Backsplash Begins

The Starbucks-esque backsplash is going up today.  With all the mess in the club, it must be closing time.  The final push to the end of the project always involves a fair bit of mess, and less time to clean as we go.  If you look carefully under the sawdust, you can see the beginning of the end!

Counters In

The team from Cornerstone arrived as scheduled mid-day and began their installation.  The grey is working well with the rest of the selections in the club.

Meanwhile, Mick has locked himself in the bathroom in an effort to keep ahead of the job and avoid the dust.

Dealing with all of the irregularities of an old building has been a challenge - one more reason I'm happy we went with Cornerstone, who are so diligent with both the templating and installation processes.

Flooring on a busy day

"Closing time..."  The back end of the project is always a little more frustrating for the trades.  Given unlimited time, you wouldn't have people working on top of each other, but sometimes it's a necessary evil for pushing to the end.

The painter continues to do the final wall treatment on the pine boards.  The "sunroom" is looking great!

Unique Hardwood Flooring is in, trying to install the entire floor in a day so they're out of the way tomorrow.  The Owl Grey engineered floor we've chosen looks great with the other finishes in the club.

Of course there are more people here... the carpenter is here doing some odds and ends, and the countertop guys are in the kitchen reconfirming one of the measurements in advance of the install that takes place tomorrow afternoon.  One more week and we'll be (mostly) done! :-)

The chosen one

We have a stain colour!  Turns out, they've decided to go very light.  Mick has now become a Goudey mixologist :-)

In other news, we got the attic insulation topped up to R50 today.  The building envelope had now drastically changed from the pre-reno state.... nice and comfy!

The value of a great painter

I once had to evaluate a bunch of paint quotes for a new, 3,500 square foot home.  They ranged from $15k to $18k including paint and materials... then I got referred a paint crew from a "friend".  They came over and gave me a quote on the house for $4000 including materials.  They said they had 5 guys and it would take 4 days.  Crazy.  Turns out, my friend hadn't used them yet and when they did, they regretted it and had to get the whole house done again.  Obviously I did not choose the low-ball quote...crazy.

I do get the question a lot on why painting is so expensive for a new home.  The simple answer is, it takes a lot of time and effort to get the trim and doors from their bare, rough, newly installed state to the beautiful, smooth finish that you see here.

My painter spends perhaps 70% of his job on doing the trim and doors.  The effort you need to Dap (caulk) small cracks, fill any holes the carpenter may have missed, sand, prime, sand, paint and paint again is tremendous.  Not to mention that if you use good paint that will last a while, the materials can end up costing 25 to 30% of the job.

Watching the progress of a newly renovated room, addition or house during the painting process can be a little like... well... watching paint dry.  Oh well, it's worth the time and expense when you have a great painter!

What to do with those walls!

The decision on what colour to stain the walls is proving to be quite difficult.  The members want to get it right, which is fair enough... as long as my painter doesn't have a heart attack :-).  Not too big an issue yet, as there are plenty of other painting tasks to do and we've switched the order of things.  Hopefully the warmer weather predicted later this week will remind everyone that Spring is coming!

Kitchen progressing, trim carpentry starts

The kitchen has been installed, for the most point, up to the level we needed to get the counter top templated.  We're going with a Caesarstone quartz - a great product for aesthetics and durability.

Meanwhile, we've been asked to provide some more stain options.  With the look of the club as is, it feels very bright.  My recommendation is leaning towards just clear coating the pine - a nice mix of the traditional club but brought up to a more contemporary look.  The whitewash would also work well.  We'll hear back on that after Tuesday's board meeting...

The window casings, doors and some other trim details were installed today, so we can finally get a clearer picture of how everything will work together.  Looking good!

Walls nearly done as kitchen begins

With the pine cladding almost done, it's starting to raise questions on what colour to stain the walls.  Some like it as is - nice and bright, tying in the new with the old, and some are convinced a darker stain on the walls will work.  In reality, they will probably both work well, but I'll have to wait for that decision to happen.

The work area is filling up - more deliveries from Ikea as well as the trim and door package... what better incentive for the guys to get things installed quickly!

We started the lower kitchen cabinetry install today, so we can get the counter templating done early to give us some breathing room.

Wall cladding

The carpenter was in bright and early... yes bright - it's a typical, sunny, warm day in February (what the?).  We began installing the pine tongue and groove on the walls, and it's looking great.  In a couple of days, the place will be totally transformed.