Almost finished!

12 Weeks into the renovation and we are in the final stretch. This week (actually as I type this) the industrial disaster recovery cleaning crew is on site and working from top to bottom to clean all the dust from the house. The painters are putting the final touches on the kitchen and butler's pantry. The wallpaperer is struggling with fancy felt paper in the Library. The contractor is putting on final touches inside the house. On Friday at 4PM the interior (except for the backsplash in the kitchen) should be done.

Then we start outside! The enclosed sun porch will lose the nasty sliding glass doors and transform into a more traditional conservatory-like room.

It's been brutal but the end result is turning out to be worth it.

Enjoy the in-process pics. Michael is banning any pictures of the decorating inside. The "reveal" has to be in person. So plan your trips to come see! Much of the upholstered furniture has been delivered and next week a lot more of the wood/case pieces should arrive. Still a long way to go to make it "home" but it will be more comfortable than it has been for 1.5 years!

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Week 11...final countdown!

So it's Monday afternoon. This past week saw a lot of progress that isn't very obvious but I took pictures anyway. The DR wallpaper is finished, the LR decorative wall finish is complete and pretty much all the hallways and moldings are painted. The Library is all prepped for the felt wallcovering which is scheduled to go on this week.

Kitchen/Butler's Pantry also continues to move toward finish work. Much of the baseboard and crown molding is installed in the Kitchen. The Butler's Pantry bookcases are finished and all the decorative molding is installed around them.

The big thing we were waiting for were countertops which were scheduled to go in today. The stone guys showed up first thing Monday morning but unfortunately had an accident. One of the slabs for the Butler's Pantry dropped and shattered. It also took out 3 planks of the black walnut floors. So....delay. All the other countertops went in without a hitch. The stone guy will apparently be back on Thursday with a new countertop for the Butler's Pantry. Hopefully it will be a good match with the original. The floors will be repaired but of course this takes time. Hopefully it won't be a battle over who pays for the repair!

Enjoy!

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Week Nine

Some more pictures. Painting is underway, wallpaper has started to hang, base cabinets installed, countertops templated...still a work in process.

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Week 8 Update

So we didn't post any pictures last week since the work was really in stuff that just isn't too exciting (plastering, patching ceilings, etc). This week they worked through the blizzard (well it did at least snow in CT versus the ice/sleet we had in NYC). The appliances were delivered. This required removing a fence, removing doors and lots of finesse to jamb our mega-size appliances into place. Good news...it all fit. Bad news, some casualties along the way but nothing that can't be fixed.

The wide plank black walnut floors were sanded and got two coats of polyurethane...the final coat will go on when all the heavy work is finished.

The base cabinets in the kitchen were set. The base for the hutch in the butler's pantry was also set. The floors are sooooo uneven that on a single 60" wall the contractor had to cut 1/2" inch off the base cabinet at one end and shim nearly 2" up on the opposite end...

The electrician replaced all the circuits and upgraded our service so now all the house runs off freshly installed electrical panels. Just like new.

The painters stayed away another week while the dust was bad from the floors etc. They came back on Monday and have the wallpaper for the DR and Library...hopefully things will start to clean up!

Here is a link to the most recent pictures.
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Week Six

So, a little less visible progress this week. The columns at the entrance to the living room are installed. They still need some finish chaulking and painting. The electrician finished the rough-in on the porches (no pictures). The duct work for the AC on the second and third floors is about 75% complete. The ceilings and walls in the kitchen and butler's pantry are all closed up and complete. The back staircase in the kitchen is torn apart - we're having the contractor put in a new black walnut staircase to match the new floors. The kitchen windows are set. The master sitting room has a temporary wall in place ready as the new header is built for the new doorway.

This weekend we laid the tile in the laundry room. Ran out of grout 1/3 of the way through the project so that has to be finished next weekend.

All the cabinets are in the house. Appliances should be delivered this week.

There are two bad pictures of the renovated half bath on the first floor. This room was a complete DIY. It's almost finished. Some paint touch-ups and the shutter installation remain. We moved the sink and all associated plumbing from one wall to the opposite. We also moved the sconces to the opposite wall. We laid a new marble mosaic floor in a herringbone pattern, new marble wall behind the toilet and sink, built a new radiator cover with marble shelf, installed all new crown and baseboard molding and upholstered the walls with a wool/cashmere blend suiting fabric. The blue tape on the door is there to protect from dust. The boxes of baking soda found their way from the kitchen during the demolition...who knows why!

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Week Five

Some more pics to post. The professional contractors are continuing to move along. I (Tom) attempted a DIY project this weekend and ran into a bit of a quagmire. In trying to open up the doorway from the master bedroom hall into the sitting room I discovered a load bearing wall. So, demolition stopped and we are waiting for the judgement of the GC before proceeding with temporary walls and new support columns. I also removed the built-in cabinets in the sitting room. We plan to hang a plasma TV and position the new stereo speakers on that wall and the built-ins were hideous. So, out with the cabinets only to discover that years of electricians used the cabinets to hide surface mounted wires...now awaiting the electrician to kill or bury all the wires that are now exposed. What seemed like a relatively straightforward and low cost DIY weekend opened up another pandora's box! Ah the pleasures of an old house!

Enjoy the pics. Kitchen cabinets arrive this week. Hopefully the floors will be finished this week and the ceiling will be in place in the butler's pantry. Next week appliances and hopefully starting to set cabinets...stay tuned!

Week Five pics with titles!

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Renovations under way!

My first post to the blog AND pictures to share!

We finally started the big-time project in the house. The first floor renovation. Our contractor started major demolition the week before Christmas.

Needless to say, in a 227 year old house we found lots of "unexpected" problems. Seems like whenever we open a wall we need to replace the sill or rebuild the foundation due to termite or other bug/water damage. So, we had to put in a new sill and repair the foundation under the kitchen and butler's pantry. We also found 7 layers of old flooring in the kitchen (Pergo, plywood, laminate, linoleum, tile, plywood, wide planks of chestnut). In all, 6 INCHES of flooring was removed before we got down to the joists.

It took some time to fix all the structural issues but now things are moving along. We are currently employing a small army of electricians who are installing 50+ recessed lights, 16 in-wall speakers, all new wiring, new circuit breaker boxes, CATV wires, you name it. Our HVAC contractor has finished all the duct work for the AC on the first floor. He's moved to the second and third floors this week. The painters removed all the old layers of paint and wallpaper on all the walls and skim coated walls and ceiling. We have a new window in the front hall to mirror the existing window. New black walnut 12" wide plank floors are 80% installed in the kitchen and butler's pantry. The laundry room walls and ceiling have been bead-boarded. The bead-board is starting on the kitchen ceiling. All the plumbing has been roughed in. All the radiators have been moved. Things are chugging along! We even made final decisions on countertop materials.

There is a 1" layer of dust on every surface in every room of the house. We've retreated to the Master Disaster Room for the weekends that we can tolerate being in the house for more than 12 hours. It's a mess!

I hear it gets worse before it gets better....hopefully there is truth to that!

Enjoy the pics

Week Two
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Week Four
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