131 Mansfield Ave: Saturday, June 7, 2008

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Blue ceiling tile for master shower ceiling -- looks like sky

Hayden lays out and inspects the blue sky tiles for the master shower room. His tile dolly is something he made years ago to help move tiles around while working. He individually inspects each tile for perfection -- only using those that are absolutely perfect. Another technique he uses is to pull tiles from all the boxes and stack them on the dolly -- it mixes up the various lots and offers a more even looking finished product. We feel very blessed to have Hayden doing all the tile work for us on this project. He is truly a perfectionist.....

Master Bath - shower room

Hayden Singer - master tile guy is doing a great job on the master shower. Peter Post has nicknamed the shower "cleopatras shower" -- it is truly a work of art. The detail and precision of the cuts is impressive. Hayden continues along with the details.......the shower room has two long rectangular windows to let light in. So many detailed cuts have been made to incorporate this design. The golden stone is honey onyx stone from Dal tile; the gold glass is also from Dal Tile. Hadyen has made bullnose edges on the honey onyx tile in key locations. White tile is a 12 x 18 subway tile. Floor tile (not in yet) will be a 2x2 sandy color tile.........

New driveway goes in........

While we were at home in Colchester sleeping this Saturday morning-- the cement truck and crane and a crew of workers were busy pouring our driveway.......at 7:15 am.... Our neighbors Sandy Wynne and Rod Carr were awake for the action and thought it was most entertaining. Interesting to note how 'by hand' the smoothing process and finish work still is......

Painting detail

Exterior painting continues........

Valley Painters continue to work on exterior...........
Straw is body color; clarksville gray is upper body color; trim is vanilla ice cream; trim detail is cinnamon.

Day 2 Notes

Day 2 began as a gray and rainy, almost blustery day. I stopped by the house before work around 6:30 am and left a bag of snacks for the DREAM team to fuel their efforts. When I returned around 6pm the transformation was remarkable.

Outside:
The garage had been taken down, 2/3 of the concrete driveway was removed, the back of the original house (bathroom, shed, etc., including the chimney) was removed. A large hole around 6 feet deep had been dug and mounds of earth were everywhere. A 30 yard green dumpster was alongside the south side of the house. The front porch pillars (wooden component) were removed, and wooden struts were holding up the front porch roof.

The backyard seemed to double in size with the garage removed. We can now fully appreciate the amazing tree from Rod's yard ( behind our house) that he has been lovingly shaping for years.

Inside the house -- there was much transformation. All the woodwork on the first floor was removed. The casings around the front windows revealed the inner workings of the rope and lead weight pulley system and the windows were actually operational for the first time since we purchased the property.

The built ins are all removed and stored in the basement. The conference ceiling in the former dining room is down, along with the lighting fixtures. The mantle, bookcases, and other doors and trim are also removed.

Most of the old circa 1940 +/- kithen cabinets are removed along with the old washboard porcelain sink.

The carpet and wood floor from the former dining room are removed exposing wooden subflooring.

The door to the basement and the casing and door jamb is also removed.

Foam padding encases the bannister to the second floor for to protect the wood.

On the second floor most of the interior walls have been removed exposing the studs. Its a funny feeling to walk from "room to room" by walking between the studs.

The carpenters did a great job of removing the fancy built in closet and drawers from the second floor landing.

The second floor bathroom is still intact for the time being.

The house is losing its funky 'this old house smell' and I couldnt be happier about that!

Stay tuned for more updates as Peter Post and his crew of wonder workers transform this 1927 house from gloomy to roomy!