Wiring the kitchen!

The family room now has most of its windows and doors, and the electricians are wiring the kitchen and family room areas of the house.  The crew built scaffolding inside the family room yesterday so they can work on the cathedral ceiling.  Lump, bump, thump -- it's been a busy week!

The family room with more windows and doors!  The
upper windows are boarded up but will receive their
custom-built windows in a few weeks.



The family room, looking out from the kitchen...
the temporary wall is down!

The family room...the ktichen opening is off to the right.



The framing you see will be a wall/doorway that leads
into a little vestibule with access to the dining room
on the left, the foyer straight ahead...



Mike working on some framing at
the top of the basement stairs -- there
will just be a wall there...



Carl working on the framing of the transition space between
the foyer and the kitchen... (1/2 bath and coat closets).
The old pocket door has been relocated...



Electricians putting in the wiring for the kitchen.



Building the scaffolding in the family room so
they can work on the cathedral ceiling!



Carefully moving the old soapstone sink into its
new location in the kitchen...

A tool temporarily at rest...Caleb tells me it's a saw.



The mudroom has a door!

Today the mudroom got a door and two new windows!  A little more melting today, lots of wind tonight.  We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Mudroom window openings...



Looking from the kitchen into the mudroom...



Preparing window frames prior to installing new windows...



New windows are in!



New door on the mudroom!



A mostly weatherproof mudroom!

Investigating and taking care of some rot where the old
kitchen sink used to be (behind the built in with the
marble pastry board).  The slightly bright light in the
center of the photo is daylight!



Second floor hallway

Woke up to a day that felt a little like spring!  Some of the snow is melting, and our parking area is a skating rink.  Today the construction crew framed the opening to the second floor hallway looking over the new family room.   The pictures don't do it justice because already the light coming in makes such a difference.



Looking up from the new family room to the
opening onto the second floor hallway...
(temporary door and wall below).



The opening that will overlook the new family
room from the second floor hallway.

Another look at the new opening (and the coating of
dust...poor old house).  The area to the right is
where there used to be a door to the maids'
bathroom...now it will become part of the wall.





There was a back door and a small window here...
they have been removed and boarded up, awaiting
a new window!

Looking from the inside to where there was a back
door and small window...framing for the new window
now in place. (This is the "pantry" area of the kitchen).




Looking from the kitchen to the pantry...
framing for a new window which will enable
us to see through the brick arches towards the
parking/garage area.



The cone of shame...Scout had her ACL
surgically repaired last week and sometimes
needs to wear this special collar so she leaves
the sutures alone.  Poor pooch...

 

Caleb's update 3/4/11

Hello everyone! Today something really exciting happened. The Pella Windows arrived! They are still wrapped up so we haven't got a good look at them yet but I'll show you the pics anyways.




the Pella windows arive on a huge truck.




Mike Dwyer unloading the truck with some help from the driver



some  windows stacked in the family room. 

all the windows safely stowed and ready for installation.

       



Work on the kitchen continues...

Well, still more snow has arrived!  The kids had a half day of school and we are home for the rest of the day and maybe another tomorrow.  Our crew has been working hard this week on the kitchen, building it back up after "gutting" it. 



Looking down the driveway at the "fork"...



Our snowplowing company brought in
some serious equipment to do the plowing today!

This is the pantry where they put in a new supporting beam (see
the picture below which shows the new header). 
Like many old houses, when you open them up you find all kinds
of "fun" new issues.  In our case there was some serious rot which
needed to be addressed and the area by the mudroom had to be
jacked up.  This has turned into the better part of a 2 or 3 day job.

Here is the new beam in the area that is being supported in the
picture above. 

This is the door which will go into the area where the half bath and
coatroom will be off the kitchen.  Mike and his team were able to
salvage the old sliding door (shown here) which went into the old cooks bedroom.
You can see that they've cut the door into what will be the front foyer although its
not that clear from the photo.




Looking from the kitchen down the hallway before
leveling the floor...

 

Looking down the hallway after leveling the floor.
The crew also replaced the rotted sill and floorboards
near the kitchen door on the left.



Kitchen demolition

Well, we've had more snow!  And a lot of it!  Our construction crew spent the week inside, working in the kitchen.  The pictures you're about to see will show you what a big job it's been.  Although the extent of the job was bigger than we had anticipated, we are glad they learned that a couple of the walls didn't even have insulation.  They are also moving pipes accordingly and finding a section of the underfloor that had rotted.  Our "new" kitchen will be built for the ages! 

The kitchen before...



The kitchen now!



Looking toward the pantry...



The recessed area where the refrigerator, cabinets, and
wall ovens will go.

Beginning to frame the new 1/2 bath...





What is this??  When the crew took away the plaster
in the small room off the kitchen, they found this
"hidden" window...



We never knew there was a "hidden" window in
this paneling in the front foyer...

Caleb at Monday's drum recital



Some of us are unfazed by all the construction...



Kids bathroom demo

Here are a couple more pics of the demolition process going on at the farm.  These are what will be the kids' bathrooms:

This is Caleb's room (the Bulge).  He will
lose the door just to the left of the radiator, and
a new door will go in where the radiator is located. 
That will be an entry into a 1/2 bath for him.

This is (was) the bathroom between the Bulge
and the Nursery.  It will be replaced by two 1/2 baths
and one shower room that the kids will share.



This is the old bathroom (Nursery to
the right through the door).  There was
a built-in closet straight ahead which was
removed to make room for Eliza's 1/2 bath.

The new doorway leading out of the kitchen -
it's been widened (looking at temporary
wall and door which will be open to family room).