Timberframe Home

Kitchen Island Update

2012-01-24T07:49:00.000-08:00

Not a great shot with my iPhone but here is a photo of the island with new black painted doors and the toe kick in place (not painted yet!)

My new cabinet doors for the rest of the kitchen are in production and I should have them by mid-February.

Kitchen Update - New Cabinet Doors

2012-01-04T05:26:00.000-08:00

We are busy bees this winter! There are a lot of projects we want to get done and one of them has been brewing in my head for about a year now. The beauty of my IKEA kitchen, besides the cost, is that you can easily give your kitchen an update by buying new doors.

I had originally bought a style called Fagerland which I then painted. And I was lazy and painted in latex rather than oil. So it just has not held up well and our kitchen is looking decidedly shabby. Not at all chic.

So I needed to find another IKEA door that was paint-able and when I Googled that this kitchen was the first I found. They used Tidalholm style doors and you can not tell this is an IKEA kitchen!
It's just gorgeous:

Old Farm House with IKEA painted cabinets

Shot of the Domsjo sink - same one as I have!


This is another kitchen I found online that used Tidalholm Painted Cabinets as well - and what I love about this kitchen is the toe kick. I will be copying that!

Amazing. However, since I dragged my feet on this IKEA has since discontinued the Tidalholm door style. PULL MY HAIR OUT. sigh. And then through the lifesaving miracle of the internet I found this American company in North Dakota that makes CUSTOM doors for IKEA cabinets. Amazing! They are Scherr's Cabinet and Doors, INC in Minot, North Dakota.

So I browsed their web site and found this simple shaker door style. And they gave me a quote with the doors pre-primed and ready for me to paint! I would have had them paint them, but they use Sherwin Williams Paints and I couldn't risk trying to translate my Benjamin Moore Cameo White. Can you imagine ordering it all having it arrive and having the color be off? So I will save myself some money and just paint them myself in OIL.

I am keeping the Fagerland Doors on our center island and painting the center island a dark antique black. Have to research that color today!
Here is a link to my previous post on my kitchen so you can see it as it is before:
Kitchen Today (Before New Cabinets)

New Bath Vanities

2012-01-03T11:22:00.000-08:00

So excited! I just ordered two new bath vanities for our master bathroom! When we built the house on our small budget we went with two pedestal sinks in our bathroom. They are beautiful Bancroft Kohler Pedestal sinks, but there is NO storage. And after 5 years it was really driving me nuts.

We have only 63 inches in which to put a vanity there and as most double vanities are 72 inches wide I was facing a problem. But then I found Martha Stewart's line at Home Depot and fell in love with these - and bought two of them! At 30" wide we are good to go!

There will be a domino effect as I will have to re-paint our bathroom . . . . stay tuned.

Finishing the Basement

2011-12-28T07:44:00.001-08:00

We have been in our house 5 years this month! And we still have so much work to do. But 2012 is the year we are moving forward and finishing the basement. yahoo! When we built the house we did radiant heat down in the basement with this in mind.

So here is the layout so far:On Wednesday we have a builder coming to start with some quotes!

Movie Night on the Porch

2011-07-03T05:39:00.000-07:00

A lovely quiet summer night at home last night. Started the evening with the kid's dinner on the porch and some of their tv programs off of iTunes -and then once they were tucked in bed we took over :-) It was cool enough last night to make a fire in the fireplace for a little warmth. Heaven!

Expedit and my love of IKEA

2011-06-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

Benita of Chez Larsson inspired this post today. Which required a room clean up. Which was needed anyway!

She asked for shots of people's Expedit book case. We use ours in the den/tv room. Also known as the playroom. Our entire den is IKEA. With small children you just can't beat it. That sofa is SO abused and the slip cover has seen better days, but I don't care. I can go to IKEA and buy a new slip cover for nothing! Anyway - we did a complete IKEA over haul on this room in an effort to re-claim it a bit from the kids. So the Expedit is their book case. Holds their toys and books. We went with the black, which I do like, but it needs major dusting at least once a week!

Onto photos of this much used room in our house:

You can see my corner office in this shot, and Benita's post is up on my screen :-)

A shot of our IKEA Hemnes Entertainment center with the kids well used Pottery Barn chairs:

And the much abused IKEA sofa:

A bit of dark shot. No flash on that camera! Thank you Benita for inspiring my post!

Garden Work

2011-05-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

Finally did some proper garden edging for my front bed! Smilla & Kip were my helpful companions. Oh and John too :-)
The Before:

The helpful Kip:

The not so helpful Smilla. She likes to dig. Where I do not want her digging. Side note: See that fluff of hair about to come off of her head? That's what's all over my house. Joy.

The After:

Shot from the field:

Shot of the back of the house from the lower field:

Now if we can just have some warm sunny weather! Please!

Light Shrimp Dinner

2011-04-19T05:49:00.000-07:00

I made one of my favorite easy week night dinners last night:
Roasted Shrimp with Rosemary and Thyme
You can use any fresh herbs, you start with 5 tablespoons of olive oil, the herbs and some salt and pepper ( I use Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Seasonings: Original Mixed-Up Salt) and roast that in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes or so

Let that cool a bit and then add the shrimp (I also add shallots in!) Toss to coat with the herbs and oil
Pop it back in the oven and cook the shrimp for another 10 minutes, then let cool slightly and add a tablespoon of white wine vinegar, toss and serve over white rice with a green salad.

Easy, healthy & delicious!

Full recipe is here on the Fine Cooking website:
Roasted Shrimp with Rosemary and Thyme

Spring means work

2011-04-18T04:35:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was beautiful here - sunny - and 62 degrees, which felt warm to me! I had a busy day of spring clean up which included painting and cleaning barn windows. 1 down only 4 more to go! Thankfully these windows pop out so I can put them on a sawhorse and really clean and paint. Today the kids and I will get more flowers to plant!

And once I had painted that one barn window I decided to give a fresh coat to this old church pew that I bought up in Maine years before we built our house. It's that domino effect. Now the bench looks lovely and crisp and the rest of the front porch needs some serious elbow grease!

Spring

2011-04-17T06:43:00.000-07:00

Long time - no post! Spring is slowly becoming present here in New England. It was a long, cold winter - and spring is a chilly one this year. I look forward to some real warmth!
So it's nice to bring a bit of inside.
I am terrible at keeping house plants alive, so I had this high bush Bluberry branches to cheer me all winter. I love the architecural feel of the branches.
I love my little glass wall vase - allows a splash of spring in the downstairs bath :-)
Spring also makes me a year older. sigh. Had a lovely family dinner party last night given by my husband to celebrate!

New Kitchen Work

2010-01-02T05:59:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Between Christmas and New Years we finally worked on our kitchen again. We made a surround for the Aga - trying to emulate the feel of a classic country English kitchen. And finally put a working hood vent over the stove, which is built into the surround. We bought a Bosch hood:

It was the only one we could find with the controls on the bottom and not on the front.

Now on to the photos.

The inspiration:

The before:

In progress:

And the final product!

So now all we have left to do on the kitchen is to build a book case for my cookbooks in that space to the left of the stove, make some roller blinds for the window - repaint the island and the bench in the nook and have cushions made. No problem. Check back with me in a year at this rate! The above only took us 3 years to get to!

Summer Fun on the Deck

2009-08-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

I just can't take indoor photos or work inside the house! We finally are having a nice stretch of summer here. I have a loooong list of interior work to do, but that can wait till the fall/winter!

Summer

2009-07-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

Nothing to do with our house - but just thought I would share some photos that are the essence of summer here in New England! My twins with their godparent's daughters:

Wall Graphics

2009-02-28T04:35:00.000-08:00

I first discovered these poking about on Etsy. If you do a search on wall graphics a ton of sellers come up. I found this company I think through Domino Magazine: Blik

And I purchased their Re-Stik Undersea set for the kid's bathroom. Most of their bathroom is painted a crisp white, but the wall that their sink is on is a fun, bright turquoise. Actually Benjamin Moore's "Peacock Feathers". So here are some shots of the wall graphics. Hard to take photos in their little bathroom!

I also did some wall graphics in their play room, but have not taken any photos yet. Probably because that room is almost always messy! These graphics are so fun and whimsical and best of all - easy and not permanent :-)
Here is Blik's web site:
Blik Wall Graphics Web Site

Smilla!

2009-02-21T16:32:00.000-08:00

We have a new member of our family. Bring on the dog hair and accidents on the rug. We are in love with her. Meet Smilla:

Passed out.

Heaven!

Portland Picks

2009-02-18T05:26:00.000-08:00

I love crisp simple decor and then splashes of color with pillows or bedding. And this bedding company in Portland Oregon is just beautiful:

Click here for their web site: Plover Organics

The lovely city of Portland also has this fantastic lighting company. I still need lights for the downstairs bath. I love this one:

Their web site: School House Electric

Images of home

2009-02-13T18:28:00.001-08:00

I am very glad that all the snow has melted, but I am still enjoying the warm glow of our house in the winter. I was playing with the settings on my camera tonight and trying to catch the candle light.

And this was the kids' first night in their new room. I just had to sneak up and take photos to try and capture the coziness of it!

The Kids' Bedroom!

2009-02-12T10:58:00.001-08:00

I would have given anything for beds like these when I was a kid - I guess that's what we do when we become parents. Give our kids things we would have loved as kids. Let's us relive it all to a degree!

So this project has taken my brilliant husband a month of weekends to complete. I am beyond impressed with his carpentry skills and am now greedily compiling a list of other things I want him to build . . .

Exterior Photos

2009-02-11T17:16:00.000-08:00

Here are some exterior shots. Our neighbors gave us their play set- thank you! And A & P LOVE it. I look forward to warm days - although we have played on it in the snow too!

Since we sit in the middle of the Connecticut woods and have 17 acres around us - there are some shots of the wildlife we see all the time. We put cracked corn out for the deer and turkeys and one day we saw a Bob Cat kill a squirrel right outside our kitchen window. The Bob Cat was beautiful, but disappeared too fast into the woods for a photo.

The Deck

2009-02-11T17:09:00.001-08:00

We built our deck this past Summer of 2008. We have put so much blood, sweat and tears into this house. And on this project our good friend, Peter White, did too. Thanks Peter!! I was the official "stainer" of the deck. Otherwise I just kept the kids out of the way. We still have a little to finish up this spring - but it is SUCH heaven having this space. I am really, really looking forward to Spring, Summer & Fall!

Screened in Porch with Fireplace

2009-02-11T17:01:00.000-08:00

Shots of our screened in porch - heaven for the kid's lunches and our annual midsummer dinner!

Kitchen

2009-02-11T16:57:00.000-08:00

I have painted more since I took these - and there is still the backsplash to do . . . someday! 4 year old twins impede the progress :-)

Dining Room Area

2009-02-11T16:53:00.000-08:00

A million years since my last post!

2009-02-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

We have been in for two years now and still have so many projects! We are just finishing building some Scandinavian style wall beds for the kids - I will post a photo when done!

For now I will just post some recent interior photos.

LIVING ROOM SHOTS:

I will post more - my bath is running :-)

Kitchen Progress

2006-08-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

We have a big bank inspection today- rough electrical is all in and plumbing is 1/2 way there. Most of the Ikea Kitchen cabinets are put together - thanks for your help Mom & Dad!! I started placing them in the kitchen area yesterday to work on the layout. Here are some shots:

The area on the left is my pantry and then the Fridge will go next to that. Stove will go along the wall there. I am not at this point doing any upper cabinets. Might do some open shelving. I have to live in it and ponder!

You can see a painted door next to the window in the above shot. I think I might go with a lighter grey/green. Maybe Benjamin Moore's Saybrook Sage. Have to do a test this weekend.

The above shot is looking down from our bedroom. There will be a wall there, it's just not in yet! But gave me a perfect view down on the mess.

So much to do. Wish I had 20 pairs of hands!

Progress

2006-08-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

We are getting closer and closer! Here are some current shots:

The garage has been stained the color we will use.

This is where the raised terrace will be connecting to the screened in porch and outside fireplace that you can see on the right. Bring on those chilly fall evenings!

Another full view of the chimney

Another side shot of the house from the lower field.

Inside the floors are all down, interior walls are framed and drywalled - still need to be taped etc; Most of the electrical is done, plumbing is next. Our new fridge and washer and dryer was delivered this past weekend - and our Ikea kitchen cabinets are being assembled.

So more photos to come!

Some walls up - some floors down!

2006-06-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

John just finished laying the radiant heat in 1/2 of the upstairs. That's going to be so nice and toasty this winter!! So some walls are up and drywalled and some of our beautiful varying width pine floors are down. Now I am starting to look at everything in terms of how much painting (inside and out!) and floor tung oiling we have to do. ugh. Anyone want to babysit?????

Getting there!

2006-06-01T04:23:00.000-07:00

It really is starting to look like a house! The second floor has its sub floor so that we can actually walk around up there and get the feel of what it will be like. The stone masons are starting to put the stone on the chimney. There were about 6 of them cutting rock yesterday - looked like a Siberian prison force chipping rock!

Here are some recent interior photos. Oh - and we have a barn swallow nesting in the roof rafters inside. Not sure what we are going to do about it!! We already evicted one, but I think this one has already laid its eggs. Guess we will have to wait till they fly the nest.

View towards our bedroom and fireplace

cool windows on one side of our bedroom

A and P's room. This is where the bird is nesting.

Windows and a Roof!

2006-05-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

The weather is finally cooperating and the roof is going on. We are using Weathered Wood by Certainteed. The windows are double hung divided lights by Marvin. We did clad on the outside as I didn't see either of us wanting to re-paint windows in a few years.

Shed dormers above the kitchen lean-to.

Kitchen windows

The outside fireplace that will be on our screened in porch. French doors will be on both sides of the fireplace.

A washed out shot of the raised hearth fireplace inside. Openings for the french doors are the blinding bright spots! But look at that beautiful beamed ceiling we will have!!

Moving along!

2006-04-18T05:01:00.000-07:00

The lovely purple dry wall. Must have been an Easter special!

Connecticut Light & Power is coming today, the fireplace is steaming along and the roof shingles should start towards the end of this week. More photos to come!

Progress

2006-03-31T10:58:00.000-08:00

Here is how far we are with the house! In the next two weeks things will really
speed up. Can't wait!

2nd Day of the Raising!

2006-02-21T17:40:00.000-08:00

First roof truss for the main house being flown in

North roof truss almost set

John driving in the lag bolts for the rafters

North rafter set in place and bolted

Perlins being set in the timber rafters

Bill topping off the house frame!

Setting the third roof truss and perlins. Another great day of progress!

Barn Raising!

2006-02-20T17:26:00.000-08:00

The timber raising was today. It was a beautiful cold crisp day. Here are some shots of it all. The first is a shot of the last of the snow that put our raising off by a week.

The first of the timberframe beams arriving

Country Carpenter's big HIAB crane starting to unload

First load landing on the house deck

John driving one of the first trunnels (wooden dowels) into the main house lower frame

The first timbers raised - starting with the garage barn

Garage roof rafters staged for raising

A shot inside the garage frame

Another shot of the garage frame almost complete

Roof rafters for the garage start to take shape!

Topping off!

The topping off ceremony (Thanks Bill) To learn more about this tradition from Scandinavia click here!

The garage timberframe structure is done

First bay of the main house floor joists in place

Garage view of house framing progress

Bill driving nails the traditional way (no compressed air...)

John showing how a hammer works

A solid days work - thanks Country Carpenters - and to Paul and Peg for driving down all the way from Boston as our official spectators!

The last shot of the day. The crew did an amazing amount of work for one day!! More to come tomorrow.

Shots of the Foundation

2006-02-14T04:43:00.000-08:00

Finally - I am uploading recent shots of our progress! If you want to see a larger view you can click on the photos.

Looking up at the house!

The foundation/basement. Can't wait for that big playroom!

The bump out for the fireplace

The footings for the screened in porch and outside fireplace!

And the floor beams have begun.

And then the blizzard hit. So the timber frame raising has been delayed until next week. I knew it couldn't go perfectly smoothly! ah well!

An even bigger hole

2006-01-24T18:36:00.000-08:00

They should be pouring the foundation tomorrow. Here are pictures from the last few days!

Foundation Has Begun!

2006-01-20T06:22:00.000-08:00

We had a small delay due to the torrential rain we had, but now we are back on track and the big hole has begun:

Let's just say we are very grateful for the mild winter we have had so far!!

We closed on our Construction Loan!

2006-01-13T15:08:00.000-08:00

What a big day! My hand hurts from signing my name so many times. That's all John and I did for an hour and a half with our lawyer! So here is to 30 years of debt!!! Wahhhhooooooo!

We walked down to the house site today to double check the placing of the house as the surveyors were coming to mark it. It was such a gorgeous morning and it blows me away that we will be surrounded by this beauty. I can't wait to have our first morning there.

And shots of the driveway:

Wahooo!

2006-01-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

It is finally all beginning. After 7 years of planning and dreaming we are closing on our construction loan next Friday. Our timberframer is already cutting the beams for our house. That blows me away! The actual beams for our house are in existence. Our driveway starts getting cleared tomorrow. That means lots of firewood!

Here are some images of our land:

We are using a local Connecticut company, Country Carpenters, for our barn structure. They are a fantastic company! They do not do houses, just barns, but we are being clever Yankees and taking their wonderful product to create our home. It has that perfect New England barn look that we want on our beautiful land. Here is an idea of how our house will kind of look shape-wise. Picture a standing seam roof and we are doing different windows. This will give you an idea of the feel of it:

Please visit their site to see what they do:
Country Carpenters

Alright that is it for now. I will post more when I have something exciting to share!