Getting Ready for the Tree

After a week of installing new trim and painting the walls and some of the trim, the living room was ready for the tree.  We installed new wainscoting and caulked most of it.  It's nearly ready for a final painting.  Alyssa painted the walls, re-caulked the existing crown molding and picture rail and painted it so that it looked nice for the tree.

It's not quite done, but it was wonderful to have the tree and the train layout where it was intended to be.  We'll finish up this side of the room after Christmas.

Living Room Wainscoting

After enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, we got to work on the wainscoting on the old dining room side of the living room, the music room, as Charlotte is calling it.  The Christmas tree is supposed to go on that side of the living room and we'd like to get it done before we cut down our tree.

Unfortunately the crown molding was damaged when our contractors removed the crown molding across the beam.  We'll have to fix that.

We moved the doorway three or for inches to the left to allow for a new support column and to allow for trim on the dining room side of the doorway.  Unfortunately this meant that we needed to take down the wainscoting that we had installed 13-14 years ago.  We also have to move an outlet.

Living Room Paneling

We've been working on our long enough that we've started to demo renovations that we ourselves have done.  In this case, it is we just need to adjust the paneling a little to accommodate the slightly shifted living room doorway.  We made the opening much bigger as well as moved the one west side of the opening to allow for casing on the dining room side of the doorway.

Bennet was curious to what Colin was working on.  Under the paneling, we can see my Dad's notes from when we put the paneling up more than a decade ago.  Thankfully, we only need to remove the paneling on one wall.

Mudding and Cutting Exterior Trim

Today Justin continued mudding the drywall. 

Keefe was outside all day (in the sunshine) finishing the siding above the roof as well as cutting and rabbiting the trim and giving it a coat of primer.

Fascia and Soffits Part Two

The kids had another school delay this morning, this time for freezing rain.  Justin and Keefe were out there early.  They finished up the fascia and the soffit.  They also did some work in the attic.

Fascia and Soffits

Today Justin and Keefe worked on the fascia and soffits on the new addition.  The trim matches the existing trim on the house, and it looks great.  Glad it's not me up on those ledges.

Doors and Trim Upstairs

While we have been playing in the snow, Colin has been working hard upstairs.  He has now installed all of the doors we ordered in September, he has put up nearly all the casing and headers for those doors, and has been installing trim.  The most difficult thing he has been working on is Alistair's closet doors.  It was quite a pain to get the doors to line up properly and for the doors to stay put once you've opened then.  The upstairs walls and floors and ceilings are by no means straight, so it has been a challenge.  But they look great and Charlotte likes to play in the closet.

Headers and Baseboards

I know it has been a while since we've posted anything, but it has been a while since we have done anything worst posting.  I won't bore you with details of Colin's work/travel schedule, but instead post photos of some of the headers he worked on this weekend.  He finished the two windows in the blue room, the window in Charlotte's room, and the two windows in Alistair's room.  He also built and completed the headers on five doors/doorways.  We still need to do the header returns, fill, caulk, and paint the headers, but lets not think of that now.  We are admiring the headers.

Colin also put in the baseboard on the north side of the blue room (photo above) and in the hallway.

Gable on Side Porch

Yesterday, they framed out the gable over the new (yet to be constructed) stairs. We found a perfect example of the design we wanted on a porch in Woodstock Vermont. They are also making progress on the porch trim. We had to be a little creative with the trim at the corner where the difference in roof slopes meant the top of the facia on the two sides didn't match. It turned out great.

Porch Progress

The porch is coming along quickly. They are starting to put on the trim on the back porch. The side porch was in pretty bad shape, so they stipped off the old standing seam roof, the shingles underneath, and the rotten clapboards below the windows. Both windows over the side porch have also been replaced. The back of the house is done. The triple window looks great with the new siding and trim.