Interior Changes - Week 22

This latter part of this week saw a couple more interior features installed.

The first is the kitchen cabinets. These are made of maple and will have cylindrical pulls. Now that these are being installed, the group making the granite countertops can field measure and start fabrication. The granite material is called Verde Butterfly which is a black with greenish blue particles scattered throughout. On the wall behind the granite will be an off-white tile inset with small blue and stainless tile panels. The installation of the kitchen appliances will be done near the end of the job.

The most obvious addition this week is the stair and rails on Friday. The stair is made of metal painted black and will have oak treads and a maple rail cap. The final run of the stair will have open risers. These are in the middle of the floor plan and can be seen from almost any point in the house. The balcony rails match the stair and when installed next week should change the character of the living room and upstairs den.

Building complex objects are best done in the shop where the conditions and equipment are better. It is much more likely to maintain expected tolerances for items like stairs, cabinets, and countertops. Each run of these stairs was done with the rails welded onto the stringer.

The smallest dimension of the stair was just a bit larger than the 36" front door. We had known this since the design was worked out with the fabricator. To minimize the amount of work required at the site, the contractor figured out another way to get them in the house - removal of a bedroom window sash on the first floor. It took 3 or 4 guys to manhandle it from the front yard and down the hall. Too bad I don't have a picture.

This coming week will see more of the bathroom tile and wood trim installed. All of this work is making things look real. As far as decision-making goes, the only things Carrie and I have left to decide are the choice of paint colors, the final design of the front door "trellis", and the amount of landscape/hardscapes to install before things are finished.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uklars/sets/72157623618458213/