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.