Woodwork

Apr. 23rd, 2012 06:28 pm
snousle: (river)
[personal profile] snousle
Well, the finish carpentry is now almost done, but I cannot wait to share some of the pictures of how things look.



When we built this house I made some daring color choices. They made no sense whatsoever without the completed woodwork, which was needed for contrast. But now that it's all done I'm very pleased with the results. For some reason, I had the urge to paint bathrooms in warm colors, and other rooms in cool colors. The central room is fairly bland - the color is actually called "vanilla" - but the peripherial rooms are more saturated. This was a purely intuitive judgment accomplished after lots of games with paint chips.

After much experimentation with stains, we settled on a method where we first stain with a reddish stain, followed by a second coat of dark brown. We are using Minwax, which dries to leave a waxy layer that is easily shined up to a nice polish. The two-tone approach came very close to the look of hundred-year-old lumber.

I am, however, a little self-conscious about it for what might be a silly reason. I had a co-worker that I barely knew who, for no reason whatsoever, engaged me in a conversation about some horrible man that creeped her out. She mentioned specifically that he had painted all the woodwork in his house black, implying that this was some hyper-macho design move that she disapproved of. She concluded the conversation by fluttering her hands and declaring "I don't even want to know what goes on in there", as if color choices were some index to a bachelor's morality. Now, we do have a "guy house" and a number of people have commented on the masculine atmosphere. And that's very deliberate. But that woman's weird rant still sticks with me, more than a decade later. Oh well.

It's not particularly easy to photograph. When you paint a room an intense color, the eye adjusts to it when you're there in person, but the camera more or less freaks out. Anyway, I hope these give a sense of what I was trying to accomplish.

Large guest room:


Large guest room bath:


Other corner of large guest room:


Video lounge:


Half bath:


Shower and vanity in master bath:


Small guest room, which is a mess because Bill is camped out there right now:

Date: 2012-04-24 02:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] p0lecat.livejournal.com
Very Nice!

Date: 2012-04-24 03:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dhpbear.livejournal.com
Great, Tony. I like the simple design.

Nice to see the small guestroom finished! Last time I was there, it was the workshop!
Edited Date: 2012-04-24 02:56 pm (UTC)

Date: 2012-04-24 05:12 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bbearseviltwin.livejournal.com
Looks very sharp.
As for the crazy former coworker, A, they don't look black to me, and B, so what if they were? Her statement is obviously the product of a deranged mind. I hope she got treatment.

Date: 2012-04-24 07:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] broduke2000.livejournal.com
Is there a reason (other than the obvious) that it's called Master Bath?

Date: 2012-04-24 11:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jstregyr.livejournal.com
What? You mean you haven't read that glorious 19th century swashbuckler, "The Titillating and Ribald Adventures of Master Bath and Shower Slave"?

Date: 2012-04-25 07:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] broduke2000.livejournal.com
You mean:
Soon I heard the shower going, and sow calling for me to hurry up and join him. As tired as I was, this still struck me as a good idea. As I was greasing up my tight, black leathers, slave called out for me to bring the bolt cutter. I stumbled into the room, filled with steam, and stepped into the shower recess. I used the bolt cutter to remove slave's collar, and he licked the crotch of my jeans in grateful obedience. I watched as Slave's shiny black leather rebel cap dribbled steamy water past his nose, and into his eager and awaiting dark black beard.

Date: 2012-04-24 04:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] albear-garni.livejournal.com
Wow! The woodwork looks really, really good. And it definitely confirms your choice of colors, which I liked the first time I saw them.

Good job!

Date: 2012-04-25 12:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] h0gwash.livejournal.com
Anticipating how color intensity will affect a room is difficult because the swatches are sooo small and rooms are soooo big. The square foot area of paint affects the intensity quite a bit. I actually buy a can of white when I paint a room to dilute the intensity in the case the room starts to freak me out.

The trim looks very handsome and I think even if the colors were a bit too strong, the completed trim would tie the room together and give it a sense of restful normalcy.

Date: 2012-04-25 03:29 am (UTC)

Date: 2012-04-25 06:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barbarian-rat.livejournal.com
I always liked your color choices, even before the trim.
Looks great.
So for former workperson masculine design is bad and feminine design is good?
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