The living room/ dining room

Work on the bookshelves should be finished by the end of the day today along with most of the crown molding in the room and I think it is all elegant.









The window seat above opens to provide a small storage place.

The pantry

Work on the pantry started this week. Dan made the upper shelves from leftover beech flooring. I wanted shelves eight inches wide to have things stored on them mostly visible so Dan pieced together the flooring to make the elegant shelving and made the curved brackets to hold them up. The workmanship and detail is completely charming. Next comes a wooden countertop and then more wide shelving under that. One wall next to the door has no shelf space, instead there will be two wooden rods to hold ironed tablecloths.

Friday progress

Jim and Jeremy started the bookshelves today.

The week in Harvey, Michigan

Although our mailing address at the new house will be Marquette, we are located in Harvey, Chocolay Township, Marquette County, Michigan. Harvey is named for Charles T. Harvey who designed and built the first Soo Locks at Sault St. Marie in the eastern part of the upper peninsula. You can read about Mr. Harvey and the locks at this site: http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1992/5/1992_5_26.shtml

Work continues on trim around windows and doors and baseboards. Craig is getting ready to start the stairway from the first to second floor, we have all the pieces on site ready to be put together like a big beautiful puzzle.






Island lighting in the kitchen is in, the carbon filament bulbs that shipped with the lights were 240V and do not work well in a 120V environment but I have found another source for the bulbs and should have the right look in a week or so.




Craig and the first step in the new stairwell, he has a lot of detail to work out yet but sometime next week we may see the beginning of the new stairs.





Jim Hendrickson, our lead carpenter, made this model of how the bookshelves and window trim will come together. This is at the east end of the dining room and the window wells will provide either a place to sit or a lovely site for lucky house plants. There will be four bookshelves and three window seats/plant platforms.




Rich, our plumber from Trudell Plumbing, fabricating and installing heat vents in the bookshelf/window seat at the west end of the living room.







Larry, our other BFF from Trudell Plumbing, installing the faucets in the guest bath.




The half bath which is just off the mudroom and shares the same gray slate tile as the mudroom.

Master bath

Quetzal green marble for the countertop, two sinks, two mirrored cabinets, waiting for the plumber to put in the faucets.

Guest bath

This is the guest bathroom on the first floor with the cast iron sink in place. It is difficult to photograph the bathrooms, they look better than the photos show.








With the mirror installed.



There is a white tiled shower opposite the sink and toilet, yesterday I ordered the glass surround and door for this shower and the one in the master bath on the second floor.

the kitchen

Today the countertop, refrigerator,microwave, dishwasher and cook top were delivered. We went with Bosch for the induction cooktop, dishwasher, oven and microwave and a Jenn Air for the frig. We got the wrong oven, in white rather than stainless, and will have to wait for a replacement. Still to go, trim for the windows, hanging lights over the island, waiting for plumbers and electricians to hook up the dishwasher and the oven and cooktop, and shelving for the pantry. There are two sinks, one deep one in the island and a double sink to the right of the dishwasher, under a window which looks out to the barn.

Downstairs bathroom

The bathroom in the basement is a really pretty room, light and clean and spacious, and is close to being finished, just the lights on each side of the mirror and the trim for the tile.








This picture is of the finished wood floor before it got covered over with paper, just to give an idea of how lovely it is, the color is a warm honey color, we just love it.



Tomorrow is a big day, the kitchen appliances and countertop will be installed. I think I will pack a lunch and go for the day!

The new year

The wood flooring has been finished and covered with protective paper. The carpenters are hanging doors, putting up trim around the doors and windows and the baseboards and in the basement Tony toils away painting, painting, painting the trim.




Jim hanging a door to the mudroom.





Jeremy is working on the trim in Pete's study.





Dan putting on the baseboard in an upstairs bedroom.





Tony is as patient a painter as I have ever encountered.





Just a small part of the no telling how many hundred feet of trim Tony has painted.