Come have a ride on the renovation roller-coaster!

Ugh. This renovation can be such a roller-coaster ride. I came home, and I was happy to see my new window. It looks great! I started looking around, and I found that many of the items on the punch list had been done - like the toe kick molding, the cabinet doors adjusted, the trim under the bar counter top (although - I had wanted to see what they were going to put there first).

I started doing some clean up, and I went under the sink to recycle some paper, and I found the very wet rag that they had put there to catch the drips. Now, when the plumber installed the sink, Dave told me that it was leaking a little bit. He said we wouldn't be able to move the spout. There was a plastic container and the rag under the sink, I thought, as a precaution. Well, when I removed the rag, I saw all this blue stuff and a large water stain. Yup - mildew. I went to turn on the faucet, and the water is pouring out of it. I just had one of those pit of the stomach feelings again. Of course, I didn't use the faucet again.

So, I cleaned up the water, and I got my blow dryer out and dried it for a while. It feels dry to the touch, but the stain is still there. Then I noticed that there is a big wet spot on the floor where the dishwasher is supposed to be, and then I noticed that it's all wet on the wall too! I don't know what to do. Dave mentioned that he was going away this afternoon, so he isn't even around to do anything or look at this. And, what could he do? The only thing I can think of is that if we could get the plumber here to put in the other faucet, at least I will know that I can use it and it's not aggravating the problem. But, what to do about the damage? I was going to spray some tilex to kill the mold, but I'm not sure if I should do that or not. I hope he put in the water-resistant blue board behind that sink!

This is really disappointing. Why does there always have to be something that goes wrong when there are so many other things that went right?

Oh, and my floor is already scratched. Dave said they would put down craft paper, but they didn't. I don't know if they did it, but we've been walking around in stocking feet, so I don't know how we would have done it. My new car is dented, and I haven't even gotten to drive it off the lot!

A Good Day

Yesterday was a good day. First, we found out that the freezer's compressor was shot, which means it is under warranty! Yay. Next, I found out that Chris, aka "the floor guy", was putting on the 3rd coat! Yay. Finally, when I stopped by the house to pick up my mom, I saw that my window had been delivered. Yay.

So, we will be able to get back into our house tonight (stocking feet only). So that's a whole day earlier than we thought. I hope that it has ventilated fully, because I stopped by yesterday, and it was smelly.

And, the best news was today - John will be over tomorrow to work on finishing up all the carpentry. I'm not sure if they will be able to do it all in one day, but I know that they will be putting in the window. I am looking forward to looking out my window all weekend.

I doubt that anyone will be around on Friday, but that's ok - the refrigerator is coming on Monday, and they will hook up everything - the water/ice, the gas for the stove, the heat/thermostat, the oven, the disposal, the dishwasher, and the microwave.

Looking good . . .

Yea Yea Yea! The floors are sanded and the the sealer has been applied. They look great. See for yourself:

This is the before and after view from the kitchen into the dining room.

Unfortunately, we have some stains from the previous owner's dog. If you know anything about urine stains and wood floors, then you already know that they are impossible to get out. I actually thought that they would be able to get some of it out, but the day that Chris came, he told me that they wouldn't be able to get any of it out. He said that they usually patch that type of damage. I wish I had known because I would have patched it. Now it will be there until the next owners :-( See what you think:

On the left is the stain before sanding, and on the right is after sanding. In some ways, it sticks out more. I guess that's what area rugs are for.

So, now we are trying to figure out logistics for tomorrow, Monday - Thursday when we basically have to clear out of our house in order for them to finish the floors. It looks like Russell will go to my sister Lauren's house (thanks Lauren!), Tess and Gwen will go to Dawna's house (thanks Dawna!), and Chuck and I will sleep at Derek's house (thanks Derek!). Hey, maybe I'll even get to use the hot tub - I've never been in it.

Due to the condition of the floors, we did not do any painting or staining. I decided to work on other items on my punch list - like recovering my dining room chairs. I was hoping to get to some refinishing work that I need to do, but I wasn't very efficient with my time. We went to a great cook out at the neighbors on Saturday, then followed up with George's birthday dinner and a walk around the Lowell Folk Fest. Saturday night was beautiful - finally a real summer night in the 80s. I hope it's not our last one.

I am looking forward to getting through this week and on to the next week. I don't expect that Dave will fit in any work next week, but I'm hoping that the following Monday will bring Dave and the plumber back for all the work that is left to be done. I know that my refrigerator is being delivered that day, so I intend to plug that baby in and get her going. Having the refrigerator and water on the same floor - and the grill steps away - will improve life significantly.

Ok, not sure how much I'll get to post next week. I won't be home much if at all, but if I have any great news, I'll try to jump on at work.

Here are some additional photos of the floors before and after (to date):

A light?

Today will be the 4th day of nothing. BUT, there may be a light at the end of tunnel. Yesterday Dave met with a new floor guy (Chris). I was excited, but I tried not to get my hopes up, which was a good strategy. I called Dave later to find out that they would start on the floors until next Tuesday :-( What can you do? I wished it was sooner, but at least I had a date. Dave said he was very confident.

Now, the issue is that we *will* have to be out of the house for most of it. We could be in the house after the first day - but the fumes might be strong. But, after the last coat, Chris suggests that no one be on the floors or even in the house for 48 hours! So, I spent some time looking for possible accommodations for my family. I figure if we have to be out, maybe we could make it pleasant. Chuck was all freaked out because he is going away the following weekend, and he would have to limit his access to the house from Tuesday on.

So, after letting the news settle, realizing that I actually could leave my refrigerator delivery for 8/3, etc., Dave called and said he had a message from Chris saying he may be able to start Friday if I was able to. Well, heck yeah - we'll figure it out! So now Chris is coming tomorrow. We'll be able to get back into the house (stocking feet only) tomorrow night - although we may want to stay out until Saturday. But, we'll have the weekend in the house, then have to be out early next week. But, we potentially will be back in by Thursday, maybe Friday at the latest, which will work out better, I believe. Now, I just need the humidity to not be horrible (of course, it's going to be a monsoon tonight). Keeping fingers crossed.

Ghost Town

No work. No calls. No surprise.

I didn't expect anything today, but here's the thing - I try to communicate even when the communication is to say that I have nothing to communicate. I wish contractors would do that.

Now, I know that I have to reschedule refrigerator delivery, but to when? I'm not going to push it to Monday or the following Thursday without a definite floor date. I'm bummed. I really thought that I'd have a functional kitchen by the end of this week. This means that I won't have a fully functioning kitchen until next Thursday at the earliest. Even if they show up tomorrow (which they wont), it will take a few days plus drying time, and then they can put in the appliances.

At least I should get my window this week - I think it's in either Wednesday or Thursday. I'm thinking Thursday.

I'm sorry, but this is getting old. Even though I have some improvements (water, access to deck), it's still a mess everywhere else in my home. I'm sick of going up and down two or three floors to have a glass of ice tea. I'm irritated by having to clean up a kitchen that isn't clean up friendly. I don't dwell on these things, but I would feel better if there was a clear end in sight.

Paint the weekend "Milk Pail"

Long time no post. What a busy weekend! I rushed home on Friday (after a stop at Home Depot, of course) so that we could go to our annual anniversary trip to The Daily Catch in the North End. Gwen had been sick with a fever, and Chuck had a bad headache, so I wasn't sure if we would go at all, but we did, and it was fun.

I didn't have much time to appreciate my new lighting, just enough to flip some switches, then we were out the door. But I made up for it on Saturday, putting all the bulbs in that I had bought at home depot. It is so great having lighting! It is so much more than I have ever had before - can lights, under the counter, pendants, etc. I didn't think I needed so much light, and I didn't even want the under the counter lights, but I've been using them the most. They will replace my previous "night light" which was the fluorescent over the sink, but now it's the fluorescent flanking the sink under the cabinets.

I haven't included any pictures on purpose. I am going to limit the amount of pictures I share from now until the big "reveal" because I think it will be more dramatic. And you know me, drama queen.

Also on Saturday, I made coffee in the kitchen! I have water and now electricity, so I was able to run the coffee maker. Ya Hoo! Then I skim-coated the half walls for the colonnade on the hall way side. They had really been chewed up in the work. Skim coating is hard!

From there I got to work on finishing the first coat of the paint that goes from the kitchen to the dining room and also spans the wall that the dining room and living room now share. Can I just say, KUDOS to the person who invented the plastic pour jug for paint! Maybe the same person who finally invented the upside down ketchup bottle :-) Seriously, I know I'm probably filling landfills more (although, I do think that the plastic jug is recyclable), what a joy to just be able to first shake the jug with the handle to mix up the paint, screw off the lid, pour it into the tray, and screw the lid back on. The one thing that would make it the dream option would be if the pour spout had a strainer so when the paint gets lumpy, it would strain the lumps out.

I only had 2/3 of the shared wall, the support beam, and around the patio door to do, so it wasn't too long. Lots of cutting in. On Sunday I sanded the walls in the hall, making a big, dusty mess. Then I put on the second coat from ~middle of dining room wall, shared wall, support beam, and around patio door. So, I finished the painting of the "Milk Pail" portion of the first floor. Now on to the rest of the living room and the hallway, including all the trim/woodwork on the colonnade.

In the middle of all this, we found out that our full, upright freezer is not working, so I had to triage a bunch of frozen food into the other refrigerator freezers and try to determine what to toss, what could be defrosted and just refrigerated, and what needs to be used right away. What a drag!

At the end of the day I "cleaned" the downstairs and the kitchen. I just couldn't take it anymore - there was so much dust and debris on the floors. I also needed to move the pile of construction stuff to the DR so that I can start painting the LR wall. I finished by cleaning the kitchen because although it's not a functioning kitchen, it had already gotten cluttered and messy.

As I was sweeping and washing the floors, I was hoping that maybe this would save some time or a step for the floor guys. I still don't know if they are coming tomorrow (probably not), but when they do come, someone would have to clean up all that crap before they start, right? They probably still will, but at least now it won't take them as long :-)

Ok, I am seriously beat. I'm going to bed.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

The good:
Dave and the plumber were here today. I have a faucet with running water! They got a lot of little things done. I'm happy for progress. Dave put in a temporary door to the deck, and that is huge!! It is so nice, and I know I am going to be very happy to be able to step out to the back. The cabinet for over the microwave came in, and they installed that, and they did a lot of little things like putting the shelves in the cabinets.

The bad:
They put my door hardware on, and they put the wrong pulls on the pull out cabinets - and they put them in the wrong place. I am very depressed about this. It is not only the fact that it's not how I wanted it, but it's not as functional either. I don't think it can be fixed either - the cup pulls and the strap pulls do not have the same distance between the screws. I could have them change them, though, because the strap pulls will hide the holes. But, they will still be on the inset, not the frame, and it will probably look weird. So much for my poll - all that obsessing about the preferred hardware, and look what I got.

The ugly:
Well, I can't say it's ugly, that's too strong a word. But, taken more liberally than literally, I'd say the ugly includes the fact that the electrician didn't come (2nd day in a row that Dave said he was coming), and the floor guys still haven't said when they are coming, and the temporary door to the back - practical, but not pretty - and it lets the bugs in. The faucet, our original one, is looking rather sad and has putty around it so that it doesn't leak. And, of course, the cup/strap pull fiasco. That definitely is added to my issues list as #5.

Today is my 21st anniversary!

More Disappointment . . . And Counter tops!

Start with the good news, right? I stayed up to 11:30 last night painting so I'd have two coats on the walls behind the counters. The stone guys (Juan and Pedro, left to right in the picture) were here at 8:30 AM! And they were done by 10ish. I have counter tops. They are beautiful. They did a great job. I love them.

I got really nervous last night and this morning before they came. I'm realizing a pattern here. I am very confident about what I want, but then right before the plan becomes reality, I start second-guessing myself and getting nervous about what could go wrong. I think part of it was reading about horror show issues that some people have had. I started to think - what if I hate the way they cut the stone? What if i don't like the patterns that they chose? But, I'm happy to report that it wasn't an issue at all. Yeah for that. AND, they didn't have to cut my sink or modify the cabinet to put it in. It may be a little tight in the back, but I think it will be fine!

The disappointment came in that no one else is coming today. On Tuesday Dave said that the electricians were supposed to be here today, but they weren't here, and not even a call or anything. I called Dave to see if he had any questions about the counter top, and he didn't but then he told me that electricians, plumber, etc. will be here tomorrow. I'm glad that there will be stuff done tomorrow, but I thought it would be today, and that also means that floors are not being done tomorrow. Dave doesn't know when the floors will be done, he still hasn't heard from the floor guy. I guess everyone has all of a sudden gotten swamped. I'm glad for them that they are working, I really am.

Picture is of the counter top unoiled.

I pushed out my refrigerator delivery date for the 3rd (and last) time. If the floors are not ready by 7/24, I will have the refrigerator delivered and put in, and they will have to work around them.

Counter top oiled ^

I was going to post pictures of my painting, but you can see it these pictures enough. Nothing more boring that paint pictures :-)

Disapointment

End date has been moved to August 7 (I hope!). Today I found out that the patio door had not been ordered (some sort of clerical mistake/misunderstanding). Sooo, we have 3.5 weeks (min) to wait for the door to come in. While technically I will have a functioning kitchen (as defined as being able to actually make a meal in it), I won't really consider it complete until the door is installed.

Luckily, Dave is going to install a temporary storm door so that we don't have to walk through my mom's place or around the house to get to the back (such a PITA).

I'm counting down the hours until the countertops are installed as it seems like a lot of activity will begin to happen once that is done. The electricians are coming the same day, so they will also be getting something done, although I'm a little nervous about that. The agreement I signed said no other contractors could be working when they install the countertops. When Juan was here, I confirmed that with him, but he said he didn't mind if someone was working "over there" which I think he meant the living room area where Dave was working that day. Dave heard him say that, and I guess he figured it would be alright. I would think that the electricians would be right in the middle of the kitchen and underfoot of the installers. Oh, well, I guess Dave will have to deal with that if it becomes an issue.

No painting tonight - I'll try to get some done tomorrow.

Making my own progress

When we got home on Saturday, I knew there really wouldn't be too much progress. The kids hadn't seen all that Dave and John had done the week before, though, so it was exciting to see their reactions to all the change.

As far as I could tell, all that got done last week was trim on the DR window and the doorway into the kitchen, a coat of Waterlox on the butcherblock counter top, and install of the mudroom door. Not a whole lot. I'm not sure why that is, but I'm guessing it's partly because Dave has other work, and partly because of money. I've paid him 3/4 of what the estimate was (more, really, but I'm sure there will be addtional expenses), so he's probably trying to conserve his time as well as the subs time so that it's most efficient. I can appreciate that. Of course, it's all speculation.

Since there hadn't been a lot of progress (yet, there is still so much to do . . .), I decided to make my own progress and start painting. I primed the whole kitchen and the dining room wall (after fixing holes and dings, etc. Now I remember while we wall papered in there!), and then I started some of the color (I just really had to get some color up to see some change!)

Before:

After:

Reality

It's starting to set in that a lot of the work that is left to do cannot or won't be done until the counter tops are in. The counter tops are scheduled to be installed on July 15. The floors will be scheduled for right after that. I figured they would be the last thing to be done, but when I talked to Dave yesterday, he said that the electrical usually is done after the counter tops. He was going to check with Andy if they wanted to come in and do some of the electrical - under cabinet lighting, switches and covers, etc.

I rescheduled the refrigerator delivery for July 20 and pushed my end date until then - we cannot be finished until we have our refrigerator. But, now I'm not so sure that we'll have much installed by then - if the floors are not done by Friday, the 17th, then they won't be putting in any of the appliances. I hope for good weather because the humidity will delay the floor refinishing.

Our door and window still was not in, so that is another disappointment. I was really hoping that it would be in this week, and we could come home to the door to the deck being there. If we are going to have to deal with no kitchen for another 2 weeks, it would be very helpful to have access to the deck. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Curious . . .

Well, it's only Tuesday morning, 7:42 AM, but I can't help but be curious as to what is going on at my house since last Thursday. We have had some good weather since Friday, so we have been busy going to the beach and the pool. Yesterday was really the first working day, and I was reminded of the renovation only because my sisters, mother, and brother in-law were all asking me about it.

The big question still is: when will it be done? And I don't know. What is "done"? Is it functioning? If that's the case, then I am still standing by July 17. That might push 1 or 2 days, but I really think I could have a refrigerator, range, and sink by then. I'm not 100% positive about the OTR microwave because of the cabinet that goes above it that had to be replaced - I think they need that to install the microwave, and that cabinet probably won't be in for another week or more.

If done is painted, decorated, and all my stuff moved back in - that probably will not be until the end of August. Ken said Labor Day, and Lisa agreed. I was horrified at first, but when I think of it this way, I agree - a lot of the remaining work is weekend warrior work - painting, putting all my stuff away, rearranging shelves, hanging curtains, etc.

The big work left in the kitchen to get to "functioning" is:
-electrical (lights, switches, phone, cable)
-patio door and over-sink window
-counter top
-plumbing (sink, disposal, ice maker, heat)
-floors

I think it goes in that order. I don't know what we will do when they are refinishing the floors. I believe we have to not walk on them for 24 hours. I now wonder if I should delay the delivery of my refrigerator for another week so that it can be installed after the floors?

I am hoping that this week, they will:
-install the door and window
-sand the floors
-install all the pulls on the cabinets
-install the lights/electrical

I hope I'm not being too optimistic!

Progress AND pictures!

I had to leave beautiful, sunny, warm Maine (NOT!) to meet the counter top templater guy this morning. I stopped by the glass place and picked up the cabinet doors. They looked ok, but I couldn't help second guessing my glass choice - it's so hard to decide.'

I got so nervous as I approached the house - butterflies - I don't know why exactly, it wasn't an excited nervous, it was an anxious nervous. But, it passed.

When I went in the house, I got to see all the progress that has been made this week! The floors are almost done, all the cabinets were installed, and the trim for the colonnade.

<--Detail of the colonnade

I had to wait until almost 11 for Juan (the templater). It took him a couple hours for the templating process (from start to finish). We hit one glitch when he saw my sink - he says it's too big to have a the faucet that I chose behind it. We talked a bit about options, and he's going to make it fit - it will be tight, and he's going to have to modify the front of the sink to make it fit. I hope I don't regret that decision.

<-my name on the template
^the "bar" template

Dave put the glass doors on my cabinets while I was there, and they look great - I really like the glass now that it's on the cabinet. It goes to show you that it can look so totally different from sample, to just in the door, and then finally on the cabinet. I did wish I had gotten stiles, but I think it looks good without them, just would have looked that much better with them. The picture really doesn't do it justice. Click on it to enlarge it to see the detail of the glass.

Juan said that he thought he would be back next Friday for the install of the soapstone! I am both happy, but surprised - I really didn't want to go back next Friday just for the install. I asked him if it was ok if Dave was there instead of me. I don't want to hold up the install, but I really don't want to take time from my vacation, especially seeing as we really haven't even started it yet. Watch Friday be the best beach day of the summer!

Dave said he thought they would wait until the countertops were in before they finished the floors. It's ok with me, but I was thinking that it would be a good thing to do while we were all out of the house, but he's thinking that the less traffic on them, the better - which, of course, makes sense.

Everyone is off tomorrow for the holiday, so there won't be anything new until Monday, and no one to tell me about it anyway.