Kitchen Cabinets

The kitchen cabinets are installed. We’re in the process of installing the appliances and water/gas connections. Soon, we’ll start to lay the tile floor. Notice the "before" and "after photos", Richard demonstrating where his cook range will be and Tom installing the cabinets.

The Pool is Finished!!!

Finally, the pool is in. The Donoghues came to celebrate Bruce's b-day with a pool party. Richard couldn't stop himself from performing a water ballet.

Living History in Lewes

We had the pleasure of having Carol and Barbara visit our home recently. Carol and Barbara are friends of our neighbors Mike and Bev. Carol had lived in our home many years ago; Barbara lived down the block and used to regularly visit Carol at 125 Washington. Carol and Barbara shared many interesting stories of growing up in the neighborhood and living in the home. Carol shared that at one time, some dynamite was stored in the garage out back, but was disposed of when her brother grew older and more “adventurous”. So far Tom and Richard haven’t found any dynamite sticks!!! The photo – from l to r: Carol, Barbara, Bev & Mike.B

Pool – Step 1

The final surface was sprayed onto the surface of the pool today. Before beginning, the workmen had to catch the 100 frogs that were living at the bottom of the pool (notice the little frogs in the first photo). At first, the surface was a strange shade of blue, almost plastic looking; then the surface was sprayed with water so the top layer washed away so that the ”pebbles” embedded in the material were visible (the official color is “aqua blue”). Tomorrow, the surface will be acid washed….then the water!!!! Tomorrow will also be the final connection of the water pumps/filters, etc. If you’re interested in reading about the pool surface, check out: www.pebbletec.com/pebble_sheen.aspx

Dry Wall

After months on work on the walls (pluming, drainage pipes, electrical, cable, speaker wire, insulation), all the walls/ceilings are covered in dry wall!!! A few more days of plaster touch-up work and spray primer will complete the walls. Then it’s all about floors, trim, tile, kitchen cabinets, doors, light fixtures, final painting, etc. Our goal is to move into the 1st floor by October 31st. Notice that the dry wall had to be brought into the house by both carrying it in or by a crane (which had to reach over the power lines!); dry wall cut for a wall along side the basement stairs; and tossing dry wall cut-offs into the dumpster (we had mistakenly thought that we were well past dumpsters!).

Insulation

The house is now fully insulated. We used a spay-in cellulous (paper based insulation with boron) for the exterior walls and standard fiberglass insulation for all ceilings and select interior walls (i.e., for sound deadening between bedrooms rooms and halls). We also added insulation in wall sections that contained drainage pipes…for instance, the toilet/shower/sink drainage pipe from the bathrooms on the 2nd floor travel through a dining room wall….we just didn’t want the sound of water rushing by (after a toilet is flushed) to be mistaken for a guest’s digestive system reacting to Richard’s cooking…..or worse, that this is what we mean by “cleansing the palette”!! ps - the 3rd photo includes the wall between the kitchen and 1st floor office/bedroom; we had to install blue conduit lines that will contain the electrical wires used for the under-cabinet lighting.