Saturday, June 27, 2009

Week 6

We had a lot of progress in week 6. Marin took over the project management and it was a big week for coordinating the various vendors and deliveries. This week alone we had all of our appliances delivered, the cabinets delivered, the floors delivered and installed, and the entire place plastered. It all worked out very well. Nice job Marin!




We went with 10" wide pumpkin pine floors with decorative nail heads to try to match the original floors on the second and third floor. It will be interesting to see what they look like after a sanding and 3 coats of poly.


Couldn't get a good shot of our kitchen as it was full of our cabinets, appliances, etc.

No progress in the bathroom as we're basically just waiting on the installation of the marble counter top and tub deck so they can start installing the radiant heat for the floors and the marble tile. Should see some more progress on the bathroom in week 7, I still have to go and make sure I like the slab they are going to cut it from.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Renovations Weeks 4 & 5

Week 4

This week was a productive week - the rough plumbing was completed, electrical work was etched out and (surprise), the kitchen floor was rebuilt. The rooms filled with debris from demo were cleared out so now we can "see" a bit more of the progress that was made. No pictures from this week as it just looks a bit cleaner than last weeks but we'll see a lot of progress in Week 5.

We're still surviving our nomad lifestyle. In fact, we've embraced it. Hampton now refers to Starbucks as the "muffin store". He also talks all about "Will's house". He's acclimated to the changes and we're having fun too.

Stay tuned for more updates next week!

Week 5

We've got walls. The blue board and plaster guys showed this week and got alll the blue board up and patched ready to be plastered. It's starting to come together...




They finally opened up the wall from the foyer into the family room. So this is what you see now when you walk into the house instead of the foyer being somewhat of a separate room.



A view from the front of the family room all the way to the back of the kitchen.


A view of the new kitchen space. They ripped out a full bathroom, a chimney, the back wall and the sub floor in this space.


Progress in the bathroom. The template for the tub deck is done, just waitng for installation.

Week 6 I will be handing of the project mgmt to Marin as I will be in Block Island for Block Island Race Week.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Renovations: Week 3

A dissapointing week on the renovation front. The electricians showed up on Monday and ran all the wires and Todd demo'd the wall covering the fireplace, though the bricks are still there that need to be removed. Other than that, nothing happened this week. The plumber was supposed to show up and do some work, but he only ended up meeting with Todd for an hour or so to go over the plans. I guess the good news is that the plumber felt that "there isn't much work to do here" and also saw no problem doing everything we had planned. That's good news as they are essentially redoing all of the plumbing for the house, venting and all.

Todd is also in the middle of a project renovating a gorgeous home on Monument Square, but he assured us that he would be at 5 Prescott full time from 6/8 onward. They goal is to have the rough inspection (framing, plumbing and electrical) signed off by the end of week 4.

We've got a lot of work to do and I will have to hand the reigns over to Marin in a couple of weeks as I am taking off for Block Island Race Week June 20 - 27th.

No pics this week. Not worth the effort. Hopefully next week's pictures will show a significant change

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Weekends on the Cape


During the renovations, we have been spending the weekdays at the Reilly's in Norwell and the weekends on the Cape. Saturday evening we headed to Hyannisport for dinner and Hampton had a blast running around on the 18th and practice greens. He already enjoys knocking the golf ball around with his toy clubs. Nothing wrong with getting him started early!


Friday, May 29, 2009

Renovations: Week 2

No major set backs this week. The dumpster didn't show up on Tuesday as planned, but otherwise the guys made a lot of progress for a short week.

We had to hire a crane to move the vanity from the first floor to the second. The staircase has a turn at the top that makes it impossible to move any large furniture upstairs. This is the fourth time we have had a crane move a piece of furniture through a second story window. Of course, this was the only time that things did not go smoothly. They damaged the copper flashing and decorative molding above our entry way and caused some minor damage to the vanity, but apparently their insurance company is going to take care of us.
As for progress...



The house is wide open from front to back. Todd's guys are standing in the kitchen about to knock out and frame in where a window used to be. The first floor has a lot of framing left. Most of this week's progress was made in the Master Bath on the second floor.

They have installed the pocket door. We used an original french door that was in our basement as the pocket door. It will slide behind the shower wall that is framed out in this picture.

Here is the tub frame for the drop in Airbath. The framed out piece on the far left of the deck is actually the bench that will be in the shower. The shower and the bath deck will overlap with a close enclosure

Just another shot from the Master Bedroom into the Master Bath. They have framed out where the glass block window will go in the back. Being in the city, our neighbors are literally RIGHT behind our house, so we went with an obscured glass block window to maintain privacy and let the light in.