The interior of the Kuppersmith Project house is making great strides as the new cabinets, trim, molding, and floors transform the place.
Projects featured in this episode include:
- Kitchen Cabinets: Installing the stained wood kitchen cabinets from Merillat.
- Countertops: Using a laser measuring device and special computer software to create a template for the kitchen countertops by DeNova.
- Trim Molding: Installing the interior trim and moldings, including crown, baseboard, and trim for the JELD-WEN Windows & Doors.
- Wood Flooring: Laying the solid heart pine wood flooring that was milled from old beams to match the flooring in the original house.
- Staircase Railing: Creating a new staircase railing on the second-floor landing to match the existing staircase railing.
- Interior Painting: Priming and painting the interior walls and trim in the house.
- Interior Décor: Working with the Better Homes & Gardens design team on the color palette for the interior paint, fabric, and décor in the house.
Cabinets and Countertops
Once the kitchen cabinets had been installed, a digital template was created to fabricate the DeNova countertops. A special laser measuring device and a laptop computer were used to record all the dimensions of the countertops and determine the size and placement of cutouts for sinks and cooktops.
In addition to the cabinets for the kitchen and bathrooms, Merillat also constructed corner cabinets for the dining room and built-in cabinets under the windows in the living room.
Interior Trim
With the cabinets in place, the next step was installing all the interior moldings and trim, which were carefully chosen to match and blend with the historic 1926 home. This included baseboards, crown molding, and interior trim for all the windows and doors.
Heart Pine Flooring
To match the existing flooring in the addition, over 5,000 linear feet of heart pine flooring were cut and milled from old beams. The flooring was stacked inside the house with spacers between the bundles to allow the wood to acclimate to the temperature and humidity level in the house before installation.
Heart pine lumber comes from slow-growing, old-growth timber – particularly longleaf pine – which is in short supply today. Even though officially considered a softwood, the natural resin and tight grain of heart pine make it a durable and beautiful wood for flooring.
Once the new heart pine floors have been sanded, stained, and finished; they’ll blend perfectly with the old floors in the house.
Interior Painting
After the floors have been laid, the crew from CertaPro Painters arrive to paint the interior. They begin by carefully priming, caulking, and filling nail holes before painting the windows, doors, and trim with Glidden paint.
Staircase Railing
After opening up the staircase to the second floor and reframing the landing earlier in the Kuppersmith Project, we now had to repair the newel post and fabricate new railings around the landing to match the existing ones.
Interior Design
I’ve been working closely with Joe Boehm of Better Homes & Gardens magazine on the décor for the home to keep the original historic feel and architecture of the house.
The most unique feature of the Kuppersmith Project home is the inlaid marble mantel in the living room. I was surprised to learn from Joe that the mantel wasn’t made for the house, but it’s actually a late Victorian mantel from the 1880s which predates the house by 40 to 50 years.
In designing the interior of the house, Joe wanted to keep a small-scale, cottage feel while bringing the outdoors in with a palette of soft greens to mirror the lush landscape in the neighborhood. To further enhance the nature theme, a bird motif will be used on the walls and furniture upholstery.
Other Tips from This Episode
 | Simple Solutions Covering Light Fixtures for Painting |
 | Best New Products Fiskars Rain Barrel |
 | Watch & Learn Carpet Made from Recycled Bottles |
More Episodes
- The Kuppersmith Project 1: Planning
- The Kuppersmith Project 2: Foundation
- The Kuppersmith Project 4: Roughing-In
- The Kuppersmith Project 7: Yard & Countertops
- The Kuppersmith Project 8: Screens & Driveway
- The Kuppersmith Project 9: Floor & Patio
- The Kuppersmith Project 10: Lattice & Garage
- The Kuppersmith Project 12: Landscape & Garage
- The Kuppersmith Project 13: Grand Tour
