Backstory Blueprints Photo Archive January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 Current Blog

Saturday, November 5, 2005 October whipped by without much activity, but November is showing some early signs of life. On Thursday Steve applied chair-rail molding in the stairwell and called us concerned about how cold it was in the house. He said the cool air could affect all the wood work and make it tough for paint and stain to dry. So we were able to get hold of Jim and he found time to make the proper connections. We we're up and running at a nice 65 degrees by that evening. Joy went up Friday morning to check things out and noted the temporary thermostat controller hanging out of the wall. Not much else had changed. Saturday I accompanied her to see this monumental development with a furnace working and Steve putting a few nice strips on the wall. She had come equipped with her sanding block on a stick because it was a good time to knock the nubs off the walls where wallpaper would hang. As she laid her tools down on the island in the kitchen we sensed something was different. All the spare cabinet drawer fronts and doors that had been stacked around waiting to be attached were gone. Another double-take made us realize that Matt had actually showed on Friday and hung all the kitchen doors and drawer fronts on those lower cabinets. We were shocked. What about upstairs in the master bath? He had been there too, attaching those lower cabinet doors and drawer fronts also, and even moving my whole counter out a smidge to accommodate plumbing that would need to fall behind the sink. In the whole scheme of things it may not seem like much, but the fact that Matt got that done after six weeks of inactivity, was an instant mood-lifter. Joy turned on her sanding block and had at the walls. Thursday, November 10, 2005 Gary's painting crew are preparing the ceiling crown molding for painting by caulking where wood meets wall and masking for overspray. It's a bit early in the process with cabinets not being fully installed, but since that portion of the work is paintable, the sequence isn't cast in stone. It just means more trips for Gary and crew. They must have had spare time for us with the onset of winter rains making it difficult to paint the outsides of houses. They're also in the process of staining all our wall base which will then be ready for Steve to hang one of these days. Friday, November 11, 2005 This was a productive day of crown molding priming. Monday, November 14, 2005 Seeing a window of clear weather ahead for the week, Dan decided it was time to pour the driveway and walkways to the front and side garage accesses. Today he focused on a few feet out in front of the garage, all along the south side to the steps to the garage access and the main walkway to the front porch. We elected to go with an exposed aggregate for everything. After spreading the concrete in a normal fashion, Dan returned in the evening to spray and sweep off the thin coating of gray that covered the little rocks. We had to get a down-spout attachment from the LeafGuard gutter folks for Dan to be able to pour the entry porch for tomorrow. The porch will be one step up in relation to the path up to it and corresponds to the roof framework above. He plans to pour the porch along with the rest of the driveway to the street Tuesday. This has some implications for the rest of the contractors because they won't be able to drive up close for a while. This evening we met with Steve to talk about adding wainscoting in the entry, down the hall and around the walls that house the pantry. We were so happy with what he did in the dining room, it seemed like a natural progression to go to these connecting areas. Wednesday, November 16, 2005 Gary's crew is within a day of finishing the crown molding painting, having spent the week masking, priming and spraying all the paintable wood in the highest reaches of the house. The stairwell molding looked like the most challenging to reach. The color is a slightly lighter shade than both the ceiling and the walls allowing for a nice contrast. At the same time, Dan did a middle section of driveway Tuesday and finished the front porch and the rest of the driveway today. He picked a very nice week with a prominent mountain looking on. Late this evening, Steve drew guide lines for the extra wainscoting installation set to begin over the weekend. Saturday, November 19, 2005 Gary's painter Manuel returned Friday to finish all the painting of the crown molding. He also applied stain to the cedar over the entry porch and main deck which dramatically brought out the richness and contrast of the wood. Most of Friday and today, Steve hung the cherry wainscoting sheets. He'll continue with help Monday and Tuesday to try to wrap up this extra project we gave him out of the blue. It's amazing with as busy as Steve is with three or four large houses demanding his attention that he managed to fit us in at a moment's notice. Monday, November 21, 2005 A tired Steve spent half of Sunday and all day today finishing our latest areas of wainscoting. I ran into him as he was leaving at 6:30. We spent the next hour admiring his work and its natural fit with the scheme of things. Joy's in California visiting her Mom for Thanksgiving. We knew there'd be no end to the ooohs and aaahs if she'd been in our presence. Before she left she made sure to reestablish the first law of Joy: Don't leave any decisions to Doug while Joy's gone. But half of that hour Steve and I spent looking at the amazing transformation was coming up with reasons not to extend this wainscoting into the living room. It may all be financial at this point, but other reasons are Steve's lack of time, the impending arrival of Matt for cabinet work (but we never know about him) and Manuel and Gary hoping to do some staining sooner than later. Steve and Joy were initially against the idea but Steve has had a change of heart. The room contains Steve's beautiful work on the fireplace and the three low-setting view windows. In picturing the wainscoting enveloping these areas Steve and I have gone from thinking it might be a little overwhelming to seeing it all work together very well. But we'll see what Joy thinks. Friday, November 25, 2005 Joy thought it was OK Tuesday so Steve started the process today. He'll continue Saturday for half a day and then return when his schedule allows for the next couple weeks. In talking to Matt Tuesday about our cabinets, he seems to be on track to have the balance of our cabinets installed by mid-December. I'm cautiously hopeful. Continue on to December

Backstory Blueprints Photo Archive January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 Current Blog