Oct. 1 – Interior painting begins.  The walls, ceilings and trim throughout the house were primed and painted with Benjamin Moore paints.  Interior Designer, Christopher Maya, offered his talents pro bono to create the color palette.  His color choices were not only historically appropriate but also blended beautifully when viewed from one room to the next.

Oct. 1 – Front porch steps installed.  The front steps were built off-site by Quality Stairs and were attached to the reproduction landing completed in September.  The dimensions of the entire, newly restored porch were based on the historic photo of Emily McLaury standing on her front porch.   Architect Jack Franzen created the technical drawings for this portion of the project pro bono.

Oct. 2 – Kitchen cabinets installed.  Carpenters Bill Dohme and Carl Sirois are seen here installing the kitchen cabinets. The cabinets were built  and custom painted off site by a cabinet company contacted through Showcase of Greenwich.  Since portions of the original kitchen were lost prior to the start of the restoration effort, the Restoration Committee approved a new kitchen design that created a historic appearance but was sensitive to today’s modern needs.   Architect Bruce Salvo designed the kitchen floor plan.

Early October – Rear porch steps constructed.  The aging, non-original staircase that once led from the elevated porch to the ground was removed.  The new staircase was re-designed not only to meet current building codes but also to lead more gracefully and aesthetically to the back yard.  Framer Carl Sirois is seen in the left photo fastening mahogany treads to the stringers.  On the right, he completes the project by nailing-in the last two post caps.

Early October – Stone pillar built to support deck.  Evidence existed that two stone pillars originally supported the rear porch, one at each corner.  Only one of these original stone pillars remained (as seen in the background of the photo on the left).  A new stone pillar was constructed (right photo) to restore the symmetry originally present at the rear of the house and to blend beautifully with the newly revealed stone foundation.

Oct. 11 – Antique “wavy” glass installed in kitchen cabinets.  To increase the kitchen’s vintage appearance, antique glass was salvaged from donated, old windows and installed in the reproduction cabinets.  Morley Boyd, Chairman of the Emily McLaury House Committee, did the glasswork for this portion of the project.  He is seen here re-attaching the cabinet doors after he’d installed the vintage glass.  Morley’s volunteer efforts on behalf of the restoration project were boundless and included countless hours spent applying his own carpentry and handyman skills throughout the house. 

Oct. 11 – Vintage bathroom sink installed.  Indoor plumbing did not become common until the early 20th century at which time outhouses began to move indoors to become today’s “bathrooms.”  It appears that Emily McLaury always had a bathroom in her house (not unusual for a well-off woman to have one).  However, the original fixtures were long gone.  The vintage, 1920s sink was purchased at Habitat for Humanity and was donated to the project.  The toilet is a reproduction.

Oct. 12 – Fieldstone patio installation begins.  When the non-original storage area was removed from beneath the rear porch, the newly opened space not only revealed additional views of the beautiful stone foundation but also provided a wonderful opportunity to create a usable space beneath the patio for entertaining and relaxation.  The idea to create a patio beneath the elevated porch came from Fairfield landscape designer, Diane Devore of Devore Associates.  Diane and her assistant, Abigail Squance, donated their time and talents to provide the Restoration Committee with a number of good landscaping ideas.  The left photo shows the masons beginning to lay the fieldstones for the patio.  The photo on the right shows the patio nearing completion.

Oct. 17 – Kitchen countertops installed.  Interior Designer, Christopher Maya, suggested that the countertops be made of honed granite using a color known as  “absolute black.”  The honed surface is less shiny than polished granite and therefore provides a more vintage look.  The granite was purchased from, and installed by, Creative Stone of New Haven.  The window seat seen in the photo on the right was custom built by General Contractor, Bill Dohme.  Its lid, which was made of donated pine from an old drafting table, opens to access valuable storage beneath.  The window seat will be painted the same color as the cabinets.  Aitoro of Norwalk generously provided all of the kitchen appliances, as well as the washer and dryer in the basement, at a tremendous discount.

Oct. 22 – Interior trim work begins.  In several areas of the house, new trim was necessary where old trim had been damaged or lost.  In this photo, Bill is taking measurements to cut new casings and a sill for the bathroom window. Since the standard dimensions of lumber produced today are different from those of the past, great care was taken to custom cut new trim pieces to exactly match the dimensions of the original trim.  Bill Dohme was able to duplicate the dimensions of most of the trim himself with the exception of the base cap moulding.  Because this style of moulding is no longer available, a small sample was sent to Center Lumber of Patterson, N.J. to be reproduced in the quantity needed. 

Nov. 4 – Sundial installed.  Throughout the restoration project, items were salvaged from other locations and re-purposed at the McLaury House.  Today this is known as “green building” but it is not a new concept.  In earlier times, before mass production, it was common to re-use objects because resources were limited and nothing was wasted.  For example, the McLaury House was built circa 1921 but several items pre-dated it including its fireplace mantel and many of the house’s largest structural supports.  With this in mind, many of the items used in the restoration project were recycled from other locations.  An appropriate symbol of this principle is the sundial that the Restoration Committee placed in the backyard of the McLaury House.  The stone column upon which the dial sits was once part of an outdoor, circular staircase that led to the Winslow House (built in the late 1800s and torn down in the 1970s) formerly located at what is now called Winslow Park in Westport.

Nov. 7 – Chimney sealing underway.  Earlier in the project, the entire chimney was stripped of white paint to return it to its original, natural color.  The chimney was then disassembled and reassembled (using the same original bricks) to enable repairs to be made and safety code features to be added. To protect the old, but newly exposed natural brick, a special brick sealer was applied.  In this photo, a worker from Canum Restoration begins applying the liquid sealer with a paintbrush.  He’ll work his way down the entire length of the chimney to ground level.