Wandernesting

It’s been three or so weeks since we moved up to our top two floors and we’ve decided to hold off on pictures until we clear out some of our stuff and finally get our furniture out of storage (2+ years and counting – happening this Friday!).

It’s been valuable spending a few weeks in the new space so that we can notice (most of) the things that need addressing. We’ve been collecting the items in a Google speadsheet and today shared the list with our GC. He didn’t get too many surprises and only one painful request (moving the dining room light which isn’t aligned with the doors – not his fault as the doors weren’t in when we set the location).

All together there were 130 items. Sounds like a lot but he feels confident he can knock them out within a week. Since we have been working on this list, I’ve been thinking about other lists and will share some of them over the coming weeks. We’ll start small with little things we’ve done that we’ve been pleased with so far:

1. Countdown timers

Our overuse of dimmers isn’t that interesting so I’ll start with another kind of switch that we’ve used in each of the bathrooms. Three of our four bathrooms don’t have any windows so we’ve installed exhaust fans in each bathroom to help clear out the steam after showering. In other bathrooms we’ve stayed in I always forget to turn the fan off or I haven’t left the fan on long enough so wanted to make sure we found a good solution. A number of companies make switches with countdown timers and we found this 60 minute which has worked out well. When we go into the bathroom, we switch it on and 60 minutes later the fan turns off. Perfect for helping remove the dampness from the bathrooms.

Leviton Preset 10-20-30-60 Minute Countdown Timer

2. Two chime doorbell solutions

There are two front entry ways into the house: the garden and the parlor. Sometimes people ring the top bell, other times people ring the bottom bell. We wanted to make sure we knew which bell was pressed and hear the chime throughout the house. We didn’t want a wireless solution given the reports I’ve read that they don’t always work so well in older buildings (with thicker walls) and there weren’t that many options with wired solutions. After reading through various doorbell forums (yes – there are forums just for doorbells) I was starting to lose hope. I was looking for two bells, two chimes solution with each bell ringing both chimes with different sounds – try typing that in google. Eventually, someone mentioned that they had done it which was enough for me to buy two chimes (NuTone LA11WH Decorative Wired Two-Note Door Chime) and two bells (NuTone PB41LBR Wired Lighted Door Chime Push Button, Round, Oil-Rubbed Bronze Stucco Finish). I was surprised how few attractive options there were but in the end the outside bell blends in and the chime matches other ugly pieces like the alarm, smoke detector etc.

3. Filtered water in the prep sink

Compared to other places we’ve lived, our drinking water is pretty good but we still would run it through a Brita filter. This would work fine until guests came or someone (me) would forget to fill it when it emptied. We’ve stayed in houses with an extra water filler in a sink but they were slow (and often very cold) and couldn’t be used for other purposes (cleaning vegetables, quickly filling a pot etc.). For this kitchen we wanted to make sure we found something we could use through a regular faucet without losing pressure. After reading through hours of discussions on GardenWeb about osmosis, floods, pressure lose etc. I was ready to give up when I found a product by Everpure that filtered and maintained the high pressure we wanted. Our plumbers were happy to install on the cold water line in the prep sink and so far the results have been great. We will see how things go in six months when we have to replace (I did read several people complain about how difficult it was to replace).

Everpure EV9270-85 PBS-400 Drinking Water System for Prep Sink and Wet Bar

4. Lights in the laundry area. 

A laundry on the bedroom level was a must and we always knew there would be lights but we have been glad with the choice our contractor made for us. The light automatically turns on/off when we open/close the laundry doors but what’s really nice is we have the option to manually operate them (so they don’t automatically turn on when we open the door). Great for those late night washing parties we have. We didn’t really appreciate this option until we wanted to do the same in the kids’ closets when they were sleeping.

5. Dish Rack

OK. So this doesn’t quite fit the renovation stuff but we really like our dish rack (even some of the workers have complimented it). It was priced much higher than I thought we’d ever pay for such an item but it looks great, has a good knife area and a drain underneath that feeds straight into the sink  - why doesn’t every rack have that!

simplehuman Steel Frame Dishrack

That’s all for now. We’ll do some more top 5 lists soon including 5 best big decisions, 5 valuable websites and 5 things we’d change already…

Apologies for our lack of updates, but I’m now writing this new post bathed in sunlight, sitting in our new kitchen with tall ceilings, most of the cabinets, semi-working faucets and dusty lights.

After 8 weeks living without a kitchen, sharing two rooms, we finally were able to move upstairs and take over the two top floors. We passed the workers on the way up who have now begun finishing what they couldn’t finished before we had to move back into the ground floor.

Given the time (and money) poured into the kitchen, we’ll save a special post on that, so for now let’s take a look at some of the other changes elsewhere in the house.

It seems appropriate to start with the entry way. While most of our choices would be classed on the traditional side for the entry way we wanted to do something a little splashy while still keeping with the overall feel of the house. We were originally inspired by an entry way featured in one of our early inspiration houses designed by Ben Herzog.

Inspirational entry way

After some searching we discovered patterned cement tiles that we thought would look good. We looked through the dozens of available designs from a variety of online companies but couldn’t find exactly what we wanted. Because of the small entry space we needed something that would work in a small pattern and the color choices available didn’t excite us. In the end we decided to go custom and worked with the Cement Tile Shop in Florida. Using an online tool we came up with a color combo we liked and with a little photoshop magic ordered the tiles to match this design:

Eight or so weeks later, the tiles arrived and over the last week the tile guys came back to install (we wanted to wait until all the heavy work upstairs was complete before installing so they would not be damaged). We are very happy with the result. They have to rest a few days before we can grout (FYI – you must seal before grouting to protect the paint – something our GC noted minutes before the tile guys started to grout). In the meantime, here’s a pre-grout shot.

New Entry Way.

Once you walk over the new entry way you won’t miss the beautiful post that is almost complete. Unfortunately, there weren’t many original details to restore in the house (and most that were there were either covered in many layers of lead paint or cut up in a way that they couldn’t be salvaged) but we were able to have both newel posts at the bottom of our stairs redone. Here’s a before shot taken during our initial inspection:

Original post – pre-contruction.

Here’s an after shot:

Refinished and repaired post.

There aren’t that many people who do wood restoration in the area but despite some delays and interesting work hours, we’ve been happy with the results of the person we selected.

You can also see above that the parlor to top floor stairs are now complete. Again for fun, here’s a before shot:

Pre-work stairs.

As the picture shows, the stairs were never that great from the start and with all the workers going up and down during demo it was clear that the original plan to repair wouldn’t work. So, we now have new stairs and new railings. There have definitely been compromises here but we’ll save that for another post (along with some tips on how we dealt with the oak handrails we ended up with).

Stairs from the living room. Our architect suggested the placement of the post (in the middle of the door) and the height of the pocket door. Great suggestions!

Side view.

New stairs!

We have talked a little about the floor finishes issues but we have to share our favorite section of the floors. With three skylights on the top floor we get some great light during the day and it really shows how pretty the walnut floors are.

Walnut floors in top hallway.

The last piece of news to share about the top floor is the master bathroom. The wall mounted faucet debacle is the gift that keeps on giving. The backsplash we picked for the master vanity was too sensitive to cut thin so that fabricator cut it at 1 1/4″ which caused two issues: the wall mounted faucets would need an extension piece and panelling we decided to do had to be reworked. We called Grohe and brownstone girl was able to convince them to send the extenders for free but it was on backorder. Six weeks later with our plumbers wanting to come back for a final visit we called Grohe again only to be told the extender wouldn’t be available until September. Since there were other things we wanted the plumbers to come back and address (mainly being unable to use the hot water in the main kitchen sink) we sucked it up again and spent $250 on two tiny extender parts from Faucet Direct. Like I said, the gift that keeps on giving. We are trying to get the plumbers to come back now that we have everything ready for them (including a new part for the toilet that we also needed to purchase thanks to the thicker vanity backsplash). With all that, here are a few pictures of the master bath (minus toilet and faucets).

We were a little hesitant at first to ask our GC to redo to molding around the vanity (after they initially completed it, the vanity still stuck out 1/2″ beyond the paneling) but knew it wasn’t something to look at over the years to come.

Panel flush with vanity backsplash.

We modelled the panelling on the door molding.

Moving back downstairs and into the living room where our shutters and light splurge are on full display.

Many houses in this part of Brooklyn have pockets shutters which we were sad to see partly removed from our house. Unable to find replacement parts we went in search of a place that would build new ones. Some of the quotes from Brooklyn based companies were ridiculously high so we settled on a company in Atlanta (called Devenco or Americana, depending on how you locate them…you can find them at www.shutterblinds.com). Again, 8 weeks later they arrived and were installed. We were a little nervous as the ‘pockets’ had to be built without the shutters thus relying completely on the measurements provided. Fortunately they fit perfectly and look great!

Shutters in their pockets.

Shutters open.

Finally, the bubble light.

Walking around our area at night, one can’t but help peek into the parlor living rooms and see some amazing rooms. Mostly, it’s the great detail but we loved those rooms with a great light! With that in mind, we saw a light on Houzz and knew right away. Brownstonegirl then did her magic searching to find a great deal and here is the final result.

Living room light – at night the bubbles create a great effect on the room.

See you soon with some shots from the kitchen.

Brownstoneboy and brownstonegirl have been known to hold different positions on certain decisions that have had to be made over the course of this renovation, but our mutual dislike for oak flooring made one choice very easy: our floors.

Early on we settled on walnut with inspiration from pictures like this one:

Walnut flooring.

The warm colors and great grain would provide great character to our house. With brownstonegirl having secured a good deal for 5″ inch wide extra long walnut flooring (from PC Wood Flooring in Brooklyn), we were looking forward to seeing the final product. With our sublet ending at the end of April, we had to move back into the house before everything was finished. And that’s when the floor finish problems began.

After researching many floor finish options, we decided to pursue a tung oil finish. Because tung oil won’t absorb easily into wood on its own, you need to mix it with a solvent. Usually, this is some type of chemical but at an online store named Real Milk Paint, I was able to find a natural citrus based solvent along with some very detailed instructions on how to apply. After testing a few samples, we went ahead and bought 8 gallons of solvent and 8 gallons of oil (enough to do more than one floor).

Our floor finisher had experience with tung oil but not with the natural solvent, so we were a little nervous as they began their work. Unfortunately they didn’t follow the provided instructions as requested; they did not apply 3-4 coats as requests and other earlier coats were either left on too long or not mixed properly. Because the ratio of solvent to oil was off, the third layer didn’t really soak in at all and I had to wipe it off by hand when I arrived at the house on the morning of moving day.

Wet floors – great color showed us what the floors could be.

A few hours later we moved in with wax paper down to protect the floors (we’d read this tip online – wax paper allowing the floor to breathe while it cured). Right away we could start to see the floors being scratched and dirtied despite our best efforts to protect them (the rain that day didn’t help either).

Over the course of the next few weeks the only way we could clean the floor (or removed the scratched areas) was to take a clean cloth, damp it with a mix of solvent and oil, buff the surface by hand (or even better, by feet) and let is dry overnight. The result looked great but it was no way to clean a floor (especially with 2 kids!). The feeling of walking on raw wood also felt uncomfortable on our feet. It was then that we started to research other options for the two upper (unfinished floors).

First we looked at a water-based poly which is what our GC had recommended from the beginning. We bought a small satin finish and grabbed some left-over wood. We followed the instructions and waited to see how it would look. Rather than bringing out the amber colors we particularly liked about walnut, it dulled the color and looked grey and cloudy to us.

Water based piece in the middle of a piece of restored flooring.

Back to the internet for more hours reading through flooring forums and we discovered an interesting option. We wanted the coloring of oil without the harmful effects and resultant smell and found that a number of floor finishing companies made an oil-modified water based poly that changed the color of the floors as with oil without the long curing time and other already mentioned side-effects of oil finish (we were encouraged by the discussion at http://www.hardwoodflooringtalk.com/forum/toughest-coating-for-american-black-walnut-t8941.html). We narrowed our choice to a product by Bona called Woodline and tried to buy a sample.

With the floor finishers coming in a week we didn’t really have the option to order online so we started calling the places Bona listed on their site as distributors. Most didn’t even carry Bona but we found that the place where we’d originally bought our floors (PC Wood Flooring) carried it and had in quart size containers of semi-gloss and satin; they also had the sealer that Bona recommends applying before applying the finish. I jumped on the train and headed to their store on 3rd Avenue and picked up a quart of each.

With the painters still working upstairs we setup a little testing area in the cellar and opened up the hatches for ventilation. We didn’t have time that day to do a full sealer application following by a coat of the finish so I just applied the finish to a piece of wood to see if there were any color changes.

One coat of the satin oil finish (on the left) next to an unfinished piece of wood.

We were encouraged by the result so setup another test the next day, this time applying the sealer and then applying the semi-gloss and the satin finish to each side of our mini-floor that we put together.

Semi-gloss on left and satin on right.

 We were satisfied enough with the result to speak with our GC and ditch the tung oil plan in favor of the Woodline product.

Fast forward a week: we left the house for a few days and the floor guys came in again. We were a little nervous on our return and walked up the stairs to take a look at the final results.

Kitchen floor

Living Room Floor

Top floor hall (with bonus view of our new stairs).

I’m not sure if we were more excited or relieved. The floors looked stunning. Exactly what we’d hoped for from that first time we saw those inspirational floors on Houzz. They are still curing upstairs but feel great under the feet and show the amazing grain and variation present in the walnut flooring. The one downside is that we’ll have to redo the floor that we are living in (with the tung oil) but in the end it’ll be worth it (at least that’s what we keep saying at each bump).

As we end the week with a rainy Friday in New York, it’s time to share our happenings over the last two weeks. Starting with the kitchen which is coming together nicely.

With our kitchen base cabinets installed last week, marble.com were able to come and template our granite counter tops and master vanity. A week later everything was installed and looking awesome. As previously discussed, we’d decided to go with Super White stone for the kitchen and now it’s installed we are very happy with our decision.

Kitchen

We used marble.com in our apartment renovation in 2011 and were happy to use them again despite requiring several visits to Jersey to find our elusive stone. There were a few mishaps this time, which I’m putting down to their recent expansion to 5+ locations, but they are righting their wrongs without too much trouble.

Waterstone prep faucet

The kitchen (and many other rooms) also saw their lights go in. Most are covered to protect from the dust but the lights won by brownstonegirl in a Niche Modern contest were on display for a night. The island ones look great as does the dining room light. The shared kitchen dining space made placing the dining light a little awkward but we are hoping once the dining room table goes in it’ll seem better placed.

(Dusty) Niche Modern Lights.

One light we were worried about was the parlor entry. Ordering 95% online has worked out pretty well so far but this light was much bigger than expected and we feared the entry door would hit it. Fortunately, it just cleared but does look a little cramped in there. We could ask our GC to move the light back but given all the finishing work done we’ll live with this position.

Parlor entry light.

We continued to be amazed by the amount of care and time the painters are putting in. I swear they have been here for more than a month and are still not done. First they tape the walls (i.e. cover the cracks between the sheetrock), then they prime (twice) then they paint (twice). After that it looks great to me but they then go over, find the imperfections, sand down, fill the gaps and paint again. Needless to say when they are done it’s looks amazing. Here’s a couple of pictures taken in the kids room. They are still painting the split window solution put in to handle the wall divider on the top floor but you can start to see how it will be finished (based on a suggestion from our architect).

Split window right side.

Split window left side.

Finally, the master vanity countertop also went in. The pictures don’t do this beautiful stone justice so you’ll just have to come over and see for yourself when we are all done. The only issue had to do with the wall mounted faucet (big surprise). We had requested that the marble guys cut the backsplash 3/4 inches thick (vs. the 1 1/4″ that’s more common) but they couldn’t do it because the stone is so fragile. The thicker stone meant that the plumbers needed an extension so that the faucet would go beyond the stone. Fortunately Grohe were able to provide a part (10 week ETA though) that we can use.

Master Vanity – white quartzite 

Master Vanity – 10 weeks before we can put in the trim.

Up next are the stairs, floor finishing (a post in itself – we are backtracking again), more painting and air conditioning units going up to the roof (just in time for Summer). Still hard to believe we are weeks away from taking over the whole house. It’s been quite the journey.

Not much time these days to get things up on the blog, but here’s a quick update:

Kitchen cabinets are going in!

Kitchen base cabinets, our beautiful custom Modern Aire hood and Bluestar commercial range.

Beaded face frame cabinet base. Paint color is Benjamin Moore White Dove in Matte Finish.

Sink base, garbage pullout and dishwasher.

Big Bertha (aka, our fridge and freezer). Looked enormous when the fridge was there alone, but definitely scaled down as the remaining items have been installed.

Doors have finally arrived (though ended up not being exactly what we wanted…) and are being painted and hung.

Doors – a day late and a dollar short, as they say. They took FOREVER to arrive, and they aren’t what we ordered. We wanted detail that matched the original doors, but the door company couldn’t get it right. They also made the middle horizontal panel too big, but we’re over it. They are super-thick, heavy MDF doors with a quarter round detail that will look alot like our shutters and kitchen cabinet doors; they are painted in Benjamin Moore White Dove, and they’ll work just fine.

Bathrooms are all nearly complete.

Lacava Aquamedia vanity in Cherry with Pottery Barn medicine cabinets. We wanted recessed, but there are just too many pipes behind the wall to make that happen. Oh well – just one of the hundreds of compromises you make when you do a large-scale renovation.

Master vanity base is built and installed.

Our master vanity in Mahogany veneer with a maple box. Veneered plywood apparently wears better over time in a wet space, so we’ve trusted our contractor on this one and let him build it to a custom fit. He did a great job!

Lots of finishing work is being done.

Stair base moulding detail. We were worried about the transitions in the house from floor to floor, but our contractor and architect have worked well together to define each element. We’re very pleased with how this has worked out.

Moulding surrounding our parlor pocket doors, courtesy of Kuiken Brothers. Their mouldings really are quite superior to others.

Crown from Architectural Depot. Pricey but pretty.

The deck is fully constructed, cement slab in the back has been laid and already nearly ruined by brownstonetoddlerboy’s chalkwork.

Deck and concrete work. Deck is red primed, but it will ultimately be painted black.

In other news: shutters have arrived and should be hung this week or next. Entry tile is circling the neighborhood trying to find us (delivery was attempted at our former rental – hopefully we’ll get it this morning).  Templating for the countertops in the kitchen and master bath vanity will happen on Thursday. Bedrooms are nearly finished, save custom closets which have been configured and are being built. The newel posts are ready for delivery and the railing and spindles will be confirmed this evening. Always lots to do, but lots done these past two weeks!

We’re at t-5 days until we move back in the house, so it’s a hive of activity all around.  We’ll just be able to move into the garden floor at first, but our contractor and his team are working hard to do as much as possible on the entire house before we get there. Most of the moulding, taping and painting should be completed; the lights will be hung; the deck is going in; the cement in the backyard will be set; some of the kitchen cabinets and appliances will be in; the bathrooms will be mostly completed (save the master vanity, which is being custom built).

After our return: Shutters will be installed; refinished entry doors will be rehung; stair rails and spindles will be installed, staining of upper floors will be completed, kitchen will be finished; steel work on the roof will be completed; shower doors will be ordered and installed; kitchen backsplash and vestibule tile will be installed.   Lots of finish work to do, which will keep the house noisy and dusty for a few weeks. We’ll do what we can to seal off our level and hope the kids (and we) won’t go mad!

Exciting but definitely a nail biter!

A few photos just to show the current progress:

Deck going up! Will be the perfect place to sit for two minutes before we remember how mosquito-infested Brooklyn is in the summer.

New shutters in production. Purchased from Americana Shutters. You’d be surprised how difficult (and expensive) it is to replicate brownstone pocket shutters.

Brownstonetoddlerboy’s bedroom light. The paint is Benjamin Moore silvery blue.

Kids bathroom components going in!

Brownstonebabygirl’s light fixture. The paint is Benjamin Moore mannequin cream. The color is more vibrant in person.

Lots and lots of wiring. Yes, we’re technology junkies.

Master bath medicine cabinet. Note the half-completed wall mounted faucets. They continue to be our nemesis, as they now require extension kits in order to be used. More expense on top of what was already an unnecessarily expensive item. Boo to wall mounted faucets!

Our garden bath getting the finishing touches. Note the wood base moulding. We had ordered 3 x 6 slate tile in the same color palette as the floor. Once it was installed, it looked really awful. Thanks to our wonderful contractor and tile guy for replacing it!!

When you go from rental to rental for what seems like years (and in our case, actually was years), you end up compromising on lots of things.  In just about every sublet we stayed in, we were lucky to have a space large enough to hold all the standard toddler trappings (potties, bath toys, etc.) but not much more than that.  It was therefore imperative for us to make sure we had a master bath separate from the kids’ bathroom, not a small feat on a floor already tight with 3 bedrooms and a laundry room!

Our master bath won’t be enormous and won’t have a tub, and our bedroom itself will not have a walk-in closet, but we feel this is a worthy trade off for a pretty, clean bathroom space of our own.  Here are some of the highlights of our bathroom choices:

Tile and Wall Paneling

Floor tile: this was one of the first items we selected in the house.  Having seen this beautiful basketweave carrara bella tile with gray glass dots by Akdo, we were instantly smitten.  Another version had blue glass dots, which was even more to our liking, but the thassos main portion of the tile would have been far too much effort to maintain, so gray dots it is.

Shower floor tile: we are carrying the carrara bella into the shower with a 3/4 by 3/4 mosaic floor, also by Akdo.

Basketweave tile for main floor and 3/4 by 3/4 tile shower floor.  This photo is of the installation, pre-grouting. We’ll use a light grey grout to highlight the lines of the tile.

Shower wall tile: We really wanted a larger tile for our shower laid in a vertical pattern, and this textured tile from Cancos really caught our eye. It is also extremely affordable, so it was overall a great find.

Cancos wall tile. Brownstoneboy spent a great deal of time with our architect and contractor getting our tile in beautiful alignment, and it really looks great. We’ll use white grout for a seamless look.

Picture frame molding wainscoting: We love the classic look of picture frame molding wainscoting in a simple, elegant bathroom space, so we’ve opted for this instead of standard wall tile finishes.

Picture frame molding.

Fixtures

Faucets: We liked the look of wall mounted faucets, so that’s what we ultimately chose. However, I would caution anyone else against this decision. It actually made the plumbing far more complicated and limited a number of other choices. It will prove far more costly in the end as well, as there were a number of other financial factors it elevated (the faucets themselves, the rough in valves, the plumbing work and the requirement to have a backsplash).  They will be very pretty, but I’m not sure we would do it again if we had realized the added expenses.

Grohe atrio single handled wall mounted faucets. Pretty, modern, but pricey installation.

Double vanity: We have just enough space for a 60 inch double vanity, which our contractor will be building. It’ll be a fairly simple European door construction, mahogany veneer over plywood (veneer will be supplied by Everwood in Gowanus on 7th street – if you are looking for veneer products, their stuff is really beautiful).  A white quartzite vanity top will be purchased from Marble.com when we template our kitchen countertops, and the hardware will be similar to what is featured below. Nice clean lines.

Vanity inspiration. Ours will be built by our contractor with Mahogany veneer supplied by Everwood in Gowanus. Similar hardware will be used.

Double shower heads: Something we really liked in our last renovation and always planned to do again was a nice walk in shower with double shower heads. Last time, we opted for a three way diverter that allowed us to have either shower head on or both, but they were on the same temperature and pressure valve. Brownstoneboy isn’t as fond of the heavy fire hose level of pressure I prefer, and I definitely like my showers a bit hotter than him as well.  Since we were doing a gut renovation, it was a no brainer to run separate plumbing lines with individual thermostatic valves. The trim will be Grohe Atrio, and the heads will be our favorite find from our last renovation, the super cheap and super awesome rain shower head from highpressureshowerheads.com.  A real bargain at about $35.

Rain shower from highpressureshowerheads.com http://www.highpressureshowerheads.com/high-pressure-shower-head-rain.html

Medicine cabinets: After weeks of harassing our contact at Home and Stone, we were able to negotiate a very good deal on a beautiful Robern three part medicine cabinet.  It will extend 60.75 inches and have two long lights, plus hidden outlets within.  This was still a pricey splurge, but in the smaller space, we’ll definitely need the extra storage. She’s going to be very pretty!

Robern medicine cabinet. 3 cabinets ganged together with interior outlets and vertical lighting. Sweet.

The master bath has come a long way this week! Here’s hoping (knocking on wood) that it’ll be ready to use when we move in at the end of the month!

Knocking on wood as we report another busy week at the house.

Because of the previously reported DOB fun slowing everything down, we won’t be finished by the time our sublet ends (April 30th); the goal is therefore to finish the bottom floor with limited kitchen access by the end of the month, and everything else by the end of May.

That means we have to start thinking about paint colors. After many hours on Houzz, we came up with about 20 colors we wanted to see sampled on the walls. We designated where we thought a color could work and ordered samples from Benjamin Moore. Once the painters finished taping the bottom floor and priming, they kindly put up our samples.

After renovating our apartment a few years ago we felt that our color choices were a little dark and a little bold, so this time we are leaning towards lighter and slightly boring. We can use curtains and other room accessories to provide bolder elements down the line.

First, the office:

We decided on the middle color: grey owl. The right color matched our garden bath tile so we added that to the sample to try in the bathroom (which we subsequently rejected).

The garden hall is a big choice as we are continuing the color up through the parlor and second floor hall as well as the kitchen. For this we had the painters put up 5 samples:

Kitchen wall sample colors.

With the back door and window (arriving Tuesday – they swear) still covered, it was harder to get a true sense of the real colors (things look yellower in the picture than in person), but we decided on the top left (light pewter). It was good to see the other samples up as we think they could work elsewhere (bottom left – white wisp – garden bath, top middle – edgecomb grey – living room, right – marilyn’s dress – kids bathroom). We’ll add them to the samples to try in each room.

With the playroom color already decided (golden straw which we used previously, the one bold color we really liked), the last choice was the trim color. Last time, we didn’t even know we had choices with this but after some research we narrowed it down to Decorator’s White and White Dove. Taking some of the sample molding we had ordered, we painted one half one color and the other half the other color. In the end we chose White Dove. To us, the color seemed a little richer with more depth (which has guided us with our other choices).

The other big change at the house was new stairs. Originally we were just going to repair the stairs but over the course of the construction they deteriorated and our GC said it’ll be about the sample price to replace. Both sets arrived on Thursday with one going in on Friday.

New stairs on the garden level.

New and old stairs

Unfortunately, due to height differences we won’t be able to reuse the spindles but the newel posts will remain. We’ll donate the spindles in case others are looking to replace some broken ones.

To be donated.

In other news, the interior doors have been ordered. Our original plan was to replicate our old doors but we just couldn’t get the sample right, so in the end we decided on a simpler finish which closely matches our cabinet and shutter choices.

Some door samples.

Next, we did a little sampling with the crown molding. The old moldings were different from most moldings that you see today in that they had a big projection and small height. We very much wanted to keep those moldings, but with many layers of lead paint over the plaster, floorplan changes and whole sections that had been removed when a bathroom was added on the top floor years ago, it just didn’t make sense to try to work with what was there. We did, though, make it a priority to find something similar (not an easy task when you are trying to replicate 100+ year old plasterwork).  After a lot of searching we found something similar which we are going to use in the living room (which has high ceilings).

We are also hoping to use it in the adjoining kitchen space but there are a few transitions we aren’t sure about. For example, the kitchen joins a narrow hallway. The hallway is too narrow for the molding so we have to figure out how to transition from the kitchen to the hallway with things looking too weird. To help with this our GC spent a few minutes mocking up an example.

There is definitely a little more work to be done on the transition of the outer detail but we are confident that this can be addressed.

Finally, the tile work continued in the master and kids bath.

As a reminder, our inspiration for the kids bathroom came from Houzz.

We decided on a blue penny tile where they used grey and have been really happy with the results so far.

Kids tile.

Once the grout is done it will look even better. Our only regret about this room is that because of all the pipes and venting running behind the sink, we had to replace our recessed cabinets with surface mounted.

The tiling in the master also finished up. We spent a lot of time going over tile placement with the architect and GC to make sure things lined up, fixtures would be centered on tiles and how much tile to use when a full tile wasn’t an option. This was time well spent given the results. Again, pre-grout.

Bathroom floor – AKDO basketweave with gray glass dots and 3/4 by 3/4 carrara bella mosaic.

Next week, more painting, tiling begins in the garden bath, remaining stair install and kitchen window delivery!

With our gas inspection and DOB drama behind us (until the next filing), some of the more attractive details are starting to appear in the house. Let us start with the floors.

Early on in the material selection process, we fell in love with character grade walnut floors. While softer than other types of woods, we loved the color and the variation of the wood. With kids we knew any floors will get banged up over time so wanted something where ‘kid-made imperfections’ would just blend in with the other imperfections.

When the wood arrived we were a little concerned that the character grade was a little too character. In fact, our contractor expressed concern that there may not be enough good wood to complete all the floors.

While we shared this concern as well, we felt that if we sort the wood and put the best stuff in high trafficked areas, the lessor pieces under beds and other furniture and the worst pieces under cabinets that we would be enough.

We began the process by marking up our floor plan to show where we would like the different grades of wood to go.

Instructions for the installers

Next, we spent about six hours sorting through the wood. Creating a green pile for the best wood, a yellow pile for under furniture wood and red for discard or under cabinets.

A yellow pile

With the last of the floors being laid yesterday, we are very happy with the result. Even before we do any of the floor finishing work they are looking great.

Master bedroom floor. The yellow wood went where the bed will go. Green in the walkways.

We will be finishing with 100% tung oil. To better absorb, it needs to be mixed with some kind of thinner. Most are man-made chemicals but we found a natural solvent made from citrus with no VOC (ordered from Real Milk Paint).

Passing the gas inspection also meant that we could finally close up the bathroom walls and start tiling the three bathrooms (the powder room on the parlor floor will have no tile).

Kids Tile

Master bath ready for tiling

We started by meeting with our GC and the architect to go over tile placement. While we have had the general tile placement plan for some time, it was important to go over tile placement to decide how the edges would finish, where the tile would center relative to the niches and fixtures and how high tiles would go.

Speaking of bathrooms, the concrete sink for the garden bathroom arrived and looked even more stunning than we had hoped. This certainly wasn’t the cheapest option but seeing it in person has us considering whether we could use it in our master bathroom instead (ordered from Trueform Concrete).

The painters also spent a couple of days at the house this week preparing the walls for painting. While we haven’t decided the final paint colors, we ordered about 20 samples which we plan to try out before making out final selection.

Next week our new stairs are due to arrive along with the final window in the kitchen. The brickwork in the back should also wrap up allowing us to get started on removing the concrete in the back which we need to do before we can start work on the new deck.

Excited to think about moving in in terms on weeks not months!

Is there a blog about renovating that doesn’t have at least one “the DOB is ruining my life” post? Our “adventure” began January 30 when we failed our gas inspection and took a long, meandering, drunken path to today.  The good news is that we finally passed our gas and remaining plumbing inspection and can at long last start closing up and finishing the house. The bad news is, I’ve easily got 10% more gray hair and an ulcer as part of the bargain.

A super-costly and interminable PAA (post approval amendment), a delayed plumbing inspection, our current landlord wanting us to show the rental while we still have dozens of boxes of lighting yet to be installed, a constantly overflowing toilet in our rental, a toddler with a never-ending cough AND the birth of our second child in the mix and well, our outlook was not good (except for said child #2, who is healthy and completely awesome). Somehow that madness has all seemed to wash away, now that we’re actually able to see the finish line in sight.

So, we’ll resume glamor shots of the house in our next blog post…back to the fun!