Stained Cabinets & Friend

Johnny McDonald the painter started staining the cabinetry this morning. He said he always stains and seals all wood before he paints because if any paint happens to fall on the wood work it will wipe right off. Our builder Steve, went on to tell us the story about the one time Johnny broke his rule and painted first. His paint hose broke! The paint went everywhere. It landed all over his customers unstained-wood cabinets and he had to replace them. He said it was a very costly mistake.

The cabinets actually look darker than my camera pictures show. Johnny applied a honey oak stain on the cherry wood which is just a little darker than the wood flooring.

Elizabeth found our latest critter at the house hanging on the screened in porch this evening. Should we keep him?

Pantry

Today we were in town most of the day at Sherwin Williams. We met with the painter to select stain and paint for cabinetry and trim. We also picked up all the lighting for the house at Lowe's.

With all the crown molding completed Steve and Frank have started on the base board trim and pantry shelves. I was reluctant to post these pictures of the pantry because it is difficult to take good pictures of such a small space, with bad lighting.

The pantry is located under the staircase which will explain why the peg board on the back wall is cut at an angle. The peg board is to hold large frying pans and other large items, like those colanders that never fit under a cupboard. The pantry shelves continue up to the ceiling for added storage.

Steve thought we could make good use of the large space back under the stairs with a deeper shelf unit to hold larger appliances, the ones I don't use everyday, crock pot, etc. I asked Frank for a couple of dividers on the first shelf to house cookie sheets and muffin tins. I liked this feature in Rita's pantry. In our former home I stacked them on top of each other and every time I needed a cookie sheet I had to lift out the whole stack of cookie sheets (heavy) to get to the one I wanted to use. But in Rita's pantry I just walked in and pull out the one I needed, so easy and organized too! Later this evening Frank added a trim molding around the storage box which is not pictured, the trim completed the unit very nicely.

Cabinetry

Leon Beimer and his son Eric arrived Friday with the last of the cabinetry. They installed two of the beautiful shelf units they built of cherry wood. These two flank the fireplace in Paul's study. The old bank safety deposit boxes will be pushed back into the opening on the left side of these units. Then after the walls are painted the rock layers will come back to rock in the fireplace and mantel.
They also completed installing all the kitchen cabinet doors. The doors above the island will be fitted with glass after the painter stains the cherry wood cabinets. The glass door cabinets over the counter bar will be a lighted curio cabinet. We hoped if we could see though the cabinets the space would not feel closed in. Elizabeth looked on with great hope of living in her home pretty soon, we hope before Christmas.

Kitchen Cabinets

Leon Beimer and his son Eric brought the cabinets for the kitchen this morning. They put in a full day installing almost all the cabinets. He said they will be back Wednesday to finish the kitchen and deliver the cabinets for the study.The cabinets are made of cherry wood and will be stained by the painter to match the wood flooring.

The Beimer's added so many nice features to the cabinets. They built in all the cutting boards I asked for, three. One is pictured below to the right of the spice-rack drawer, its pretty wide. The spice rack was Leon's idea to make use of an otherwise unusable narrow space. The double trash drawer pulls out with ease and returns just as nicely.

More Cabinetry

It is difficult to describe just how beautiful this cabinetry is with-out paint, or stain. Leon Beimer and his son Eric are fine craftsmen.
The painted cabinets are made of poplar with a MDF material used in the center of the cabinet doors. The inset of the doors are beveled with a softer edge design. The above pictured cabinet was installed above each of the commodes and will be excellant storage space.
The cabinetry in the master bath pictured below is of cherry wood. We saw this similar shaker design at Lowe's. Beimer Cabinets copied the simple design of squared, Shaker lines we chose. Notice the detail Leon added with the inset dots of darker squares on the narrower overlaid pieces surrounding the doors. We chose this same Shaker style cabinetry for the kitchen.
Steve explained to us last night Leon is one of the few cabinet makers who installs his cabinets. Most drop the cabinets off with a diagram explanation, then the builder has to install them. Steve also pointed out the crown detail work around the top of the cabinets. He said the Beimer's install this themselves where other cabinet makers do not. The owners have to call on the builder, or someone else to apply this finished detail work later. I am learning so much.
This last photo is of the upstairs cabinets in the laundry room. It was difficult to take photos in such a small space, no room to back up.

Cabinetry Arrives

Leon Beimer and his son Eric brought their first trailer full of cabinets Thursday. They wait until they have a full trailer of cabinets before they start delivery and installation.

We chose two designs of cabinetry for the house. One design for the utility rooms and two of the bathrooms, which will be painted by the painters later. They other design we chose was a Shaker style cabinet for the kitchen and master bath, which will be stained to match the wood flooring. The cabinets installed Thursday are the cabinets which will be painted. They thought the rest of the cabinets should be ready sometime next week.

All the cabinets are just beautiful. When the men started placing the cabinets through out the house I stared humming and finally singing a happy tune. It was a happy day!

I will take more pictures tonight of the installed cabinets and post them tomorrow. We were in town all afternoon yesterday and didn't get back until after dark.

Cabinet Shop

Leon Beimer and his son Eric, of Beimer Cabinets in Rowena, Texas will be making the cabinetry for the house. Steve Gains, our builder, has always called on the Beimer family to create the custom cabinets for the homes he is building. We met with these men yesterday in their shop for over an hour. We were impressed with their attention to detail, design skills, and very clean shop.