The house on Plum Street is finished. Well, we still have some DIY things to wrap up, but for the most part, the house is done. With this post, we’ll share some images of the completed project. In subsequent posts, we will fill in the gaps between this and previous posts.

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These built-ins serve as the Master Closet, and they work well for us.

The Master Bath Vanity and medicine cabinet worked out to be both functional and beautiful.

At one point, this newel post was the tallest part of the house!

Our workload and family life kept us hopping this spring and summer, so I must apologize for not keeping this blog up to date on a regular basis. We did move back into the house in March and only a few boxes remain to be unpacked (mostly mine.) The remodeling has truly been a blessing for us; our lives have been enhanced in many ways by the finished project. And we now have a much better understanding of the remodeling experience since we have now seen it from all sides.

The ball is still rolling on Plum Street in Northfield.

We’ve occupied our new house all summer and we love it. It fits us so well the kids don’t want to leave home!

I now better understand the elation expressed by our clients after a few months in their new home, especially after a remodeling. Life is easier when the house doesn’t get in the way but instead facilitates everyday everything. The speed at which we get used to improvements is amazing. We are glad to have a good series of photos to remind us from whence we came.

Of course, owning a house means projects of all sizes. As you see in the photo above, I’ve been busy building a limestone retaining wall from the salvaged remains of a barn foundation. The patio will serve as a level place to sit and relax outdoors and to give homes to Mary’s many potted plants.

And, the gutters are on at last. Instead of the common K-style gutter, we used a more angular seamless gutter. These seem to complement the roof lines and the detailing of our soffits. I don’t think it is our fault, but we haven’t had rain since installing the gutters. Too bad: we’re looking forward to filling our new rain barrel.

The barrel came from the entrepreneurial spirit of Bruce Anderson, who has sold over 400 barrels modified for this purpose. We will use the water we catch for watering flowers and plantings along the south side of our lot. Hopefully this will help keep things green and minimize the runoff from our roof.

Landscaping will begin this fall. We’ve already relocated some hostas and peonies that had found temporary lodging in our garden. The lawn took some damage during construction, so it needs some serious help, too. The list goes on, but we are very pleased with our newly remodeled home.

Happy Easter!

As I transfered the recent photos from my camera, this image struck me as appropriate for the season. Of course, the cross-like image of the center stile and rail relates to Easter; the door itself has also gone through rebirth.

This door was salvaged from the Master Bedroom of our house before demolition. It had been cut to fit the opening and was quite crooked. Its frame could not be salvaged.

Mary and I were searching for a light fixture that would unify the space without too firmly defining where the table had to go in the room. Upon finding these paper globes, the plan emerged to transform the door into a chandelier.

The door looks and feels great in the space; it floats lightly overhead despite its apparent visual mass. Over the weekend, we extended the table to seat fifteen people and it responded well to the challenge. On a dimmer switch, the door-chandelier can be bright enough to work under or subtle enough for gentle conversation over a glass of wine.

Safe travels to our Easter guests and to yours.

And so is our clawfoot tub. More on that later…

With the help of family and friends, we made a major step toward moving into the house on Saturday. Special thanks to Jeanne, Carol, Bill, Mary Ellen, Sam, John and Jeanne for their help first in cleaning the new house, then in moving most of our stuff. Mary and I slept in the sun porch on Friday night on an air mattress, then in our new Master Bedroom on Saturday.

It was wonderful.

A door on a room has rarely meant more!

Back to the tub, which was actually installed on Wednesday. I like this picture because it makes the room look huge. Actually, the room feels large but is tight; I couldn’t have taken 4″ out of either dimension without dramatically impacting the sense of space. As you will notice is the photos that follow, my camera lens can’t capture the space without backing through a window!

Here is another shot, showing the toilet modestly tucked away behind the shower.

The master bath was the last to be painted due to the tile installation. The tile delayed the plumber, who delayed the painter, who delayed the electrician. So, we’re almost done with the bathroom. With luck, we may see the shower door and the electrician tomorrow. The vanity top will have to wait another week, since it couldn’t be fabricated until the cabinet was set, which had to be coordinated with the tile.

Thanks (and apologies) to the workers who have worked around our stuff this week. It is really great being home again, even with a few interior details remaining.

For a fun change, we had the inside of our daughter’s closet painted a crimson red. The color is used elsewhere, so we didn’t have to order another custom paint mix. She chose the room color of her previous bedroom (which is now an office) since she liked it so well. The closet is the perfect place to paint a fun, upbeat color that may become tiresome if it was a whole room. The yellow of the walls and the crimson of the closet work well together.

We chose to select our color palette right away instead of painting everything a neutral white and then painting again some other time. It is far easier to have the painter come in with a sprayer and paint all walls and ceilings the same (this is typical for production housing) but we knew it would be years before we got back around to painting again.

This is the bedroom across the hallway. It has beautiful south and west daylight from two windows. Part of the rationale for color choice was also the color of the trim work. Mark Schad, our painter, has been doing a very careful job with painting all the trim and we wanted the wall colors to show off the trim to its best advantage. Using pale colors may have been “safer” but as a color addict, various shades of white wasn’t going to work for me. As you can see, the final coat isn’t on the walls yet–perhaps today. One of the added benefits of this color is the way it pulls the color out of the wood floors. Together they just glow. (I’ll post a photo when the floors are unpapered and finished.)

Yesterday we saw the first door hardware installed on our new back door. I didn’t have my camera, but you’ll get to see it soon.

One bedroom is now completely painted; all that remains in that room is the lights, receptacles, and a closet shelf.

What still remains to be done inside or is underway:

The guys have been working hard to get things wrapped up, for which we are grateful.

I’ll remember my camera next time, honest.