Damn that devil....

It always seems to me that that last 10% of a project seems to take the longest. Whether that be the final glue-up, detailing and painting of a windsor chair or putting the pickets on a new fence, that fine detail is all important. It's the icing on the cake, what the observer's eye is drawn to. You cannot immediately see the dovetails or mortise and tenons on a hand made hall table but your eye would surely be drawn to to a horrid polyurethane finish or a badly rendered detail.

And so it is with the cottage. The fitting of architraves, skirting boards and then peg rail is certainly taking it's time and toll. In keeping with the various rooms in the meeting house at Hancock, each room in the cottage will have a differing colour detail. Mustard, Driftwood, Bayberry Green.  Barn Red even! Sure, they are not my first choices for a home colour scheme, but the cottage is all about reflecting the detail we have seen in Massachusetts and in dozens of reference books. 3 coats per board, that's some dedicated brush work, thank you Lisa!

In the main sitting and dining room we have oiled the Vic Ash boards instead. One reason being that I had selected all of the figured boards from the lot. I couldn't bring myself to paint the fiddleback and quilted boards.

And then there is the turning of the individual pegs. The painted pegs are all Blackwood, the bathroom  pegs are all Huon Pine and the oiled pegs in the main room are English or Desert Ash. They are all through drilled or mortised and then glued and wedged from behind.

 It's something that no-one will ever see, but I know it's been done and done properly. But it's not what lies beneath that I want our future guests to notice. I just want them to appreciate the finished product and enjoy the experience. Notice the detail. And as they say, the devil is in the detail.