Adding a driveway and walkway

After a year of living with a natural "dirt" driveway, we decided to have a paver brick driveway installed. WE chose this over a cement driveway because of the number of large mature trees. We felt within time, the roots would cause multiple cracks in the cement, where the pavers will give and not crack.  This job required a second survey and about 6 months of waiting, but turned out beyond our expectations.
Here is the finished project in a youtube video link that you will need to copy and paste:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVSBhmhfskI&feature=em-upload_owner


                                                       
                                                               THE JOB BEGINS

BRICKS BEING LAYED

                              

THIS IS HOW THE PAVERS APPEAR BEFORE BEING CUT ALONG THE EDGES

AFTER THE EDGES ARE CUT

Adding wood flooring to hall

This week was a bit of a challenge. Half of the hallway we created has 100 year old heart pine which has a wonderful variety of  colors. We wanted to complete the hallway with matching wood but could not find the same varieties of color with available pine. We did find the right size clear high grade pine with no knots and decided to try and use a variety of stains to create the old heart pine  look. A solid stain would have looked like a 4' wide and 9' long patch.


                            This how the hall looked after the original floors were refinished. Notice the variety of colors in the 3"  wood strips.

Here I am  applying the first layer of conditioner and stain after adding 9' of additional tongue and groove pine to finish the hallway.

Using a pallet to hold my oil paint pigments, I mixed mineral spirits with  burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and raw umber to create a variety of stains so that each piece of wood would be a little different like the original. This is the completed floor. It also  looks like it is  time for a new pair of shorts :0)

Three coats of polyurethane later and the old and the new come together

Looking back 18 months ago, a video

I just came across this video taken about 18 months ago when the house was at it's early construction phase. Brings back memories and shows me how far we have come on this journey.

It appears you must copy and paste this link to see the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuFo3Qs-3SA

More kitchen details

Some time ago, we made the cabinets above the stove  using two old vintage glass doors that we found  at an architectural salvage store  in West Palm Beach . The doors were originally a light yellow green. With the new sea glass colored glass back splash, the door color had to be changed. The inside of these upper cabinets were painted turquoise and the outside light to match the base cabinets.

                   

Also painted the vintage "Icebox" to  break up what was becoming an all white kitchen.

Glass back splash tiles next to icebox color

Adding more charm and character to the kitchen

In previous posts, I discussed how we applied a wood shiplap wall over the new drywall to the living room. It really turned out wonderful and created the old cottage look we were trying to preserve.
It was now time to do the same treatment in the kitchen. The kitchen was a new  addition that we had added to the back of the existing house and the  walls were covered with drywall

                                                     THE PROCESS BEGINS

Started adding the 6" wood strips at the top which keeps a full piece at the top.

SOME PIECES WERE TRICKY TO CUT

FINISHED

Adding some details

As a painter, it is said that "the devil is in the details". Probably would be better stated to say that the details can add much to a project. The details are, in  many cases, the first thing people notice when entering a room or looking at a painting.

Decided to make and add a palm tree detail in the form of a corbel or roof bracket at the end of the hall that brings you into the kitchen dining area. It turned out to add a nice and inviting beach cottage touch.

When we bought this cottage, the only bedroom, now the guest room, had vertical batten strips from floor to ceiling to hide the joints in the wall material (upson board).  When we removed the old wall material for new drywal and wiring and insulation, we saved the wood batten strips to reinstall to preserve the original look and character.

APPLYING BATTEN STRIPS ON WALLS AND CORNERS

PAINTING THE BATTEN STRIPS

FINISHED GUEST BEDROOM

New wood floor for the caretakers bedroom

Our bedroom was part of the addition and started with a concrete floor. We knew we wanted a wood floor to tie this room in with the rest of the house so had the concrete poured 1 1/2  inches lower to allow a 3/4 inch sub floor and a 3/4 inch floor. My brother and I installed the sub floor some months ago but this week we installed the tongue and groove  pine floor.

Finding a stain that closely matched the living room was tough. After buying several stains and mixing them together in different amounts , finally came up with an acceptable formula. After applying a wood conditioner to allow the stain to be more even, applied the stain followed by three coats of polyurethane.

                                       ROOM WITH SUB FLOOR OVER CONCRETE

                                               

INSTALLED PINE TONGUE AND GROOVE

FINISHED FLOOR

SHOWING TRANSITION FROM OLD TO NEW

Kitchen Island

Creating this kitchen island was a fun project. There was a dresser left over from our move that was a perfect size for this kitchen island area, so it was decided that we try using it for a few months to see if it "works" .  It worked out great so on to the refurbishing stage and one step closer to an unfitted kitchen.

We started by creating a new surface on the back side which was a plain solid masonite type material. Used the nail gun and liquid nails to attach vertical shiplap wood strips and  framed it with old batten strips we had saved from the original walls.

                                                                 BEFORE

The next step was painting the dresser with a lacquer paint that we got from the factory that made our base cabinets. This involved sanding the original wood finish, a coat of primer, and two coats of lacquer. 

The next step was adding drawer pulls that matched the ones we put on the base cabinets.

In our last house, we had stainless steel countertops made and installed and loved them. Virtually indestructible and surgical room clean. For this reason, we had a stainless steel  top fabricated to fit over the top for the crowning touch. In addition, the new countertop ties the pendant lights and the drawer pulls together.

Last Night's Sunset

A view across the Intracoastal Waterway last evening.

Floor refinishing

Now that the rough construction and painting is done, it is safe to have the floors refinished. I thought about attempting this myself, but was talked out of it with the wise words, "Leave it to the professionals".
These guys did a wonderful job of bringing the old heart pine back to life. Lots of sanding, scraping and filling to prepare the wood. This was followed with a sealer coat and two coats of satin polyurethane. After each coat, the floor was buffed out to make it super smooth. All that is left to do now is add the 5 1/2 inch baseboard.
This could be one of the biggest  "WOW"  moments yet.
                                           

                                                                BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Painting the back of the house

I guess like most people, I saved painting the back of the house for last. After all, who sees it?
Nice to have this job checked  off. The object in the lower left is the gas grill with it's cover.
Looking forward to creating a special tropical planted area back here one day.

The outdoor shower

There is nothing  like taking a hot shower under the clouds and trees . Something very basic and special happens feeling the breeze against your wet skin. Today I cut an opening in the guest room wall to expose the hot and cold water pipes . It was then just a matter of cutting into  the pipes and adding a few elbows and sending the water to the outside of the house.

Next was to solder all of the copper members together along with two shut-off valves and connect this assembly to the PVC water supply.

Looking forward to using it this evening after the glue has a chance to dry :0)

This will be great when coming home from the beach. Also a water station (hose bib) to rinse the beach sand off of your feet.

A new fireplace surround

Now that the living room walls are finished, we spent this week working on the fireplace. The original bricks had been painted a shade of red which we did not care for and the original mantel was mad of concrete and leaning forward about 15 degrees.
The first thing I did was to remove the concrete mantel and then knock away the bricks that were holding it up.
We used a coral  product to cover the brick around the fire opening and then framed and covered the remainder of the brick with wood. Also created a new wood mantel.

                                               BEFORE

This is how the fireplace looked before. The mantel has been removed.

DURING

Everything is covered and awaiting paint and wood moldings

AFTER

This is the final product with moldings and paint applied. Like putting lipstick on a pig. The magic cable box with the DVR is hidden under the mantel and behind the piece of wood running horizontal.  The piece of wood running horizontal below the mantel flips down while we watch TV so that the remote control can be used and flips back up when we are not using the TV to hide the box. The Television will go above the mantel. I will paint a large painting to cover and hide the television when not in use. 

T

Living room wall treatment

We finished up the wood shiplap walls in the living room this week.
Lots of prep and painting and sanding , but well worth the labor (of love).
This will all get another coat of paint.



This is a panorama picture of the final product. More charm. Also more paint needed.

Panorama of living room

                                       
                                         A close up of the new wall texture.

New Kitchen Backsplash

 We just finished installing the glass tile backsplash. Different shades of green and blue and basically ocean colors.  It looks very much like sea glass that you would pick up on a walk on the beach. Looks really nice. We will change the color of the cabinets above it that we made to match the base cabinets and paint the inside of the cabinet above it  behind the glass doors turquoise to match the glass backsplash. This will allow the white dishes to really show up.

                                                                   BEFORE

 AFTER