Anyway, thanks for the nice comments, and I hope everyone is enjoying finally seeing something besides wires and studs.
I think the last time I posted was during drywall. Since then we have hired a trim carpenter who is doing the cabinets, trim, mounting and installing doors, etc.
We have a unique thing down here in Texas. For some reason these guys love to build everything on site. There are pros and cons, but to say that things are custom is an understatement. You can obsess over every little detail as it happens, and it has been killing me. I guess I care way more than I should. One of the big problems is that the cabinets are not "finished", so your painter actually is the one who comes in and stains and lacquers everything as well as paint those things that get painted.
Paint grade cabinets turn out to be quite a bit cheaper because of material costs, so we are sticking with Alder or Knotty Alder (not too naughty, I told my supplier ;-) for the kitchen, kitchen office, study, and master bath.
The process (in our case) consists of
1. Buying thousands of dollars of doors and wood components (furniture plywood, trim, mouldings, wood).
2. Installing the doors.
3. Going room by room, cabinet by cabinet, and having the trim guy draw (on the wall normally) with a #2 wooden pencil a 3D sketch of the proposed cabinet. This takes a long time, as you discover you thought you knew what you wanted, until you are standing there in the "hot seat".
Anyway, we are about 2 weeks into what looks to be a 4 week process (hmmm). I am also having this guy cut cedar beams in to corbels, and installing the wooden ceiling on the porch area out back.
I may post some of the pictures of the sketch, versus the actual cabinet. Almost always things change around a little bit, and of course.....that drives us CRAZY.
Bottom line is that they are doing a good job, and using a LOT of plywood. By a lot, I mean close to 300 sheets so far. Most of it is Baltic Birch, and cost about 30 dollars a sheet, but about 1/4 of that is clear Alder, more like $80 dollars a sheet. Last thing you want to hear over by the table saw is "whoops". There also seems to be a pretty constant ratio of material cost to sawdust generation.
OK, I know... Pictures.
Here is a sketch of what we start with. You can see some layout lines on the walls...
And Presto! Eric, the young man, after about 6 hours of work, produces this. Using nothing more than a table saw, pencil, pin nailer, level, and a tape measure. It isn't done yet, as it will get decorative reed molding in the edges where you see it is not finished, as well as a rounded front where most people would have a desk drawer, as well as finish molding all over everything, and then some crown molding on top. A note on the subject of desk height...we originally were going to make all the desk cabinets 32 inches high, and found it was WAY too high for our liking. Most store bought desks are more like 29, but will have a drawer under them. We settled on 30 inches with no drawer and it feels perfect.
This, by the way, is our study. A double sided desk, one side will have the computer with the monitor suspended in space above the desk by our ergotron articulating mount, and a wireless keyboard and mouse. The other side will be ready for the laptop, so we can both surf together or separate. The opposite side of this room is actually a little miniature theatre. We just turn a couple small chairs towards the screen, dim the lights, and a full theatre awaits. Otherwise, we can use the office while watching TV, a more likely scenario.
OK, I know... more pictures. This one is the office, so you don't get confused.
About half of our doors are Knotty Alder. And unlike most doors, these are 1 3/4 inches thick rather than the usual 1 3/8 inches (even our painted doors are 1 3/4 inches thick and solid). They look great, feel great, and the extra thickness is pretty inexpensive. This one has not yet been cased, but they basically put the door casing around, and nail the door jamb on one side to the casing, and the other side to the framing, and that holds things in place pretty sell. On the hinge side, they put extra long screws through the hinges to attach the door to the actual framing, and not the jamb.
Further away looking at this door, which is only 1 1/2 feet wide, yet 8 feet tall. We thought it might look goofy, but it is actually really cute. It's a linen closet off the powder bath hallway.
Early stages of a 42 inch vanity cabinet in my son's room. Note that the drawer blank normally below the sink is missing... Where is it?? Look at the bottom. They just flip the design to get that drawer back. You can even make this drawer into a step for little kids so they don't have to use a stool, but my kiddos are growing fast and already tall... Oh, the bottom kick space is also framed in at an angle from the sides, a more finished look.
Our window stools (or a sill, as I had always called it) are very simple. Many of you will just die when you find out we plan on painting this AND the wooden window above. But it will look great.
This is the backpack area... The very top space will have 4 doors across there, and just below that is where the kids stage lunches, backpacks, etc. 3 drawers in the bottom below the seating area for shoes, etc. What you can't see in this picture is just opposite is the kitchen office desk, which is also Alder, and quite nice.
In the Living Room, these are 3 really super thick shelves above a shallow cabinet, and will be distressed and then painted a with a rustic, weathered black (I think, but I'm not the keeper of the "paint spreadsheet" so it's hard to keep track).
This is my vanity, sink will be fairly close to the tall cabinet. I was happy to get lots of drawers, and my wife has this exact same thing across the street, but hers also has another lower makeup vanity. For my side, I had them make the cabinet 37 inches tall rather than 36, it's subtle, but better for me. Certainly an advantage of having them make the cabinets to your specs.
We love how the kids rec room cabinets are turning out. The pattern above basically is shelves, doors, shelves, doors, etc. 30 inches tall, the peninsula between them is storage shelves for games and toys, and at the end of that is lower shelves to keep video games and DVDs, etc. I am standing in their TV area, which is a full blown surround system and fairly large TV. Keep in mind, and each individual desk is way nicer than any desk I have ever had.... Rotten kids. OH, we did make a change to plans on this one... They face AWAY from each other, rather than next to each other. Keeps them from sibling battles maybe a little better. Each has space for a computer system in the lower corners, and a network printer will most likely sit between them over by the wall. I ran 16 Ethernet cables in here hoping that even a blind squirrel sometimes finds a nut. Now, we are thinking of switching the whole family over to Apple... And that would most likely be wireless... Will see.
We are calling this the "butler's pantry", just screwing around, but it seemed a good place to have a few bottles of wine. Doors above. This is just around the corner from the kitchen, but actually sits in the family room. It was supposed to be painted, but they used Alder, so we may stain it now...
Wife hasn't seen these yet, but today somebody put some crown molding on top of the cabinets on top of the toilets... Texas French, I would say, which means I am not sure if I like it. Will let the boss decide tomorrow when she is on site...
Almost forgot this one... We have always had a cat, and love them. Our current cat is never content to be on either side of a closed door, so here is our solution. We want the kids doors closed when they are sleeping, but the cat gets stuck on one side or the other and then raises hell. So, we are putting "Cat Holes" in 3 walk in closets (kids and ours) as well as one to the equipment room (litter box and dishes). You can't see through them, because they turn once through the wall. I hope the cat fits (9 inches tall and 7 inches wide).
Oh, the baseboards are about 8 inches tall, this one isn't complete, but gets a little bull nose ledge piece on top. My wife didn't want what they usually do ( a PM5 moulding over a board) because there are too many lines to catch dust and dirt, and they are a bugger to clean. Our outlets are in the baseboards too.
Rear porch ceiling going in. This is tongue and groove bead board, but we are putting it on upside down, so there are less lines. It will be stained.
Loving the dark brown soffits. Today I actually put the last piece of flashing on a window, and did a little dance. I just have some tidy work to do with two garage door frames, and the flashing is complete. Garage doors come Friday.
Very soon, you will no longer be looking at a foam house, and will start to see stucco and stone... We are excited...
I do so love this tile roof...
Have a great week...
