This is the same client (friends, actually) for whom we constructed an exterior door (see oldest post here- ‘A Castle’s Exterior Door’… at the bottom of the page).
Anyway, this stone house was built over 75 years ago and we believed the old tongue and groove pine was original. Nice old wood but it made the living room a bit gloomy and she wanted to brighten and ‘clean up’ the look. They wanted to keep the stone fireplace and redo everything else.
We designed low shelving for that wall, the wall to it’s left and included a place for cord wood ‘waiting it’s turn’ to heat the house. It was a bit pricey so we eliminated the shelves returning on the left wall and… got to work.
The paneling was removed to expose the studs, the walls sheet-rocked, the stonework re-chinked, floors sanded / urethaned and the walls painted before installing the bookshelves.
We installed all the finish woodwork including some wider molding for the windows (more ‘old-world’ look to work with the stone). All painted white for a nice contrast. I fabricated some thick, oak, quarter round molding for the hearth’s edge as it sat 2″ above the floor
Rather than build the whole cabinet deeper, I elected to simply extend the floor of the cord wood opening. We protected it’s interior by lining it (floor, walls, ceiling and back) with sheet metal. I’m interested to see how this will stand the test of time.
I usually like the look of very old wood but it’s not quite so special when everywhere you look, you see nothing but walls of dark wood. I think this room is vastly improved… as our friends, all along, believed it would be.
Russell Hudson / Hudson Cabinetmaking, Inc.
