Work slowed down a bit at 234 State Street over the holidays, but of course a few things have happened since our last blog (which was quite a while ago). The trim installation is now complete, and the interior doors arrived and have been installed. We selected a white, three-panel shaker style door that goes well with the shaker style trim and will play nicely off the antique wood floors. Also, the drywall is now primed (using low VOC paint of course), and the clawfoot tub has been refinished in white, with silver feet. The yard and the basement have been cleaned up a bit, as well.
Work to refinish the existing flooring began this past week. Upstairs, the floors were sanded down to remove the brown paint, revealing rustic wood floors that are beautiful and in good shape. Downstairs, the existing flooring in the front bedroom has also been sanded down and is ready to be refinished. We had originially intended to save the remainder of the original downtairs wood floors and move them to the bedroom at the back of the house, but unfortunately, sanding them down revealed a significant number of stains that cannot be removed, so very little of this wood could be salvaged. So, we're in the market for about 100 square feet of additional salvaged wood flooring...
Meanwhile, all of the kitchen cabinets and appliances, as well as the clothes washer and dryer, have been delivered, and the kitchen cabinet uppers are now being installed. The stacked washer and dryer, which will be located in the downstairs bathroom, are Energy Star Certified, and the dryer is a condensing, ventless style, which is pretty neat.
We've also made some progress selecting the plumbing fixtures, as well as the bathroom furniture and finishes. We are going for LEED Certification points for Very High Efficiency plumbing fixtures. These are the parameters we have selected for the plumbing fixtures for this project:
- Faucets that meet the U.S. EPA Watersense specification and have a flow rate of 1.5 gallons per minute
- Showers with a flow rate of 1.5 gallons per minute
- Dual flush toilets with 1.6 gallons per flush used on the high flush option and .8 gallons per flush used on the low flush option
We've made some progress on our bathroom vanity and finish selections as well. In the upstairs master bathroom, a neat old dresser is being refinished and converted into a vanity cabinet by a local business in Easthampton. An ebony stain has been selected, and the matching mirror will be constructed using leftover remnants from the barnwood floors. For the shower, we ended up selecting a round corner walk-in shower with lovely sliding glass doors. It will be a spatious corner shower that is comfortable while maintaing an open feel and good circulation in the bathroom. We have also selected the material for the exterior shower walls, a 12 inch natural travertine stone tile that has been smoothed and polished. What we liked about this tile was that its tan-brown color is somewhat neutral in tone, yet has interesting natural variation, with occasional patches of brown and dark grey. Selecting a neutral (but not boring!) shower wall tile was important: It provides a soft compliment to the unique features in the bathroom, including the refurbished floors, vanity and clawfoot tub, and allows for a wide range of complimentary decorating schemes for the bathroom.
For the downtairs bathroom, we have purchased a pedestal sink in order to maintain an open feel and good circulation as you move from the washer/dryer area into the bathroom area. We found a great old mirror at the Holyoke Flea Market (Pioneer Valley Flea Market), that is, along with an old bookcase, being transformed into a unique vanity mirror and linen cabinet set. This work is being done at Sticks and Bricks, a neat business on Market Street in Northampton that salvages and transforms old furniture into uniqe pieces of art. To see some samples of their work, you can visit the store at 9 Market Street, or check out their blog at www.sticksandbricksnoho.com/ (follow the Photo Galleries links on the right hand side to see examples of finished pieces). Finally, we are right on the verge of selecting tile for the bath / tub area walls. The downtairs bath will have a smaller tile, but we are still working from the same design goals, seeking a tile scheme that features neutral, yet interesting earth tones that compliment the bathroom's unique pieces and allow the future homeowner to personalize the decorating scheme.
