Bennion Tudor Cottage Renovation: August 2009

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Day 113 -- The Painted House

With a few minor touch-ups left to go, the paint on the exterior of the house is largely finished. It pretty close to the picture Ed, our architect, drew up....Except our yard looks much nicer in that depiction. I really like the white and tan and I'm really happy with how they combined the two on the balcony area. I also like how the dark brown windows pop against the white trim. I think it looks great! Cody from Pella was right :)

The electricians also came to put on some finishing touches. I especially like the canned lighting in the mudroom area. We are still on track to have the floors finished this weekend and then a cleaning crew will be here on Monday to wash windows, dust, etc.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Day 112 -- Still Painting

They're still working on the exterior paint. Today, they started painting the white trim. I'm thinking it will be another day or two to finish, though. They'll be starting the final coats on the main floor hardwood flooring tomorrow. They've scheduled a cleaning crew to come in on Monday to do a deep clean. They may have a few little things to do here and there after that, but for the most part, they'll be done.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Day 110 -- And There Was Light, And It Was Good

The electricians came and installed the switches, plugs, plates, bulbs smoke detectors and canned light trim in most of the house. It's amazing how different it feels with a bit of lighting. Here is a picture of the canned lights on the weird angles in our bedroom. I love the mini canned lights in the dormer areas.

Here are a couple shots of the closet, stairway and the new canned lighting in our front room. Can't wait to try this out in the dark tonight.

They also started working on painting the exterior. They've painted on the tan color. The sun in these photos kind of washes it out. It's also a lot lighter than I thought it would be. Hopefully, I'll get some better pics when the white trim is on. Looks like they had to putty a lot of holes. I'm guessing they'll put on another coat tomorrow. We're getting there, though.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Day 106 -- Ready To Paint?

During the past couple days, they have concentrated on getting the exterior ready for paint. They have finished the soffit on the front porch as well as under the eaves in the front.

They're also starting to do some of the final little things on the list. Yesterday, the Pella window guy came to put on all the cranks and screens. Today, the heating and AC folks came by to install the new AC They also installed some vent covers as well as the thermostat. It'll be nice to have a heater and AC specifically for the upstairs.

They are ready for paint on the exterior and should be starting tomorrow! We're still on track to having them finished with their contract by next weekend.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Day 103 -- Siding The Balcony

Today they worked on getting the exterior shakes, trim and soffit finished on the balcony area. We're using the same fiber cement board shakes as on the dormers all around the door as well as the inside of the balcony. We're also putting fiber cement board surrounding the posts to give it a similar finish. Once it's all painted, it's going to look great.

You can also tell from the picture to the right that they put up the bricks above the door again. This time, it looks a lot better.

Here's a better look at the posts and the inside of the balcony.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Day 98 - Paint

The paint is on! It feels a million times better to have the main floor back to the state it was before we started this whole thing. The front room and dining room got the same colors that we had on them before. The office was white before we started so we decided to give it a nice grey-green color. It looks great with the new crown molding and walnut floors. They're turning their attention to the exterior now. It looks like we'll be done with the contract with DAYT in around a week to a week and a half. At that point, we'll put the final coat on the floors and then we can move furniture back in. Then we'll finish the upstairs on our own or contract out work ourselves.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Day 97 -- What The Crap Is A Corbel?

This is a corbel. It supports the roof that is extended out over the house. We have two on the porch and one on each side of the house. The two on the sides are decorative. The two on the porch will help the porch overhang from collapsing under the weight of the snow in the winter. They had to be tied into the concrete bond beam way back toward the back of the entryway. Since they should have been done during framing, it was quite a job to get back in there to tie them in. Lucky these guys are pros and were able to figure it out.

The decking was also put in on the balcony. It's got a lot of dust on it now, so I'll get a better pic later. Aside from that, the last two days have been filled with painting the interior. We should have some nice pictures tomorrow of a finished-looking main floor. I can't even believe it myself.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Day 93 -- Prepping For Paint

The main floor is definitely getting there. Two days ago, they put in the base boards and crown molding. The base boards looked awesome, but unfortunately, they put in the wrong sized corner blocks for the size of the molding. They were really great about taking it down and doing it again, even though it put us back a day or two. Here's a before and after of the molding. I was tempted to just let it go in the interest of moving forward, but Brian talked me into having them change it. Now I'm really glad he did.

They also put crown molding in the office and the front entryway which was an nice bonus we weren't expecting. Today they started prepping for paint. They masked off the windows and floor and started to prime everything that needed it. I have to say, it feels sooo much better already. I can't wait until the color goes back on the walls.

Here are a few more views of the office, dining room and hallway.

Finally, something we're not quite sure how to feel about yet: the fireplace. When we moved in, it was white. We spent hours and hours sanding and stripping it so we could refinish it. It looked nice with the oak floors, but with the new walnut and with our dark furniture, it was just going to look out of place, so.....back to white it is. It is official, everything we did ourselves to the main floor has now been totally undone. I think I'm gonna cry...don't know if it's for joy or sadness.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Day 92 -- Damsel In Distress

Once upon a time, there was a lovely young queen who ruled over all Benniondom. We'll call her Jennyvieve. One evening, Jennyvieve decided to climb to the top of her castle and look upon her kingdom from the highest balcony. As she stepped onto the balcony, some evil force in the land -- obviously jealous of Jennyvieve's beauty and charm -- sent a gust of wind and blew the balcony door shut...SLAM!!! The castle was going through major repairs and, lo, the balcony door had no handle from the outside. No one was inside apart from the little princess happily watching Dragon Tales way down in the dungeon. Jennyvieve was trapped...in her dressing gown. She thought about climbing down the wall, but alas, there was no trellis. If only her hair was long enough to tie off and climb down. Suddenly, some unknown duke and duchess appeared galloping up the road on their trusty steed named "BMW". They stopped in front of the castle to take in the view of the kingdom...."Excuse me!!! Could you help me?!?!" cried Jennyvieve. Jennyvieve then explained her dilemma and the duke and duchess were most gracious in their willingness to help. Jennyvieve then explained their first test: how to get past the ferocious beast guarding the castle. "Just say 'Hi, Bea!' and the beast will let you past." She then described the second test they would have to face: "Find the silver treasure which will gain you access to the back door. You will then be free to come to the tallest tower and rescue me." After a long and nervous wait, the duke and duchess were able to defeat both tests and strode up to the balcony to rescue the most grateful queen.

The picture above was so incredibly accurate and complete, that I had to include it. LOL.

And that is the circus that is my life.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Day 90 -- Why Walnut?

We got home today and were able to explore the new floors. I am really happy we decided to go with walnut. We went with walnut because we liked the darker color as a whole for one, but what we really love is the variation in colors in each plank. Here is a picture taken with the flash off. This doesn't really show the richness or depth, but it illustrates the variation in colors pretty well.

Here are a few more perspectives: looking from the kitchen into the bathroom, looking into the dining room from the front room, and looking into the office, respectively.

I think Izzypop thinks we just built her a dance studio. A ballerina bar and a wall of mirrors would look great along that far wall.

The last item for today is picking the Trex Decking color for the balcony area. The first color shown is Brasilia Espresso, the second is Brasilia Cayenne, the third is Accents Madeira. The goal here is to, in effect, extend the walnut flooring (which will eventually also be upstairs) out onto the deck

area. The picture doesn't really do the colors justice. I'm leaning toward the first. The second looks pretty good, but it seems to be a little to red for my taste. The third is pretty popular, but it has almost a purple tint to it which I'm not a fan of. It also has a wood texture to it, which I'm not too sure of either. It's hard to tell from the picture here, but the espresso has a wood grain look to it, but it is smooth. It's also pretty dark, which is similar to the floors when you look at them as a whole. What do you guys think?

Monday, August 3, 2009

Day 89 -- OMH

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the OMG acronym. Well, being a proud member of and participant in the Utah LDS culture, I elect to use OMH ("OH, MY HECK!!!").

OMH, I love the new floors! You'll have to excuse the lame pictures tonight. The floors are still wet and I can't walk on them until tomorrow morning. I took one from the landing and the other one was taken by standing on my tiptoes and reaching my arm through an open window :).

The fumes are pretty bad, though, so in the interest of our health, we're packing up and moving to Grandpa's house tonight. Hopefully more pics to come tomorrow.

Bennion Tudor Cottage Renovation