Recently our team completed a unique general contracting project in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The lake front homes interior was designed by Brooke Wagner Design, a celebrated full service design firm based in Corona del Mar California, and features extensive fine woodworking that was crafted by our NEWwoodworks team.
We caught up with Rob D’Alessandro who manages our woodworking division to talk about collaborating with a well-respected interior designer and the trends and challenges of high-craft woodwork in modern custom home design.
Q: What different kinds of woodwork did the NEWwoodworks team craft or this project?
A: For this project our team fabricated and finished all the cabinetry throughout the home as well as the stairs, railing, doors (inside and out), built-in storage, some of the counter tops, and elements of the screened in porches.
Q: How closely did the NEWwoodworks team collaborate with the interior designer on this project?
A: The design for all the fine woodworking in this home came from our friend Brooke Wagner and her team, and it was truly awesome to work with her on this project. Collaborating with such a highly regarded professional design partner who approached this homes interior with a wholistic vision and highly detailed continuity was really inspiring. Brooke and her team brought in a very specific aesthetic style that our team really enjoyed working on because it was very different from many of the other projects we have worked on in the past. It allowed us to really challenge ourselves, and you can see the passion our craftspeople put into this project reflected in the final results.
Q: Why is so much of the woodwork in this home referred to as “paint grade”, and what does that mean?
A: This project incorporated a lot of what is known as “paint grade” woodworking, meaning the wood is coated with a heavy finish that covers the natural wood grain and texture, often in shades of white or bold colors that puts an added focus on hardware choices. This is a trend we are seeing more and more of now, where in the past fine woodworking mostly focused on aged, grey, and natural wood that spoke to a more rustic aesthetic.
It is actually a lot easier to get a good clear or stained finish on fine woodwork than it is to achieve a good “painted” finish, and the term “paint grade” is actually something of a misnomer, at least in our shop, as the wood is not simply painted over. We use a European style pigmented lacquer to achieve the “painted” look, which is a high-quality two-part process that results in a highly wear and water-resistant finish and preforms far beyond what a simple latex paint can offer.
Q: Why was this project so special for the NEWwoodworks team?
A: This project was special to us in a number of ways, chief among them the level of collaboration with Brooke and her team, but also the scale and diversity of the components that we were able to work on, and the fact that it allowed us to work in a style that is different than the woodwork we typically do. It’s a really beautiful house in a unique location, and we are all really happy with how it all turned out.
Learn More about the interior designer: Brooke Wagner Design | Full Service Interior Design Firm located in Corona del Mar, California
Photos by: Jared Kuzia
