Porch Railing and More Tile

   Winter is decidedly here now that snow is falling and accumulating on the ground.  We're expected to get a couple more inches of accumulation this coming week so there's no shaking it.  Finishing touches are progressing well at the house and this next week should see larger progressions as well.  The railing for the porches were installed with only a single small mishap.  The tilers are progressing well in the kitchen, but no definitive completion date has been mentioned.  Drawer hardware is being installed around the house and door handles are starting to make their appearance.  We haven't seen sign of progress from the electricians or plumbers in a week but I think they're due to make an appearance this coming week.  Lots of little things and a few big things to accomplish still before we can even think about the final round of inspections.

   We visited the house later in the day since Tanja had a weekend shift.  That gave me the opportunity to take the girls sledding on the driveway for the first time.  There's enough slope on the driveway near the house to give them a gentle 50 foot run without colliding into any trees.  It's easy to fall into "what if" scenarios when it's late at night and the snow makes everything serene.  With the installation of the porch railings, the exterior of the house if almost complete.  We're still waiting on the hanging light in the barrel vault and of course landscaping will have to wait until next year but this is very, very close to the final look.  The porch lights provide a good amount of light in the darkness and offer a very homely glow to the house.  Interior lights make the house look occupied.  All that's missing for this season is the soft glow of holiday lighting.

   The railings came out just as we wanted.  We opted for a dark railing so it wouldn't draw attention away from the rest of the house or the white columns.  We didn't want a white picket fence look and thought a white railing would make the space feel more enclosed.  The railing is made from powder coated aluminum so I'm expecting longevity.  They're solidly installed with little to no wiggle.  The straight sections of railing are attached to the blocks on the columns while the curved section has stand-alone posts.

   Even though the railings on the curved sections aren't supported by the posts, they're fairly solid with a slight wiggle.  They're secured down into the deck with additional blocking underneath.  I suspect if someone went for a full run tackle into the railing, it might have the chance to break free, but it would have to be a fairly large person with a good amount of speed and all disregard for personal injury.

   The railings are at a comfortable height and the gaps between the balusters are at code.  The girls did climb up onto the lower railing and at their age, have no way of climbing up over the railing.  It's nice to be able to have them running around without fearing they'll run right off to a 10 foot drop.  You can see there's a small amount of snow on the deck, but not very much.  I'll easily be able to handle this with a plastic shovel.  This space will be nice to be able to walk on in the deep cold of winter as it remains dry and clear of snow.

   The same railing was also installed on the back porch.  This very important section protects against the long drop down to the storage door and it's a relief to finally be in.  Although this section has it's own post on one side, it's attached to the porch post on the other, making for a very sturdy installation.  We're considering installing a bar height counter top in this area that would sit above the railing and slightly above the barbecue counter.  This space could fit at least 4 bar stools and would be a nice place for entertaining.

   The railing continues around the gazebo, using a shorter railing on the built in seating so that the top of the railing remains at a consistent height.  The railing is installed to line up with the center of the gazebo posts and offers a good depth to the seat.  It's still possible to lie down on the benches and the height of the railing offers a nice backrest when sitting.  The depth of the seat is enough where the back of your knees is still supported but you don't have to recline to rest your back on the railing.  There's a surprising amount of snow in the gazebo so it looks like I'll have to clear this area more than the rest of the porch.  It could be that the snow was coming up from the south and there was enough wind to blow it in.  Shoveling it shouldn't be an issue since we have stone back here.  I don't think the fireplace would get hot enough to melt the snow away.

   The small gap between the gazebo post and fireplace was filled with a short section of railing.  The railing height on the seat is low enough where we had to warn the girls to be careful around.  If they were standing on the seat, they could pretty easily flip over the railing, so supervision will be necessary.

   Since were at four risers on the back steps, a railing was required.  The original plans called for three risers to try to avoid this, but something changed in the implementation and we couldn't get the grade up that high.  The implementation is a little unfortunate because the railing takes up so much of the stone landing at the bottom.  I'm okay with the far railing remaining in place since past that will just be a garden, but I think we might remove the closer railing after inspection.  When coming from the rear garage walk out, the railing creates an inconvenient barrier that you have to walk around to get up the steps.  Combined with the shortness of the landing, you almost have to walk onto the grass to access the steps.  Removal will be easy, just fill the wood and replace one stone tile on the landing.  It will probably be required for COO inspection, so here it currently stays.

   Cabinet hardware has begun all around the house.  There's still a shipment required to receive most of the hardware and some won't arrive until the end of the month, but what's here is already starting to get installed.  Here's the slightly industrial hardware for the built-ins in the study.  If you'll recall from the last update, they're the same design as the dining room built-in, but in a different colorway.  I couldn't take a good picture of the dining room installation since the lights in there aren't functioning yet, but they're installed horizontally for a lower profile look.

   The entryway closet is housing a box full of interior doorknobs but some of them have been distributed to the second floor with a few already installed. I think all the knobs have been delivered so the completion of installation should happen pretty quickly.

   With the completion of the staining and coating of the basement railing, if could now be installed.  It feels very solid with no wiggle and it's as smooth as the railing to the second floor.  The hardware matches the rest of the finishes perfectly so we're really happy with how this turned out.  I replaced the previously installed LED candelabra bulbs with frosted and higher equivalent bulbs, so tihs stairway is much better illuminated.  All that's left for this space is to have the treads stained and coated.

   Since I didn't get a picture of it last time, here are the little crystal and metal leaves that will be hanging on the Comet 21 in the rotunda.  As far as I can tell, the electricians haven't been back to the house since the initial height settings so all the leaves remain in their bags near the fireplace.  If you look closely, you can see a little "U" shaped clip.  I think that's where it clips onto the skeleton of the chandelier.  Hopefully this is easy to do so maybe once every few years we can remove them all for a good soak to remove any dust that accumulates.

   Castro and the tile installers got pretty far with the backsplash tile installation in the kitchen.  There was a lot of discussion on whether the tile should be oriented horizontally, as shown, or vertically, with the chevrons pointing upwards.  I think the tile was designed to be installed vertically but we've always envisioned the kitchen with it installed horizontally.  Now that most of the tile is installed, we're very happy with our decision.

   The white grout will tone down the tile a bit since you're seeing a lot of the spaces between the mosaics, but the darker marble tile will always be there.  The seams between the sheets should disappear too and be near invisible when done.

   The tile is completed all the way to the oven, so there's really just the cooktop area to the ceiling and the floating termination point to finish, then on to grout.  From this distance, the lack of grout is less apparent and you can kind of get the idea of what the final look will be like.  The under cabinet lights illuminate the backsplash well, but there's not much gloss or sparkle to the natural stones so the tile is much more subdued.

      Here's the progress on the entire kitchen.  They should be able to wrap up the tile installation this week so the next update will hopefully have a completed tile backsplash and maybe even an installed kitchen hood.  We're still waiting for the fridge, freezer, and dishwasher to be installed and none of the appliances have power but hopefully that will happen soon.  We're trying to get the house into a state where all the dusty work is completed so they can wash and put a final coat of oil on the floor.

   Since the kitchen backsplash tile doesn't terminate into something near the sliding door, a small border is needed to finish the edge.  There was a box of this thing pencil edge tile located in the kitchen that will be used for that purpose.  It's also a natural stone of some kind that looks like small aggregate and has some sparkle to it.  I'm thinking it's a white quartz or something.  There was more in the box than needed for the kitchen, so I'm not sure why there so much extra.

   The double swing pantry doors were adjusted to meet perfectly.  The right door that used to have swing issues, swings perfectly well and locks in both directions.  Some force is needed to overcome the spring force of the doors, but it's not exorbitant.  No hardware will be needed here, but I might consider installing metal wear plates if the paint becomes too worn.

   The cover plates that hide the spring mechanisms were installed, completing these doors.  I love the look these hinges provide, and really add to that modern Victorian look we're going for.  I'll also love it that these doors auto close unless forced to 90 degrees, so I don't have to always close the pantry doors, which always seem to mysteriously open themselves.

   Another smaller box of interior door handles was found upstairs near the fireplace.  The door handle installation started up here first and many of the rooms have boxes of doorknobs distributed near the door they'll be inhabiting forever so these just need to be distributed.  For some reason, the protective cardboard on the fireplace up here was removed but it doesn't look like anything else was done to it.  The finishing bezel wasn't installed and I didn't see any change to the logs on the inside.  The fireplace installers will make one more visit to clean up the log arrangement and ensure the functionality of the fireplace.  We'll need to resolve the gaps between the metal surround and fireplace box on the first floor first.

   The railing on the master balcony is a little different than the railing on the rest of the house.  The top, bottom, and railing posts are the same, but here we opted for glass rather than balusters so we could have a less impeded view of the forest.  The glass is a quarter inch thick, tempered, and feels solid.  There's supposed to be another piece of glass and railing installed on the sloped side, but someone cut the glass too long.  Since it's tempered, you can't cut it on site, so we'll need to wait a bit more to have that piece installed.

   Towel racks, towel hooks, and toilet paper rolls have made it to the house and are ready for installation.  We already did a complete walk through with Margaret to determine where we wanted these things installed.  Except for the master bath, all rooms have the same style accessories.  These will probably be installed this week.  Before the walls were closed up, we had blocking installed in every perceivable location for grab bars and accessories, so now we finally get to use the fruits of our planning.  I hope our planning was comprehensive enough.

   Most of the master bathroom hardware has arrived, but there are some smaller handles that we're still waiting on.  This style handle will be installed on the master vanity.  They offer a clean look to match our more modern floating vanity and feel great in the hand.  We opted for hardware from California Closets in the master closet, but they pretty closely match this hardware in the adjoining bathroom.

   The wall mounted faucets in the master bathroom are still in the box, but staged for installation when the plumbers get to make their way back into the house.  I'm, anxious to see how these will look and more importantly how the water will fall into the sink. 

   The tile installers finished the tile baseboard around the bathroom.  All the plumbing of the bath tub will remain as is for move in so we can wait for the special tile that will be installed on the curved wall.  That tile will come right down onto the tile baseboard and onto the flats of the wet wall.  After it's installed, we can finally get the bath tub installed.

   The tile guys also installed the shelves in the master shower nooks.  They're made of the same material as the counter top on the vanity so there's no worries about staining or sealing.  These pieces were cut down by PMP stone to fit and our tile installers performed the installation.

   I was wondering if they would need to cut and remove some of the penny round tiles on the back but it looks like they're relying on the shelf being embedded in the side tiles to support the shelf.  It seems like it will be a sturdy installation since a large portion of the back bench is supported in a similar manner.  There won't be nearly as much weight on the shelf as there is on the bench too.  The notched the shelf to fit around the marble profile tile to provide a more finished appearance.  The side tiles still need to be grouted once the back mud dries.

   There are also a few other pieces of counter top material waiting to be installed.  We were wondering how they'll finish off the thresholds to the shower and it looks like we have the answer right here.  The piece on the left looks like it perfectly fits the threshold to the shower.  We were trying to go as low profile to the threshold as possible, but couldn't achieve a zero threshold.  If they install this piece, it will definitely raise the height of the threshold, but it will look fantastic.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see how high it makes it.  The three other pieces are the counter top material cut to use as the supports for the bench in the shower.  They'll be installed with the narrow part on the bottom so there's less touching the shower floor and not as much space to get nasty.

   The Emtek door handles have been installed in the turret bedroom and laundry room, a total of 5 so far with many more to install.  The round, flat knob is the same style as the ones we had installed on the other exterior doors, but we got the square base to match the panel style of the interior doors.  They're very solid feeling with no wiggle in the handle before the throw is actuated.  They feel very high quality and should last a life time.  As we age, we might change them out to a lever since those are easier for older hands to operate.  For now, we'll go with form over function while we're "young".

   The door hardware in the laundry room was also installed.  Once the washer, dryer, and backsplash tile is installed, this room will be done.  We went with some more simple handles in this room, but I can't remember who manufactured them.  Thin and clean with some sparkle, they'll complement one of the nicest laundry rooms I've ever been in.

   I forgot to take a picture of the awesome spray pattern of our laundry room faucet.  We totally didn't expect this, but the faucet, with a pull down handle, sprays in a broad fan pattern.  While useful for washing dishes, this is also perfect for use on clothes.  The tub basin is deep enough for hand washing clothes and the fan pattern of the sprayer will be great for washing out soap. 

   Here's the brushed stainless tile that will be installed in the laundry room.  It's going to be used on the backsplash behind the faucet, as well as all the way across the wall, over the laundry machine counter and other side counter.  Tanja has been eyeing a space for this tile ever since she saw it online and this is the perfect place for it.  It compliments the gray cabinets well and will be absolutely radiant with all the natural light this room gets.  I'm really excited to see this tile go in.

   That's about it for this week.  Castro and his tile installers will hopefully finish up the kitchen backsplash so they can move on to installing the back splashes in the mudroom, laundry room, and other two upstairs bedrooms.  We're expecting the wood floor installers to come back and complete the installation on the second floor so that Distinctive designs can return to install all the remanding baseboard shoe molding.  Lots of electrical and light programming setup to complete, as well as final appliance installs.  Hopefully next weeks update will have all the nice near finished pictures everyone loves to see.

More progress on the fine details.

   The weather remains dry and in the 80s to 90s with the occasional thunderstorm that does nothing to water the grass or alleviate the heat.  It cools down just enough at night to keep the inside of the house cool during the day, which is great for the trim carpenters working on the interior, but not much relief for the deck installers.  At least their work area is in the shade of the porch roof.  While the deck installers first said they were working exclusively on the weekends, it looks like they came in on the weekdays too, to complete all of the side of the house and start on the front curve.  The rough carpenters are also hard at work in the same area finishing off the arches so they're ready to paint.  Post wrap will still need to be installed before the painters can come through, so there's a bit of work left.  Lots of fine woodworking going into the house before the final push with paint, floors, finished electrical, and finished plumbing.

   From a distance, the appearance of the front of the house hasn't changed much, but if you look closer, you can see some new details.  Every trip, it's getting harder and harder to find where all the weeks changes are.  It takes two sets of eyes to spot all the new installs and I'm even spotting changes in my pictures rather than in person.

   Signs of the final finish on the front porch are becoming more evident if you look closely.  While I still don't know the final design of this curved section of the front porch, there are hints to how it will be finished.  A piece of white Azek was curved to fit the fascia hiding the angular beams that support the curved roof porch.  There's also a shorter piece of cedar trim that will sit above it to add to the profile.  There's a piece of trim that sits proud of the flat underside, installed on the inside of the beam cover.  This implies that we're not going to try to carry the arches into this area, but I don't know for certain.  It seems like there needs to be something at the top of each post since there are arches between the posts on the straight sections.

   The three arches on the front porch to the right of the front door are completed so all that's left is to finish the deck fascia and install the post covers.  After the post covers are constructed, railing can be installed.  We're going with a composite top rail that matches the deck color with black powder coated round balusters.  The intent is to make the railing as subdued as possible so it doesn't become much of a visual feature.  To that, we avoided white and lighter colors since the posts will be painted white.  I hope it works.

      The crown molding in this section was also completed.  This is one of those details that are easily overlooked if you're not keeping a mental note that they need to be completed.  For some reason, they didn't get this done right away, so the painters didn't get a chance to caulk it with the rest of the trim.  It will be caulked before paint since there are a few exterior doors that still need to be installed and caulked.  Since the rest of the crown has already been installed, this completes this design element.  There are some trim places on the back porch that need to be revisited, but for the most part the ceilings in the porches are completed.

   A large portion of the front porch was completed, as well as the pie slices that go around the curve.  Due to either the errors in design or errors in implementation from the previous build team, the posts on the round part of the front porch aren't spaced evenly.  We even had to add a post later to make the spacing appear more distributed.  Last visit, I made a design decision with the porch installer to make the pie slices adhere to the position of the posts rather than having them all be the same size around the curve.  I was beginning to second guess this decision because I was worried that the unequal slices would look more obvious than not having the divisions land on the porch posts.  Now that I see this in person, I'm happy with the decision I made.  The slices seem to be close enough in size to no detract from the appearance, and it's much nicer to have the partitions land on the posts.

   This is close to what the final design will look like.  The borders of the slices run from the corner of the house to the posts and sit atop of some additional 2x6 supports added to the framing of the deck. Because we spaced the deck framing at 12" on center, the Azek feels very solid with little to no bounce.  There are some parts around the curve where, due to the diagonal installation of the deck boards, there's more space between supports.  If the deck installers don't address these places, it's an easy matter to add additional support underneath.

   The division that bisects the curved porch is getting a double dividing deck board for appearance.  This is how all the other slice dividers meet at the corner of the house.  You can see in the upper part of the picture, the deck installers attach the boards oversized and later score and cut the section dividers in place. This ensures the most accurate installation and cleanest final appearance.

   Here's a close up of how the border fits against the long boards when it's completed.  Very clean lines and near invisible fasteners.  The "invisible" fasteners space the deck boards about 1/8" apart for water shedding.  Since all the boards are the same thickness, you don't have to worry about the butt joints causing snags.  Even milled dimensional deck boards will encounter some swelling and thickness variations during processing, and the uniform Azek makes for a very clean looking deck.

   Here's a closer look at the double border boards that comes off the corner of the house.  The double board border will nicely split the post and provides a nice symmetry to the two slices.  The post covers will sit on top of the deck with the railing attaching to the posts.  We've discussed making the railing curved to follow the deck, which will have to be sent to a special fabricator, so before we commit to it, we'll need to double check the radius of the curve since using a template isn't feasible.

   Here's what the side deck looks like from the back, looking forward.  The boards are installed in full length sections, unstaggered, and each section will be delineated by a border board, which is why you see a gap.  The boards will be trimmed so the width of a single board can fit the gap, creating the same tight gap that the round part has.

   More of the water channeling materials were purchased and sit ready to install.  There's one more short section around the corner, close to the greatroom exterior door.  Once that's installed, the deck boards in that section can be installed.  A limestone sill still needs to be installed under the door, and it looks like it will impinge upon the deck boards, so I think that needs to be attached so the deck boards can cut to length.

   Here's a closer look at the hidden fastening system.  The black cleats screw down into the deck joists and small tongues engage the grooves in the sides of the board.  This is done every deck joist, so in effect, the board is mechanically attached to the joists, similar to a conventional installation of a face screw through the board.

   Moving inside, the french doors were installed in the study/foyer.  There's plastic sheeting applied to the glass panes on each side, which were painted opaque with primer.  The plastic will remain on the glass until the final paint is applied.  There's a strip of hardwood applied to the "non-functioning" door on the right and a hole drilled on the functioning door on the left.  Non-functioning is a bit of a misnomer since they can both open, but the left must open before the right, and there's a locking astragal that's only accessible when the left door is open.

   Here's what the door looks like with the operational door open. The light switch in the room is on the left, next to the non-functioning door.  We have a good idea what hardware we want for all the doors, but haven't put it down on paper yet; something we'll soon need to consider.  There's already enough space under the doors, all doors for that matter, to fit the wood floor.

   Here's the edge of the non-functioning door and the hardwood that will be cut to accept the strike plate.  Pictured is also the locking astragal that will keep the door stationary without the use of a door handle.  Some french doors will have a functioning door handle what will actuate a rod at the top and bottom of the door.  This is a simpler mechanism. The lever can swing vertically and actuates a short rod up into the top of the door frame to lock the door.

  Distinctive Designs have started plotting out the design for the paneling in the great room.  There are some samples areas mocked up, showcasing ideas around the window, and a few trim profiles.  The baseboard remains in place and the panels are created to fit on them.  The panel flats will form a grid in line with the windows so the layout kind of creates itself.  The devil is in the details.

   Here's a close up of how the windows will be trimmed.  Rather than using the stepped window trim like the rest of the house, there will just be a narrow bead detail, then the flat of the panel frame sandwiched between another narrow bead.  What comes after that, on the inside of the panel, is still being decided upon.  Shown here is one idea, a bevel that adds two shadow lines providing a clean look.

   One of the other examples is to use the same step that's on the baseboard and window trim, to transition down to the flat panel.  Although this uses the same element as the rest of the trim, we don't think we like how this one looks.  For some reason, it's a bit distracting and makes too many shadow lines.  While it has clean lines, it looks too busy.

   The last idea is to just have the narrow bead and no other transition to the panel.  I kind of like this look, but I always tend to stray more spartan, so it's not always a good idea to go with my preference.  I think that since the coffered ceiling has some cove molding detail, it's probably best to add some more detail to the wall panels, even if it is just a little bevel.

   I don't think I showcased this detail in the blog yet.  It's the modified trim on the door between the kitchen and mudroom.  Because of the cabinets, we weren't able to use the full width of the door trim, so Distinctive Designs modified the trim to include the two steps, but removed much of the flat portion.  This retains the look, but fits the space.  I think the top trim piece was scaled down to fit below the crown molding of the cabinets as well.

   The top door trim comes up just shy of the cabinet crown so if it wasn't intentional, it was super lucky  You can see that the miter between the side and top trim isn't on a perfect diagonal since the width of the side trim is narrower.  Despite that, the step details line up as much as possible and I think this offers a good solution to a difficult space,

   The fire rated garage entry doors aren't installed yet, but are moved into position so I think they're going to install them soon.  Much of the carpenters tools, both rough and fine are moved out into the garage now that the primary drywall mudding is completed.  We still need a coat of primer and paint in here, which will probably be shot when the rest of the house is painted.  Garage doors should be coming soon and my next, delayed, update will hopefully include them.

   All the baseboard molding has been installed in the upstairs rotunda and some progress was made on the crown, but there's still some sections left to complete.  The baseboard molding made it's way into the elevator alcove up here, which will need to be removed after inspection so we can open up the drywall and install doors to use it as a closet space until we install the elevator.  The stair railing is resting on the stairs and all the rotunda railing is in the turret bedroom, so I'm hoping that will be completed soon.

   We decided to bring out the laundry base cabinets by a couple inches to reduce the amount of space the washer and dryer will protrude.  It's just a perception between the cabinet and machines, but the little change can make the room feel different.  The base cabinets aren't so far out as to make reaching the wall cabinets difficult and the washer and dryer alcoves are the same depth.

   The machine alcoves will be painted to match the gray cabinets so everything will look uniform.  It's sized to fit a front loader with pedestal.  While the top of the alcove is pretty high, it's still functional as a temporary shelf for laundry related goods.  The upper cabinets above the machines will be mostly inaccessible due to the depth of the machines so opting for an open face will allow us to just use baskets up there.  A board was also added to the underside of these cabinets and will also be painted to match the rest.

   All the baseboard and crown was installed in the turret and turret bedroom, completing the space.  All that's left for this room is paint and flooring.  The baseboard really highlights the continuous bottom window trim and the crown ties it all in together.

   The rest of the turret bedroom is also completed with baseboard trim.  It's a pretty straight forward install, save for the small section of curved wall.  Distinctive design just used the standard baseboard and managed to curve it to fit the radius of the walls.  The rotunda rails are in the bathroom, as well as other pieces of the final stairway trim.

   The basement had it's last interior doors installed under the stairs and in the future bathroom.  There will be other doors in the future once we get around to finishing the basement space, but I'm hoping I'll be able to do a lot of that labor myself.  In the mean time, we'll probably use the basement for storage and workout, in its intended spaces, and use the rest of it for a play space.

   The ceiling of the rotunda has been applied and is awaiting stain and paint.  I'm really liking how this turned out.  The current color gives it a sauna-like look, but I think the final dark stain will lend the space a more outdoorsy feel.  Now that this part is completed, All the outdoor ceilings have officially been installed.  We're planning on painting the dividing trim pieces white and staining the rest of the cedar beadboard a dark mahogany to match the exterior doors.

   The additional corbels have also been installed on the greatroom exterior.  We decided to add five more, three on the back and one on each side corner, since it just seemed too bare without them.  I'm glad we did because it really ties in the look to the rest of the greatroom.  A paper wasp queen was also staring up a hive on our overhang, but it looks like it was taken care of during the corbel installation.  The hive remains, but I didn't see any activity on it.

   Here's a longer shot of the back of the greatroom with the newly installed corbels.  I didn't see any scaffolding set up so they must have climbed some really long ladders to get up there.  Some of the siding needed to be cut away to accommodate the corbel blocking, but it looks like they took care of it well.

   That's about it for this week.  I'll be taking a short break from updates and will miss two weekends worth of progress, so the next update should be a big one.  This will be the first updates I'll miss in years, and I hope it's the last.  The next update will put us into July, a mere 8 weeks until the end of August, so I'm hoping we're still on track for an August completion.  There's still so much that needs to be done, but I'm hoping it won't take long.  Painting, wood floors, the rest of the tile, finished electrical, finished plumbing.  The list might be short, but the minute tasks are plentiful.