Granite

Dad came by around 10 (before picking up Jack... his Wednesday ritual), after cruising by the house--there was no one there and the gate was locked. Not a shocker to me... I figured that the work wouldn't start at the house until around noon when the granite guys start up. But within thirty minutes, a call from Fred told us why: Josef (the worker who has in recent weeks took the lead on our project) lost his sister unexpectedly last night. Fred said that Josef would be out of commission for at least a week, and that he was lining up a replacement. I told him not to worry and to send Josef our best. He said, too, that the granite guys were on their way.

Around one, Lisa called; she was heading back from lunch and wanted to know if I had been by the house yet. She had just left the house and said that what she saw of the granite was great.

Around three-thirty, Fred called. The granite guys needed our input on where to put the faucets. As I was going to meet Dad and Jack at the house around four, this was good timing. I called Lisa (who was in meetings all day) and pulled her away to come and help. When I got there, Dad and Jack were already there, and Lisa was pulling up.

I had the camera, but the batteries died (so pictures will have to wait until tomorrow), but the granite does look great. Nice big backsplashes in the kitchen. The bathrooms look great... the green and large pockets of color are nice.

It all looks great. Except for one thing: the bar of the island is straight. It's not curved. This is fucking ridiculous. It's supposed to be curved. That's the whole point of the island's bar. breathe Fuck it. It's the only reason why I relented on the style of the cabinets to have their fucking curve... which I hate. And now breathe without the curve of the bar there is ABSOLUTELY NO FUCKING REASON ON THIS GOD-FORSAKEN PLANET that there should be a curve on the cabinets. Christ, can NO ONE FOLLOW THE FUCKING PLANS???!!!

Whatever. Dad says to think of the straight edge as "my idea" instead of theirs. Whatever. Just get me back in my house, and let the healthy side of my psyche (you're still there, aren't you, Billy Bob?) repress this whole freaking adventure forever.

Whatever.

======================================
UPDATE (the next morning):

On my way back front the cavities, I dropped by the house and took some pics:

The kitchen granite:









[notice that straight edge... sigh]

The downstairs bath:

[check out that ADA Todo toilet in the background!]

The master bath:


The upstairs bath:

[again, toilet in the background]

The family room in morning light:


And the door handles have been installed

as well as door moldings


And the dishwasher has been delivered...

Delay

Last night before water polo practice, I took the boys to Lowe's to pick up the range hood and door handles. The handles were another unbudgeted $320. Great. At least we were able to drop the stuff off before practice.

This morning, I get a call from Fred. He sounds disappointed/angry. The granite installation has hit a snag. Uh oh.

Seems like the installation guys didn't show up for work. So installation is put off until tomorrow. At least there wasn't a problem with the granite itself, I say. He says (without irony), "That's what I like about you. Always looking on the bright side."

heh heh

Actually, what I was thinking was: Thank freaking god that there wasn't a granite break... I don't think we can afford another grand for a slab of the rock.

Whatever.

The dishwasher was delivered today.

And granite tomorrow...

Questions and Answers

Late last night when neither Lisa nor I could sleep, we put together a list of questions/issues to hit Fred with. So out went the email this morning (and his responses, as I met with him later this morning):

Morning, Fred.

Went by the house this weekend, saw Cain working on making electrical connections... great to see lights working!

Have a few questions as we move into the final month:

• Master Bedroom closet door: shouldn't it swing right instead of left (so the light switch and the closet content is more easily accessible)... it should have been installed the other way; it will be "taken care of"
• Roof shingles: the newer shingles haven't "faded" to match the ones installed earlier (and which were misted by the white painted when the eaves were done)... Fred agrees (finally) and has talked to Frank; it will be "taken care of"
• Roof shingles: there seems to be a section missing near the stairwell; the brown layer under the shingles looks weird from the family room window... there's not supposed to be shingles there... no matter how off it looks.
• Attic access: any ideas on this? It'll go in Jack's closet (it'll be a tight squeeze, but at least there will be access and it won't be in the middle of the family room)
• Skylight in the upstairs bath: any word on when this might come in? Should be in this week.
• Metal flashing along the shingle/wall seam: will those be painted to match the walls (or shingles)? Hard to paint: paint tends to flake within a year, plus there's the issue of matching the paint to the color mixed into the stucco... Fred prefers to leave it unpainted (of course)
• Will the frontyard planter box be demolished during "clean-up"? As the bricks are now crumbling pretty badly, this would be great. He hadn't planned on it, but he said he would after I reminded him that it's "in the plan" and that Lisa had spoken to him about it...
• Laundry Room: there doesn't seem to be a drain for the washer... this was a shock, and he said that it would be "taken care of"
• Laundry Room: dryer vent--you had mentioned venting down under the house... I'd like to avoid this (to make cleaning out the vent easier)... is there any way to vent into the garage, or under and across the water heater to the front? He still wants to vent it down, but he said he's vent it through the water heater area.
• Fire Bell on front of garage: any chance of moving this? (as it's pretty ugly where it is) Nope... don't mess with it
• Family Room: the ceiling paint seems uneven Fred says it's the light... if it's still a problem after we move in, then they'll repaint
• Kitchen: Will the hardwood flooring be installed before the appliances? (we'd like to have the hardwood under the range and refrigerator... the dishwasher will be delivered tomorrow) Yes
• Has the Laundry Room/Garage door issue been resolved with Steve? If so, is a fire-rated door necessary? At this Fred, holds up his hand and says, "That, I do NOT want to talk about now." That doesn't sound good.
  

Thanks,

Have a great week...

bw

So some wins, some losses, some draws. But the granite comes in tomorrow. And we have homework tonight: door handles... damn, there goes another couple of hundred...

I mention something about the railings to both the stairs and the deck, and I'm not sure if I caught this correctly, but I think he said something about them being installed when (not before?) we move in... I would think the inspection would need to be done first, and I can't imagine the inspector allowing us to come in without those railings...

Whatever.

Electric Shelves

Cruised by the house today with Dad (to measure the closets for buying the closet hangers). Cain the electrician was there. There were some lights that actually responded to switches. Cool. The under cabinet lights in the kitchen looked good. The doorbell worked. All nice.

We measured Dad's and the boys' closets, and headed down to HomeDepot. Four hundred dollars later, we had what will be the closet interiors in the back of the car. The closet doors will be around another four hundred. Given that we didn't know what to expect or to budget for these items, they were just question marks on our budget sheet... in the past few weeks, I was figuring around $200 apiece. So we'll be "under" for the hangers... but over overall.

Driving by to drop off all the stuff (including the replacement for the boys' bath vanity light -- which had a crack in it), we noticed that there's now a really ugly red bell smack in the middle of the garage wall facing the street. I'm sure it's there because of the fire sprinklers... but jesus couldn't they put it somewhere a little less "sorethumb"ish... and can we paint the damn thing so it blends with the wall???

Yep, I just LOVE going by the place...

Thanksgiving

Today is turkey day. Last night we took pictures of the house... (check out all of the photos in the viewer)... the doors are in:

[here are a few]




uh, did they get approval for the door to the garage? and shouldn't it be a fire door? or does the fire sprinkler system mean we no longer need a fire door (if we get one at all to the garage)? [the doors are all hollow core...which isn't what we wanted, but I guess what we "paid" for... whatever]


a convergence of doors in the master bedroom (above leads to the dumbest door swing. ever...

The light switch is BEHIND the door. That will need to get fixed... that door will need to be changed so that it swings and opens to the closet instead of the wall... I guess that would be why it's a POCKET door in the plans. [plans? what are those? are they something new? again, whatever.]

We also have more lights hung:

that dining room light will need to be raised (even over a table, once people stand they won't be able to see the person standing across from them)


family room above, and master bedroom below


In the master, the "accent" color isn't much of an accent...

oh, well.

The boys' bath skylight is still missing:


At least the kitchen is beginning to grow on me

(the color of the walls is lessening my cringes on the color of the cabinets...

and I'm hoping next week's installation of granite will make it even better...

and the wood floor, I'm hoping, will complete it and I won't even notice the red-brown).

But, despite the above grumpiness and complaints (plus my concern that the ceiling paint coat isn't even... or "even" even), I have to begrudgingly admit that we have much to be thankful for today. We're all healthy, the addition IS ahead of schedule (even if we're over budget), and we should be able to move in before the end of the year.


[be thankful, Bill, just don't get your hopes up too high...]

Sink

The kitchen sink is in... we picked it up last night at HomeDepot.

We went by the house last night, joined by the Coreys (following Thomas' Thanksgiving performance). The downstairs and upstairs toilets are in (I had been initially concerned about the ADA toilet not being installed in the correct bathroom, but all is well), as are a few of the doors around the house.

Lisa noticed that there's no switch for the garbage disposal on the island.

So I emailed Fred last night about the missing switch and the sink template. The template is ready for pickup... if the granite place is open on Friday, and Fred can get us the address, we can drop the template off on our way to LA for the UCLA basketball game ... we'll be spending the night and then going to the final home game of the football season [and hopefully of Dorrell's head coaching career with the Bruins] on Saturday.

I think I need the getaway this weekend (it's been a tough week, and tomorrow is no easier... it's Thanksgiving, and I'm sure we're going to cruise by the house to show it off to visiting family... joy [not the family, but the visit to the worksite... I'm not back to enjoying those yet])... maybe I can stay away until we move in...

Nah, didn't think so.

---------------------------

UPDATE (9:06 am)

Fred just called. We'll be dropping off the template Friday afternoon. I was on the speakerphone with Fred and the granite guy, Victor... according to them, the counters should be installed Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Lisa will be thrilled.

(Fred also said that he would be looking into the missing switch)

Hoping not to get our hopes up

Over the course of the last few days, Lisa's been saying to me, and to anyone who will listen, that we'll be in by Christmas, maybe even by the first anniversary of Mom's passing (December 20). I tell her that she's way too optimistic, but that's us... she sees the possibilities, I see the obstacles (especially lately... that's ALL I see). I just don't want her to be disappointed... so I keep trying to keep expectations down.

Yesterday, we emailed Fred:

Hi, Fred.

Went by the house today... the first coat of paint seems to be progressing nicely.

Lisa wanted me to let you know about a couple of issues, though:

1) the laundry room was supposed to be yellow (not gray) because Lisa wanted the room bright and cheery
2) the wall unit in upstairs family room looks dark... any way we can have it yellow like the rest of the room?

Looks good so far!

Thanks,

bw

This morning I got a call from Fred. He told me that he was in the house as we spoke and he agreed about the laundry room. But he vehemently disagreed about the family room. The accent, he said, was "beautiful." I told him that Lisa was pretty adamant, and she was (I only emailed him after much prodding). He said that it was "(y)our house"... but he thought it was a mistake... so much so that he wanted us to go by the house first and look at it again, and then if we still wanted to change it, he would do it.

Whatever.

So after we (the boys and I) picked up Lisa, we cruised by the house. Fred was there.

And so were changes: the exterior lights are up!

Kyle and Jack are comfortable at the work site... almost too much so...

The east side has both the exterior light and the outlet near the roofline of the second story (next holiday season, the Christmas lights are going to ROCK).

Of course, not everything is perfect:

The damage will be repaired, Fred assures us. And at this point, he takes Lisa inside to discuss paint colors.

The lights are all up...

outside the dining room (above) and the master bedroom (below)

Lisa look pretty happy, doesn't she?

and the deck has its light, too (and the sunset clouds above look great against the color of our house).

Inside, some of the switches and outlets have been installed. The kitchen is done:

and the outlets for the island are in the process...


Upstairs, the laundry chute has been repainted (white on the inside... the laundry room itself has also been repainted the yellow color).

switches up here are done as well...

in the boys' bathroom, too.

And up here, we see doors ready for installation:

That's Jack's; Kyle's is just down the hall. And downstairs, the rest are staged for installation:


Also ready is the hole in the master bath for the toilet:

In the garage, the Todo toilet is out of its box and ready for installation (if not for use).

By the time Lisa and Fred rejoin me, he has convinced her to keep the accent color. OK. She later tells me that if we hate it later, we can repaint. Of course, I thought she didn't like it now. But whatever.

Fred really wants to push hard. He wants to finish painting (save the touch-ups) and doors this week (of course that means in the next two days, as this is Thanksgiving week). He wants the template for the kitchen wall sink so the granite can be cut; I tell him I'll go by HomeDepot tomorrow (but realistically, even if we get it tomorrow, the earliest Fred will get it is Wednesday, and the earliest the granite can be cut is Monday... so I'm not sure what good it does).

He also says that beginning next week the clean-up begins... we sure need it:

there's concrete under all that dirt patch.

He also reverses course AGAIN. He wants the appliances ASAP. Despite what he said last week (about being three to four weeks away from being ready to install, and that it's best to store the goods at the warehouse than to risk damage here at the worksite), he says we can get the appliances delivered in the next couple of weeks. OK. RIIIIIIIGHT. There are times when I really think the man is on drugs. Whatever. We'll call HomeDepot tonight to check on the sink and to expedite the delivery (though I don't want the stuff delivered before the first of the month [I just don't trust this new time estimate]).

But he says something in passing about starting the final phase of his guys getting out of the way, and us begin moving stuff in... in two weeks. Of course, given that this week is Thanksgiving, I'm still cautious and skeptical. But lord knows what this will do to Lisa's optimism.

I hate being the wet blanket... but there's so much that hasn't been done yet (beyond the obvious: the pipe from the valve to the house needs to go from three-quarter to a full inch [for the fire sprinklers], the skylight above the boys' bathroom, the gutters and downspouts... plus the obvious: flooring, granite, toilet and fixtures, doors, stairs, deck railing, the hood [which will be at least another week]). But Lisa's optimistic. Maybe she's right. I hope she is. For her sake. And for mine.

I want to be pleasantly surprised. The surprises in this adventure haven't that yet...

Painting

Dropped Lisa and Jack off at school, and cruised by the house to drop off the last set of lights. No one was there yet... good.

The electrical wires are being prepped for finish.


The slate gray looks dark without lights,

but it should looks just "cool" once that vanity light kicks in...


The master bath shower walls look complete

and our vanity light is up, too... looks good with the paint color.


The paint on the stairwell

both up and down

looks good.

The family room is bright and light with the paint job.





Of course, here's a mistake, I think. I thought this color was supposed to go in the hallway (see below), not on the front of the unit...
and the hall itself was to be in the muted gray (not the yellow)...

but I could be wrong... Lisa will now for sure.

Jack's room again looks a little dark

(but it will lighten up with the lights)



The outer portion of the boys' bath looks cool (again, even better with the lights, I'm sure)

And the inner portion with the shower looks great.


Here's that hallway again.


Kyle's room is filled with light from the windows...

so it's nice and bright... looks good.


So progress is being made... but I still just want to stay out of the way...


-------------------------
UPDATE:
We cruised by the house on the way to dinner; they were working on the living room and kitchen paint:

... it's amazing the difference in color the lighting makes...


Gerri Lamar (a teaching buddy, Kyle's science teacher, and a fellow Bruin) stopped by while we were there. She loves the space. Moments like that almost make all the b.s. with the contractor worth it.

Almost.

After dinner, we went by a local furniture store and dropped an unforeseen $3400... bed, mattress, and dresser for Kyle (he'll be without), six barstools for island, and a new mattress for us (we're way overdue)... all of it necessary, but also money I hadn't been mentally prepared for tonight. We bought it on the cheap, as the store is going out of business, but still...