Blog de Puree

While I was out on a wild goose chase for wood filler that closely matched the color of our trim to fill in the nail holes, Randye was getting things done. After decades of exposure to dusty 2x4s and drywall, the exposed chimney was in need of some TLC. Wielding a scrub brush and a [...]

Nothing to report today. Yesterday, one contractor was here, finishing up the baseboards, the shelves by the pantry and a few other random trim tidbits. At the end of the day, Randye and I tackled some of the dust on the floors so we can start to feel like it’s our house again. We are [...]

It was a glorious day on Sunday, no doubt, one of the nicest days this fall. Randye and I decided to check out the Topsfield Fair. Established in 1818, it’s America’s oldest agricultural fair and highlights the best of Essex County’s resident’s agriculture accomplishments. We started in the flower building and saw some gorgeous flower [...]

Friday was more trim, trim, trim work, but with the exception of baseboards, it’s pretty much done. And . . . the hood is up! (It’s not wired up yet, but it’s there.) It hangs a little lower than we had pictured (I never was good at math), but it’s high enough over the range [...]

So, Thursday was a rough day. The morning progressed uneventfully. Our gorgeous hardware started to get installed. Yay! But shortly after lunch, the contractor decided he wanted to confirm the granite company’s measurements (a week after they took them). Well, better safe than sorry. But it was revealed that we’d likely have a 1/4″ gap [...]

This past Sunday was the Textile River Regatta in Lowell, MA, sponsored by my rowing club, the Merrimack River Rowing Association. It was also the one race all season where I raced against other lightweight rowers (165 pounds or less) and didn’t have to worry about getting smoked by heavyweight masters scullers. But I didn’t [...]

Nothing major to report today. Only one of the contractors showed up and he worked on more of the trim around the column areas to the main entry of the kitchen from the hallway. We also wrapped up a frustrating saga with Home Depot trying to get some unfinished oak transition strips that cover the [...]

More finish work today. The foreman, who has proven himself to be a master finish carpenter, has been dazzling us with his skill, creating columns and beautiful trim that Randye and I dreamt about. And before our eyes, the kitchen of our dreams is starting to come together. Today, we discovered shelves in our cabinets, [...]

We’re into week 7 of the kitchen renovation, and today was all about detail work and flooring. Specifically, trim and tiles. The most rewarding part about today’s work was the installation of the trim that Randye spent six hours stripping the paint from and sanding the other weekend. She used copious amounts of caustic paint [...]