Floors, Doors and Cabinets

Richard, Clay and Brian really cranked it up this week on the internal carpentry associated with installing hardwood floors, doors and cabinets.
Here is a stack of red oak and rolls of underlay for the downstairs hardwood floor:

Richard suggested putting in a decorative feature at the entry way and here is Molly inspecting the outline:

And here is the result which creates a nice feature to welcome people to the house. The darker wood surround is mahogany and contrasts well with the red oak. I think the downstairs floor is looking great already and we are looking forward to seeing it finished:

Here's how the corridor (aka bowling alley) was looking while Clay continued to work his way systematically towards the rear of the house:

Here's Richard completing the section of floor in what will be the pantry:

Here's the kitchen and back door area nearing completion:

5:00pm and time for a beer!

Meanwhile, upstairs in Julia's studio, Brian is making good progress with the hickory hardwood floor:

The Hickory is finished and sealed at the factory which is why the surface already appears more polished than the red oak downstairs.

And here's Brian positioning and nailing the pieces into place and I have to say the result is looking great! Kudos to Richard for suggesting the hickory.

The cabinets also arrived this week and here they are stacked up in the garage:

Here's Clay unpacking and checking the cabinets for size and quality. Unfortunately we had a little bit of damage to one and incorrect sizing on another, so Richard is having to get those replaced/fixed. Clay is very tall so he doesn't fit on the picture.

Here's someone not so tall who does:

And then, most importantly, Julia was called in to give her blessing to the size and location of the kitchen island which she is shown discussing with Diane and Richard:

Brian has also been working on door installation. They come complete in the frames and so the installation process involves installing the door frames using cedar shims to get the spacing accurate and aligning the door to ensure it hangs correctly. Here's doors galore hanging out in the study awaiting installation; the style of internal door is called 'Coventry':

Here's Brian with the cedar shims still visible. Once the door is set correctly, then Brian seals the gaps with an insulating foam sealant. This is more for stability and sound proofing than insulation and is a nice extra touch.

A clearer view of the cedar shims. Once the door is set, the shims are trimmed (of course)!

The door furniture has also arrived - it's amazing how many door handles are required in a single house. The finish is oil rubbed bronze and can be seen below:

For various reasons the side garage door is over five feet off the ground and poses an interesting challenge for access. Luckily the local gym is selling off some old rope ladders and this seems like a good application for them:

Believe it or not, I am standing up!

Innovative suggestions for how to overcome this problem are welcome...

And finally, the big decision on internal house colour. Here's Jon with the two final candidates which look pretty much the same in the photo. The one to the left of the small black hole in the wall (electrical socket to be) is more of a greenish beige and on the right of the small black hole a slightly redder beige with both set against some of the samples for carpet, tile, cupboard door, floor materials and so on:

Excited to know the decision? Watch this space...