It's always something

*sigh*

CHALLENGE - the installer has to figure out how to install a straight-edge tile on a curve, without tearing up the carpet. The carpet in the living room, where it meets the tile entry way is curved. See the picture. UPDATE: In order to remove the old underlayment, he had to take up the carpet. New underlayment & tile will be installed under the carpet, and the carpet then tacked back down.

PROBLEM - KITCHEN PAINT - Painter was here yesterday, and was supposed to finish. Late afternoon, I peeked in and saw that the wall where the fridge goes had not been painted. When I questioned the painter, he said he was not supposed to paint there. I got on the phone to Susan, and she agreed with me that, yes, it needed to be painted since we were not enclosing the fridge in cabinetry. She talked to him, but he did not paint the wall. So now he has to come back and sand and paint it, on top of our new floor - which is going in today. He's a messy guy so I'm concerned. After he left yesterday, I decided to clean up the drywall footprints he left all over the red tile by the powder room. Luckily, I also decided to shake the rugs we keep on that floor. Found a big blob of Butte Rock paint on our gray brick porch! Since it was still wet, I was able to scrub it off.

PROBLEM - STAPLES - The floor installer was here bright and early. He was most unhappy to discover that he had hours of work ahead of him pounding down staples left from the old flooring. He said that should have been done before he got here.

PROBLEM - DRY WALL BLOBS - He was also unhappy over the amount of drywall blobs all over the floor. The underlayment cannot be installed over these blobs. They were supposed to be cleaned off, too, before he got here. So, in addition to pounding staples, he's scraping off drywall blobs.

PROBLEM - OLD STAIR NOSE - The metal 'trim' on the floor between the kitchen and family room should have been removed, and was not. Another unexpected job to do before installation can begin.

PROBLEM - NEW WOODEN STAIR NOSE - The new trim that will go down is wood, and needs to be stained. He says he's not supposed to do it, that 'customer' agreed to do it. No, 'customer' did not agree to do it. Susan agrees that the Floor people are supposed to do it. UPDATE: still don't know who is doing it, but the stair nose was installed yesterday. That means it will be stained with the new tile sitting there up against it. I don't know how that will turn out, but I am NOT happy that it was done that way. The piece is so small it could have been stained in a few minutes. Whoever does it had better not get any on the new tile. :-(

It's always something...

Busy weekend

We tried to review/approve the quartz slab for our counter tops yesterday - drove 20 miles (each way) to Schiller Park (southeast of O'Hare) only to find that the slab won't be delivered for yet another week. It was not a pleasant drive - 294 is under construction. 'nuf said.

Bob painted the inside of the pantry with primer yesterday. Today (Sunday) he is painting it in semi-glass Butte Rock to match the kitchen walls. He's doing this under protest. His color preference was glossy white, like before. "It'll be too dark in there" says Bob. "But", says I, "we're having a light installed in the pantry. I want some color in there!". We went back and forth, but my sweetie is (even as I type) painting the pantry Butte Rock. UNDER. PROTEST. Check his face in the picture...

I did promise him that, if it was too dark and I hated it - that I would be the one to repaint it white. (Somewhat of an empty promise. For various reasons, I don't think I would be able to do it. So let's hope we're ok with the color.)

Signage

Our front yard...

Butte Rock

Drywall is patched, walls have been skim-coated & primed, and this morning (Friday) the painters are here to paint. We've chosen 'Butte Rock' for the walls. (My son Patrick would say that's Martha Stewart for 'brown'). It's darker than anything we've had on our walls before, but we're trying to be brave and go with a little more color. It looks so nice against the floor tile, cabinets, etc. I'm holding up the color sample against the living room wall so you can see just how much darker it is.

Electric passed inspection

Arlington Heights was here yesterday afternoon, and the electrical work has been approved. Good news.

The soffit area has been covered over with drywall, and the faux paint has been covered over with a special primer. Instead of sanding down the textured paint, the approach will be to primer the walls, then cover them with the same 'mud' used to tape the drywall. Less damage to the actual wall that way. Still a lot of sanding (and mess), to smooth out the 'mud' once it's dry.

Susan called yesterday. Due to a glitch in the design software, two of the cabinets were sized 4" too wide. They've been re-ordered, and the order will be expedited. Susan does not expect any impact to our schedule. I sure hope she is right.

Flooring is to be delivered today, and installed next Monday or Tuesday. That will be nice. Right now we're walking around on sub-flooring that has lots of sharp pointy bits sticking out, left over from the floor they ripped out. So we have to wear shoes. :-( We don't like wearing shoes, especially in the house.

Waiting for Electrical Inspection

It's Wednesday morning, 6/24/09. Electrical is ready for Arlington Heights inspection. Since they only inspect in our area in the afternoon, the house is quiet this morning. Dan will be here before noon, so he's here when the Inspector arrives.

I did take pictures of the electrical stuff. Very important, yes - but pretty boring. Although the picture I've posted is not boring to us. A new cabinet is being installed between the family room and the kitchen, where the iron railing used to be. A low cabinet, with a height slightly less than the back of the (family room) couch. Once installed, the answering machine and phone that are now on the bar (at the far end of the family room) will be relocated to the new cabinet. No more running from the kitchen to the bar area to see who is calling, or to check for messages. The new outlet is actually not visible in this picture - it's kind of behind the blue tape. The holes you see were made in order to find/run the electric.

BTW, doing dishes in the basement was just as unpleasant last night. Per Dan, the biggest hassle for most of his customers has been the lack of a dishwasher. I believe it.

Good-bye old kitchen

TOP PIX: junk pile - what used to be kitchen sink & cabinets
MIDDLE PIX: Stove and sink used to be here. Note soffits are also gone.
BOTTOM PIX: Family room, looking to kitchen. Plastic sheeting sealing off the doorway.

Day 1 of the Kitchen Project is behind us. It was a long day, but WOW, did they get a lot done. You can't see in these pictures, but the tile floor is gone in both the kitchen & the entryway. All the debris has been hauled away, and they even swept the kitchen-entryay floor - several times! I was/am impressed.

I prepared my first meal without a kitchen, and I'll tell you that next week's menu will be a lot simpler. For example, no more homemade salad dressing (that dirtied up the mini-processor, a whisk, measuring spoons, measuring cups, and a bowl). I'm wearing a groove in the floor running back and forth between the fridge (in the family room) and the dining room table, where meal prep takes place. We bought a brand new litter box to use as a 'dirty dish' holder. That's how we get the dirty dishes to the basement sink, and then carry the clean ones back up. (YES, of course I wash it). We chose a litter box since it was a nice size - dishpans are too small. I'm also now using a GB. Rachael Ray fans know that means 'garbage bowl'. Works pretty well, too. We don't want an open garbage can sitting around where Kiki might want to investigate. So I fill up the GB, then dump it into the can in the garage.

Today, electrical and plumbing work. I'll post more tomorrow.