Wood Work Gereghty House Q&A

We all hope you were able to catch the first episode of Wood Work last night! If you did you were able to see the Gereghty's extra living space be transformed from a gray drab room to a functional sleek space. 

Clint and Kelly answered some questions on the Gereghty project! 

How did you get the original paint off the front door?

Clint: We started with paint stripper. We stripped the door down and sanded 99.9% of the paint away. They used putty knives & chisels to clean out the intricate detailing. Then coated the door in a outdoor poly to protect it. It is such a beautiful door, it just needed to be uncovered. 

Have you ever installed wood floors before? What type of wood was used?

Clint: Yes,I had installed wood floors with my grandad and houses I had remodeled with Kelly over the years. The first time I made an actual wood floor was for a back house that we renovated. Britt and I took cedar fence planks, planed them down, then we cut the tongue and grooves. We turned cedar fence planks into cedar wood floor slats. In the Gereghty’s house we did the same process just with ash wood.

Can you tell us about the murphy bed design and installation?

Clint: The murphy bed design was a logical solution for the space that it was going into. The Gereghty’s wanted to use a small space to sleep guests. Kelly and I did not want to do just a plain Jane murphy bed. Kelly designed a really cool murphy bed that was dressed up, that’s where the Chevron print came in. The fun part about installation was seeing a room transform when the murphy bed would be put up and Kelly’s Chevron design was highlighted.

Can you tell us about the murphy bed design regarding the chevron pattern? How you decided on that pattern, and how did you get it to work with the space?

Kelly: When we decided to make the murphy bed, there was some concern because the floor and bed were going to be made out of ash. We were worried that it was going to be a huge sea of ash! We also really wanted the murphy bed to stand out, and not be a massive piece of furniture, connected to the large wood floor. I really wanted the murphy bed to stand out, and the Gereghty’s to enjoy the space. I knew it would be a beautiful piece of furniture, and it would be a great way show case the entire room.

When braining storming we tried placing the ash in different designs.  Kristin actually came up with the idea to try it in the Chevron pattern. At first when she stated the idea I did not like the idea of it. Kristin then sketched it out and I thought this looked great, because the design helped with the transition of the ash floor and the murphy bed piece. Anytime you do a murphy bed the worry is that it will look like a huge HONKING piece of wood, and we did not want that. Using a lighter color wood really helped to avoid this and using the nice Chevron design. The murphy bed became a really nice design piece for the room, and I thought it turned out really well.

Was there anything that the client wanted, that you had to design around?

Kelly: Yes, the Gereghty’s did want to incorporate as many guitars as possible. Steve is an avid guitar player and has also made a couple of guitars himself. The Gereghty’s also envisioned the space to play guitar with their son and have easy access to them. This was definitely a challenge. The good part was, Steve has some really cool guitars which we were able to mount on the wall. I was worried at first it would look overwhelming when you walk in, and be like “hello guitar world”, but we were able to balance it out with other elements in the room and I think it came together really well!

If someone wanted to do wooden beams in their home what are some tips for them to a diy project?

Clint: Tips for the beam, would depend on what you have. If you have a beam and it’s not pretty its easy to wrap in decorative wood. You could do modern, rustic, antique, white oak, or something as easy as cedar. If you don’t have beams what you would need to do is find the ceiling joists in your home. Then tie into those and you can create a basic beam. This creates a faux beam, from there you can wrap in whatever wood you want!

Where did you find the wood for the Mantel?

Clint: The Mantle we literally pulled from a burn pile and was one of our favorite things to work on. It was hand hewn beautiful antique and around hundred years old. We rescued it from being burned. This was something that someone took a lot of time and made with no power tools. It is a beautiful conversation piece to have in a home.

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