Pottery Barn-ish Mantel

I went out to a regular customers ongoing job to deliver doors and measure up stair parts.  While there, I got a chance to snap a shot of the mantel I built for them.  The homeowner likes really clean lines and nothing too fancy.  She said she wanted a 'Pottery Barn Look'.  What do you think?  Did she get it?

Cabinet Pull-Outs..

I went out to investigate a foggy window complaint and ended up getting sweet talked into building pullouts for a sweet little old lady.  Another one I should have said no too, but how do you turn down a little old lady?  It turned out taking four trips to get it done.  She didn't like the fact that the color of the new maple pullout didn't quite match the old yellowing ones.   I turned it over to my old timer Ross who nailed the color match perfect.  It's nice to have a master painter around the shop for stuff like this, Ross saved the day and when I took the now tinted pull-out back to her, she was pleased.  Alls well that ends well...

Salon is Finished

Heres a shot of the salon all done and ready for styling.  Quite a few people chipped in on this project and we got it done in just a few weeks.  Turned out amazing..

Track Saws are killer

I love the tracksaw.  I don't know how I ever got along without one.  One thing they absolutely kick butt at is making wainscot panels.  There is simply no more efficient way to do it.  Here are some shots of the reception counter Stephen and I built at his wifes new salon.

And here it is in all it's painted glory. Looks pretty sweet for a late night quickie project. 

I love Wood Boats!

We haven't had a real vacation for years, and as hard as we've been working lately we needed a couple days rest so the girls and I went up to Tahoe for the weekend.  I always wanted to stop by Sierra Boat Works and check out all the classic boats they have there.  Just an amazing place, full of beautifully handcrafted floating works of art.  They had not one but two Riva Aquaramas there..  for a mere $300K you ould take one home with you...

Another Classy Door

This door turned out to be a very nice surprize.  This is actually a very affordable door.  Great bang for the buck for a cherry door.  It looks absolutely stunning with a clear finish.  The downside is that it is an import door, so sometimes they get backordered like this one did for three months.  The veneer is super thin so you have to be really careful with it, no sanding, and you have to be careful where you use them.  No harsh exposure for these babies.  But if you have the right protected porch like these folks had, and are careful when you handle it.  They come out looking like this one does.  AWESOME!

Massive Door, massive headache

Every once in a while you take a job that you wish you would have just said no too.  This door is one of them.  This was the mother of all bailouts.  The contractor had done work for these folks before and didn't want to let them down with the repair of this massive entry unit that was absolutely demolished by sun exposure.  Cherry wood door stained dark.  Then painted.  Then patched and painted again, and again, and again.  Until finally it refused to work and threatened to let water ruin the hardwood floor.

The contractor wanted nothing to do with it.  His regular door supplier wanted nothing to do with it.  The next guy he called wanted nothing to do with it.  He got referred to me and being the economy what it is, I took it it on.  I knew better but I did it anyway and it has been one problem after another.

First off, this door is a monster.  8'-0" in height, 20 years old, and it has one off artisian leaded glass sidelites that matched the transome above as well as in doors inside the home.  This means I had to remove the uber fragile un-insulated artisian glass from the sidelights and temporarily fill with plywood while we took the glass back to the shop to build the new door.  Then we had to prefinish the door to match the aged cherry interior transome and molding.  I called in the wolf, my friend Andrew, and he matched it exact.   Then we dinged the door during delivery somehow.  Then during install we discover a mess of unexpected complications.  First the jambs were continuous through to the transome.  Which meant we had to temporarily support the transome while we cut out the jamb away, then figured out a way to permently support the transome in the opening.  Then we discover the exterior of the transome is rotten at the corners... and I just can't leave a problem like that.  Then the subfloor was rotten to no end. Why is the floor rotten? Because someone ruined the sill pan. Had to fix that too. To make a long story short I've got 45 hours into a job I bid at 10.  Ugh. Every day I learn a lesson and this one is to always listen to my first instincts.  Regardless I'm super proud of the end result of this door.  We performed carpentry wizardry here and when I look at this thing I can't help but beam with pride knowing there are very few people that could have successfully done what we did here.

Custom Counter Build

I went out to the Piedmont Lumber yard in Pittsburg before the big auction to clear up a little confusion about one of the items they had for sale that actually belonged to me and while I was there looked around at all my history there.  In my tenure there I built out so many neat features of that store it breaks my heart.  Here's a shot of the counter I build about seven years ago.  heartbreaking to see this once might establishment reduced to the scavenging of scrounges.