Day 39, and I’m still reeling from the quantity of things that got done today. First, a roster of people working at the house today: Dave, Eric, Frank, Brad, Matt, Josh, Caleb and J.J. (I’m out of breath just listing them!) Second, a list of things they worked on: sinks, faucets, toilets, refrigerator, dishwasher, wall ovens, cooktop, trim paint, door jambs, shower tile, door removal, stair sanding, floor sanding, clean-up and reorganization. (Phew!) The project just went from plodding along to full-throttle in the span of a day.
It takes two to make a thing go ri-ight…
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Day 38, and man, am I tired! The house was a hustlin’ and a bustlin’ today, with various Teams staying here as late as 7pm. We had Team Carpentry working the cabinet install (wall oven unit and fridge/pantry area), Team Tile working the shower, floors and thresholds (they worked like fiends today!), and Team Brad working some more electrical install (beginnings of wall ovens and an errant outlet that needed to be done before I covered it with a pile of boxes). So much was happening, and while I had to sneak out to run a few errands, I definitely sensed that change was afoot.
Basic space, open air; don’t look away, when there’s nothing there…*
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Day 37 was kind of like a dud firework – you’re all excited for it to go off, and then, and then… it fizzles. Which, in this case, isn’t really a bad thing, it’s just the way things went. We had our countertop installers come by (Team Stone) to make some templates and confirm the details of the space, and had a wonderful surprise early visit from the plumbers (hooray!). However, our Team Carpentry was a man down (illness), and Team Tile got tied up with other business elsewhere (you mean to tell me I’m NOT your only client? Well, I never!), which made progress grind to a crawl. Planning, organizing, and design decisions were made, but not much physical happened.
Everybody’s got a vision, everybody’s got a plan…
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Day 36 starts week 8 (!), and even though this was Labor Day, we still had some actual labor to attend to. Caleb and J.J. toiled at their tile today, forgoing basking in the most perfect weather imaginable to make some headway on the shower (including hand-polishing some rough parts of the marble chair rail to finish out the niches), and grouted both bathroom floors. Caleb also saved us from disaster (not really, but gauche-ness was averted) by letting us know that our shower drain, if grouted into place, would be permanent, and that the black PVC edge of it would always show. Gross! We will be getting another shower drain (chrome all the way, baby) post-haste, and it can simply be screwed into place instead of the builder-grade (plumber standard?) one we were given. Phew. Thanks, Caleb. Good save.
It’s too big, it’s too wide, it’s too strong, it won’t fit…
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Day 35, and the day’s end marks seven total weeks of having various teams of dudes ripping apart, and then rebuilding our home. With about 4 (or 5, depending – I’m no fool) weeks remaining, the work has begun to take on new meaning, and have new power over our collective moods (finishing something, anything, feels great! – half-done stages feel a smidge omni-present). Each mini-project either intersects, interferes with, or interrupts another project, and planning them out – considering all the things that life throws at everyone (babies being born, deaths in families, various seasonal illnesses, etc.) – has been mind-boggling to witness. Dave has done/is doing a spectacular job coordinating the three ring circus, just as Eric, and Team Tile, Team Electric, Team Drywall, Team Plumbing and Team Frank (ha!) have done amazing work juggling through rings of fire.
Baby! Ev’rything is alright, uptight, clean out of sight…
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Day 34 and the gang’s all here. Well, Eric is back from a trip to Arizona where he’ll be moving when this project is over (we’ll mis you, Eric!), and Team Tile and Team Cabinet Hanging were at it in full effect.
I have some unfortunate updates regarding the cabinets. Our cabinet dealer, Artistic Interiors, specifically the owner Jorge Ribeiro, was less than willing to do anything for us regarding the design confusion and the quality of the cabinetry. I would NEVER do business with them again, and would advise anyone out there who is looking for cabinets to look elsewhere. I don’t want to use this platform as a chance to smear businesses – we are very proud and happy with every single other person who’s come into our home – but I felt the need to warn against this businessman, and his inability to put our happiness ahead of his wallet. In the end, his offer of $100 worth of product to alleviate our issues (the actual cost for new materials would have been $230) was reneged, and the time he offered to do touch-ups himself was also withdrawn. I should add that the original total cabinet cost was twelve-thousand times that much, and that such a paltry gesture was insulting (that’s 0.83% for all you math nerds).
Won’t you smile a while for me?…
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Day 33 and the oppressive heat was the star of the day. At one point, around 2pm, the car said it was 101 degrees outside, and yet, the heat did not stop the progress. In fact, everyone even took turns working outside. I guess it was better than rain, or snow, or gale-force winds, but, man, oh, man, was it HOT out there!
Lots got done today, and lots was happening all around. Caleb’s car – which had refused to start yesterday – was being worked on in the front of the house (eventually, though, sadly, it had to get towed after all), Dave was painting in the garage, and J.J. and Caleb were cutting tile near the side fence. The sun just kept pouring down heat, while paint was slathered on quickly (it seemed like it was drying in half the time it normally does), wet, noisy cuts were made by the tile saw, and the dog pouted because we wouldn’t play with her in the heat. (Sorry, baby dog, but you’re not dying of dehydration on my watch!)
And by some miracle, I’ve just got away with it… *
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Day 32, and we had another quiet, hot day. Dave skittered about painting, joint-compounding and finishing things, while Caleb got to tiling. And tile he did. It’s so satisfying to see something that you’ve drawn or imagined come alive just as you’d hoped it would. Lucky for us we got paired with a meticulous, careful, organized and happy tile contractor because he fits not only our expectations, he also fits with the actual project (details, details, details). I feel incredibly lucky, still, again, to have such an amazing team. So lucky.
And we don’t care about their own faults, talkin’ ’bout our own style…
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Week 7, Day 31, and we’re in for a quiet start to the week. With a solo Dave working on punchlist-type details in preparation for a more active end to the week, we were able to NOT set the alarm for the first weekday in, well, 6 weeks. I slept until just after 8, and it was splendid. Dave picked up trim, painted, joint-compounded (spots here and there dinged by construction life), and just generally tidied the spaces. Fussed, I think the word was?
Upon closer examination of the cabinets, we noticed some issues with the paint finish – due in part to the fact that not all of the protective shipping pieces stayed on as they should have, so some of the cabinet doors were a tad bit dented, cracked or scratched at the corners – so we had a meeting with the cabinet people. A few door fronts are being re-ordered, and we’ll try to touch up some of the other spots where the finish looks like it’s been rubbed off (or chipped off) already and some bits of raw wood are exposed (not what we expected for brand new cabinets). Some of these issues are apparently common (but not foretold to us) to white painted cabinets; others are special, just for us! Hooray! (Voice thick with sarcasm, here.)
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning…
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Day 30 and Phase 3: Finish has officially begun. Cabinets are on the wall! What a transformation! Seriously, it makes such a difference to have furniture (so to speak) in the room. We went from concept to reality in about two hours. It was wild. While I ran some errands in the morning, Dave and Eric conquered the range-top side of the kitchen (the east wall, left side). When I got back, we had a kitchen! Well, sort of. But compared to how I left it! Wow! Of course they didn’t do the whole room in two hours, that was just how long I was out. The installation will take a few more days to be complete, but they made good headway, especially considering that they started on the least plumb/level spot in the room. Nice work, dudes, as ever.