Spent some time this weekend sanding the extra butcherblock and treating it with vegetable oil, which both our painter and tile guys recommended if we actually want to use it for cutting. The oil soaked right in - a few more applications and we’ll be ready for some test cuts!
5/23/10
See that little device above the hinge? That’s one of the best pieces of advice I can pass along. It’s called a Blumotion Hinge Adaptor, and it dampens cabinet doors when you close them, so there’s no slamming or noise.
I found them online after noticing a similar feature is built into many IKEA cabinets, but not the Kraftmade cabinets we purchased. They’re less than $4 apiece and are super easy to install — just one screw. And they really work.
Kraftmade does dampen drawers, but not cabinets. So this was a nice, cheap upgrade.
You can buy them at www.cabinethw.com.
5/12/10
Here’s the bar mounted on the counter. Liberal use of Liquid Nails means no braces were necessary — a nice, clean look.
5/11/10
Terry did a great job of hiding the “toothed in” planks above, leading from the dining room into the kitchen. While toothing in the planks seemed like a good idea during planning, it ended up forcing us to refinish the entire room (and center hallway) so we could achieve a true match. Taping the old, and just doing the new, wasn’t going to work; the EPA forces reformulation of treatments almost constantly, and there was no way to match the finish/sheen to something put down nine years earlier.
4/5/10
The floors are almost finished upstairs, and the master bath is supposed to be done Friday.
The floors will get a final coat of urethane as the last step of the project. They’re a little brown now, but the floor guys insist they’ll “yellow up” to match the rest of the house over the next year.
4/22/10’
Here’s a close up of the master bath tile. Hamilton Parker calls it “Seagrass,” but we prefer the name Chester Smith uses: “Fossil Stone.” Because that’s what it really is. We realized a few years ago that the stone on the outside of the house was packed with shells, coral and trilobites, so we liked the idea of bringing that detail inside. There are some amazing details visible in this polished tile. Really fun to take a close look.
3/14/10
Here’s a shot of the ducts that run off the new attic furnace. They seem to be pretty well insulated, which is good, because it’s cold up there.
Also visible is one of the many recessed light cans. They’re supposed to be for 4-inch halogens, but they look big to me, so I’ll need to ask Derrick about that, too.
1/3/10
First major setback. It rained hard all night, and water seeped into the basement wall opposite the new basement construction, primarily around the window. The builders did nothing to channel water and debris away from the exposed area just above it. So about a six-foot area around the south wall issoaked and probably ruined. So here’s a piece of advice make sure ANY vulnerable areas are covered at all times. A simple sloped piece of Tyvek probably would have channeled the water away and prevented this.
Spent at least an hour cleaning up this mess. Got the dehumidifier running…
12/9/09
Page 1 of 2
