Blog de Puree

Yay for some real, visible progress!

The columns have been trimmed out and they look fabulous. (I think Paul even offered to hug the foreman he was so happy with them.) It also turns out they aren’t entirely decorative: there’s a joist directly below the island in the basement, and the columns are made of solid 4x4s, so they actually provide additional support for the upstairs. This, much to my chagrin, means Paul can add more bookshelves to his office which is directly above.

The wine cubbies have been added to the pantry niche. Cookbook shelves will go in the space above the cubbies and Bouche’s fancy drinking fountain and food dish will go below. (This niche has been the biggest question mark in the renovation process. I think we’ve modified the layout about 40 times based on changes that naturally occur during the renovation process.)

The flooring tiles have started to go down.

Next, the granite company came out to template for the counters. Then we shot over to the facility to discuss where the major cuts should take place in the slabs to get the most out of the grain pattern.

And lastly, since the dining room ceiling was dropped 2″ to match the kitchen, our chandelier which was already too long, needs to be shortened by about 4 inches. It appears that the chandelier is adjustable, but it’s not; the knob is purely decorative. So one of the rods has to be cut down AND rethreaded to lock into the other parts.

After exhausting every area lamp shop, none of which had rethreading capabilities, we searched for more industrial options. Paul found the Merrimac Tool Company, located right in town. While they don’t normally do projects like this, they were happy to help AND we got a cool tour of their facilities to boot! So while I’m not sure how often we’ll get to recommend them for all your machining needs (need some custom flanges? die-cut plexi?), they were real nice folks.

To wrap up, we’re 2-3 weeks away from seeing the granite installed and we’re also waiting on some replacement pieces from the cabinet company which could take 2 weeks. So a good portion of the final finish work may be on hold. But once those pieces come together, the appliances go in, we paint to our heart’s content and we’re done!