12th St- Done

The top three units of our condo development at 1221 12th St NW are finally complete and on the market. We had our first open house on Sunday and more than 100 people came through between 1 PM and 4 PM. Not bad! We don't think it will be long before all of the units are under contract. We're still working in the project to finish the two basement units, but the hard work is done. The condos look amazing! We're very proud of the finished product.

2106 10th St- The Thompson Flats- Another Floor

The framing is moving along quickly at the new condo building, and we're very close to topping out. The third floor is framed, and all that's left is the small loft space above. Our plan is to start framing out the interior walls and begin the plumbing in the basement next week.

Here's the current progress. We had really high winds last night and it pulled of some of the Tyvek on the top left side. This isn't a problem- the housewrap is just loosely held in place at this point. Next week we'll come back with scaffolding and seal all of the seams and make sure the building is tightly protected from the elements.

1221 Condos- Almost Done

We've set the date for our open house for one week from this Sunday, which is April 18th. That means the clock is ticking to get all of the little tasks done to get these condos on the market. Tomorrow is an exciting day because the granite is being installed in the kitchens, bathrooms and fireplaces. Not only does this make the kitchens look complete, but it allows us to install the appliances and tile backsplash.

The biggest task remaining is refinishing all of the original pine floors and installing new oak floors in the basement. The floors had decades worth of nails and scratches that had to be removed, plus several layers of polyurethane.

The bigger areas can be done with the large sander shown above. However, the edging has to be done with a small handheld sander. They do this first, and then come back with the big one. This is what it looks like when they first start a room:

This picture pretty much shows up the current state of the project. Almost there, but lots of details remaining. Note the missing countertops, appliances, glass in cabinets and bulb in pendant light. These are the types of things that will be completed in the next week.

The back parking area is nearing completion.

1221 12th St NW- Almost There

This project is really entering the final stages. We're at the point in the project where everyone comes back to finish. Today, there were several plumbers, electricians, the HVAC company and our carpenters working in the house. We're looking forward to next week, when we'll start refinishing the floors and installing the new hardwood floors in the basement.

This picture of the second floor unit will give you a pretty good idea of the current condition of the building. The paint color looks perfect (thanks to Jaye at Red House Staging) and all of the trimwork is complete. The lights are all in, and the furnaces are set, ready to be turned on when the gas meters are installed on Friday.

All of the cabinet frames are installed, although now we need to go back and install the inset doors. The cabinet frames were covered in plastic to protect them during the construction.

This picture shows the new tile, paint and wall-hung sinks in the hall bathrooms. The colors really work together well.

Here is the master bathroom on the first floor. The Kohler dual-flush toilets are in, as well as all of the marble and ceramic tile. We had the marble vanity tops measured yesterday and they will be installed next week.

The drywall guys finally got to work on the plaster section of the bayfront windows. We kept the trim entirely intact on the front to preserve the historic character, so it will now take a lot of work to patch and skim the plaster.

Here is the hallway in the back bedroom unit. The brick is all cleaned and ready to be sealed.