Kitchen Arrives

Shawn, from Rosedale Kitchens, arrived today along with dozens of boxes that make up the kitchen.  I'm excited to see the install... in a couple of days, we'll have a good feel for the kitchen layout.

Flag looking great

"Six-days-a-week" Thom was here today with his trusty helper Chris to lay the remaining flag and cut the arch to make a nice rounded edge leading to the driveway.  Looking awesome!

Spray away

Mick demonstrates the value of a good sprayer in this video...

Thom was in doing more work on the flag.  He may be able to finish the main part by tomorrow.

Here's Vasco priming some of the exterior trim in the garage.

Basement almost complete

Juvee has made great progress in the basement.  He has installed the laminate flooring and most of the jambs and doors.  He should be done by Saturday so we can start priming then spraying the trim.

Flagstone Base

Thom's crew was working away at the flagstone prep today.  They poured the 6" concrete base yesterday, and have started laying out the flag and setting the copings along the stairs.  The front of the house is going to look great when they're done.

Basement flooring, landscaping starts

Danny was quick to pull the trigger on the basement flooring, and he picked a good one.  Juvee started installing the floor in the basement so we get a good finish when he installs the jambs and doors.

Meanwhile, Thom was back at it.  We are adding a concrete base and flagstone to match the porch as the landing between the stairs and the driveway.  Also on task is the interlock border on each side of the driveway.  We'll be paving in about a week and a half.

Bench

Mick has started prep upstairs... we should be ready to prime and spray finish the trim soon.  Meanwhile, here's a shot of Zachary's built-in bench that Juvee finished today.

More details...

Again, Juvee has done a great job.  Today, we collaborated (with Marlen and squealing kids on the phone and me at Lowe's!) and came up with a nice ventilation method for the built-in benches that we've added to Juvee's task list.  He also managed to put the rough frame of the fireplace together.

Details emerging

I love this stage.  The trim carpenter really brings out the final details in the house.  Juvee continued to work on the main floor and basement today, but I wanted to capture a couple of details he finished here:  A nice arch way that mimics the geometry of the shaker doors, as well as the exterior cedar porch ceiling.  Nice!

Paint, carpentry and railing frame

Mick continued paint prep and exterior paint outside while Juvee worked away at the trim elements on the first floor.

Meanwhile, Art Metal arrived to assemble (then take down!) the metal frame for the glass railing.  Their process is to fully assemble the railing pieces onsite, then take it back to their shop for factory finishing and reassemble when they come back with the glass.  It makes for a perfect install every time.

Painting in the summer?

Today was in the high twenties, so why not take advantage and paint the porch surround?  Awesome!

Front Door

Look while you can because this door will be covered up until move in!  The door looks great!

Landscaping and Carpentry

While Juvee continued to work away...

The landscape guys came to prepare the front landing and porch for flagstone and an interlock border along the sides of the driveway.

Finish carpentry progress

Juvee was making great progress on the doors upstairs today.  I love these solid, executive shaker doors from Victoria Strong.

Tile complete, trim started!

JSC Contracting arrived to start the trim and doors today.  We've gone with a back-band on top of 3.5" beveled casing, and a 7 1/4" one step beveled baseboard.  So far, so good!

Freddy was in today to finish off the master and basement tiled areas, installing the Caesar stone shower jambs in the master and finally, grouting all of the tiled surfaces.  He may have a few touch ups tomorrow and then he's done until we have the kitchen in.

All covered up

Now that the floors have been finished, we need to protect them for the next phase of the interior build - the trim and paint.  Mick, my trusty painter, was in today to protect those floors from all of the activity to come.

Tile accent

We've opted for three blue accent strips in the kids bathroom which look kind of cool.  Fred was in today, working late into the night, to get ahead of the tiling job.

There they are!

So we finally got to see the stairs uncovered today, and they look great.  The first coat of varathane was on by the end of the day... sadly, they'll all be covered up on Monday!

What to do?

We had a bunch of stain options for the clients to review this morning... but they took one look at the natural colour of the floors and stairs and decided to go au naturel!  It's a great decision as I think the stairs and floor will flow nicely in the natural red oak colour.

Columns and porch

The hardwood guys finished this morning and began sanding the floors.  Meanwhile, Juvenal was in to work on the exterior porch and columns, as well as install the back stairs.  Once the columns get painted the exterior will be near completion.

Freddy slips in at night

My tile setter, Freddy, is awesome.  He has a real sense for schedule and never wants to disrupt the other trades.  Well, while the flooring continued downstairs, nobody saw Freddy sneak in and finish all of the tiled floors on the second floor.  Very stealthy Fred!

Down to the main floor

The installers are cooking along.  The first floor is half done.  I love when the floor goes in as  you can really get a feel for what the space is going to look like at this point.  Looking good.