Articles with walls

Phase III Renovation

And so it begins. Actually, that is a bold face a lie – we are still quite a bit off from beginning of Phase III of VIB renovation, which is supposed to feature a full basement dig out. We did more or less sign off on the basement plans, and are now in the process of interviewing contractors for phase III. Once we settle on the candidate and price point, we will file permits (which require total budget number) and figure out how we will finance this massive undertaking.… Read the rest

How to: Wallpaper

I have attempted to photograph the finished foyer multiple times, but the pattern has proved to be a tricky bastard. this is a combination of photos that Sergey and I took, with a caveat, that I wish a professional would come and help us out here. Also, this post took an inordinately long time to be published, in part due to time crunch with the fact that I have been selected for 6 week jury duty, in part due to picture taking troubles, and in part because I am still learning to operate on my new Mac…I hope to be back here more frequently soon.… Read the rest

So Lustrous!

I love Farrow and Ball. And, there is no other paint quite like it. I questioned it before, but now I know that it does stand apart from other brands, in a class of its own. It’s not just the color – although that’s pretty damn good too, but the quality – the looks and feels of it on a wall. And I am not the only one who noticed the difference – Sergey did too, which means it really does exist!… Read the rest

Lock, Set, and Ready

Wheeee. Sergey and I locked in our refinance rate. The clock is set and we’re ready to get this show over with. We have about six weeks until it’s all done, and in the meantime we have to get all of our documents together, paint away, and get whatever else done in the house that we can to best show it off. We will probably finish right around the same time three years ago when we signed up for this adventure.… Read the rest

12 Days of Painting (and 1 Party): Days 9-12

Phew. We didn’t get it all done. but i am happy nonetheless with the progress that we have made in our 12 days of painting, which included hosting an end of the world party, and for which our halfway done staircase / hallway wall was the perfect backdrop )

Painting those walls really, really kind of sucked. Three coats! That’s because I did the second coat only in parts, which meant that it dried splatchey.… Read the rest

12 Days of Painting: Day 5

Finishing up and crossing items off the list. The staircase treads and baseboards are done. Two coats of fresh Cloud White by Benjamin Moore.Notice the newel post – I am making progress here too!

Here are some up close and personal on the damaged stairs – its not terrible but definitely not safe. Not sure what can be done to fix this situation besides the stair-runner.

And Sergey finished with a second coat of paint in the small bedroom.… Read the rest

Constructions Days 118-121: Bits and Bobs

We are inching along here. I had made a list of everything that needs to be caulked in the kitchen – its actually quite lengthy. I guess I would rather do that than have contractors do less or more. The other big items are baseboards and the last molding pieces to frame the door to the basement. Those should look much better with a coat or two of paint.

But the biggest item over the last week has been plaster.… Read the rest

How to: Install a Floating Shelf

Ah so the saga of “move kitchen cabinets 4″ down” continues. Besides the dented and scratched counter (which will need an ink & seal touch up) there was also the problem with our shelf beneath the cabinets. That too, had to move down, otherwise I couldn’t use it for any soap or oil bottles.

We could have asked our contractors to do that, but decided that they *might* run away if we ask them to change or re-do one more thing.… Read the rest

Construction days 74-75

I was very happy with Thursday/ Friday progress.

Exhibit A: Plaster walls. Its actually hard to see the difference in pictures, but the base coat went on Thursday and top coat was all done on Friday. There is a big difference to the touch though – base coat is kind of grayish and is pretty rough and almost sticky —

The top coat is white and smooth.

Overall I am very happy with the job they did skimming the plaster and so happy that we decided to stick with the original decision to go with plaster on all walls which are redone (the rest of the house mostly has plaster walls save for a few places that will be redone eventually).… Read the rest