Casings, Trim, Cabinets, Closets, Stairs, and Painting

The house was a hive of activity this week as the April closing date approaches and there is still plenty to do. The window casings, sills, doors and window trim, stairs, and cabinets were all in play and needed to be completed before the interior decorators showed up to begin painting the inside.

Here's Molly inspecting the trim material and locations:

And here's another stack ready to go including the shelving for the closets:

First the window casings were installed including the sills and here's how they look at that stage:

Then the trim is applied to the outside:

Here's Richard applying the trim to the pantry door in the kitchen:

More maple cabinets were delivered this week and installed in the master bathroom, 2nd bathroom room and the downstairs half-bath. The cabinets will have a rustic slate laminate counter top that goes well with the maple colour/texture.

The laundry room has white cabinets and the counter top will be a plainer soapstone laminate:

The shelving for the closets was also completed. Here's the closet for the master which is bigger than my boyhood bedroom:

Here's Richard working on the stairs which involved installing the tread, risers, baluster, newel post, handrails and trim.

Nice job Richard!
And then the painters moved in:

First the cabinets and floors had to be protected and the windows masked off, and then the primer could be applied. Here's the kitchen:

The doors were all removed and placed, concertina style, in the middle of the room to better facilitate painting:

The paint is sprayed on to create a smooth finish, particularly desirable for the trim and doors. This results in a fine white mist permeating the house and is why all the painters wore protective gear and breathing masks; I just tried to hold my breath!

For those of you following the decision process, we opted for the slightly greener beige over the slightly redder beige for the final main wall colour. If you want to see the two options again, take a look at the previous post.

While the painters moved inside, Brian moved outside and began the slow, laborious process of filling in the spaces around the external foundations in preparation for the porch and deck to be be built along with Molly's play area. The proximity of the trees at the back of the house results in the rock filler having to be deposited the old fashioned way with a wheelbarrow and shovel:

Brian is digging the hole where the water pump will be that will take the roof run-off water back up to the street. Again this is to protect the oak trees from excessive water run-off. It's a good job we like the trees because they have created quite a bit more work.

Once they are done with the back, Brian and team will need to begin filling the moat protecting the front door so the porch can be built. At that point we will be able to dispense with the drawbridge:

That's all for now!