Framing- even more

While the electricians were working, our contractor was framing out some more areas that weren't completed.


First there was the window that went into the family room.  That was finally removed and framed out to become a solid wall.

That little bit of stone to the left is what I'm hoping we'll be able to keep exposed.

Then there was upstairs in the master bath.  We decided not to remove all of the stone up here, but the wall needed to be framed out a little more to accommodate the electric.  The light brown mud is where the rock was removed for breaking through the doorway into our bedroom.

I had wanted this doorway to be a bit more to the right, so that I could put my small antique couch on the left side.  But that would require a lot more work with extra support since we'd need to move the old beams.  It seems like a smarter choice to leave it.  I've decided that it will, instead, give me room to put the antique dresser Mike got me back when we were dating, on the right side of the doorway :)

Ice Cream Parlor Chairs

It's been a while since I posted about a project that wasn't related to the kitchen renovation.  I was feeling like I just wanted to get a little fun project done.



 My parents had given us a bunch of these ice cream parlor chairs when they were downsizing.  I had picked up some black spray paint to touch up our wrought iron outdoor furniture, and decided to take these out of the garage and see how they would clean up.

I needed to remove the seat so that I can re-cover the cushion.  That's when I realized that this would split the chair into three pieces.

That made it easier to scrub them over with the wire brush to remove old chipping & peeling paint.

Then it took a couple of rounds of spraying to get all of the nooks & crannies without drips. 

I just rotated around to each piece of furniture to allow some drying time in between coats...

I wanted to get a material that would go with the house once it get's repainted when the extension is done.  That lead me to pick this print...

The photos make it look brighter red than it looks in person!

I also picked up some batting, so that there would be a little bit of cushion.

Since some of the chairs don't have seats at all, and others were cracked or just feeling less stable than others, Mike took the wooden seat from the chair above and used it as a template to cut new ones for me.  

I then covered the wood seat with the batting & material, securing it using the staple gun.  Then I re-assembled the chair.

 I'm quite please with the results!

One down... several more to go!

Update- check it out!  My chairs were featured on "The Dedicated House"!   Kathryn hosts a Before & After party that is a great place for DIY inspiration!

More Electrical Work

The latest status on the electrical is that the electrical panels are installed, the new smoke detector wiring has been run, all switches and outlets have been roughed in, the outlet in our bedroom has been completed.

I just took photos of the new electrical panels.
Here's the basement...














A smaller one was placed in the attic space...

As mentioned here, we took care of the cable wire that was running across the opening to this room.  No more playing jumprope! The ethernet cable is also hooked up, and working great in the media room!

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

As far as the project goes, there is still a bit more electrical work for them to do... we added on running the electric to the garage.  That required Mike digging a trench from the house to the fence (where the pipe then runs under the driveway).  Good thing I had the post about digging that trench- it helped us locate where exactly the pipe ends!

We are also having the electric re-run to the well house.  That pipe already exists, they just need to run new wires through.

Exterior in the Evening

I ran out and took some evening shots of the exterior...

The lights coming through the window are from the basement stairwell and the dining room.

This is the dining room light coming through the butler's pantry window.

They had the electric on in the new part of the house the other day, but disconnected it when they left since they are still working on it.  I'm excited to take a shot of the exterior once the electric is up and running!

Electrical Work

The electricians were here all last week and got the electric work roughed in.  They were great and had lots of questions for us that got us thinking about using the space functionally... things like adding an extra switch to turn off a light when exiting the room on the other side, or moving an outlet down a little further, etc.

Here are some photos of the work...

High Hats in the kitchen ceiling

Light switches next to the opening from the living room.
Now that they've removed the plywood, the opening seems HUGE!

These are the switches that will control a bunch of lights in the kitchen & butler's pantry area.

This is the unfinished work of the wires running down to the basement.

Work in progress in the laundry room.

In addition to the overhead light in the attic space, we asked them to add extra electric lines, so that we can finish that off as an extra little room some day.  They also put an outlet on the landing.  I'm thinking that I'll put a little buffet table at this spot, and it would be nice to have a little lamp...

We just moved that black cable wire, so we don't have to step over it each time we go up there!
Mike is also in the process of running a Gig-E cable so that we don't have to worry about spotty wireless service in the media room. We had been considering getting a wireless booster, but this seems like a better idea for the TV & kids'  gaming systems... we didn't need them sucking up the wireless bandwidth every time they were watching/playing.

Back Door

The back door has arrived, and been installed!

We ran right out and purchased the lock set... which was installed after I took this photo last week.

I'll update with a photo of the lockset once I get photos of the door primed, which the builder advised us to do this ASAP to protect the wood.  

The electrician also spent some time here this week- I still need to get photos of that work too!

Fixing Some Framing

There were a few places that the framers had done their work, but needed some tweaking... minor stuff really.

First there was the Butler's Pantry doorway.  The plans called for the cabinets to be stretched along just the back wall.  But then we decided that the antique cabinetry would fit in the U-shape.  This meant the doorway needed to be centered.

Next there was the coat closet/refrigerator recessed area.  The framers had made the coat closet deeper, and didn't leave space for the refrigerator to be recessed (which would mean it stuck out into the kitchen further than we'd like).

After testing that we'd have enough room to hang coats, they fixed that right up...

The only problem is that now I can't fit my wash baskets through the old basement doorway!  

I can not wait until the laundry room is functioning upstairs!

Arched Window

We were away for a few days, and came back to find they finished up the window installation!

The only problem was that they put it in too low.
When the trim is added around the exterior of the second floor windows, it would look too cluttered.



So, they came back the following day and moved it up.

Here's where we are now...

We're much happier with this placement!