painted black. It was a beautiful weekend that felt like a true vacation. Monday morning drive home at 5 a.m. stung a little bit, but overall, we had an amazing time.

T minus 5 days and counting....

Drove down to Mystic yesterday to check progress & drop off our new sofa. Met the hardwood floor guy & painter to write a few checks. It was a beautiful afternoon, and I wish the wife & son were with me. The fumes from the oil-based polyurethane barely left me conscious, so the decision to not have them join me, was a good one.

The wooden boat show was going on across the water. It must have been the awards ceremony as I could hear applause from the Seaport. It was a quick trip, with some great progress shots on the kitchen and the side bedroom being completely transformed via the floor sanding. The kitchen has a permanent water stain in front of the sink that will be covered with a runner. I'm think a 'FLOR' product will go well in there. So regarding the kitchen, once the butcher block counters go in, we should be all set in there for the time being. So far, all that's left to do is finish carpentry in the TV room, rear hall, and rear stair. I'm chomping at the bit to find some vintage brass sailboat fittings, some 1 1/4" diameter vintage rope, and to bang out my 'sailing modern' handrail in the rear stair.

Starting to feel like we're in our home and not someone elses.

This past weekend was by far the most fulfilling trip regarding progress on the house. I had no idea what a difference removing old wallpaper could make in the 'feel' of a place. In retrospect, it's obvious. A southern facing room with huge windows is probably going to become breathtaking once the heavy curtains and navy blue wallpaper are removed. I guess I just didn't realize to what extent. The woodwork never struck me as special until yesterday. Now that it's sanded to it's core and has 3 coats of new oil base paint, it's true beauty has come out. I feel like I've liberated this aspect of the house. It's more simple now. It's cleaner. Visually and literally.

The kitchen has the furthest to go, but should be the greatest transformation. With 3 simple things: paint, new butcher block counters, and new appliances; I'm expecting a renaissance. The floor sander came over (on Father's Day) to look at the job and really appreciated the old character of the existing wide pine and was looking forward to maintaining all that is worth maintaining.

Few of the decisions of the prior owners were good ones. Very few. Among them, the paint color in the front/ formal bedroom. We matched the old colors and re-painted. I would have never picked the colors..... and love them. Very dramatic. The walls a faded, chalky, pale green with slate gray, matte crown mouldings. Additionally, the stair treads were painted between second and third floor. Sort of a burgundy/ merlot color. Somehow it works well. We're redoing this also.

I have some designing to do. Minor, but design. The old wormwood paneling room, also called the fireplace room, also called the future TV room, needs to have a mantel designed. The room is getting sheetrocked for now, with 1x6 v-groove, vertical paneling down the road. This will go up two-thirds the distance up the wall with some fancy-pants detailing the top. Again; phase 2. So for now,....... I am thinking a wood surround, classic mantel, with perhaps 2 sections of raised paneling dividing the space left b/n the mantel & the ceiling.

Mowed the lawn, did some minor weeding, and picked up 2 el cheapo lawn chairs from CVS which we already got our money out of. Made time to shoot some hoops at the cottage with my new Father's Day present my wife bought me. The day somehow didn't rain on us. Rained the whole way from Boston to CT, and back again, but barely a drop at the house. The winds were another story.

Misty took her first ever dip into the Mystic River and could not have been happier.

Need to decide on the exterior painting soon. The exterior sills are raw wood and in dire need of attention. Marceo the painter is delaying his return trip to Brazil until "House is finish", or I run out of money; whichever comes first.

More later.

Sunday Update....

Swung by the house today on the way home to Boston from NY. The painters have made some good progress, but have a lot of work ahead of them. I had them take down some cheap 1/4" fake wood paneling only to find there was nothing but studs behind it. Now, I've seemed to have opened pandora's box. Do I hang sheetrock? Do I hang beadboard and get a carpenter in there? Do I update the knob&tube electrical since the walls are open now? It's causing me to go slightly mental. I told my Father tonight on the phone that if I were to work full time on this, and do a full renovation, then it would take me 4 to 5 months. And we're expecting to be in there in 2 more weeks? I guess my idea of simply stripping the wallpaper, scraping the lead paint, and re-painting everything was not so simple. It's impossible to do JUST that. So when you do wind up doing more, where do you stop? Do you not put smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in for the safety of the fam-fam? Of course; and then do you......well you get the idea.

It was a beautiful afternoon today. I only wish we could have spent the whole weekend there. There is a massive rubbish pile on the back patio, that I'm sure the neighbors are looking forward to seeing it go away (especially before the Garden Tour next weekend).

Now that we pulled up some old linoleum, we need to re-sand. Since we're re-sanding, do we replace a broken old pine board....etc., etc.

The garden looked beautiful! I'm having my old friend Dann, remove the rubbish and cut the lawn this week.

We picked paint colors. The painter mistakenly removed the wallpaper in the front hallway on both the first and second floors (that's the price I pay for not being there to manage them). Now that all the wallpaper is down, the house is really starting to lighten up, and it's true character come out through multiple coats of white primer. We need to order blinds soon, decide which floors will be sanded, and get ready for living there. I wish to god I could send one of my Irish carpenters down there to whip the place into shape. It pains me to be away from my pet project.

Enough for now. I want to dream of a white slip-covered couch that is somehow dog & kid proof.

Now the real work begins.....

It's official. We're now proud owners of our new home. Last weekend was pretty cool, as we spent the night on an air mattress to christen the house. We slept surprisingly well with the cool coastal air being nature's sleeping pill.

Already, I replaced the 4" vertical, cast iron waste pipe between the 2nd floor and basement. As the home inspector suspected, it was cracked over the whole 9' and needed to be fixed prior to the 5 painters living and working there (they started yesterday). Otherwise, we mowed the lawn, weeded, and did some minor safety work on the electrical wiring.

The painters are stripping wallpaper, taking up carpet and vinyl flooring, and skim coating the walls. Their job there should be mostly prep and is expected to take 3 weeks.

We discovered a tiny little boat launch exclusive to our neighborhood that should be a great place for Misty to cool off.