Wandernesting

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!