Siding turns a corner...

Greetings from 1514 Canton Ave!  The siders have completed 95% of the back of the house, turned one corner, and have now started on the front of the house just under the new bay.  They are making progress despite the heat, humidity, and somewhat frequent rain showers.  A few large pieces of furniture were hoisted into the attic through an opening created by the removal of old glass blocks -- before it was sealed up, it was an opportunity for Caleb to furnish his "man cave" with furniture that wouldn't otherwise fit through the attic's trap door.  More paint has gone on walls, and we Beebes are painting furniture that is being repurposed to make the children's rooms ready for our move-up date of August 15!  The list of odds and ends is long, but every day the list gets a little shorter.  We've had lots of company and visits from friends and family which has been fun -- thank you for spending time with us and supporting us in this project!



Opening in attic wall where glass blocks were removed...



Couch being readied for lifting...



Couch on the way up!





Couch reaching its destination
thanks to Carl, Chris, and Ger



Siding on the back of the house -- the hole in the attic
wall is sealed up.




Another view of finished siding




Clapboards on two floors on the side of the house



Brendan and Jack working on area by the kitchen,
just below the bay



Old kitchen cabinets that look like new!



Another kitchen cabinet that's
been refinished



The old pantry cabinets, now
shining with new paint



An old exterior door now employed
as the door between the
mudroom and the kitchen
(with coat of primer on it)



New recessed lights are installed in the dining room



Painting furniture that will occupy Eliza's room



Eliza's "new" headboard and footboard



A little wooden bookcase for Caleb's room
(Costa Rica blue)



Staining Caleb's old bunk bed



Cedar, who visited this past weekend, on his bike



Prescott and the Golden Piglet, packing
up after a fun weekend



Penny, unfazed, amidst the rubble of construction



Clapboards start to go on!

Happy August 1!  In addition to our regular crew, we now have two men putting the siding (clapboards) on the house.  It takes a lot of precise measuring since we have so many windows and doors, so only parts of the back of the house are finished, but it looks wonderful already!  The clapboards came with two coats of solid stain on them (Nantucket White) and will be painted with a final coat once the siding is completed.  The "white" trim you can see in the photos will be painted dark green to match the windows.  We've also had more painting done inside the house which looks terrific, and we are starting to move some furniture around in anticipation of a move out of the basement on or around August 15, the day Eliza returns from summer camp. 


It's lovely to see the clapboards going on as they
look much tidier than Tyvek!





Soapstone counters arrive!



Cherry butcher block counter arrives from California...

Butcher block on its way into the house...



Ta-dah!  There's our island with its counter top!




Midway (a.k.a the Rose Room) gets a fresh
coat of paint (will be our family office).




Not a great photo of the family room color,
but the Georgian Green looks very nice on the walls.



The kitchen 1/2 bath is now
Van Deusen blue!  The marble
sink came from the bathroom
in the maids' wing that was
demolished.



The Game Room (a.k.a. the Willow Room) ceiling
had been badly damaged when pipes in the
bathroom above froze a long time ago, so the
ceiling was taken down.  Stay tuned as this
room is going to look quite interesting -- we
are trying to figure the best way to keep some
of the wonderful old beams exposed!



This is our electrician, Dermot, taking
out the very outdated recessed
lighting in the dining room -- we
all gathered around because
we'd never seen anything like it!



Here's Jim with one of the old recessed lights...



Caleb was at Chewonki for
3 1/2 weeks (he lived in
Quarter Deck) but is back home now.



Eliza as Lucy (in You're a Good Man, Charlie
Brown) during Visitors' Weekend at Alford
Lake Camp.  She'll be home August 15!



Bay nears completion

Hello!  Happy belated 4th of July!  We hope everyone had a great holiday!  We were the lucky guests of our talented architect, Michael, and his multi-talented wife, Gillan, at their lovely ranch in Montana for a week.  The 4th of July found us at the annual Red Lodge Rodeo!  Yeehaw! 

Progress continues on our house in Milton.  Last week the propane tank that will fuel our kitchen range and a gas fireplace for the master bedroom was installed and passed inspection.  The new bay is now complete and looks wonderful -- what a wonderful addition it is to the house!  Our crew is working at trimming the doors and windows on the outside of the house so that the "siding specialist", Jack, and his crew of one, can start putting the clapboards on.  Painters were here today prepping and painting the hallways -- the hallways will all be painted a pretty color called Weston Flax, brighter than what was there before but still a very nice historic color in the yellow family.



Chris dug a trench (2 ft. deep) for the propane line



The propane tank arrives...



...and is placed against the back of the one-
car garage.

The trench awaits inspection...and passes!



Preparing bead board for the ceiling of the bay



Putting the ceiling up



A beautiful ceiling for the bay's balcony!



Caleb's vanity arrives with no top (because it
only came in fancy granite and he wanted wood)



Carl fashions a vanity top...



At Metropolitan (the cabinet makers), the slab of soapstone
prior to cutting -- those wood things are the templates
for our counters.



 Dinner with Laura's cousin Patrick Noble and

his three delightful kids -- Bailey, Skylar, and Holden.

Scott and Aunt BZ (Patrick's mother) are also in

the picture.

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!