Closing the door on the project list

Another week, another project done!  We've been waiting to get to the finishing touches for awhile now and the first project up was a set of barn doors for the second floor living space.  We're using this space as a den right now but since it's right by the smaller bedrooms, someone with kids might want to make it into a playroom...in which case, doors would be key for closing off the area!  We built custom barn doors for the last house so this was an easier project in that Brian already had a design in his head and knew how to execute.  But, instead of going with regular white doors, we took a leap of faith and went with a bright color.  We both love how it came out...hopefully others will love it too!

Onto the project:

We didn't take many pictures in the building of the door - this is made from pre-primed (by us) 3/4" veneer plywood with floor trim ripped to size for the detail

Moving onto setting up the track.  Laser level is key here

There it is!

Dryfitting the doors - looks like they're the right size

Doors set up for painting

And painted!  We went with a really bold color - Sherwin Williams Lakeshore (SW 6494), using Sherwin Williams Emerald Urethane trim paint in satin 

Ta-da!  Open...

and closed!

 We also took some "after" pictures - even though there are still a few small projects to do on the first floor so it's not completely finished yet.  But it's getting close!

The kitchen/family room area.  There will be another barn door on that far wall to the pantry in the not too distant future

Looking into the kitchen/family room from the front door/living room area

Formal living room

Finished fireplace in the living room

And more kitchen/family room area pictures

From the other side of the room

Looking out towards the front door and living room area

Hello stairs

So many stairs (looking up from the basement)

More stairs (this time, looking down

Painting progress and finishing touches

It always surprises me how the house can look and feel so unfinished, for so many months, and then all of a sudden it comes together.  We're finally at that point after what feels like miles and miles of trim installation and other detail work.  It helped immensely that we hired out painting for the first floor and, after it took three guys six full days to prep and paint, we're glad we did.  There's still some touch-up to do, little details here and there to clean up, and a handful of additional projects on the list but for the first time, the house does not look like a construction zone!  That alone is cause for a celebratory post, but add in that Brian had the time to build a custom dining table and I have another foster puppy (I might be starting a foster puppy mill here), and there is much good news in this update!  Let's start with a couple of "after" pictures:

Stairs are done and painted!

Another angle - walls are also finally painted too!

Brian also went ahead and started the install on the crown molding in the kitchen

And finished the install - we forgot to take pictures of the rest of the cabinets but they all look like this now!

Then it was time to work on a fun project - building the walnut base for the custom dining table.  Brian made a prototype awhile back from regular 2x4s and has been waiting to have time to build the real table from walnut.  We picked up the walnut pieces when we bought the living edge bar top and it looks like they came from the same tree.  After Brian bought some new woodworking equipment (a planer, drum sander, and other fun things), it was time to make the real table.

Just three pieces of walnut right now

Getting the legs notched out

Yep, that fits together!

And a close-up of the joints

A few coats of rub-on poly in satin will finish the wood off

And now it's time to glue and clamp it all together

Now that's a custom table!  

And a wider angle shot with the living edge bar top from the same tree

The kitchen is finally coming together!

And here's our current puppy resident, Ella!

Such a sweetheart!