**Designing a Classic and Elegant Home**

When it comes to designing a home, there are many factors to consider, from the color palette to the furniture and decor. In this episode of This Old House, we're focusing on creating a classic and elegant home with a marble-inspired quartz countertop, herringbone flooring, and a sophisticated design scheme.

**Quartz Countertops**

One of the key elements in our design is the quartz countertops. While they may not be real marble, they have a similar look and feel to natural stone. "Marble is an old and classic material," says our designer, "but it's man-made, so it's not real marble." Despite this, the quartz countertop has been designed to mimic the look of marble, with a beautiful color palette that will add elegance to any room.

**Herringbone Flooring**

Another key element in our design is the herringbone flooring. This classic pattern is a staple of traditional design and can be found in many different parts of the home. In this episode, we're focusing on using it for both the floor and the vertical surfaces, such as the walls and backsplash. "All right, so we have the herringbone floor," says our designer, "and then we have a herringbone on a vertical surface versus the horizontal surface. All right, so all the rooms open up to each other."

**Color Palette**

Our color palette is designed to be cohesive throughout the house, with one common color that will flow through each room. "Casey had wanted to have light colors," says our designer, "and then have pops of design everywhere else." To achieve this look, we're using a classic gray as the primary color, with lighter shades and darker tones used in different parts of the house.

**Cabinet Colors**

When it comes to choosing cabinet colors, there are many options to consider. In this episode, we're focusing on using a classic gray for both the kitchen cabinets and the bathroom vanities. "That's the cabinet base right," says our designer, "and that's actually the Cabinetry color that is going to flank both sides of the fireplace." We'll also be adding a pop of color with the door hardware.

**Door Hardware**

Our door hardware will add a touch of elegance to each room, and we're choosing classic gray as the primary color. "So inside the doors will not be white," says our designer, "and we're going to pop that color with a gray." We'll also be considering a warmer white for the cabinet color, which can be used in different parts of the house.

**Wall Colors**

For the wall colors, we're focusing on lighter shades that will complement the classic gray and add brightness to each room. "I like it," says our designer, "it's a nice soft white." We'll also be considering different lighting conditions, as the color of the walls may change depending on the time of day.

**Conclusion**

In this episode of This Old House, we're focusing on creating a classic and elegant home with a marble-inspired quartz countertop, herringbone flooring, and a sophisticated design scheme. From the color palette to the furniture and decor, every element has been carefully considered to create a cohesive look throughout the house. With careful planning and attention to detail, our designer is able to bring this vision to life, creating a beautiful and elegant home that will be the envy of all who see it.

**Yard Design**

In addition to designing the interior of the home, we're also focusing on creating a beautiful outdoor space. "There's a lot going on here in this yard," says our designer, "especially the plantings." We've just received a delivery of 200 plants, which will add color and texture to the garden.

**Bathroom Design**

Our bathroom design is focused on simplicity and elegance, with a clean and minimalist aesthetic. "Christian wanted to be honest, he said a white bathroom was easy," says our designer. "And it's an easy ask for sure." We'll be using light colors throughout the bathroom, including the walls, cabinets, and countertops.

**Fireplace**

One of the key design elements in this episode is the brick oven that will flank the fireplace. "That's going to make a statement," says our designer. "It's a classic look that will add warmth and elegance to each room."

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enshould we unwrap it and see what's inside yes I don't get that unwrap pool very often it's very satisfying too to just sort of unwrap some plastic and have a finished pool basically instant pool right what happened to all this Plumbing here I've never seen anything like this before it's already Rock going on in that trunk so what have you found up here well a bit of a surprise it's really the classic plumber's Lament five bathrooms it's a kitchen it's a full new mechanical it's it's going to be a biggie sounds like you guys have a plan I think we do money's in the detail that is beautiful hi there I'm Kevin O'Connor and welcome back to this old house here in Narragansett Rhode Island where we have got a ton going on today you can see that the garage doors are being installed and now this garage well it was in addition to the original 1880s house as was this space right here hey Mike this is sort of the new mud room we got a half bath and you can see we have been insulated that is three inches of closed cell foam all throughout these walls and while that was going in everybody had to clear out while it was setting up but now we are back Aaron how are you and back to be putting up the uh we've got the blue board ready for plaster going up on the walls as well as the ceiling and here in the front living room there's going to be a coffered ceiling effect which you can see around the perimeter right here there are some holes I presume Tommy for recessed lights but we've also got some AV Equipment going in today yeah we got a lot of recessed lights in the ceiling so a lot of holes but the other thing is we're putting some AV Equipment recessing the speakers behind the veneer plaster behind the plaster behind the plaster and Eric will explain exactly how this all works Eric nice to meet you nice to meet you that's our speaker right there this is our speaker right here all right so most of it I sort of recognize right we got the business end behind here we've got the wiring and then we've got the front sort of a softer material that's going to resonate the sound absolutely that's a woven fiberglass and the trick to this is that behind here you see the magnet much much bigger than a Traditional Magnet on a traditional speaker so that big round disc right there that's the magnet and bigger Y what does bigger do for us bigger is going to get us through the plaster so through the plaster through the plaster so what we want to do is we want to put that up and get that through the plaster we're going to use more power about three times as much power in a much bigger magnet so how is it that it doesn't sound like garbage when it is behind the plaster sure so great question now those two things combined allow this speaker and that plaster to become one unit and what this speaker actually does is it it's not much of of a speaker without all of this once it has the plaster and it's joined to the ceiling it turns the ceiling into a speaker wow that's very cool I've never seen that before okay so I see one of you guys are getting ready to work where did you guys start yeah you started right there he's putting these blocks in here this is to screw the speakers to these large holes are for Springs the Springs allow them to adjust the speaker itself to be flush with the blue board so they can veneer plastic will touch the speaker we want to make sure we really tighten this up uh you don't want these wire nuts coming off you're not going to get a second chance with that speaker you see that little micro adjustment going on right now the Spring's pushing down while the screws are trying to pull it out could I retrofit this speaker system into an existing living room ceiling yeah you absolutely could you'd have to cut a hole in and put the speaker in and do some Plastering and painting afterwards but maybe if you were renovating a room it'd be a really great idea nice yeah you got to run the wire from point A to point B too so right and then with that finished coat on those speakers are gone we'll never see them again right he's going to start with a veneer coat over the entire ceiling and you won't even see any of this won't see him but we'll hear him and that's the point of it well the plaster and paint is on the horizon so the HVAC contractor becomes the most popular guy on campus they'll need heat inside the building Mike Gamache and his gang have done a great job getting this to this point yes we have look at these two beauties here what is this what's going on what do you got we got two uh condensing units these are 24 Sam and our Sierra's uh season Energy Efficiency ratio all right now that's an important number that takes the amount of cooling power that you get out of a unit and you divide it by the electricity that you need to need to do it right so this thing is what 24 this is 24th here so I mean the basic minimum sear in America is now what 13 or something 13. so this is double that correct okay so I see you brought an old one here yes we have a two ton 24 000 BTUs and a 24 000 views so these are exactly the same cooling power correct but they're look at the size difference there's an important reason why the size different inside of a conventional condenser you got your compressor you got your fan blowing air and it has a heat exchanger right here filled with refrigerant and that sear is that whole ratio between how much electricity for the compressor and fan versus How much cooling power correct so if it's a cooling condenser it's going to dump heat to outside if it's a heat pump it's going to pull it in this way on this 13 say look at the size of it compared to this the way they get that efficiency is to almost double the heat exchanger surface right here so now when that fan comes on blows air into it it uses x amount of electricity but on plus 2X in terms of its cool efficiency so what about the smarts of this thing too the smarts of this thing well years ago normally with something on this we would have to do our calculations as far as hooking our gauges up weighing the charging in order to get the unit to cool or heat officiously to get the right amount of refrigerant into the system initially correct today that's changed with technology so today when we start the system up the control will actually tell us what we need to put in for refrigerant and the app will actually tell us what is going on here all right so so as you say with this one we would have looked at these gauges and then weighed the charge and then added some more and guessed at it and add some more and do that correct now you're not going to use these gauges at all nope we don't use those gauges at all we use an iPad today that's correct this is the best way that we charge our system so that we're accurate with our charge insurance and it communicates wirelessly it communicates through Bluetooth you're making it easy and making it easy now what about noise everybody wants to worry that it's too noisy no actually this system is one of the quietest out there it's about 55 decibels running at about 80 percent to 100 so listen to that no more than a refrigerator running in your home you know I've been doing the show for 40 years or so I don't think we've ever been able to do a scene next to a condenser and talk about it absolutely it's usually loud so I'll tell you what Rich let me button this up you can head inside we've got some more technology in with the controller great brother with our generation next initiative we've been talking about getting young people into the trade but in this case there's one that's already in the industry Rachel you're they're working with your dad for a little while yes hi Rich I love seeing people particularly women in the HVAC Industries that's great thank you but he says you got some technology to share with us yeah so here the system actually communicates with a portal and it generates an email right back to me in the office to where I can actually log in and see if the system is having any complications it tells you before it even tells the homeowner it does that's even better very smart also good for having the techs know what's going on too correct so we can log in see the fault code and possibly it could be a motor or maybe you know a capacitor and we can prepare the technician better for a service when time is money absolutely I love and you're and you're really good at all that stuff I try that's right I love this thermostat here now it's got the regular stuff you'd expect you know scheduling a calendar and set time of day and temperatures and everything else but I love this one right here where it's got this energy monitor where you can actually view energy usage you enter in what your fuel is it'll tell you actually what you've used per day in electricity or gas and it'll graph it so that can actually change behaviors pretty cool so I think it's time to fire this baby up don't you I do here we go stand back all right now you can see that variable speed blower come in nice and gentle nice and quiet you'll be very popular they really want to get this place finished up and I love what you guys did to protect the equipment on the return either side you put in heavy duty disposable filters to make sure that all the sheetrock dust doesn't wreck this beautiful stuff correct thanks for a great job thanks Rich our homeowners have got big plans for their new two-car garage a little room out back it's a cabana that Services the backyard and it's two bays he hopes to get two cars in here and maybe one more he's a car Enthusiast and hopefully he's going to put a lift right here so you could stack one car on top of the other now when it comes to getting the necessary Headroom for that well a traditional garage door opener you'd see the motor mounted traditionally right here in the center dropping down off of the ceiling and that causes problems when we need the Headroom so Scott you're going to help us put in something different something that has been around for a while I guess in the commercial space but it's relatively new in the residential space yes and for this particular application we had spoken with the homeowner that to your point has a lift and needed to maximize the amount of space so with the side mount opener that we are putting in for this particular application it's going to enable us to achieve more clearance for his lift I'm looking at the side mount right here this little device that is the driving motor the way that the system works is that this is going to turn the shaft at the header so it's going to eliminate the need for pulling on that top section so we're going to save between 7 to 12 inches worth of space on the interior of the garage 7 or 12 inches that we would have taken up of the motor hanging from the ceiling correct now it's going to help if you want to get a lift in here okay yes it looks like he's almost done wiring this thing that we've set the limits we're fully operational and good to go all right and so this one will be operational that one will be operational and our homeowner has got the clearance he needs for a lift absolutely Scott appreciate it thanks for you and your guys yes thank you our backyard has got well it's it's got a lot going on this is going to be an outdoor kitchen in here there's going to be a pizza oven built onto that pad this is all going to be hardscaping in here we've got the Cabana window behind us this is actually not going to be a hey Mike Aaron this is not actually going to be our septic system this is going to be a pool which is going to be completely done by the end of the day on The Far Side we've got a putting green a shed we've got a generator but this is the story for today how are you sir Karen nice to see you again hey nice to see you so pool on a truck that's a novel idea thank you thank you tell us about that because uh you guys actually prefabricate these for us we do right the thing is we can make them ahead in our warehouse in New Hampshire we don't have to worry about the weather we can do so many things ahead of time before it arrives to you what is that process well we have our own form and we pour um it's a really it's a certified plant so we pour our concrete at 5000 PSI there's a rebar grid inside and it's all kind of tied together with bonding wire so all the things that a normal a pool would be done on site normally buy a gunite Builder let's say we do a head that we bring it into our warehouse and we the Hydra ban it we waterproof it we tile it and then when it comes to you under that shrink wrap it's done and literally it's going to be concrete with the finished tile inside it dropped into the hole ready to go almost in a day ready to go yes all right well it is a big monster right here even though it is a small pool so I'd love to see this thing come off the truck and go in our hole I'm excited he's got a nice tight hold on that with the steel cables how much weight is he lifting he's lifting 26 000 pounds we're right about at the capacity of of what he can lift the sweener team came in and they they dug the hole and then they laid 18 inches of crushed stone and they laser leveled it and then they've got their spots marked where they want the center line of the pool we'll get that all organized once we get the pool off the truck that's literally it just a hole with crushed stone on the bottom and you're good to go yep very nice so pretty close although still sort of hovering here what's the hold up what's the next step well now we just want to get it squared up with whatever we're squaring to and get it centered so that it's when he sets it down it's where we want it so final adjustments right here drop it in place what does it cost for the pool the delivery and such you know all in with a pool and a heater our cost is around 30 000. and if I were to do it traditionally with the on-site process how does it compare to that it's right around half in many cases yes okay should we unwrap it and see what's inside yes I don't get to unwrap pools very often oh wow look at that it's pretty huh first I thought I was looking at more concrete but what is that some sort of a limestone on the most of it it's a porcelain tile porcelain tile with an accent around the top so pretty oh I love the choice they made it's very satisfying too to just sort of unwrap some plastic and have a finished pool basically instant pool right look at that they'll add some rigid foam around the pool to keep the heat in in the winter since most people usually they use their pools all winter long then they'll backfill with crushed stone and do the finish work on the coping and Patio and then what you guys or a plumber connects supply lines water lines and such yep somebody local whoever is local to that job can do the PVC connections and the electrical connections and they'll be sitting in a nice heated pool in a couple months in the middle of the winter absolutely yeah thank you so much this is terrific appreciate you yes we appreciate it too thank you and small businesses even though it's big perfect our board and plaster will be up and finish in a day or so and that means it's time for us to start thinking about the interior finishes but our designer and homeowner have surely been thinking about them for a long time Kristen good to see you again hey you too okay nice to see you how are you so this is Kitchen dining area right yes how'd you like to give me a tour of sort of the layout absolutely where does everything go so over here is going to be a bar area nice with a backsplash then we're going to have my little coffee station well mine and Michael's coffee station coffee bar this was the Outhouse yes originally that house so now it's going to be a functioning Pantry with Cabinetry doors look kind of hidden and then we'll walk into the pantry one of my favorite conversions and Save in the house is that the Outhouse becomes Pantry that says everything about where we've come oh absolutely and then this right here will be the sink with Cabinetry around we're gonna have the stove and then the hood go to the center your fire counters on either side I presume and then the refrigerator is going to be right here so is it going to be a refrigerator freezer next to each other are you going to separate there one unit two doors Two Doors gotcha yeah okay and then over on this wall I can see a little gas fireplace go in yeah and then we're gonna just have a wall for pictures and family memories because there's really not many walls in this house so we wanted to leave this more closed in we have our kitchen table over here look out these beautiful Windows how nice is that going to be yeah I mean look at that right there yeah and what that used to look like back originally when the house is a dining room I mean they were beat up but a beautiful restoration right there terrific yep so this will be our little Nook kitchen seating area and then in the middle we're gonna have um a bar I mean a breakfast bar area so right in the center can't have too many bars in the kitchen all right so I get the layout um in terms of the finishes the feel the aesthetic 1880s Victorian home near the ocean however specular are we being of that versus how much updating we're doing well trying to stay within the Integrity of the architecture here the White Oak very classic but bringing it up to a little modern Flair with the herringbone pattern that we have here engineered product here it is gotcha and then from the floor where'd you go from the floor we went to another very neutral palette piece here which is our Cabinetry and this is a classic shaker style door but added an OG bead being that it's inset makes it look a little more custom and white is neutral still very popular in kitchens this color I mean we are bringing some color back but there's still a lot of white kitchens this is for perimeter cabinets for all cabinets lower upper Islands or what just the perimeter just so we're using this color on the perimeter and then we'll move on to the island and the island the bar and the hood we'll play that black and white which was our color palette in here it was black and white and then adding a very traditional gilded type of inlay that's this right here this is a pretty bold statement a lot of saturation in this color right here that's a gold is a pretty bold statement right there we have some gold fixtures that we've Blended in yeah that will make it all very cohesive so that's going to be our countertop so this will be on the perimeter cabinets as well as the island cabinets correct what is the material this is Calcutta gold so it again resembles something old and classic which is marble but it's a quartz so it's a man-made product so natural material but man-made here and not real marble but they've added the color to make it look like marble right there super durable very durable I liked the different color Island but I wanted the countertops to all be the same okay so you'll see that on the island on the perimeter and coming through to the bar and the pantry and then this Stone this has got a couple of different colors in here where does this go so this is going to be the backsplash right where the bar is uh just up on the walls up on the wall yep and then there's glass shelves above it so you're gonna see that and I can see the colors you picked up here so there's a white that matches sort of this marble look here but the gold tones from the accent on the door coming through to me right there that's nice and the pattern here so this you can't see the whole pattern but it will mimic the herringbone oh nice floor so we have the herringbone floor then we have a herringbone on a vertical surface versus the horizontal surface all right so all the room open up to each other so our thought is to have one common color that will flow throughout the house gotcha you guys have got samples have these informed your color choices well today we're going to look at that because Casey had wanted to have light colors yeah and then have pops of design everywhere else their pillows and rugs and things like that this is um for a couch that will go in here some samples yeah so that's one of the things you got to play off and then that's the kitchen cabinet base right so this is actually the Cabinetry color that is going to flank both sides of the fireplace so we're going to try and bring that into these colors and the colors are going to really dictate when we put it up there some will look more creamy some will look more gray so classic gray right here almost the color of the unfinished plaster right that's kind of creamy as you go over how would you describe this so these two are actually going to be looked at for door colors so inside the doors will not be white and we're going to pop that color with a gray gotcha and and what's this a candidate for for the wall color so that's the wall color all the lighter colors so we have Balboa Mist white uh winter white and classic gray and I want to have a little bit of a contrast with this door all right well let's put the door up next to some of your samples this is next to Classic gray doing for you I like that it's just a wall color here winter white Kristen it is coming I think that that's reading a little too cool and it's color tone okay I will how about this one over here Balboa I'm pushing for that just because of the name what do you think Cassini is that doing for you I don't know gray owl maybe for the doors no pressure it's just it's a 10 pound door here Kristen what do you think I like the classic right you like the crowd can we have a warmer white in that cabinet color and then when you put it up there it could go more gray or it could go more taupey depends on what part of the house with the light that comes in yeah I like it it's a nice soft white so you can change your mind but you can only change it once so why don't you pick something that you're leaning towards and then maybe sleep on it and look at it with some samples up in other parts of the house what do you think I think we're gonna go with the classic gray classic gray it is for now right now okay and you guys will probably maybe cover more of the wall with it Kristin we'll definitely put samples in these part of the house because the lighting will dictate yeah different coloring during different times of the day all right well decisions are what we need to keep moving forward so thank you for those and Kristen thank you for the smarts helping us get through this process and we've actually got to make some more interior design decisions upstairs and in the bathrooms and that and a lot more is coming up next time so until then I'm Kevin O'Connor for This Old House here in Narragansett Rhode Island last chance for Balboa I like the name next time on This Old House okay there's a lot going on here in this yard and especially the plantings just had a delivery of about 200 plants yeah this is a brick oven that we've got over top of a fireplace where that's going to make a statement isn't it so what do you tell Christian you wanted to be honest a white bathroom clean simple yeah it's an easy ask for sure and will it be all white noshould we unwrap it and see what's inside yes I don't get that unwrap pool very often it's very satisfying too to just sort of unwrap some plastic and have a finished pool basically instant pool right what happened to all this Plumbing here I've never seen anything like this before it's already Rock going on in that trunk so what have you found up here well a bit of a surprise it's really the classic plumber's Lament five bathrooms it's a kitchen it's a full new mechanical it's it's going to be a biggie sounds like you guys have a plan I think we do money's in the detail that is beautiful hi there I'm Kevin O'Connor and welcome back to this old house here in Narragansett Rhode Island where we have got a ton going on today you can see that the garage doors are being installed and now this garage well it was in addition to the original 1880s house as was this space right here hey Mike this is sort of the new mud room we got a half bath and you can see we have been insulated that is three inches of closed cell foam all throughout these walls and while that was going in everybody had to clear out while it was setting up but now we are back Aaron how are you and back to be putting up the uh we've got the blue board ready for plaster going up on the walls as well as the ceiling and here in the front living room there's going to be a coffered ceiling effect which you can see around the perimeter right here there are some holes I presume Tommy for recessed lights but we've also got some AV Equipment going in today yeah we got a lot of recessed lights in the ceiling so a lot of holes but the other thing is we're putting some AV Equipment recessing the speakers behind the veneer plaster behind the plaster behind the plaster and Eric will explain exactly how this all works Eric nice to meet you nice to meet you that's our speaker right there this is our speaker right here all right so most of it I sort of recognize right we got the business end behind here we've got the wiring and then we've got the front sort of a softer material that's going to resonate the sound absolutely that's a woven fiberglass and the trick to this is that behind here you see the magnet much much bigger than a Traditional Magnet on a traditional speaker so that big round disc right there that's the magnet and bigger Y what does bigger do for us bigger is going to get us through the plaster so through the plaster through the plaster so what we want to do is we want to put that up and get that through the plaster we're going to use more power about three times as much power in a much bigger magnet so how is it that it doesn't sound like garbage when it is behind the plaster sure so great question now those two things combined allow this speaker and that plaster to become one unit and what this speaker actually does is it it's not much of of a speaker without all of this once it has the plaster and it's joined to the ceiling it turns the ceiling into a speaker wow that's very cool I've never seen that before okay so I see one of you guys are getting ready to work where did you guys start yeah you started right there he's putting these blocks in here this is to screw the speakers to these large holes are for Springs the Springs allow them to adjust the speaker itself to be flush with the blue board so they can veneer plastic will touch the speaker we want to make sure we really tighten this up uh you don't want these wire nuts coming off you're not going to get a second chance with that speaker you see that little micro adjustment going on right now the Spring's pushing down while the screws are trying to pull it out could I retrofit this speaker system into an existing living room ceiling yeah you absolutely could you'd have to cut a hole in and put the speaker in and do some Plastering and painting afterwards but maybe if you were renovating a room it'd be a really great idea nice yeah you got to run the wire from point A to point B too so right and then with that finished coat on those speakers are gone we'll never see them again right he's going to start with a veneer coat over the entire ceiling and you won't even see any of this won't see him but we'll hear him and that's the point of it well the plaster and paint is on the horizon so the HVAC contractor becomes the most popular guy on campus they'll need heat inside the building Mike Gamache and his gang have done a great job getting this to this point yes we have look at these two beauties here what is this what's going on what do you got we got two uh condensing units these are 24 Sam and our Sierra's uh season Energy Efficiency ratio all right now that's an important number that takes the amount of cooling power that you get out of a unit and you divide it by the electricity that you need to need to do it right so this thing is what 24 this is 24th here so I mean the basic minimum sear in America is now what 13 or something 13. so this is double that correct okay so I see you brought an old one here yes we have a two ton 24 000 BTUs and a 24 000 views so these are exactly the same cooling power correct but they're look at the size difference there's an important reason why the size different inside of a conventional condenser you got your compressor you got your fan blowing air and it has a heat exchanger right here filled with refrigerant and that sear is that whole ratio between how much electricity for the compressor and fan versus How much cooling power correct so if it's a cooling condenser it's going to dump heat to outside if it's a heat pump it's going to pull it in this way on this 13 say look at the size of it compared to this the way they get that efficiency is to almost double the heat exchanger surface right here so now when that fan comes on blows air into it it uses x amount of electricity but on plus 2X in terms of its cool efficiency so what about the smarts of this thing too the smarts of this thing well years ago normally with something on this we would have to do our calculations as far as hooking our gauges up weighing the charging in order to get the unit to cool or heat officiously to get the right amount of refrigerant into the system initially correct today that's changed with technology so today when we start the system up the control will actually tell us what we need to put in for refrigerant and the app will actually tell us what is going on here all right so so as you say with this one we would have looked at these gauges and then weighed the charge and then added some more and guessed at it and add some more and do that correct now you're not going to use these gauges at all nope we don't use those gauges at all we use an iPad today that's correct this is the best way that we charge our system so that we're accurate with our charge insurance and it communicates wirelessly it communicates through Bluetooth you're making it easy and making it easy now what about noise everybody wants to worry that it's too noisy no actually this system is one of the quietest out there it's about 55 decibels running at about 80 percent to 100 so listen to that no more than a refrigerator running in your home you know I've been doing the show for 40 years or so I don't think we've ever been able to do a scene next to a condenser and talk about it absolutely it's usually loud so I'll tell you what Rich let me button this up you can head inside we've got some more technology in with the controller great brother with our generation next initiative we've been talking about getting young people into the trade but in this case there's one that's already in the industry Rachel you're they're working with your dad for a little while yes hi Rich I love seeing people particularly women in the HVAC Industries that's great thank you but he says you got some technology to share with us yeah so here the system actually communicates with a portal and it generates an email right back to me in the office to where I can actually log in and see if the system is having any complications it tells you before it even tells the homeowner it does that's even better very smart also good for having the techs know what's going on too correct so we can log in see the fault code and possibly it could be a motor or maybe you know a capacitor and we can prepare the technician better for a service when time is money absolutely I love and you're and you're really good at all that stuff I try that's right I love this thermostat here now it's got the regular stuff you'd expect you know scheduling a calendar and set time of day and temperatures and everything else but I love this one right here where it's got this energy monitor where you can actually view energy usage you enter in what your fuel is it'll tell you actually what you've used per day in electricity or gas and it'll graph it so that can actually change behaviors pretty cool so I think it's time to fire this baby up don't you I do here we go stand back all right now you can see that variable speed blower come in nice and gentle nice and quiet you'll be very popular they really want to get this place finished up and I love what you guys did to protect the equipment on the return either side you put in heavy duty disposable filters to make sure that all the sheetrock dust doesn't wreck this beautiful stuff correct thanks for a great job thanks Rich our homeowners have got big plans for their new two-car garage a little room out back it's a cabana that Services the backyard and it's two bays he hopes to get two cars in here and maybe one more he's a car Enthusiast and hopefully he's going to put a lift right here so you could stack one car on top of the other now when it comes to getting the necessary Headroom for that well a traditional garage door opener you'd see the motor mounted traditionally right here in the center dropping down off of the ceiling and that causes problems when we need the Headroom so Scott you're going to help us put in something different something that has been around for a while I guess in the commercial space but it's relatively new in the residential space yes and for this particular application we had spoken with the homeowner that to your point has a lift and needed to maximize the amount of space so with the side mount opener that we are putting in for this particular application it's going to enable us to achieve more clearance for his lift I'm looking at the side mount right here this little device that is the driving motor the way that the system works is that this is going to turn the shaft at the header so it's going to eliminate the need for pulling on that top section so we're going to save between 7 to 12 inches worth of space on the interior of the garage 7 or 12 inches that we would have taken up of the motor hanging from the ceiling correct now it's going to help if you want to get a lift in here okay yes it looks like he's almost done wiring this thing that we've set the limits we're fully operational and good to go all right and so this one will be operational that one will be operational and our homeowner has got the clearance he needs for a lift absolutely Scott appreciate it thanks for you and your guys yes thank you our backyard has got well it's it's got a lot going on this is going to be an outdoor kitchen in here there's going to be a pizza oven built onto that pad this is all going to be hardscaping in here we've got the Cabana window behind us this is actually not going to be a hey Mike Aaron this is not actually going to be our septic system this is going to be a pool which is going to be completely done by the end of the day on The Far Side we've got a putting green a shed we've got a generator but this is the story for today how are you sir Karen nice to see you again hey nice to see you so pool on a truck that's a novel idea thank you thank you tell us about that because uh you guys actually prefabricate these for us we do right the thing is we can make them ahead in our warehouse in New Hampshire we don't have to worry about the weather we can do so many things ahead of time before it arrives to you what is that process well we have our own form and we pour um it's a really it's a certified plant so we pour our concrete at 5000 PSI there's a rebar grid inside and it's all kind of tied together with bonding wire so all the things that a normal a pool would be done on site normally buy a gunite Builder let's say we do a head that we bring it into our warehouse and we the Hydra ban it we waterproof it we tile it and then when it comes to you under that shrink wrap it's done and literally it's going to be concrete with the finished tile inside it dropped into the hole ready to go almost in a day ready to go yes all right well it is a big monster right here even though it is a small pool so I'd love to see this thing come off the truck and go in our hole I'm excited he's got a nice tight hold on that with the steel cables how much weight is he lifting he's lifting 26 000 pounds we're right about at the capacity of of what he can lift the sweener team came in and they they dug the hole and then they laid 18 inches of crushed stone and they laser leveled it and then they've got their spots marked where they want the center line of the pool we'll get that all organized once we get the pool off the truck that's literally it just a hole with crushed stone on the bottom and you're good to go yep very nice so pretty close although still sort of hovering here what's the hold up what's the next step well now we just want to get it squared up with whatever we're squaring to and get it centered so that it's when he sets it down it's where we want it so final adjustments right here drop it in place what does it cost for the pool the delivery and such you know all in with a pool and a heater our cost is around 30 000. and if I were to do it traditionally with the on-site process how does it compare to that it's right around half in many cases yes okay should we unwrap it and see what's inside yes I don't get to unwrap pools very often oh wow look at that it's pretty huh first I thought I was looking at more concrete but what is that some sort of a limestone on the most of it it's a porcelain tile porcelain tile with an accent around the top so pretty oh I love the choice they made it's very satisfying too to just sort of unwrap some plastic and have a finished pool basically instant pool right look at that they'll add some rigid foam around the pool to keep the heat in in the winter since most people usually they use their pools all winter long then they'll backfill with crushed stone and do the finish work on the coping and Patio and then what you guys or a plumber connects supply lines water lines and such yep somebody local whoever is local to that job can do the PVC connections and the electrical connections and they'll be sitting in a nice heated pool in a couple months in the middle of the winter absolutely yeah thank you so much this is terrific appreciate you yes we appreciate it too thank you and small businesses even though it's big perfect our board and plaster will be up and finish in a day or so and that means it's time for us to start thinking about the interior finishes but our designer and homeowner have surely been thinking about them for a long time Kristen good to see you again hey you too okay nice to see you how are you so this is Kitchen dining area right yes how'd you like to give me a tour of sort of the layout absolutely where does everything go so over here is going to be a bar area nice with a backsplash then we're going to have my little coffee station well mine and Michael's coffee station coffee bar this was the Outhouse yes originally that house so now it's going to be a functioning Pantry with Cabinetry doors look kind of hidden and then we'll walk into the pantry one of my favorite conversions and Save in the house is that the Outhouse becomes Pantry that says everything about where we've come oh absolutely and then this right here will be the sink with Cabinetry around we're gonna have the stove and then the hood go to the center your fire counters on either side I presume and then the refrigerator is going to be right here so is it going to be a refrigerator freezer next to each other are you going to separate there one unit two doors Two Doors gotcha yeah okay and then over on this wall I can see a little gas fireplace go in yeah and then we're gonna just have a wall for pictures and family memories because there's really not many walls in this house so we wanted to leave this more closed in we have our kitchen table over here look out these beautiful Windows how nice is that going to be yeah I mean look at that right there yeah and what that used to look like back originally when the house is a dining room I mean they were beat up but a beautiful restoration right there terrific yep so this will be our little Nook kitchen seating area and then in the middle we're gonna have um a bar I mean a breakfast bar area so right in the center can't have too many bars in the kitchen all right so I get the layout um in terms of the finishes the feel the aesthetic 1880s Victorian home near the ocean however specular are we being of that versus how much updating we're doing well trying to stay within the Integrity of the architecture here the White Oak very classic but bringing it up to a little modern Flair with the herringbone pattern that we have here engineered product here it is gotcha and then from the floor where'd you go from the floor we went to another very neutral palette piece here which is our Cabinetry and this is a classic shaker style door but added an OG bead being that it's inset makes it look a little more custom and white is neutral still very popular in kitchens this color I mean we are bringing some color back but there's still a lot of white kitchens this is for perimeter cabinets for all cabinets lower upper Islands or what just the perimeter just so we're using this color on the perimeter and then we'll move on to the island and the island the bar and the hood we'll play that black and white which was our color palette in here it was black and white and then adding a very traditional gilded type of inlay that's this right here this is a pretty bold statement a lot of saturation in this color right here that's a gold is a pretty bold statement right there we have some gold fixtures that we've Blended in yeah that will make it all very cohesive so that's going to be our countertop so this will be on the perimeter cabinets as well as the island cabinets correct what is the material this is Calcutta gold so it again resembles something old and classic which is marble but it's a quartz so it's a man-made product so natural material but man-made here and not real marble but they've added the color to make it look like marble right there super durable very durable I liked the different color Island but I wanted the countertops to all be the same okay so you'll see that on the island on the perimeter and coming through to the bar and the pantry and then this Stone this has got a couple of different colors in here where does this go so this is going to be the backsplash right where the bar is uh just up on the walls up on the wall yep and then there's glass shelves above it so you're gonna see that and I can see the colors you picked up here so there's a white that matches sort of this marble look here but the gold tones from the accent on the door coming through to me right there that's nice and the pattern here so this you can't see the whole pattern but it will mimic the herringbone oh nice floor so we have the herringbone floor then we have a herringbone on a vertical surface versus the horizontal surface all right so all the room open up to each other so our thought is to have one common color that will flow throughout the house gotcha you guys have got samples have these informed your color choices well today we're going to look at that because Casey had wanted to have light colors yeah and then have pops of design everywhere else their pillows and rugs and things like that this is um for a couch that will go in here some samples yeah so that's one of the things you got to play off and then that's the kitchen cabinet base right so this is actually the Cabinetry color that is going to flank both sides of the fireplace so we're going to try and bring that into these colors and the colors are going to really dictate when we put it up there some will look more creamy some will look more gray so classic gray right here almost the color of the unfinished plaster right that's kind of creamy as you go over how would you describe this so these two are actually going to be looked at for door colors so inside the doors will not be white and we're going to pop that color with a gray gotcha and and what's this a candidate for for the wall color so that's the wall color all the lighter colors so we have Balboa Mist white uh winter white and classic gray and I want to have a little bit of a contrast with this door all right well let's put the door up next to some of your samples this is next to Classic gray doing for you I like that it's just a wall color here winter white Kristen it is coming I think that that's reading a little too cool and it's color tone okay I will how about this one over here Balboa I'm pushing for that just because of the name what do you think Cassini is that doing for you I don't know gray owl maybe for the doors no pressure it's just it's a 10 pound door here Kristen what do you think I like the classic right you like the crowd can we have a warmer white in that cabinet color and then when you put it up there it could go more gray or it could go more taupey depends on what part of the house with the light that comes in yeah I like it it's a nice soft white so you can change your mind but you can only change it once so why don't you pick something that you're leaning towards and then maybe sleep on it and look at it with some samples up in other parts of the house what do you think I think we're gonna go with the classic gray classic gray it is for now right now okay and you guys will probably maybe cover more of the wall with it Kristin we'll definitely put samples in these part of the house because the lighting will dictate yeah different coloring during different times of the day all right well decisions are what we need to keep moving forward so thank you for those and Kristen thank you for the smarts helping us get through this process and we've actually got to make some more interior design decisions upstairs and in the bathrooms and that and a lot more is coming up next time so until then I'm Kevin O'Connor for This Old House here in Narragansett Rhode Island last chance for Balboa I like the name next time on This Old House okay there's a lot going on here in this yard and especially the plantings just had a delivery of about 200 plants yeah this is a brick oven that we've got over top of a fireplace where that's going to make a statement isn't it so what do you tell Christian you wanted to be honest a white bathroom clean simple yeah it's an easy ask for sure and will it be all white no\n"