It Is Finished!

Well, if there had been a Staff Christmas Party today I would have been ready for it ;)

School was cancelled again today because of the threat of another round of winter weather: this time snow, followed by rising temperatures, freezing rain, and then falling temperatures and, thus, ice. As of noon, it really isn't that bad out there, but we remain closed and so there is no staff to party with.

But that just means I have the time to give all of you a tour of the completed rectory dining room. It's been a long time in the coming, but I think you'll agree it's been worth it.

To remind you, this is what the room looked like BEFORE:

and now, AFTER:

BEFORE:

and AFTER:

As you might be able to see, there are still a few ceiling tiles for our maintenance director to finish, but I'm otherwise all done. You can also see a little of the red in the elevator lobby, and the complimentary colored curtains and lamp shades. This picture also shows what may be the most functional improvement - the addition of a doorway directly into the kitchen!

The new chairs and chandeliers actually make that massive table feel a little smaller - which I think means I will leave it be, rather than trying to replace it our cut it down in size. Better to be able to expand seating when necessary - and definitely better just to be done!! 

Additional wall hangings and furniture have also made this room feel a bit smaller and warmer.

Here's a good shot of the red in the elevator lobby, as well as the laminate tile floor in that area:

While I was at it, I thought I'd throw in a few shots of other recently finished renovations I never posted on because they pre-dated the blog. A little over a year ago I fixed up what had been a breakfast room just off the dining room, between the kitchen and community room. It had been very under used, but now can serve as a little sitting parlor:

Also, I redid the flooring in and painted the hallway that connects the kitchen, dining room, parlor and living room. Since this hallway serves as the main entrance to all of the public spaces on the community level of the rectory, this has been a major improvement and has made the entire place feel a little more like a home and a little less like the institutional building it really is.

Getting There

It's hard to believe but the dining room renovations are rapidly drawing to a close! All of the lighting is now finished, and the ceiling tiles have been painted and (most of them) have been reinstalled. The walls have all been painted (including the red in the elevator lobby which you haven't seen yet). Only a few pieces of trim work will need to be painted in the next few weeks. Meanwhile the last big project, the installation of the wood laminate floor, has been moving along quite nicely:

I was nervous about this part of the project as I haven't had the best time with this product in the past. But things could not be moving more quickly or smoothly this time round.  I anticipate finishing the floor this weekend, leaving me over a week to finish painting the trim and decorating before the room hosts its first major event: the Holy Redeemer staff Christmas party on December 17th!

I think the next pictures will be of the finished project !  :)

"Homework"

Work in the rectory dining room has been taking up a good deal of my free time recently. I have finished painting the walls of the dining room proper. This involved two coats of the new golden yellow color:

Then I did additional prepping so that I could paint polyurethane stripes on the walls to give them a subtle wallpaper effect:

The final result is difficult to see in pictures . . . 

and pretty subtle in person as well. I think it looks good, but I'm wondering if it was worth the additional work. Perhaps a darker paint color would have shown the stripes better, but the room is so dark I wouldn't have wanted to go that route.

Anyway, I have also finished painting an auxiliary room just off the dining room and also installed a laminate tile floor in that area. More pictures will follow of those projects - and now all that remains is the wood laminate flooring in the dining room and some painting of trim.

Dining Room Update

It's been quite some time since I updated you on the renovations in our community dining room. Admittedly there was quite a slow down at the end of the summer, as I enjoyed some time away - and at the start of the school year, as I was busy with work.

But there has indeed been progress.  The florescent lighting has been removed and replaced with six ceiling cans and two hanging fixtures for above the table.

While the ceiling was down, we painted all of the tiles a light brown. I'm glad we were able to "hide" the the yellowed white tiles and to make the room feel a little smaller with a darker color.

The painting of the walls has also proceeded apace. I selected a pale golden yellow (the middle test color) for the walls. I've also purchased the laminate floor that will soon be installed, as well as the majority of the furniture and accessories, including new chairs for the dining room table.

More pictures and updates as the project continues.

This Old Rectory

The Holy Redeemer Rectory we call home is in many ways the worst of both worlds. From what I know of the history of the building, it was built in 1907 . . . so it has a good number of the problems associated with such an old building. But then it was massively renovated in the 1960s . . . so it lost all of its history and now has all the charm of an Eastern Bloc apartment complex. Add to that the fact that one of our Holy Cross Brothers painted all of the rooms garish colors and you have quite the deadly mix.  

Over the past four years, during my two incarnations here at Holy Redeemer, I have been working my way through the community spaces on the lower level of the building and renovating them little by little. I did the living room during my regency year, I did the hallway and bathroom during my diaconate, and did the parlor/breakfast room during my first year of priesthood. (Pictures of all of those as time allows).

This summer I have moved onto the dining room . . . with the kitchen to follow in the fall. You can see below that it is a massive room . . . the house was built with ten bedrooms! You can also see that it was a horrendous shade I liked to call 'neon pumpkin.' (All the furniture was to one side because the pastor used it as his boxing room . . . no, I'm not kidding . . . and yes, that will be ending with this renovation!)

I've gotten the carpeting up and am preparing to put down a wood laminate floor. I've also primed all of the walls for their new color palette.

This week I also successfully cut a new doorway directly from the dining room into the kitchen. Previously, to get from the kitchen to the dining room one had to walk through two little connecting hallways . . . it was odd.  This will make the two spaces much more user-friendly, and also bring a bit of much-needed natural light into the kitchen. 

You can see here that, with the help of our director of maintenance, I was able to remove the lathe and plaster, add a new header, move the studs, and patch the surrounding plaster. Now I just need to frame the jam with finish wood.

Stay tuned for more updates and pictures as the project progresses!