Refinished floors and work on the new bay

Hello!  At last a new post!  The blog was patiently awaiting our return from Italy where we spent two wonderful weeks.  We gained a new appreciation for old buildings while traveling through Rome, Venice, the Tuscan countryside, and Florence.  It made us feel good about our idea to fix up an old house even though ours is only a toddler compared to their aged beauties. 

While we were away, a lot of things happened at the house.  The new flooring in the kitchen/family room/mudroom was sanded and coated in polyurethane and many of the old wood floors were refinished.  Sometimes when involved in a construction project you uncover something that's a problem, and sometimes you uncover something that is a hidden gem.  Well, the old wood floors were hidden gems that are absolutely beautiful now!  And the crew started work on the new bay which is the last of the major design elements of the project.  Plumbers and electricians were also working to install new toilets, more outlets, and new lights. 



At the Trevi Fountain in Rome post gelato!



In Venice along the Grand Canal!



Before the new bay...

 



With the new bay...



A littler closer up...

The refrigerator is going in!

The refrigerator is installed!



Refinished dining room floor



Refinished floor in Eliza's room



Refinished floor in Stuart Little



This bathroom is on the third floor
and had an old, peeling linoleum
floor.  Up came the linoleum, along
came the floor refinishers, and lo
and behold, a beautiful wood
floor was reborn!





Kitchen coming together...

It finally feels like early summer around here -- lots of sun and hot weather!  Carl and Mike have made a lot of progress in the kitchen this week; Ger and Chris have been removing old clapboards in anticipation of their replacements.  Scott put in an order for *gulp* 15,000 linear feet of clapboards in Cabot's "Nantucket White" solid stain (basically like paint) yesterday.  The floors in the kids' wing and the rooms above will be refinished shortly; the septic engineer is working on our site plan; and I'm calling today to order the propane tank which will fuel the new cooktop.  Slowly but surely, the house is being made ready for occupancy!



New farmer's sink is installed



The microwave is in!



Mike and Carl working on the downdraft to the cooktop



Making the vent for the cooktop's downdraft



Vent from the outside



A blooming beauty bush, in its glory after Prescott's pruning!



Carl putting doors on the new coat
closet off the kitchen



Putting old hinges on a new door



Peonies in Aunt Bz's perennial garden



Taking clapboards off and removing the last
of the glass blocks





A nice detail on the house observed by Caleb



Auntie Mouse (blue shirt) stops by to see the progress!

Appliances and Cabinets Arrive

Post is below!
In this picture, one window done and one about to be.

This new addition went up in a day--the birds
work as fast as Mike's crew.  Sadly we
had to remove it.

A friend of BZ's came and filled a flatbed truck, pictured here,
with all the discarded metal we've taken off and out of the house.

On Tuesday the cabinets arrived from Metropolitan.  Only
5 weeks late but they're finally here.

Chris and Mike unloading the cabinets.

starting to put them in their places.

Caleb surveys the scene.

Carl did a beautiful job with this area across from the stove.

And on Thurday all the appliances which were'nt
already here arrived.

The fridge will go in the space
to the left and the double ovens
in the space on the right.

Hello everyone and sorry for the lack of posts of late--we've been busy and the download process takes enough time that we just havent been able to sneak one in there.  In any case, things here are moving along:  the cabinets for the kitchen arrived on Tuesday and all the appliances today.  Mike and his crew have been busy getting that stuff in while also finishing up the remaining windows.  Down to only one or two left on the window front i think.