Looking forward and looking behind.

So we've been in the house a little over a month.  I've found some rugs but I'm looking for more.  Still working on the 2 gallery walls and still looking for the sideboard to go under the Longhorn picture.  It is a process.

I did buy the churchpew and love it so much.  Looks perfect.  I'm currently working on 2 needlepoint pillows for it but if you've ever done needlepoint it doesnt go fast and then you have to make a pillow out of it.  

There was always gonna be a carport and we finished that up just a couple of days ago.  Now we are working on the lighting for it.

Big enough for both ATV's and Bob's truck and my 4-Runner.  With wood storage and a gardening/BBQ storage area as well.  We also took the cattleguard from the second entrance and put it in the driveway to the house.  There will be a yard fence to protect the house/AC Units and porches from the cows.  But that wont start until pipe prices come down.  

Looking back at this whole process is disappointing in some aspects and wonderful in others.  

We set out to have someone hand us the keys when it was done albeit with our picking out fixtures, tile, paint, texture etc.  But we realized about 8 months in that that wasnt going to happen.  We struggled with firing our General Contractor many, many times and finally did toward the end when we found out that he wasnt paying or was way behind in paying them.  It became a perfect excuse to let him go without completely burning that bridge.  You have to choose your battles.  We believed him when the timeline in the beginning was 4 to 6 months but it ended up taking over a year and a half.  We built our other home by being our own General Contractor in just a little bit longer time frame so what did we save in the end because we ended up doing so much of the work ourselves?  We will not be doing this again mostly because we have found our forever home for however long we have left on this earthly plane but if we had to do this again we should have just become our own General Contractor again.  I'm pretty sure we have enough contacts to be able to make informed decisions about sub contractors and their work.  

We met some outstanding workers and made some new friends and we are extremely happy with how our drawings became the house we are living in.  

If I had any advice to lend to anyone reading this blog....I'd tell you to really give your General Contractor a microscopic look over.  Speak to present clients and not just past ones.  And if you dont know anything about building a house or any of the systems ( plumbing, electrical etc) then DO NOT use anyone other than a large home builder because they have it all down to a science.  

Thank you dear readers for coming on this journey with me.  I'm looking forward to getting the front steps in place, gravel for the driveway and under the carport.  I'm looking forward to planting a garden and hosting family get- togethers once again.  Peace

Done at last!!

The last pieces of the puzzle came together on Thursday and Friday of this last week.  The cabinet makers had our custom panels ready to install for the fridge and Fridge/freezer drawers.  That was Thursday and Friday morning the mirror and glass people called and asked if we would be around so they could install glass and mirrors.  I cannot tell you just how happy I was to get these last 2 things checked off the list. 

Of course we still have a few things to hang on the walls and I'm working on 2 different photo gallery collections.  One for the guest bathroom that will go over the tub and the second group of photos will hang over the antique courting couch in our bedroom.  But I need to have photos printed and I need to find frames and figure out sizes for all that so its gonna be a process.

At long last we finally found a nightstand for Bob.  In our old home Bob's nightstand was actually a kitchen cabinet set that was built for our kitchen but wasnt the correct size.  We kept it and actually inserted it in the wall upstairs next to his side of the bed.  It worked perfectly for all his "stuff" and the gun he keeps in case theres something that would need that type of attention.  I hated everything I shopped for and it was all too expensive for what you were getting.  In this area we have a plethora of "antique" shops and I would just know when I found what would be perfect.  And yesterday we found it. 

Its oak which matches his dresser and mine and it was in great shape and it was only $60.00.  A bargain for sure.  

We are on the hunt now for a church pew for this wall.

I think a church pew would be perfect and I might have found one at the price I want to pay.  I'm waiting for the woman to call me back to let me know how long it is.  She said 10 ft but that would be too long for this.  8ft would be maximum and 6 would be the minimum I would even consider.  This pew is not close to me so I want to find out as much as possible before I make a road trip.  Then we just need another piece to go on this wall.

I'm thinking something like an antique sideboard and Bob thinks the same.  It's one of those "I'll know it when I see it" pieces and this is a marathon and not a sprint.  

I'm heading out this week to look and hopefully purchase rugs.  We need a big one in the living area, I need 3 small rugs for inside each interior/exterior doors, I need heavy duty mats right outside the front and back doors and bathroom rugs as well as bedroom rugs.  It's all a process and because there is nothing close, it requires a trip into Georgetown, Cedar Park and probably even Round Rock.  But hopefully not Austin proper.  I wont be driving but Austin gives me the willys.  Too many people, too much traffic, too much of everything!!

Heres a picture of our custom panels.  First up is the fridge and then the Fridge/Freezer drawers.

The color difference is because they haven't a finish on them.  The cabinet people were supposed to do it but I'm thinking they forgot.  I contacted our paint guy and he said he'd do them for free if he could come out and hunt arrow heads.  Heck yes, come out all you want!  He actually found 2 bird points right in front of the house.  A bird point is a very small arrowhead...used to shoot birds.  

 So essentially we are done.  Feels good to have space again, feels good to sleep at a comfortable temperature and feels good to cook like I'm used to cooking. 

I'll probably do one last blogspot on looking back and lessons learned and pictures or maybe a video but we've reached the end of the trail my friends.  

Are we there yet?

Yes, we are there but there are still things left to do.  After getting ghosted by the 2 guys who said they'd come back and finish out the electrical we decided to just do it ourselves.  On one hand it will save us some money but on the other hand I'm angry that 2 guys who we treated much better than they deserved ended up blowing us off.  3 weeks ago one of them came to me and said they would be happy to finish up.  We'd already let Mr Muse go and even though they worked for him they would come finish up but it would have to be on the weekend.  That was just fine and we would pay them a fair wage.  1 weekend passes and another weekend passes and no word from either of them.  So I sent a text asking if they would be coming this weekend.

The text I get back says maybe on Sunday as he has a funeral on Saturday morning.  So I texted back, please be sure and let me know ASAP if you will be coming on Sunday.  Yes of course is what I got back.  I told Bob on Thursday that I wasnt going to hear from either of them so we might as well do it ourselves.  And so we hooked up the water heater in the master bathroom.  The other water heater required 2 large wires and they only ran 1.  We bought the extra wire but after thinking about it we decided that we could just buy another water heater the same size as what's in the master bath and it would service everything it needed to no sweat.  So that's what we did.  I texted the electrician on Sunday morning ( I'd never heard from him) and said we figured everything out and didnt need him.  Thanks.  And I got what I would consider a very snarky reply back.  The last item for the electrician was putting up the lights for the vanity in the master.  They didnt put them up till now because they wanted to center them over the sinks.  Wires were run and coiled up behind the sheetrock.  We have pictures of where they were so we are hoping that we can find them and mount the lights.  

Custom panels should be done for the fridge and freezer any day now and the mirrors and glass for upper cabinets are now 3 weeks overdue but that hasnt stopped us from moving in.  Besides I could not spend another night with my back issues on our old bed.  It should have been replaced almost a year ago and we did buy a new bed for the house.  

UPDATE:  We found the old wires left in the sheetrock ( thank goodness for lots of pictures) and the lights are now hooked up.  All that's left is the custom panels for the fridge and fridge/freezer and they will be installed in 2 weeks.  Still no word on the mirrors and glass for cabinets that has me scratching my head.  Hopefully this next week.

We are moved in and spending time trying to figure out what to do next.  The yard will probably be the next item on the list.  NO GRASS will be planted.  Just like the old place it will be mostly native plants and a few cacti and yuccas.  The tractor has the new hydraulic lines that Bob installed so we can use the grappler hook for dragging brush piles away from the house and onto the burn pile.  We were able to save a bunch of the left over rock to build curbs that will more or less keep the yard dirt where it belongs and we can use the Tractor to place those pieces.  We've also decided that we need a couple of large flat rock to build steps leading from the parking area ( in front ) up to the front door.  We will take a day trip into San Saba for that and puck them out ourselves.  Right now we have other things to attend to.  My 4 Runner has a light on the dash telling me my anti sway and anti lock breaks arent working.  We ate pretty sure it's a glitch but need to have it checked out and Bob's Dodge truck needs new break shoes.  No rest for the weary!

Crawling to the finish line

So last week the mirror and glass guy was supposed to be here to install the mirrors in the bathrooms and the glass in the upper cabinets.  As luck would have it his little girl got sick and they had to take her to the hospital and they do not know what is wrong.  This is a small local company and apparently they have 1 installer.  I am really sorry that his child is ill and I cannot imagine how he feels, but 1 installer?  Come on.....

The company had no idea when he was gonna be back so I'm hoping they have a plan B.  Of course we can move in without mirrors and glass in the cabinets but sure would be nice to have them especially when we WERE supposed to have them.

All the plumbing is finished but it wasnt as easy as it was supposed to be.  And here is the reason why....

Most sinks are made with an "overflow" hole.  And this "overflow" is a separate section of the sink and goes into another compartment in the drain.  My sinks do not have an " overflow" hole and therefore do not need a drain with an "overflow" portion on it, if it had that then youd have water leaking out of the drain all the time.  I did not realize when I bought my faucet sets that all the drains had the "overflow" section.  Took a while to figure out what was going on but we did and ended up having to order 4 new drains.  All done, all installed.  Everything good on that front.

The cabinet makers were back to the measure the fridge and freezer for their custom panels.  It was much easier with them in place to see how they related to the other cabinets. So they are working on them now.

I told you before we have a little electrical work that needs to be finished so Bob and I decided to tackle a couple of the projects ourselves because we have time and it will save maybe an hour or 2 less if the electrician ever gets here.  

So we installed a "puck" light.

I dont know why they didnt install it when they were installing the others but they didnt and these new LED's go in really easily.  

We also decided to install the undercounter lighting.  And instead of the whole fixture thing we went with a LED light strip.

This is what it looks like.  You can hook several of them together to get a long line of light.  It does have to have a power source but we had that covered with the plug for the microwave and the other side has the plug for the fridge.  Lines are small and can be easily hidden and the light they give off is so even and bright.  I'm super happy with how it turned out.

This is with the room lights on.

This is with the room lights off.

Super happy with this project and another item we can check off the list.  All that's left now is to get the electrician here to finish hooking up the water heater in the master bathroom.  Add another 240 volt line to the other water heater and hook it up and then put in the 2 over the sink lights in the master bathroom.  I should mention here that the electrician who is coming is someone who has worked here when Ronnie was in charge and he still works for Ronnie so I can only get him on the weekends.  Hopefully this weekend.  Then once the panels get installed on the fridge and freezer there is nothing to hold us back from turning those suckers on and completely moving in.  We can live without mirrors and glass in the cabinets for now but I'm gonna call Monday to see where they are and if we have any hope of installation soon.  Like I said....crawling...

Official Countdown begins

Well we finally got the signed Unconditional Release of Lein back from Ronnie.  Although we didn't have a lein on this place since we were doing it in cash, it's just a safety precaution in case he happens to get vindictive.  You never know.  It really would only affect us if we were to sell the place which we dont intend on ever doing but that lein might cause who ever we leave the ranch to issues if they should decide to sell.  I hope it stays in the family for a very long time and my deepest wish is that Christine and Justin return to Texas one day and live here.  Rumor around town is that hes gonna file bankruptcy,  dont know which chapter yet.  He got himself into hot water by taking on far too many projects, not enough hired hands to complete the work, too much partying and a lawsuit from another person who's having a home built by him.  I've heard nightmares about the place.  

The granite guys were back to install the backsplashes in the bathrooms.  We can't finish installing the fixtures until the drains arrive.  Because our sinks are thin, made out of copper and have no overflow we cannot use the drains that came with the faucet sets.  We had to order special drains with no overflow....who knew.  I guess this is stuff they teach you in plumbing school.  And I'm guessing this is something new because we had a thin metal sink in the previous home and there were no issues with the drain.  But that was almost 30 years ago so things have changed.  

The painting should be finished today along with the texturing and I'm hoping that they get started on the floors.  We were hoping to move the washer and dryer into the mud room and maybe get at least 1 spare bedroom situated.  If not we will start figuring out the shelf situation in the master closet.  We were given a bunch of ClosetMaid wire shelving and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.  Of course we didnt get off completely scott free, there were still brackets and supports and rods and holders that added up to over $700 but this gives us the flexibility to change it up if our needs change.  It's a project I am excited to start on. 

The electrician is coming by tomorrow to look at what needs to be done and also the mirror and glass people are coming by to measure my upper cabinets for glass and mirrors for the bathrooms.  

The big thing is getting that second coat of sealer on the floors.  Once that's done there is nothing to stop us from moving in furniture etc.  We've already begun to move stuff...I'm getting the big pantry stocked and figuring on what pots and pans I can move now.  It's really becoming exciting but it's also happening at the hottest time of the year...we have 100+ degree days behind us and ahead of us so doing things very early and very late in the day.  

Water Wall

The mud room is where we have the water wall.  So the mud room has washer, dryer, whole house filter, water conditioner, tankless heater for the water and a utility sink.  It will also eventually have a standing freezer and a spare refrigerator but right now we are just dealing with what we have.  

This was another room that 2as giving us fits because of the way the plumber brought stuff in and connected it. A hodge podge mess for sure.  It's like nobody thinks about how they bring stuff in and how the people who own the home will deal with it.  We try very hard to not have to rely on someone else to fix stuff.  But we also know when we are out of our league and to ask for help.

I didn't take a before picture and should have because it was a real mess but we took it all apart and reworked everything so that it makes sense and we can cut off individual sections so if we have to work on something you dont have to shut the entire system down.

Water from the cistern comes into the house at 1.  Its then sent through the whole house filter.

From the whole house filter is gies into the water conditioner and then if hot water is required it goes into the tankless heater. Once it leaves the heater it goes into washing machine, guest bath sinks, bathtub, shower or utility sink.

Cold water is fed to the other side of the house at step 5.  There is another tankless heater in the linen closet in the master bath.  It will feed the dishwasher, kitchen sink, master vanity sinks and shower.  It just made more sense to have 2 heaters because of the long run the hot water would have to make.  

Some may be asking why we have a water conditioner ( softener) .  The reason behind that is the tankless heats up the water very quickly.  This requires a lot of heat.  We have very, very hard water with lots of calcium and minerals.  When this water is heated up quickly it developes calcium scale and that will ruin the heating elements in the tankless.  An expensive mistake we learned about 28 years ago with our first tankless.  Besides having softened water saves your clothes in that you dont have to use the amount of soap that you would normally have to in hard water.  Saves your diswasher, saves your washer, saves your plumbing fixtures.  It's just a great thing to have all the way around.  

Granite part duex

Granite is here, granite is here!!

Those are our pieces!

And heres what it looks like.

On the agenda this weekend is to try and finish up the plumbing so we can get most stuff hooked up.

Guest bath.  The guys forgot the backsplashes for both bathrooms so they will have to come back. 

If you notice we have what is referred to as a " vessel" sink in the master bath.  It sits on top of the counter.  For a vessel sink you also need a vessel fixture.  Ah ha....nobody tells you that.  So even though I had these fixtures that had a high neck, they apparently weren't high enough so I had to order something else.  I was able to find Kingston Brass stuff that matched but I didnt have a lot of selection unless I wanted to go higher in price.  I already have a bath fixture that's going on Ebay or Craigslist so I'll just add to the ever growing pile.

 Hers what I bought, vs heres what I had.

I think it will be just fine but I would have rather had what we picked out first.  Sometimes you just have to know when it's time to say Uncle.

Walking A Fine Line

I have an old Ipod Nano.  I love it.  Yes, it's old and outdated but it suits me just fine.  I also have a bluetooth speaker that I use with it sometimes and headphones.

I was gonna try and organize my cookbook collection this past long weekend and sometimes I think better with music and sometimes I just like the quiet.  

So I took my Nano, speaker and headphones down and got everything somewhat organized and I still have more to do but its shaping up so that I can find stuff pretty easily.  Anyway, it took all weekend and I just left everything there. 

Tuesday arrived (Monday was the 4th) and the woman who is doing the touchup painting arrived.  I went down to let her know that the water was disconnected to the inside ( we have our well guy coming to put in the water conditioner) but I put a bucket out by the faucet and she could use the toilet but shed have to get water and out it in the tank in order to flush it.  She did not speak much english but I was pretty sure she understood. 

So I go down after supper, she left about 3:30, and my Nano, speaker and headphones are not where I left them.  So I start to search the house, casually and then more thoroughly as I'm not finding them.  Maybe they are on the porch? Nope.  Oh, maybe Bob picked them up and put them in the back of the mule... not likely but I'll check...nope...in the vehicles...nope, back down to the house once again to slowly walk through and look in fridge, freezer, microwave, dishwasher, utility sink and both showers....nope, nope, nope.  So I had no choice but to send a text to her supervisor and ask him if maybe she thought they belonged to someone and so she took them.  He assured me that she had worked for them forc10 years was a great employee and could I be mistaken.  So I said, well I've looked everywhere and it's not here.  There were 2 people down at the house today, her and me.  That's it.  It didn't grow legs and just walk off.  He said hed send her a text and ask her about it.  

I heard nothing from him till the next morning and he said her story was she was picking it up for someone who had been fired earlier in the week.  " Eddie" itcwas supposed to be his.  Only problem is...."Eddie" was never here.  I will give her the benefit of the doubt that she did not know whether or not he had been here BUT I know that he hadn't been here, he knows he wasnt here and her supervisor knows he wasnt here.  So when she gave him my Ipod and speaker he knew that it wasnt his. 

The Ipod was returned on Wednesday but first some reason she couldn't get the speaker.  Her supervisor assured me that she would have it in Thursday but that didnt happen.  Apparently " Eddie" is avoiding her but her supervisor assured me I would have it Friday if he had to go and get it himself.  Which he ended up doing.  

The fine line you walk here is that you have 95% of the facts.  It was in the house.  It is yours.  Only 1 person could of taken it.  Why would you take something that they had not described to you in detail and if you'd looked at the playlist you'd have seen there was nothing that could be considered Tejano music, in fact you probably weren't even born when most of these songs came out.  Why would you take something that's mildly expensive and not ask the homeowner first?

You also want the person who's working in your house to do a good job, so you know shes taken it but you dont know why...its a real conundrum and so you walk this fine line and question yourself the whole time.

I think she was honestly trying to do a good deed for someone who was less than trustful.  The story to me is still a little sketchy but I have my stuff back and that's all I was after anyway.  I will however keep my eye on my stuff a little more closely now.  I'm glad we are at the end of this poll project and the few subs that are remaining we know very well.  

Just go away!

We had not gotten our release of Lein by Thursday  June 30 and that old familiar feeling of something is up kept nagging at me.  About 7:30 am..ish Friday a flurry of text messages came through.  This was unacceptable, he wasnt paying for appliances ( even though he told us he would), no ceiling fans, no lights etc.  Send me a revised bill and I will see what you owe me, send you a bill and when you pay me...I will sign the lein.  O.K. asshole, you want to get down to the nitty gritty, we can do that.

So I sent him an email that said hed been paid X amount.

We had paid, cabinets, paint, trim and granite.  So that left him X amount but he had not reimbursed us for anything yet and that bill taking 25% off the top for difference in quality ( pretty generous I think), left him 13K in arrears.  Even if we went 10K over budget he was still 3k in arrears.  But we would call it even and if this was not good enough then our next communication would be through our lawyer.  Crickets since then but it's a holiday weekend and I'm hoping we get signed paperwork in the mail on Tuesday.  Then I can let out a sigh of relief.  

Apparently this happens all the time and rarely is the GC in the right.  All I know is that we entered into this in good faith and he has constantly let us down.  Very little communication and very little transparency.  I cant tell you how many times I requested a budget sheet to know what I could spend on what and then just gave up.  If we went over..so be it but I always shop with a budget in mind and also bought early, long before the price increases began.  Never was there a phone call, text or email that said prices were increasing quickly and price he quoted he could not sustain.  He can make all the excuses he wants but he wouldn't be in this position if hed done the house in the time frame he quoted us or at least in 12 months at the most but we are at a year and 6 months...very poor planning and a very sorry business model.  

Granite

We picked out our granite for the kitchen a while ago.

This is what we picked out.  It's called Patagonia.   Loved it immediately and we were told it was Granite.  It is listed as granite on the website..still is as a matter of fact.  

We met with Granite by Design ( the fabricators) last week when the slabs arrived in Kempner.

Apparently this is not granite it is Quartsite.  Which can create an awful lot of issues with cracking, flaking etc.  We were crestfallen because we were so happy about our selection and had seen nothing similar..

It was a real statement piece.  But the owner of Granite by Design said we would not be happy with the final product.  Hed already found cracks in it and areas where they had epoxied it together and said he could not guarentee that it would hold up.  We were certainly disappointed but know when to say when.  He suggested we look around the yard to see if there was anything that would strike our fancy but we had also planned to go into Austin to look once again at Midwest Tile cause they have a lot of different slabs.

As luck would have it, we found something called Deep Burgundy.  The colors are very close to what the sandstone is on the hearth and in the masterbath.  This picture does not do it justice as it's much deeper in color and richer looking.

We are on schedule for next Friday, July 8th for install.  Although hoping someone isnt ready who's already on the schedule and its sooner.  

Moving in Appliances and a surprise

Bob and I decided to start moving in some of the heavier appliances because most of them are in the kitchen and once installed they really wont be in anyone's way.

We also had help from our good friend Keith and his son Tyler.  Both bodybuilders so that was a bonus.

Got the stove in place.

Sub- Zero Fridge/Freezer drawers

Fridge and dishwasher.  That is the heaviest stuff and it's now all in place.  The fridge and the drawers get panels that match the cabinetry but our cabinet makers are on a much needed and well deserved holiday.  The panels can wait until they come back.  

Bob and I also decided to go ahead and put the handles on everything so we did.

Here's a close up of the handle.

Heres a picture of the jig that Bob made so that the handles are in the same place on every cabinet.

And heres what it looks like.

Now for the surprise....

Last week the painters were supposed to be back to clear coat front and back doors and the side door gets painted 2 different colors.  1 color on the inside and another color on the outside.

They were not there on Tuesday and they were not there on Wednesday and so I was curious but they have always been reliable so figured that they had something pressing.  Bob had to go into town to the Hardwear store and just happened to run into Corry who is the supervisor over the painters and Bob naturally asked him when they would be back.  Corry replied, " in a month maybe...if we get paid".  "You haven't been paid?"  "No", Corry replied.  Bob then asked if we could pay them to keep the job going.  And Corry said he would have to talk with his boss.  So long story short...our GC who had just gotten a draw for 12K from us to pay the painters had not paid them or only partially paid them.  This is not a good thing...this can be classified as a very bad thing.  So Bob told me and we sat down with our Excell file where I keep all the expenses and draws and figured out how much we'd paid Ronnie.  How much we had paid toward stuff and were to be reimbursed for and what was left and what work was left to be done.  And Ronnie didnt have enough left to finish the work he had left to do and even though we are very close to finally finishing we didnt see him working any harder to make that happen.  So Bob called him and essentially said....you've had this much in draws, we've paid out this much minus 25% for difference in quality and you have this much left to finish the job.  Can you do it?  We are offering you a win- win situation here.  This gets a house off your plate, and more debt and we finish it out.  Bob said to think about it and get back to us.  But he answered right away saying hed sign an unconditional release of Lein.  I got busy and called all the subs and found out who had been paid and who had not and paid them and have signed receipts with PAID IN FULL, written on them.  And the subs have been wonderful saying that they would make sure we are well taken care of.  Cookies and brownies and care for their well being and making sure they know how much we appreciate them goes a long way.  Next morning there was a flurry of text messages from Ronnie about stuff he was not paying for but we still had an Ace in the hole in case he tried to pull that one and it was to hit him with a bill of our own...

For example: Welder used as a generator for 2 months, several tanks of gas, weld plates for house and porches, consultant fee on how to attach the uprights to the weld plates since the wood framing was done first.  Labor for 5 -  8 hr days @ $55 an hr on installing the wood burning stove pipe and stove pipe materials, same with range hood, the list goes on and on.  But I felt like if I answered any of those text messages that he would gain the upper hand and so for once in my life I remained quiet and that strategy worked because he finally acquiesced and said if we paid the painters, the trim and the granite, we would be about even and he'd sign.  We printed up the form, stuck it in an envelope along with a SASE back to us so hed have no excuses on not getting it back.  We feel like a great weight has been taken off our backs.  Theres not much left to do and  we have all the proper people in place to do it.  A couple of them still work for Ronnie and they will have to do the work on the weekend but if they are making a fair wage then I doubt that there will be any issues.  Granite is supposed to be here next week. 

Cabinets and Doors

The cabinets all got installed and the paint crew got busy on clear coating them along with the doors.

These are just some of the doors after the first coat of clear varnish.  You can see how it made them just the tiniest bit darker. But it also brought out the beauty of the grain of the Knotty Alder.

They also did all the cabinets as well and the shelves in the pantry.

Very happy with the job that they did and we are just one step closer to being done.

Doors are all finished and stacked up waiting to be reinstalled.

Heres a picture of a finished door so you can see a bit of a sheen on it but it's very low.  

Here's the door installed with the Hardwear.  Bob and I got tired of waiting for someone to do it so we did.  

More Cabinet Stuff and Range Hood

I'm pretty sure this will be boring for many of you but I believe that the heart and soul of the home is the kitchen.  At least for me it is.  It's where I best express my love for my family in the food that I make and prepare for them.  It's the room I spend the most time in and the room I am most comfortable in.  That being said, the cabinets cannot be just a mishmash of whatever fits goes.  It has to make sense and it has to be in the right place for the task I am performing.  So like with the old house I took my time designing my kitchen.  I needed it to make sense to me and the way I go about working in it.

Now most professional designers will talk about the work triangle, and that is sink, range and refrigerator.  For me to have the smallest triangle doesnt make any sense.  I want the stove and range as far away from each other as I can get them and the sink in between the 2.  I loved, loved, loved my old kitchen.  It was perfect for me and a LOT of food came out of that kitchen and I fed literally hundreds of people in the 20 years we were there. 

So the old kitchen was an "L" shaped affair and this one is similar but a bit abbreviated in that it's got a shorter upright.  But I also have a whole room that is a pantry and a much larger island so I have plenty of counter space.  

So this is my old kitchen set up.  I had to take this from the AirBnB page cause I couldn't put my hands on a picture that I had.  But you get the idea of a backward kind of L.

Hers the new kitchen.  On your left in the empty space between the 2 cabinets will be my range.  Sink is under the window and fridge goes in that big hole to the right of those 2 upper cabinets.  Island is front and center.  

Heres a picture with the range hood now in place.  

The cabinet to the left of the range is for cookie sheets, cupcake tins and cake rounds. 

Here is a picture from the top.  And this "drawer" slides out.  

The side of the island that faces out toward the dining and living area will hold most, if not all of my cookbooks.  Overflow can go into pantry if necessary.

On the other side is two cabinets with 4 sliders in each.  One cabinet will hold all the baking supplies, measuring cups, spoons, specialty tools, rolling pins and parchment paper.  Other cabinet will hold nothing but cooking items and the lower levels will hold casserole dishes, pyrex bakers and my 2 cutting boards by Boos.  

Next to that will be my undercounter fridge and freezer drawers by Sub-Zero.  Go big or go home!

Directly across from that is my stand up pantry with various adjustable shelves and several drawers.  This will hold Flour, sugars, spices and herbs, salts, peppers, oatmeal and cream of wheat.  The drawers will hold some pots and pans and their lids.  To the right of the dishwasher are drawers that will have silverware, napkins dish towels and probably a drawer devoted to wax paper, aluminum foil and plastic wrap.  Next to the stove to the right will be all the cast iron skillets and stock pots and the cubbie in the corner will probably house the  food processor, my second kitchenaid stand mixer, blender and whatever else I deem necessary.

Upper cabinets will be dishes, everyday and good China.  Above the cubbie for the microwave, to the right of the stove is for the mishmash of plates and bowls that can be used in the microwave.  My everyday dishes I received after my mom.passed.  Its Wedgewood and made long before microwaves were an everybody has one appliance.  I may change my mind about some of these things once I start working and find somethings make more sense over here rather than over there but for right now I think this is the plan going forward.

So something else that we found out much later than should of happened was that we were going to be responsible for putting up the range hood.  Once again, thank you Ronnie!  Normally this is not that complicated of a job BUT because our home is so tight ventilation wise and we use a wood burning stove for heat we have to have something called return air.  That is air that can naturally enter the house, not sucked in.  So in order to do this without making yet another hole in the side is to share the same space that the vent hood uses.  So you have a pipe within a pipe.  The inner pipe is the exhaust from the range hood and the outer pipe is where the return air enters the house.  

Heres a picture of bob installing the inner pipe that carries the exhaust from the range to the outside.  

This is up in the attic where you see that big shiny smooth sided pipe that has the smaller exhaust pipe inside  it.

And there you see it where it hits the wall.  

And that dryer looking vent thing is where it vents to the outside.  Another job we were both dreading finished.  

Granite people are supposed to be here this week measuring.  Our well man Charlie should be here midweek to install water conditioner and the paint crew will finish up with the little bit that they have left to do.  

Cabinets!!

My cabinets arrived today!!

They are made out of knotty alder and are shaker style.  Very similar to my old ones except that my old ones were knotty pine.

Two above are just different angles of the kitchen.

This drawer will hold cookie sheets, half sheet pans, cupcake tins and cooling racks. I'm taking the picture from above.

This is stand up kitchen pantry for things like spices, herbs, seasonings and the like.  I have adjustable shelves above and below those 2 slide out drawers.

Guest bath vanity.

Master bath vanity...kind of a his and hers side.  

And mud room cubbie for laundry detergent, cleaning supplies and what ever else I deam needs to go in there.  

That was all yesterday.  They finish the install today.

Someone is down there now prepping for staining the door frames and spraying the cabinets and pantry shelves.  So we could have someone potentially next week be doing all that.  Which would be great.  

Plumbers were here yesterday and they fixed the leak in the master shower.  I should have checked last night by turning the water back on but I didnt.  They should be here today but of course they arent.  I'm not surprised.  Our attic doors are still not here so that's worrying but we arent scheduled for measuring the cabinets for granite until the week of the 13th so we still have time.