29 May 2009

new stairs and windows

Earlier this week another shipment of new windows arrived. You can see that they're preparing the rough opening at the parlor floor for installation:


They just finished installing the windows at the master bedroom...

...which look amazing from the outside.

The first run our new stair was also delivered to the house this week. It's the piece from the third floor to the new top floor.


The landings haven't been installed yet but we made our way to the top floor just fine.

It was a really big week for deliveries as we also have both the new wood floor and all of our custom door hardware on site!


15 May 2009

exterior work

The townhouse is slowly getting stuccoed from the top down. Here you can see the new top floor and attic that rise above the neighboring houses.


The uneven color is due to the fact that the surfaces are still drying. Once the stucco over the cmu joints has dried the lines will no longer be visible.

What you can't see here is that our front cornice isn't installed- that's because about a third of it is sitting in the parlor floor.


It's hard to believe that this is the same holey, painted coated cornice that was sitting on the house about a year ago.

Here's a quick shot of the new exterior decorative tiles in context. They did such a great job setting them into the chimney as well.


And last but not least here is a depressing shot of what our rear garden looks like at the moment (yes, that's an old refrigerator!).

Soon, however, it will be paved and planted and have a floating ipe deck...

In the next few weeks we are expecting the majority of the remaining windows as well as a few runs of new stair.

07 May 2009

decorative tile

More and more finish details are slowly finding their way onto the site. Here are two that I managed to capture quickly during our Monday meeting.

One of many decorative tiles at the top floor terrace. They are set into the walls and chimney face and add so much color.


Another tiled chimney box at the garden floor fireplace. We chose a running bond pattern here for a cleaner, more relaxed feel as opposed to the herringbone pattern at the floor above.

01 May 2009

sheet rock

It was so great to walk into our site meeting yesterday and see nice, clean, white walls. Bathroom and plumbing walls are still open to the studs for their plumbing inspections and many ceilings remain un-sheetrocked but what is up really makes a world of difference.

The gym/ guestroom with it's curved dormer

looking down the elevator shaft

the plywood and temporary joists are where the new top floor skylight will go

the new top floor bar niche

temporary stairs beside a new white ceiling

the third floor south bedroom looking towards a bathroom and closet
the master bedroom with windows looking north

the master bedroom sitting room with windows facing south

The areaway is also really coming along. You can see that they've added plywood to the stairs- that's to protect the amazing nosing and treads that they've prepared for brownstone. Unfortunately you can also see our gas pipes running right over the stairs on the left. They need to be repaired and moved which will hopefully be happening soon.

Next week we'll have our plumbing inspection. Once we are approved and paperwork is passed through the Department of Buildings we will be able to pour the rest of our garden floor slab.