Dining in style

Today the trim was started that I've been excited about since the first sketches were drawn. The oversize crown moulding was installed around the dining room window. Thus far the Boughen boys have done a great job on the tricky task. 

The crown molding and window trims are designed to work together seamlessly. Assembling the pieces is tricky and takes a great deal of skill and experience. The Boughen boys bring that to the table.

Down below the butterfly trim blends into the textures of the wainscot.

Bec finished the sample paint colors we will be using on the trim.

It is going to be pretty cool!

-grampa dan

Working in circles

I am constantly reminded that to build with curves adds greatly to the time it takes to pull it off. As we get into finishing the house it is definitely turning out to be true. The curved top windows require custom moldings. I can easily manufacture the moldings on our CNC router. I build on the files we created to build the window forms over a year ago. The windows were fashioned from these same files. 

All this works great in theory. But the reality is very different. The wall forms were styrofoam filled with concrete, cast in place. Things shifted slightly under the extreme pressure of the pour. Nominal thicknesses of lumber, thickness of drywall and the mud covering the seams, slight variations in the position of things installed and a hundred other factors now come into play as we do our best to put the final moldings into place. Brent has the challenging task of fitting the large crown moldings into place and making it look good. It is work that simply can't be rushed. 

Yesterday he put up the one inch thick backer boards as well as the window edge filler strips between the window frames and the final trim. Today he is beginning work on the final crown moldings. They are massive and install in sections with two layers, each three inches thick. They are looking very, very cool!

The top, back side of the molding has been hollowed out to accept the Heico LED lighting modules. They will add the sparkle to this area.

By the end of today it should look pretty cool.

-grampa dan

Making it fit perfectly

The countertop folks were in the house today measuring for the countertops. We opted for quartz composit counters for maximum durability and good looks without a lot of fuss.

The measuring of the kitchen (and other areas) was done two ways. The fellow used a modern comuterized instrument to digitize the entire area of the counter, measuring the wall every two inches along its length. This means the counters should fit perfectly - even if the wall isn't perfectly straight. He also used an old fashioned tape measure to double check everything - just to be sure he got it right.

Meanwhile I was in the shop routing the cornerblocks for the interior trim around the doors of the house. Butterflies is the theme to match the window trim and bridge details.

Next week the finish carpenters will be back. Every day we get a little closer to finishing things off. When that happens we get to move in at last!

-grampa dan