A Little Here, Some More There…

Work continues at Boo Manor. Things have been happening on many fronts, so it’s difficult to keep track of it all. As well, progress becomes harder to monitor just because everything is moving forward a little bit with each crew, day be day. In the last few weeks, we’ve had painting, flooring installation, flooring refinishing and electrical fixture installation all happening more-or-less at once. With a few side projects for good measure.

Dianne checks out the kitchen. New flooring, first coat of paint, and that lovely, lovely window.

Most of the rooms have now had a coat of paint, and several have had more than one. The front guest bedroom and the great room are essentially done, the kitchen is started, most other rooms have a full coat and the only rooms that have yet to progress much on the painting front are the dining room and Dianne’s den.

The rooms that are finished look gorgeous. The great room is spectacular; the new colour is darker than what was previously there, but in the same relative tone of green, so while painting was happening it was genuinely difficult a couple of times to discern what was new vs. what was old. Now that it is done, the walls make the wood beams in the space glow with a fabulous warmth.

The great room. Painted, cleaned and beautiful.

The floor refinishing has also been done in the last week. After 17 years of traffic, the maple floor was showing signs of wear and tear. A crew of three went at it, and what they have accomplished is impressive. The floor looks brand new. Along with Keelan doing a clean-up of the beams themselves (they had accumulated a few years worth of dust) the overall impression is stunning.

The refinished great room floor. All ready for another 17 years of service.

My den is coming along nicely as well. The paint colour is awesome. It’s the colour that I had in my last den, so I know it will work with the furniture. But even better, it works with the woodwork in the rooms. It sets off the wood framing of the windows, and the flooring, spectacularly. And my manly-but-dangly light fixture is now installed (complete with Edison bulb) and is looking pretty sharp, if I do say so myself.

Mark’s den. New and improved, with no more popcorn ceiling!

Up in the bathroom, the flooring has been installed and Keelan managed to strip and prime both of the cabinets in preparation for painting. The linen tower that we found was a particular challenge, as it had been waxed. Apparently stripping this involved copious amounts of naphtha and wire wool, and Keelan studiously avoiding letting things catch fire. There is little reward without risk, I suppose. They are now ready to be painted and put back together.

Bathroom cabinets stripped and primed, and the floor tiling installed.

While all this was going on, Dianne and I contributed to the process where we could, mostly be pitching in and doing some carpet cleaning. One Saturday morning not too long ago, we headed out at the crack of dawn to rent a carpet cleaner from Sobey’s, and tackle the carpets. There were some stains that stubbornly resist coming out, but are at least no longer noticeable. The carpets, however, gave up an impressive amount of dirt, grit and animal hair. Several hours of manhandling the cleaner and one pair of wet socks later, the bedrooms are at least clean.

Mark, caught in the closet. Time he cleaned up his act.

In the next couple of weeks, the majority of the work will be completed. Cabinets go in next week, and the painters are back on site. Keelan is busy rehanging doors. The tilers are back in the bathroom finishing up the walls. And I have some furniture to build. That, however, is an entirely different story that will be told at a later date.

Taking Shape. And Colour.

Painting is happening. Within the next couple of days, everything should have had at least an initial coat of paint. Some rooms will in fact be finished.

A lot is happening. Parking is getting scarce. And tight.

I had an opportunity to head up to Boo Manor to check on things, as well as deal with a few appointments with suppliers. Without question, progress is being made. A lot of progress. The house was abuzz with contractors when I arrived; in fact, there was barely room to pull into the driveway. All told, there were eight cars when I got there, and Gene subsequently pulled in behind me.

Painting is underway. The master bedroom, nearing completion.

Much work has been done since my last update. Most of the upstairs bedrooms have now been painted, and the final bedroom is underway. When the wallpaper came off in one of the guest bedrooms, much plaster did also; apparently, the walls had never been primed or painted. It sort of makes me wonder about the age of the wallpaper, to be honest, but the result was that there was a lot of damage to the walls, as well as a number of cracks in the plaster from settling. The room needed a full skim coat to repair the damage and prep the room for painting.

The wine room, painted an appropriate colour. With doors that needed to move a little to make way for flooring.

In addition, there have been a number of other creative bits of work going on. The basement is getting proper flooring instead of the linoleum-like surface that is there now. That means that the height of the floor will raise nearly 3/4″. Which means that every door in the basement will no longer function properly. As a consequence, all of the doors need to be raised in their frames to clear the new floors. This has been Keelan’s latest project.

A beam runs through it. Structural yes, but not helpful for projection.

The rest of the basement is now taking shape, as well. The cables have been run for the multimedia (surround sound speakers, as well as video and power for the projector). We’ve figured out how to mount the projector, despite a very large beam bisecting the middle of the basement ceiling. The optimal dimensions of the projection screen (netting out to a very respectable 100″ TV, if we’re going to be comparing size) have been determined.

Dave painting the great room. Ladders? For wimps. We’ve got scaffolding.

All in all, Boo Manor is coming together. By the end of this week, priming and first coats on all the painting will be done. All the holes will have been repaired, including a couple of new ones that I discovered today. Flooring is on deck for installation next week. As well, Keelan will be stripping and prepping the vanity and linen cabinet for installation and painting.