Note: Since completion of the house I have also decided to allow guest bloggers to post articles related to remodeling. This continues the education process.
TIMELINE
Architect Selection - December 2002 through January 2003
Getting a Permit - January 2003 through November 2004
Construction - November 2004 through September 2006
Post Construction - October 2006 through ???
Craftsman Curtain Rod Bracket Installation
Rich Wright, the contractor of my house, made the curtain rods and brackets out of left over mahogany from the construction. He had to build a jig to hold the base bracket in place and ensure that it was aligned straight.


This picture shows the mounting really well. There are two screws that mount the base piece into the wall. The cover piece has a hole in the center where a 3-inch screw goes through the rod (not shown) and into the back support bracket. That hole is then filled with an ebony plug.

We ran into an issue with how to do a bracket for a corner window where each window had it's own curtain. Here is the solution, a corner bracket that takes each rod in at a 45 degree angle.

Test fitting a curtain rod into the brackets to make sure everything fits.

Now it's time to make the curtain rods. Each mahogany rod was custom cut to the length required for each window and door. I numbered the ends of the rods when finishing so I could remember where they went later. After some light sanding to bevel all edges, I sprayed on 3 coats of Varathane to seal them. This is the same finish I used on the curtain rod brackets.



Meanwhile, this block of ebony was cut into tiny squares to plug the holes in the brackets after installation.

And now for the final product. Well, almost final. I still haven't put in the ebony plugs but you can't really tell in these pictures. The rods extend one inch past each end of the brackets. The curtains have tabs with buttons so the curtain can be removed if needed.


Craftsman Curtain Rod Brackets
The brackets are made from my leftover Honduran mahogany. Here are the long awaited pics of the unfinished brackets and the finishing process.
Here you can see a complete bracket and the two halves that make it up.
The brackets are match drilled. We had to number them to keep the sets together.
All of my materials: curtain rod brackets and Varathane clear semi-gloss.
Taking all of the brackets apart in preparation for finishing. Ebony plugs will fill the holes.
The brackets are apart and ready for finishing with Varathane.
Craftsman Curtain Rods and Curtains
If you remember, I have a lot of mahogany and ebony left over from the job so we will be using that and make it ourselves. On a related note, my contractor Rich Wright asked me if I could create a web site for him in exchange for some work I may need done. What great timing! Rich will be building the curtain rods in exchange for his site.
Dining Room Table Being Built
The table is modeled after a table in the Robinson House, another Greene and Greene design. With both leaves in, it can comfortably seat 14, without the leaves it can easily seat 8. It weighs in at about 150 lbs for the base and 150 lbs for the top. The extensions are wood sliding on wood, there are no metal sliders. Also notice that your knees won't hit anywhere around the table.
The Mailbox Post and Mailbox Get Installed
Sanded and Stained Front Door and Garage
Painting Lesson Learned, Stairs Almost Done, Landscaping Going Well
• We are still painting rooms. Probably for another 3 weeks. The problem is that all wall and ceiling surfaces need to be skim-coated. My GC was trying to keep the costs down by spot patching the walls and in hindsight it looks like it ended up costing me quite a bit more because it takes forever to spot fix these walls with all of the wood trim everywhere.
A MAJOR Lesson Learned here is plaster the whole house or go in with the plan to skim coat over ALL drywall surfaces. The bottom line is drywall may be faster and cheaper if your building a bunch of condos but it ends up costing a lot more if you are trying to do a good quality job. About half of the screws popped out with all of the hammering due to woodwork finishing.
• Dave Barlow has finished the stairs and wainscoting and is now working on the staircase railing. After that, he should be done. He's been with us 1 year now, did all of the interior woodwork, and was only hired to do the stairs. Unbelievable!
• Landscaping is going pretty well. The front driveway is complete, the front pathway is just about done, sprinkler valves are in, final grading and irrigation starts next week, and the waterfall/pond will finally start next week.
Everybody is Working - Painting, Murals, Library, Stairs, Wainscot, Playhouse, Landscaping
• We have a painter going room to room now. We had a muralist paint this big oak tree with animals in the kids' room.
• We are almost finished laying all of the exterior flagstone around the house. The driveway will be poured this Saturday.
• The master closet is complete. Cedar-lined walls and American cherry cabinets.
• The library is built. In fact, all cabinetry is complete and will be finished over the next few days.
• The stair treads have been sent out for finishing. Dave is starting on the wainscot in the bathrooms and the newell posts for the stairs.
• A playhouse was built in the backyard. We used the leftover shingles for siding, shingles for the roof, Brazilian Cherry and limestone for the floors. Scaled down rafters were carved. It looks awesome!
• The waterfall and pond construction will start any day now.
• I had almost half of the exterior stone siding removed and replaced by a new stone guy. My first guy is great at ceramic tile but not so when it came to stone.
• I almost forgot....For the past four months, Matt Keyes of Keyes Landscape Design has been implementing the landscape design. It is amazing! So far we have 18 tons of boulders and need another 6 tons. I believe the landscaping will actually finish before the house now. There is a consistent group of guys that work 6 days a week, 8-10 hours a day. They are really good and fast!
Stairwell Wainscot, Concrete Poured, Work Stopped, Gone Surfing
• We are laying out the stairwell wainscoting. It will be Honduran Mahogany with 6 distinct layers to give it a depth effect. Just wait and see...
• Drainage was put in on the North side of the house.
• Concrete was poured on the North side so we can now build the block wall for the planter.
• Two carpenters and the electrician are surfing and camping at Big Sur for the last two days. My GC is sick with food poisoning and Dave, the finish carpenter is on another job for 2 days. In other words, NO WORK FOR THE LAST 2 DAYS IN THE HOUSE. How in the world will we finish in time when things like this happen?
Gamble House Lights, Floor Issue, Fireplaces, Ebony Plugs, Kitchen Tile
• I created the stained glass for the light in the December 18th blog post only to find out that half of them were too small. After another week of stained glass work, I finished and my fingertips were raw. I brought the glass panels to Old California Lantern Company for installation and received the lights about 2 weeks ago. They are absolutely stunning!
• The floors are installed. Lesson learned - make sure the installers verify that the door still opens before the whole thing is laid!!!
• The kitchen, laundry room, and master bathroom American cherry cabinets have been stained with Jel'd Stain Red Mahogany by Wood Kote.
• The walk-in closet cabinets are almost complete.
• The master bedroom fireplace is covered with a beautiful Batchelder tile from Mission Tile West in Santa Monica.
• The living room entertainment center is built and ready for finishing.
• Dave Barlow is installing the ebony plugs in the scarf joints around the house.
• The living room fireplace is having Moonlight flagstone installed right now. It's a very slow process as each piece is being chiseled to the right dimensions. Look on the left part of the mantel and you can see my sugar cube mockup of the stone corner. I made this to make sure they understood how I wanted the 45-degree angles handled.
• The appliances will be installed tomorrow.
• Clear-coating of the mahogany will start in about 2 weeks followed by painting the walls and ceiling.
• Glass tile from Mission Tile West has been installed in the kitchen. It looks amazing!
Well, I'm going to start uploading the pictures now and then I'm off to Kauai for my 40th birthday.
The Finishes are Going In
• The master bathroom has been tiled and looks great!
• Cherry cabinets have been installed in the kitchen, master bath, and laundry room. Unfortunately, the kitchen sink cabinet was 3/4" off center from the window. The cabinet had to be shortened by 3/4" on both ends to keep it symmetric and centered on the window.
• I have purchased the soapstone slabs for the kitchen and laundry room from Soapstone West in Escondido, CA.
• Brazilian Cherry floors have been ordered from Dutko Hardwood Floors in Lawndale, CA and will be installed the first week of December. Talk about a backlog.
• The fireplace mantel has been installed and stained. Plaster will go above it and Moonlight flagstone will go below. It will be cut into manicured blocks of varying size.
• Actual work has started on the staircase. There was a lot of planning to get to this point.
• The hot tub has been delivered. We're just waiting for power now.
• The Golden Busckskin flagstone has been installed on the front and back patios.
• The green slate has been installed on the balconies.
• Paint samples are all over the walls. I hear they will start within 2 weeks with the paint.
• Interior doors are installed and stained.
Garage Door Installed, Interior Primed, Bathroom Floated, Ceiling Beams Installed
• All interior doors have been ordered but we have to wait about a month. Expected delivery is 9/14/05.
• The garage door was installed.
• Interior of house and garage has had two coats of primer applied.
• Master bathroom has been floated and is ready for tile.
• The ceiling beams are being installed single-handedly by Dave Barlow. The planning for this was extremely difficult as there is quite a bit of wood and detail in a Craftsman style house. We are designing the layouts on the fly for the ceiling, crown moulding, plate/picture rail, floor trim, wainscoting, and staircase. All of these pieces tie together as one entire wood 'system'. Our design of this is staying about one or two steps ahead of the build. One problem is that we don't have our wood floors in yet so we can't build the jambs up from the floor.
Cabinets, Plumbing, Electrical, Insulation, Surround Sound, Roof Work, Shower Mopped,.....
• All plumbing and electrical in the master bathroom has to shift to the left by about a foot since we had a designer lay out the cabinets.
• All insulation has been put in.
• I installed in-ceiling speaker brackets for surround sound in the living room.
• Copper flashing is going on the roof.
• The shower has been hot-mopped. We were told to pick out all bathroom tile and balcony and laundry room flooring this week.
• Skylights have been framed.
• The Thermador range and Thermador dishwasher were delivered last week. I found a place in Alabama (Fredrickson's Tire and Appliance) with amazing prices through eBay. They were clearing out a supply of Thermador appliances from a warehouse that closed down. They bought everything up and were liquidating at wholesale prices.
• With the extended garage roof you now hit your head when walking around the corner. So, we dug down about 2 feet around the garage to lower the grade.
Paint Colors Selected and Front Door Started
• Gave Joe Madden of Madden Millworks in San Pedro the go-ahead to start construction of the front door.
Next Page
Be sure to browse the 2,000 picture Photo Gallery for more step-by-step construction details.