In-House Carpenter

 We were so blessed to have our own home-grown carpenter on site! 

He was on hand to tackle all kinds of custom projects! We seem to excel in making custom projects. That is one thing I learned about drawing house plans-- just because you can make it fit on paper doesn't mean it will work out in real life. I feel like we have truly meshed together the learning experience of architects and builders!

A hole in the wall by the front door became this spot...

...a key cubby, so very useful!

Our budding carpenter also built a custom wooden door for our half-bath sliding door frame. 

Here he is putting trim on the front door to cut down on the drafts. 

He was also called upon to make some custom bathroom vanities. We couldn't find vanities to buy for our bathrooms,  because as I said before, things can look right on paper, but....

We wanted a wall-mount sink in here, the old-school style, because there were several narrow ones that we thought would fit in this tiny room. Turned out that the studs were in all the wrong places, there was no way to connect the sink to anything! Whoops. I suppose we could have punched holes in the drywall and put in the structure for it (but I wonder if those four layers of paint might be impenetrable, hah hah). So custom carpenter: make us a corner vanity!

And the vanity has to have custom spaces for the plumbing, too. 

I got a bargain price on a vessel sink. I wanted to try one, even though the others objected to having them anywhere else. Well, they were right. That thing doesn't drain well, and I still haven't found a tool to clean around the bottom where it meets the vanity. Argh!  

I love all the hardware I have ordered from D. Lawless (this is the "country store" knob). Can't wait to get the kitchen done to show you the drawer pulls I have for that room! 

 The vessel sink proved to be a further pest by being too tall for the faucet, which had to have a block to elevate it to the right height for washing hands. 

(The faucet I will explain more in my epic story of how we found lead-free faucets that were actually more lead-free than the lead-free faucets you buy at the big box stores. Stay tuned.)

For now the sink stays, but I think it is on the replacement list. 

I later added a black appliance pull, also from D. Lawless, for the towel hanger.

 

Our carpenter was so useful to have on-site, and all I had to do was feed him for payment. But you only get these amazing young people for a short time, and then they get wise to your plans and go get a regular job. I will be posting more about the things he has built around here in future posts!