First Rochester Projects: Solid Wood Built-In, Dining Room Wainscoting & New Railing

CUSTOM BUILT INS OUTDOOR INSTALLATIONS BUILT-INS MODIFICATIONS PROFESSIONAL WOOD REPAIRS

Custom Built-Ins

Exclusive custom wooden built-ins for your home or office give your rooms a unique character. Some of my customers ask for natural hardwood, while others ask for painted units, built to match the design in their rooms, with shelves, doors and drawers. Sometimes they'll include details like a work station for laptop and printer, space for a media center or they wish to integrate glass shelves for a bar. Built-ins can be a challenge and particularly so when it has to be angled to fit the roof slope and when, like in many of houses, walls and floors are not exactly straight.

But when built right, the results are nice examples of functional design and aesthetic. Many customers told me after all was finished, that it looked like it had always been there. And I see that as the biggest compliment.

Kitchen Refurbishment

The kitchen in this 175 yo country mansion - and especially the 50 year solid wood cabinets - needed a make-over. My customer wanted a new, large pantry cabinet built in a free corner left of the stove as well as new, solid wood countertops. For the new pantry and the existing cabinets I created shaker-style wooden doors and installed soft-closing, ball-bearing drawers.

For the countertops, I recommended my customer walnut, which I could get in an excellent, flawless quality from a nearby sawmill. Typical countertops are 1-1/2" thick, but this solid walnut creation is 2 inches thick. They also got a beautiful butcher block from the remainders. For the walls, I installed a new rustic shiplap paneling from solid wood, which my customers painted in the same color as the cabinets.

New Handmade Shutters

After my customers bought their new house, they felt that something was missing from the exterior façade and that new shutters would give the house more character. I designed new shutters for their French country-style house and constructed them from solid cedar wood that I got from a nearby sawmill. Additionally, they were chemically treated before painting. Important for my customer was not only the design and the quality of the wood but also that the shutters would be maintenance free.

It should be noted, that, typically, shutters from the factory are often not pre-treated for rot and insect resistance, and, when they come primed and/or painted, this is no longer possible, practically insuring the occurrence of wood rot in the foreseeable future. As such, the term "maintenance free", as applied to factory produced new shutters, can be misleading.

New Handmade Railings

Over the years, I built many new railings, and the installation is a demanding task for diligence and skill. Here I show you two example for a large and small railing:

As part of a major renovation of their home, my customer wanted a handrail with a classic black white design crafted from solid oak. Part of the project was to remove the round bullnoses from the starting step and build the new railing accordingly. The challenge is not only in the new construction, but also the removal of the old staircase without damage to the stairs and floor, so the reconstruction of the staircase looks like it had never been any different.

When my customers bought their house they installed new floors and removed a waist-high wall in the second floor that served as security barrier for the open staircase. The old wall made the staircase feel dark and narrow, and they wanted something lighter and brighter to give it a more modern appearance. I constructed a classic railing with white banister and posts with solid white oak caps and railings which corresponded perfectly with the new floor.

New Railings and Outdoor Installations

Some customers ask me to craft new railings for their porches and stairs, harmonizing with porch columns or other design aspects of their houses but having an own individual, aesthetic touch. Sometimes, I recommend a Chinese Chippendale decor, like I'd seen some years ago, when I restored a historic railing.

But I got also many request for other outdoor installations like, hinged AC surrounds, arched screens for porches, garden gates, security gates for children or dogs and porch or entrance columns. And when you have problems with existing outdoor installations around your house, especially when you have problems with rotten wood on trim, windows and doors, I can offer you a professional repair, too.

Handcrafted Wainscoting & Paneling

Wainscoting and wood paneling are nice accents that can enhance your home and give it a unique character. Whether you choose to adorn a part or an entire wall with it, wainscoting and paneling is timeless and can be integrated into nearly any design style. For many rooms, kitchen or bathrooms, you can choose a more traditional raised panel wainscoting with trim placed on top for a decorative finish or a modern design.

And some special projects, like the bathroom above can be a real challenge. My customers wanted a rustic paneling for their country cottage and choose old barn wood, which I got from a special shop for reclaimed wood. Stained and installed, it gave the room a stunning combination of rustic and modern style.

Built-Ins Modification

Built-ins are an important and valuable part of the architectural structure of a home. Most of my built-ins modification projects concern kitchen and media centers. Whether customers want a design update of doors, more storage space, new upgraded hardware or changing existing dimensions for new appliances or TV, modifications are a budget-friendly solution, without the need for extensive renovations and expensive replacements.

When you need more storage space in the kitchen, the solution is often an additional built-in or optimizing the available space . In the first example below, the space had been used as a pantry with a conventional door that looked like a closet in the kitchen. The shelves inside were too deep and impractical for storage. My proposal was to create a new built-in pantry with full-extension, soft closing, ball bearing drawers stained to match the aesthetics of the rest of the maple fronts. The second kitchen project below was a combination of replacing or repair of doors, drawers and the modification of the existing space for a new oven and a microwave. Additionally, I built a new pantry cabinet for a corner of the kitchen, and my customers were very happy with the solution.

For other refurbishment projects concerning bookshelves or TV cabinets, many requests are for modification of the existing space for a new, larger TV screen or to make an older, deeper TV niche shallower for modern flat-screen units. Often customers also ask for replacing shelves with drawers, because like in kitchens, deep shelves made it hard to access things and modern, soft-closing, ball-bearing drawers are a perfect solution to optimize storage space. Some customers want to change the space by removing existing items and remodeling the built-in to give it a decor update or to serve a new purpose.

Nevertheless, careful work is necessary to make new elements work smoothly and fit in the whole ensemble. A perfect example for a nice project was the request for incorporating a stylish workspace into a large bookshelf unit.