Unveiling Our New Living Room

To the left is one of the low profile swivel chairs I found for the living room. Love the "giraffe" print and small pillows that bring the couch, chairs and rug together. See the pretty new French Doors and wall of windows with plantation shutters. Love the clean look!

This is our new back door and covered porch with cubby for wood and all!

Home Sweet Home

Check it out!

Five Gregory gets a facelift...new moisture protection and clapboards. During the process of redoing the front of our home, our contractor discovered that no barrier (Tyvek) had been put on the house when the former owners re-sided it about 10 years ago. Scary! Note to all homeowners -- call me for a list of questions to ask prior to your renovation as we've made a few mistakes along the way that could save you some time, aggravation and money!

Say hello and thank you to Simon and Imer! They are re-siding much of the house and adding some beautiful custom details to the windows. Below you can see Macias and David. We shared a smile with Macias the other day when he pulled out the level to show David how much more level the house is now. (David has this uncanny ability to see when things are even a tad bit uneven...a gift I'm told he inherited from his Grandad...I am a bit cockeyed myself so of course do not notice!) I've really enjoyed having daily conversation in Spanish with the carpenters from Guatemala and Peru. They all speak great English but indulge my desire to hablar con ellos en espanol!

This is our freshly painted Master bedroom with a lovely view of the Harbor through new larger windows. Below is a peak at the guest bath floor...one of my favorite decisions of many I've made over the last six months. It's incredibly pretty in person. Can't wait for you all to see it and put the new jacuzzi tub to the test!

The finish work is moving along with new doors and floors in upstairs. Today they'll put in new light fixtures which will be very helpful in making final interior paint colors!

Floors, Windows, Vanities...oh my!

We are excited to share that our new hardwood floors were laid upstairs yesterday.The picture above shows our master bath vanity on its side and a view into the new guest room at the back of the house. Below is a picture of the new Victorian molding on the window casements and a few options on crown molding. We are going with the smaller version to the left on molding. If anyone has the perfect neutral paint, please do share your favorite colors. We are planning to use C2 paints.

Plastered...In Part...

Upon my return from a three day biz trip to Chicago I was thrilled to see most of the upstairs plastered. It's fascinating (that adjective may a bit too enthusiastic) to see how the plasterers "see the big picture" noticing the unique character of our home from distinct ceiling heights to how the edges should be softened to take the eye from point A to point B. In the pictures above you'll notice the numerous angles in the ceiling that allow us to "capture volume" (that's architect speak for maximize every inch). It's interesting to see that though the footprint of our Master bedroom is exactly the same size as before, it feels much bigger due to the higher ceilings and the larger windows on the street side of the house. Now to start agonizing over what colors to paint it all!!

The top picture showcases our new windows - past visitors will recall our bed used to be in front of these windows, a visual reference for how much bigger the new windows are.

The second window is taken from the new guest room closet looking towards our neighbors and the property line. If you look out the window on the right you'll see why that window will be the first window treatment decision I make as the window is 5 or 6 feet off the property line. We now officially abutt both Gregory and Lee Streets and guests will have an excellent view of Lee Street "Wall Parties" from here on out. :-) Our Lee Street neighbors will on a whim spread the word on any given nice day during Spring, Summer or Fall that all should join for a "Wall Party". This is the signal to whip up an easy appetizer, grab your beverage of choice (wine) and commune with our awesome neighbors!

And There Is Blue Board! (Plaster Board)

5 Gregory Street is coming along slowly and life has been incredibly busy so forgive us for being M.I.A. I keep hoping to wake up and be home -- as Dorothy said one fine day in Kansas "there is no place like home Toto, there is no place like home!" Below are three photos to bring to life our new space. The "Plaster Board" (commonly called Blue Board here" actually will be fully covered by plaster making the walls smoother and harder than drywall used in other parts of the country.

The top photo is the former guest room (note full head height 7 "8" now and lovely "blue board") which will now be our Den for David's guitar sessions or "Connor & Jack's" room when they visit. :-) (Adult visitors will be in a wonderful, large private new room beyond this one.)

Photo #2 is our former living room at the front of the house which will become a wonderful space for dinner parties since we love to entertain. Past visitors may recall there was a chimney flue and bookshelves which we took down giving us a blank slate for our new dining room.




A partial picture of our new living room is pictured below. To the left of the fireplace is the secret closet we found during renovation and the new home of our new wine bar and pantry. The French doors let in wonderful light and lead out to a covered porch and the expanded garden area (since we had to sacrifice the garage to move forward with the project.) Gardening seems like it will never come!

Lots of little things

Well sorry about the long delay in writing. They have been working very hard but at this point it is stuff that would not show dramatic changes in pictures. That is because they have been working on getting all the new electrical and plumbing in the house. We have basically replaced 90% of the wiring in the house and a similar amount of the plumbing. The nice thing about this is we got to lay out where every switch and every light went. I say this with great joy because the lighting in the house before was terrible. But that has been fixed!

Last week we had the electrical, plumbing and building inspections completed which are huge milestones - now they can begin closing the interior up. Additionally they have most of the roof on the house which is great since the weather has been pretty bad - the weather people said we saw 6 minutes of sun last week - no kidding.

Anyway, the other major thing last week was they began to insulate the house. We are using a foam isulation in the majority of the house (you can see it in the photos below). It fills every little gap and the house is so tight it is amazing. On the side of the house that sits on the propery line (right side if you are looking from the street) we have to use a fire retardant insulation so that cannot be the foam - they will put this up this week since we need another inspection for the insulation prior to them plastering the walls.

I think from here on out things will go quickly so we will post more often. Cheers.

Finally - some outside work!

They guys have gotten a good weather window to do some work outside. They have been working on the trim detail which is needed prior to putting the new roof on. Once the new roof is on we can take the tarps off for good!

Progress!!

Let there be light! It was amazing to return from a 3 day trip to Detroit and find a home full of new windows and new lights galore in our home.

David worked closely with the electrician and Ray to insure that all of our rooms will have ample light with logical switching system.

Pictured above is our new friend Luden. He's worked on many aspects of the house from carpinetry to advance work for the electrician to insulatin removal. Hello to his family and friends in Guatemala!

Other enhancements this week include:

- old floors removed upstairs and subflooring completed in the bathrooms.

- pocket door casings are in "my" walk-in closet, the master and between the mudroom and kitchen

- David's 46 inch flat screen Sony tv arrived and David quickly commissioned it and we are LOVING Blue Ray HDTV. We have watched Casino Royale and Cars already!

10 Day Review...jacuzzi anyone?

A lot has happened since our last post! The crew has been busy roughing in new bathroom floors, framing for a built-in bookshelf, the guestroom closet, plumbing, electrical and the most exciting thing of all -- a deep soaking tub with jets to alleviate those aches and pains!!

The project is an endless stream of decisions- location of vanities, lights, etc. We are having a ball and love to see progress every day! We can't wait for all you friends and family to come for a visit.