The renovation is complete! Here are the before and after shots side by side. Scroll down to see the whole process in action!

And now it's a new year (2008) and the renovation process starts anew! The Lillian Randall room is getting a new queen bed (no more double bed!) and fresh paint in the bathroom. The wallpaper has been stripped and it's just a matter of picking out the new colors.

Other planned reno's this year are finishing up all the trim painting, new shower heads in all the bathrooms, new toilet seats (OK, that's something I bet you weren't expecting, but, heck, why not!), some new artwork on the walls and, hopefully, stripping and sanding the 2 first floor rooms. More pix from the new work to follow! Stay tuned!

Dining room facing east.

New wallpaper, ceiling fan and hardwood floors.

 

 

 

Dining room facing west.

New linoleum in the entry.

 

 

 

The new 'coffee bar'.

Much easier to get that first cup of joe in the morning! Underneath is the new guest fridge with ice. In the background is the private inn kitchen. Sorry, no guests allowed in the private kitchen area!

 

Long view from the dining room.

Off to the right we still have the comfy chairs for early morning chats with Rock.

 

 

The project in detail is below...

Starting January 2, 2007, we will be renovating the dining room and reception area. Taking into account the many observations, helpful comments and needs of the guests we've had here for the past two years, we worked with an interior designer to come up with a plan to make your stay here more enjoyable.

The renovation includes new flooring in the dining room and reception area and all new wallpaper throughout. The floors in the hallway and living room will be stripped and refinished.

We'll be posting photos here on a regular basis, starting with the 'before' shots. Check back often starting in January to see the progress unfold.

We hope you'll want to see the finished product in person!

The 'before' photos, taken Dec 30, 2006.

 

Jan. 3, 2007: The work has begun! All the furniture is gone and the pantry cabinet has been moved  (where Connie is standing on the ladder). Rock painted the dining room ceiling today and will do the kitchen tomorrow. And what, you may ask, have I been doing? Well, all that furniture didn't get up and walk off by itself! Tomorrow will be more painting and removal of furniture (we also have to clear out the living room for the floors to be refinished and the clean out the staff bathroom for new linoleum), the lower cabinets will be primed and prepped for painting. And I'll be in search of the perfect cabinet hardware and ceiling fixtures. And, perhaps, a new dishwasher. We want to get as much of 'our' work done before the new flooring goes in...that way we can be sloppy!

 

Jan. 6, 2007: Today we are doing small projects...removing the rest of the furniture, patching plaster and painting the hallway (not on the original list, but what the heck!) and priming the cabinets for paint. Here I am, brush in hand, 'committed' to the cabinet painting now that I've slapped on the primer. Great day to do this work, it's 60 degrees, the sun is shining and I have all the windows open!

 

Jan. 6, 2007: Later on that same day...Uh oh, looks like the remodel may be getting to Rock, he's trying to drown his sorrows...head in dishwasher is not a good sign! Luckily, this was just a repair. $34 part and 3 hours' labor and Rock had the dishwasher back in fine fettle. Saved us having to buy a new one. (We order parts through PartsSelect.com. So far we have ordered parts for a dryer, microwave and now the dishwasher. Order before 3 PM and the parts come the next day. Can't beat that!)

 

Jan. 8, 2007: Flooring work begins! Gordon and Tim, from Strictly Floors in West Gorham, are here ripping out the old carpet and prepping the floors for the new linoleum (the real stuff!) and setting up for the hard wood floor installation on Wednesday. These guys are doing great work and they are fun to boot!

 

Jan. 9, 2007: 22 boxes of new birch hardwood flooring just got delivered. 'Some assembly required!'

The new linoleum getting rolled flat.

 Big work days Wednesday and Thursday.

 

Jan. 11, 2007: The new flooring in the dining room goes down. This is a birch flooring we got to approximate the 100+ year old flooring in the living room, hallway, Parlor Room and Front Room.

Pictured here are Rob and Jim from Robert A. Smith Construction.

 

Jan. 12, 2007: The new flooring in the dining room is finished! This flooring also goes down the hallway to the Bowdoin. It is gorgeous! All that blue carpet is gone. Rob and Jim will be back in about 10 days to put in the new island. Next week it'll be living room floors being refinished and the wallpaper should get started. Still waiting for delivery of ALL the paper.

 

 

Here's Rock putting the kickplates back on the cabinets we moved. You can see a large stretch of the new floor in this picture.

I'll be painting the kitchen cabinets tomorrow. I got the paint today so we'll see how it goes.

 

Jan. 16, 2007: Roland Wallace Floor Sanding was on hand for 2 days refinishing the floors in the living room and hallway.

This is Roland doing a close sanding and Terrance doing a buffing. The room was blocked off with plastic to keep the dust down so I had to take the picture through the window in the dining room.

Finished floor.  What a difference.

We have to wait 3 days to put the furniture back which is OK because we'll have to get in there and dust off the walls.

They pointed out to us where the old cast iron radiator was and showed how we could tell where old doorways had been. It's kind of like detective work, discovering the clues left behind from previous renovations! Missing from photos is Gary who was working in the hallway at the time.

The wallpaper order has finally been figured out. All of the paper is here and Connie will be back in the morning to start her prep work.

So, what's been happening between last Tuesday and this Monday? Rock put up new light fixtures in the kitchen, in the hallway and a new ceiling fan in the dining room. We've started putting some things back and we've been out looking for door hardware. Yikes! We went out looking for a buffet for the dining room. Problem is, I know exactly what I want and now I won't find it!

 

Jan 22: The first of the wallpaper went up last Thursday in the dining room, seen here. Almost the entire dining room got finished today. The first couple of sheets went up in the kitchen, too. (More photos tomorrow when there is more of it up.)

And now that almost all of the sanding, cutting, dust creation is done, we can start putting the living room back together.

Feb 1: The guys finished this up this afternoon and I got right on 'decorating'!

 

Feb 5: With just a few more days to go, we are down to the wire on getting things put back together. We're finishing up the painting today and tomorrow, getting a nice fresh coat of paint in the hallways. Each room's interior moulding & trim will be painted over the next couple of months as we get time. The rest of the wallpaper should be here tomorrow. Cross your fingers! It was supposed to be here last Thursday.

 

With all of the carpentry work done-new hardwood floors, refurbished hardwood floors, linoleum installation- we wanted to thank Chris and Gary at C&S Flooring in Woolwich for all of their help in getting our project done on time and on budget. They sent great independent contractors out to do the work who were here when they said they would be and did the scope of work we hired them to do. They listened to our concerns about how things would look and feel to our guests, and they made everything work the way we wanted it to. You can't ask for more than that. Their 'can-do' attitude really gave us confidence the job would be finished with professionalism and in a timely manner. Thanks!

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OK, have to admit, this 'fix-up' bug has bitten! We are now working on the Parlor Room. Rock has stripped the old wallpaper out of the bathroom and he's going to paint it a lovely shade of pale green, to complement the wallpaper already in the bedroom. I'm scraping old paint off the trim and redoing that part of it.

Rock has already replaced the old drop ceiling with new tiles and added insulation above to make the bathroom quieter. He'll be painting the ceiling grid and baseboard trim in the bathroom while I do the trim in the bedroom.

This will make this a much cheerier space. The old pink paper was a bit out of date and needed a redo.

So, here it is! New fresh mint paint that perfectly matches the leaves on the floral print in the bedroom!