Lots of Little Things

There have been lots of little things going on around here. The painters came to finish up their work.

final coat of stain on front door

first piece of furniture moved in - the file cabinet with my sewing patterns

working on ceiling fans

cabinet knobs in my sewing/craft room - Unfortunately, the ceiling fan I bought for this room won't work. There is only room for a 30" or smaller fan with the cabinet doors open.

cabinet makers adjusting all the doors and drawers

installing the laundry chute door

 

taping up the baluster shoes to poly the stairs

knobs installed on pantry

and on oak pantry

the island makes quite the work station

and now cleaned up with knobs and pulls installed

cooktop

guest bath knobs

and knobs in the living room

getting storage ready for my sewing/craft room

We were hoping to get by without installing shoe mold but it wasn't happening. There were too many areas where the wood flooring didn't meet up with the baseboards. It's not too obvious in this picture, which was the plan, but shows up much more in the photo below.

Kim did a great job making it from 1" x 4" oak boards (he cut 5 - 3/4" x 1/2" strips from each board). Then stained, cut to fit and installed (I put 2 coats of lacquer on it). 

He also installed downstairs door handles (keeping with the straight line/square look)

and laundry/mud room knobs

and knobs and pulls on staircase built-ins

and in the kitchen

and we have a microwave!!!

The cabinet makers brought the replacement doors for the ones I had broken and I got those painted, glazed and lacquered.

I was proud of the great deal I got on this little cabinet for the game room until I opened it. It is warped and doesn't sit flat on the floor. The front right leg is sitting about an inch off the floor. Ha! But the colors are great!!! Maybe we can twist it back into shape.

We've been working on the glass for the cabinet doors and should hear back on options from two places today. We have 33 panes of glass to go in and have one bid on a turnkey job for the seedy glass in 17 of the doors. The estimates today are for 1) glass only (we would cut and install it) and 2) glass cut to fit (we would only have to install it). I've signed up for a stained glass class (3 Saturdays in March) and plan to make stained glass for two of the cabinet doors in the living room built-ins. I drew off my pattern last night, so, we'll see how this goes. I've always wanted to try my hand at stained glass and am excited about learning something new!!!

Hopefully, we will get the rest of the appliances and shower doors installed this week. Will keep you posted.

A Bit of a Setback

The plumber did not finish up on Friday as expected but he did accomplish quite a lot. Unfortunately, the plumbing fixtures have been the bane of my existence. 

First of all, the three faucets I purchased for the bathrooms wouldn't work in the master bath or the guest bath. There is only a 5" clearance from the counter top to the bottom of the medicine cabinet door to fit a faucet. So, the search was on for faucets that would meet that criteria - not an easy task.

finally found this one - not crazy about it but it works

Next issue was a leak in the drain hose for the bath tub. Of course we've had the tub for a year so getting them to replace the hose was also quite a task. It took three phone calls, over four days, and waiting on hold for about half an hour each time before they finally said they would send out a new hose. Not much telling when it will arrive.

X marks the spot of the pin hole in the drain hose

Third issue was the kitchen faucet handle would not turn all the way to the hot setting due to being too close to the wall behind it. The island faucet was the same faucet, only smaller for a prep sink, so we changed handles on the two faucets and it helped. I'm not sure how successful it will be since we don't have hot water yet.

large handle on the smaller faucet

smaller handle on the large faucet - it still hits the wall behind, but opens a little more

Fourth issue (and definitely the worst) was not realized until Saturday morning when Kim saw water seeping out the door from the dining room to the porch. There was a leak in the coffee pot filler wall connection that had been leaking all night. It ran down the wall behind the cabinet, under the wood flooring, and under the exterior door threshold. When you stepped on the floor, water seeped up between the seams. We vacuumed and vacuumed and it just kept coming up. We will have to replace about 120 sq ft of wood flooring in the dining room and kitchen. We don't know yet when we will be able to get the floor guy back again but he's supposed to come by tomorrow to take a look at it and let us know when he can do it.

buckling floor

The next issue was with the upstairs trough sink faucets. We didn't have all the parts we needed for them to fit correctly and had to run into town to get them while the plumber was gone to lunch.

We noticed today the faucet on the left is dripping. yea!!! (just a little sarcasm)

The current plumbing issue, and I hope the last, is not having water pressure to the house. Kim has been digging up the lines trying to find the problem. (Updated: he got it fixed and covered back up before the expected rain tonight - Monday).

On a more positive note, all the grout has been sealed, sealed and resealed.

don't know why every picture of me is from the back side - and yes, I really do work every now and again

thank goodness for knee pads - they saved me

When we picked up our appliances last September, we opened them all and checked for damage. The only damage we found was on the microwave, so we exchanged it for another. However, when the countertop guys were fitting the cooktop, they noticed the front panel was pushed back on the left side and it wouldn't fit. Upon closer inspection there was additional damage to the back of the cooktop as well. Sears policy is that all damage must be reported within 72 hours. I decided to call them anyway and just explain that the damage wasn't really visible until we tried to install it. They were gracious and sent us out a new one even though we've had it for five months. Yes!!!!!

The cooktop was delivered on Tuesday and we set it in place today.

The painter is coming tomorrow to do the final touch-up and finish a few things. Kim has been working like crazy today trying to have everything ready for him. I've been cleaning, again, and marking places he needs to touch-up. 

I started this post last Thursday but didn't get back to it until today. The painter did not show up on Friday and didn't show up again today. The flooring guy did not show up Thursday or Friday but did make it by today and said it would be about two months before he can get back to replace the floor. We will go ahead and move in and then have to move the dining room furniture out for the repair.

So, we're down to the finishing touches: more cabinet knobs, towel bars, shelves, cabinet door/drawer adjustments (tomorrow), final paint touch up, etc. I think the only remaining BIG things are installation of the shower doors and water softener, but I'm probably forgetting something.

Whew! What a Day!

The plan for today was to get the backsplashes and upstairs countertop tile done. Before Kim even finished his coffee, the plumbers (who were scheduled for tomorrow) showed up. They had a job cancellation so decided to start on ours a day early. Only problem is, we weren't ready for them so it was crazy wild trying to stay ahead of them all day. Then, surprise, surprise, the countertop guys showed up with the laundry room countertops. They had installed the bathroom tops yesterday but didn't have the laundry room formica ready. Then the tile guy got here followed by a contractor to give us a bid on installing shower doors. All of this before noon.

bunk room

bunk room steps

and we didn't have quite enough wood to finish - you can see we need about two more pieces

sewing room

This picture is of the mess the painters left behind. Along the top is duck tape residue that took goo gone and acetone and a LOT of elbow grease to remove. There's also a long drip of paint in the corner.

master bath countertop

other master bath vanity

installing countertops in the laundry room

laundry room sink

clothes folding area 

close-up of the formica and metal trim

Kim is working on an old metal piece that goes over the cooktop

installing the backsplash in the kitchen

With the exception of a hand full of full sheets, he had to place each stone individually 

the old metal piece in place

full wall is done

We have one toilet installed and had to make a mad dash to town for the other two after everyone left tonight

is it going to work???

and we ended the day with running water - yea!!!

Tomorrow the flooring/tile guy finishes up and the plumber should too.