As I write this month’s post, I literally have to brush the sawdust from my sweater. As a point of clarification, this is not because I have crafted any wooden element of our house myself but is instead a direct result of a visit to the woodshop where the magic happens. Hayes is a carpenter by spirit. I think that is why he es muy simpático with many dear woodworking friends including Paul Chadwick, owner of Signature Woodworking in Norfolk.

Paul has generously allowed Hayes to use his expansive woodworking space and is deftly working with his crew to craft a masterpiece for our custom cabinetry and vanities throughout the house. They are doing beautiful work. What is amazing to me is the organization required to coordinate the pieces for all of these cabinets.

They start from rough planks of wood. They measure twice. They cut once. They sand and sand and sand. They sand some more, and then they do it again hundreds of times to accumulate big piles of wood that will eventually fit like legos into the final product of our cabinets.

The only part I can take credit for…and only partially at that…is the cabinet design. Since I have not studied interior design and tend to operate like the Romans (blending the best from different cultures and styles) I rely heavily on Pinterest. In fact, it was such a momentous event in my life several years ago, I actually remember the first time I heard about Pinterest from a colleague in residency. My Pinterest page for this project is extensive, extremely useful and includes the style inspiration for our kitchen and master bathroom.

Our kitchen design is inspired by the Clapham Kitchen by deVOL. The cabinets will be painted maple with Sherwin Williams Wordly Gray and will be shaker style with a small bead detail. deVOL designs some of the most exquisite kitchens in my opinion. We are also borrowing some design details from Pilar Guzmán and Chris Mitchell’s East Hampton home featured in Architectural Digest thanks to suggestion from our good friends at Spruce Home + Design.

Our master bath design is inspired by the Reeves’ master bathroom in Tennessee featured in Country Living. Our master vanity will be walnut, which will contrast nicely with our marble floors that will be laid next week. Hayes is getting ready to start work on the shiplap too. I think I also previously mentioned my excitement about our salvaged clawfoot tub.

While the cabinets are being made, many other things are happening in the house. In fact, our future living room has turned into a temporary woodshop. We are preparing for trim work next week. That means baseboards, window sills and doors start going up! It also means Hayes will start working on shiplap and beadboard in the bathrooms.

Remember these old stairs and carpet? We have now stripped the carpet and Hayes has mended some of the missing components.

This brings me to one of my favorite new elements of the month: our wood floors! When we bought the house it was carpeted; however, under the carpet were red oak floors. We pulled the carpet. There were stains. Not all of the hardwood could be salvaged. Plus, we needed new hardwood in the addition and modified rooms of the house. This is where the team from CHP flooring came in and has done a masterful job at matching, blending, sanding and finishing the floors. The only task I had was to pick the stain color. We all agreed that special walnut was the best–especially when considering all of the other planned elements.

A few miscellaneous items to mention for the month include:

(1) Our first camping trip in the backyard on an unseasonably warm weeknight. We used wood scraps from the floors to make a great bonfire.

(2) The new garage door is in and much improved in every way.

(3) Floor heat is in for the tile that will be finished in the coming month.

(4) Precariously positioned pines are down.

(5) Calacatta Quartz and Botticino marble countertops have been selected for templating later this month.

(6) Santa enlisted the help of Signature Woodworking to make the most beautiful train table I have ever seen.

I think that about wraps it up. In summary, we have been busy! We are immensely grateful to our woodworking friends at Signature Woodworking and at CHP flooring. I am looking forward to sharing our progress with you next month. Until then in the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, That’s All Folks!