Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Hillsborough Plaster Crown


We recently completed the plaster crown installation in Hillsborough, CA. The custom glazing applied to the plaster was performed by Tobias Freccia of Fiarde Architectural Design. www.fiarde.com





Below are images of the crown when the perimeter LED lighting is on.


Bellagio.


Monday, November 5, 2012

Plaster Crown Install


In a room with a ceiling height of 22 feet, a large cornice molding is the way to go. This is a 2-piece crown: one 16H" X 18W" main crown, and a smaller 3" X 4" sub-crown. The smaller crown will function as a custom light rail that will house LED lighting around the perimeter of the room, casting a warm glow upward toward the main crown. This will create ambiance for sure.



Here Jeff is fitting one of the smaller pieces created by a short offset in the room. There will be four offsets total, as well as the usual inside corners. Cutting the long miters of the main crown while maintaining alignment within the lattice pattern is one of the many challenges of the project.




Saturday, September 22, 2012

Some thoughts on what we offer...

The Superintendent on a high-end building project usually has too much to do.
This position is the hub of the job, with nearly every element of the project requiring the Super's attention.

We arrive at the job to commence work with a detailed and comprehensive grasp of the proposed finish carpentry scope, developed during our bidding process and preliminary meetings with members of the project team.

Our journeymen carpenters are veteran role players for whom the particular care and behavior required in the high end residential milieu is second-nature.

If an apprentice or helper is on hand, he or she has been fully indoctrinated in the need for heightened awareness throughout even the most mundane of tasks; to be careful, thorough, and discreet.

We often act as an intermediary between the Contractor and the Architect or Designer to help resolve design questions. An example might be an intersection of two molding profiles that do not plane into each other in an elegant way.
Using Google Sketchup to illustrate existing situations and potential alternatives, solutions can usually be arrived at thru email interactions.

We provide our own supervision, requiring minimal oversight.

We are invested in the work, the project outcome, and the relationships of the project team.

In a variety of ways we make the Superintendent's job easier, freeing up valuable time and attention which can otherwise be put towards the steady flow of coordination, oversight, and problem-solving that the job will inevitably require.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Mill Valley snapshots

 A new shipment of reclaimed wood arrives on site.
 We were very happy to get it.
 Typical dimensional variation in this product. Most of the wall paneling is resawn from 2 x 8 framing lumber from a grain elevator in Eastern Washington.


Everything will be painted.




Below are shots of various ceilings throughout the house with new or reclaimed wood paneling, some with false rafters.






























Thursday, May 3, 2012

Sonoma Exterior

The house got unwrapped this week...



Friday, April 27, 2012

Got some shirts...

James Wiester  models our new shirt. Many thanks to the great people at Ape Do Good for taking care of our printing needs.  www.apedogood.com

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Getting started in Mill Valley.


 Many of the ceilings in this house are to be paneled with tongue-and-groove flooring salvaged from a granary in Washington State. In the photo above, Cassie is starting the dining room ceiling. The first pieces installed on what will be about an eight-week project for us.


A little while later, about half way up one side of the pitched ceiling. (The blue object is a fire sprinkler with a temp plastic cover.) All of the wood paneling will receive paint.

Large crown installed.

This crown is fairly subtle because of the wide smooth expanse with such a gentle quarter-ellipse.
The scale can be better appreciated with the painter in the photo lending some perspective.
This is the material pictured on top of the red truck in our Feb 2nd blog post...

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Walnut paneling in the game room. Stair skirts and plaster crown.

Some first-rate stain grade work by Carl Robertson in the Game Room. All in solid walnut.