Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Bathroom Renovation Part Three

This is where I brag about my trusted handyman. Danny. He's amazing. He's the second oldest of lots of kids. His dad began teaching him cabinet making when he was just a little kid, and Danny has turned out to be a fine craftsman. Danny is the guy who did all the woodwork in this bathroom. He added beaded board, replaced baseboards that had been hacked into, and installed all of the chair rail molding. And it wasn't an easy job, because my house is crooked. So none of the angles were very straight-forward. Instead of forty-five degree cuts, we may have needed forty-seven degree cuts. And things had to be fudged in places. Because that's just how it is with hundred year old houses. But Danny did it.

I think he was a little appalled when I asked him not to replace the cabinet doors, but just trim them out. He is such a perfectionist, I think he really thought they should just be replaced with properly constructed shaker style doors. But he was a good sport, and went along with the "fake it" concept. Another thing my trusted carpenter did was replace the crown molding over the door. A nineteen fifties remodeler had hacked into it to build a ridiculously huge cupboard. Danny went to his cabinet shop and crafted a new crown molding to go over the door, and you would never know it wasn't original! And did I tell you that this amazing, hard-working, diligent craftsman just barely turned twenty-one! Impressive.