Grand Avenue Update

Greg completed the construction of our fine kitchen island weeks ago.  The finish work, which included the painting of the exterior and staining of the interior drawers, was stalled when I broke my ankle.   Our living room was a disaster for a while.

Slowly I was able to hobble through the process.  I also used the extra time at home to put another coat of paint on our mantle, as well as multiple coats of polyurethane on the cedar mantle top.

Spring came and went.  As I was finally able to resume yard work, I noticed that we have over seven wonderful azaleas strategically surrounding the lawn.

I also painted the bathroom a cool, ice-cube gray.  Tracy and I never truly fell in love with our original color choice, which was in the mint family.  We've already purchased towel racks and other bathroom fixtures, which will soon be in place.

Homero Cruz and his son, Sam, did a wonderful job of cleaning and waxing the vinyl composite tile flooring in the kitchen and laundry room.  After the process was complete and my ankle finally felt strong enough, Greg and I put the island in the kitchen.  Greg sanded the top of the island again, and I began the process of finishing both sides of the maple top.  I applied three coats of satin poly (sanding between coats) on the under side.  Brad of Home Quest was kind enough to step over and help me flip the top (thanks, Brad!).  This photo was taken with the fifth coat still wet on the top side (Am I obsessive?   I don't want to stop applying coats yet-it's fun.).

Yes

I don't know who's more relieved: the fine folks at Home Quest, our other sweet neighbors, the dudes who walk around the block all day with various canines, passing traffic after events at the RBC/Carter-Finley, or simply the two of us.  We finally have blinds.

The living room after installation: these are Bali double-cell cellular blinds.    All the blinds can be pulled from the top down or the bottom up, except for the 19" windows on either side of our largest window frames.

Denise isn't sure about the decision, but we've assured her that birds/squirrels/dogs/people will still be visible under the new system.  Tracy and I chose these slightly darker, light inhibiting shades for the master bedroom.

Kitchen Island

I hope that everyone is having a great Eleven so far.  Things have been relatively quiet at 301 Grand Avenue.  We are slowly finding a place for all of our things.

Today my good friend Greg Readling began work on our kitchen island.  The top of the island consists of resilient maple strips, which we glued and pressed together today.  I also played with Greg and Lorraine's new daughter Rain, and photographed the chickens.  It was a wonderful afternoon.

I'm really excited about this already.

Look at those eyes!

This particular chicken is really photogenic and fairly sassy.  I guess I would have an attitude, too, if I lived in a coop with a slate roof.

While we weren't on the computer...

We moved!  Tracy and I are now proud residents of 301 Grand Avenue.  We are still a long way from figuring out our interior, but one of our dear friends demanded pictures anyway:

The laundry room is coming together.

As we've been told by all of our friends and parents, this minty color doesn't go with the tile (well, it kind of does, but it's a little distracting).  We already felt that way, so stay tuned for our fascinating exploration into blue/turquoise.

Denise has made it clear: she prefers the windows without blinds.  We disagree.

We got all of our appliances.  It finally looks like a kitchen.  The vibe of this room is wonderful-it might be my favorite so far.

Floors

Last weeks Sedaris Hardwoods sanded, stained, and satin-coated our red pine parquet floors.

These floors hadn't been sanded since their installation over sixty-three years ago.

This is the living room after the stain and finish coats.

Master

These vent boxes come apart.  I spray painted the frame and vent blades with black enamel and, as shown in this photo, used a dark bronze metallic finish for the covers.  Tomorrow I'll put them in place.

I missed the fair, but...

I was excited to return home after two weeks in the United Kingdom and see all the wonderful progress at 301 Grand Avenue.  Tracy and Steve chose some great tile for our bathroom; and Home Quest has been hard at work.

I love these colors...this photo was taken before the grout was completely dry.

Tracy and Steve decided to go with a stretch of color amidst the subway tile, and it looks cool.

Here's a shot of Tracy with our neat living room fixture.  Nice work, T-Bro.

almost there!



tracy here.  with jay in the uk, i have hijacked the blog!  some very exciting changes this week - all the lights and the kitchen and laundry room floors were installed!  we are especially excited about the kitchen lights, above.  we bought 2 red pendant lights with naked bulbs  for the island.  my plan is to use edison style bulbs, like below.  we bought a  halogen pendant chandelier for the kitchen table.  also notice the new floor.  we decided on a vinyl tile floor in solid gray.  this type of flooring is often used for commercial purposes but was popular in home kitchens of the 40's and 50's.  they were often black and white checkerboard.  steve and i shopped for bathroom tile on monday and found a  blue mosaic penny round tile for the floor.  we bought white subway tile for the shower.



we selected this brushed metal ceiling fan for the den and master bedroom.

 

 in order to maintain the character of the exterior, we selected this rustic "onion" style light for the front and back doors.

 



 laundry room with blue and white checkerboard tile!