Week 24: Eye candy--inside and out



Remarkably, this week began with a continuation of Bellingham's uncharacteristically dry and balmy fall weather.  This presented an opportunity to begin exterior painting.  The weather forecast for the end of the week indicated a storm approaching, but the game plan was to get as much paint on the outside of the house as quickly as possible.



  In this picture, Kevin is finishing up the top of the south face of the house.  Note: the camera doesn't give a really true picture of the actual colors.  We are painting the siding a color called "Gettysburg Gray", which has more green in it than the camera indicates.



Ditto

Kevin finished the siding on the entire west side of the house.  There will be contrasting colors on the cornerboards, bellybands, fascia boards, and the door and window trim.  These contrasts will be added later.



While Kevin was painting on the south and west sides of the house, Tim and Daniel were racing to complete the siding on the east side of the house.  The north face of the house (the front of the house) will be completed last.



Matthew completed the installation of the oak floors throughout the first story (except in the pantry where the original fir floors were remaining.)  In this photo, he has begun the process of sanding both the new flooring and the existing oak flooring in the living room as a prelude to the finishing process.  The floors will be finished in what Matthew describes as a "Swedish system", which involves two coats of sealer followed by one coat of clear natural finish.  This system will give the floor some color, but we are avoiding stains that would produce a much darker color. 



A view of the new oak floor looking from the kitchen into the dining room.



We have doors!  In this photo, the BB looks through the doorway into her office.



The door to the master closet on the left and to the bathroom on the right.  We decided on simple single-paneled doors painted the color of the trim because that's what the builders of the house in 1925 had, and we want to remain as faithful as possible to the original style.



The door to the master bedroom is a pocket door.  A little later on, a full-length mirror will be affixed to the bedroom side of the door.



Kevin, a subcontractor brought in to help expedite the interior trim work, works at installing the double doors to the closet in the BPS office.



The inaugural oak planking was installed on the landing of our stairway.  The entire stairway will be white oak to match the floor.  It was exciting to stand on the landing and see the beginning of the new staircase.



Ditto.  As this is written, we are in Berkeley, packing for the big move of our California residence from Berkeley to Davis.  We arrived in California on Friday, just as a major rainstorm began in Bellingham.  During this week we anticipate the interior trim work to continue, and we understand that the elevator crew will be returning, but we're not sure how much exterior work will be possible--it will all depend on the weather.  Our daughter, Susan, will take some photos at week's end, and we will get them up on the blog as soon as we surface from the big move.