Hit the floor!

The latest progress this week was on the new wooden floors...in the kitchen, entry foyer, main hallway and the landing in front of the bathroom.
All the flooring in those areas was linoleum asbestos filled tile, it all had to be covered up. We're matching the wooden flooring in the main room. It'll be a medium dark stain with a satin finish.
The steps leading from the hallway down into the main room were added as well. I think they look great.

The foyer entry floor

Main hallway floor

Kitchen floor

Kitchen floor

Landing floor, bath pocket door is to left

Steps leading down into main room

Funny mantel girl

I was watching an old movie with Barbra Streisand and George Segal this week ("The Owl and the Pussycat", 1970), when I notice that they're in an apartment on the Upper East Side THAT HAS A MANTEL EXACTLY LIKE MINE! It's gotta be a sign, right? Of what, I'm not sure. But it was coincidental!
Here's mine...

And here's Barbra's...pretty close I'd say...well, sorta ;o)

Design challenges

Steve the architect called me today.
He was on site at the apartment and wanted to give me a progress report on a couple of things.
The first was an issue with the mantel.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the sides have been positioned in place, they're now working on installing the metal firebox. They noticed that the box is smaller than the opening left when all the marble pieces I was given are put together. There's a gap between the box and the edge of the side marble edges.

Mantel in construction; notice how the metal firebox doesn't meet edges of marble side pieces

Steve is suggesting that we add a piece of metal that will match the aged look of the firebox all around the perimeter. It will be painted black to match the firebox. I think it will look fine. I told him that I trust his judgement to make it look sharp, "if you're happy, I'm happy" I said.
He also wanted me to see how nicely the cove ceiling corners look in the bathroom. They've engineered them to a size that won't necessitate using different sized tiles to make the curve, they'll use tiles of all the same size up the wall. The resulting look will be more uniform.

Ceiling corners in bathroom; tiles will be placed up the wall and overhead

Turning the corner

Now I think we've really turned the corner into seeing what the final result is going to look like.
With all the walls up and the plastering close to finish, you definitely get a sense of the space and flow from 'room' to 'room'.
The millwork is being started next...and the paint goes up. Hopefully those will be the next photos I post, fingers crossed.
Here's the entry hallway as you enter the apartment, with a view into the kitchen.

Entry hallway, view into main room, kitchen entry to right

Hallway closet, doors to come

Hallway ceiling, curved wall will follow this track

Here's where the dining niche in the hallway will go...

Dining niche

Here's a couple of views into the kitchen, one from outside the doorway...

Kitchen doorway

Kitchen, right wall

Kitchen, left wall

This is the entry coat closet...

Coat closet

Here's the 'feature wall' of the main room as I call it, the one that will have built-in bookshelves flanking the marble mantel (which you can't see in these shots)...over the mantel will be the flatscreen TV.

The mantel is behind all that junk, LOL

My favorite shots this week: of the main room, when the new casement windows go in they will look SHARP.

Main room

Main room, bath entry is to right

These are views standing in the main room looking back toward the entry hallway...and another shot of the bed wall with the inset for the headboard and 'nightstand' niche...

Main room looking into hallway 

Another view into hallway

Bed wall and nightstand niche

The AC unit below one of the main room windows has gone in...

AC unit

Finally, here is the work on the bathroom walls, they're being prepped for the tiles...you can see up in the corners how the tiles will curve when they're placed...

Bathroom ceiling

Bathroom corneer detail for curved corner tiles

A fireside chat

This week the marble mantel,--the one I bought on Craigslist weeks ago--was installed. 

I still can't believe I got it (and a second one too!) for such a great price. Note to all: Craigslist can be your friend! I highly recommend it for any and all furniture purchases if you're on a budget.

It did come with a marble hearthstone but Guillermo my contractor and Steve my architect both felt that it was too beaten up and large for the space in front of the mantel. So we're going to go with a new piece of stone, preferably black. 

Also to come: the inside of the firebox being tiled with small semi-gloss subway tiles placed in a herringbone pattern. Stay tuned for that finishing touch.

Here are a couple of pictures of the piece being installed...