It's been a few weeks since we officially moved into the new house and it's finally feeling like we're settling into a routine.
We only have a few boxes of "random stuff" to unpack and a little more painting to do. Stuart finished up the office today, so all we have left is the upstairs play room, family room and maybe the basement. While we'd love to get that all done soon, I have admittedly lost my drive for painting. I would be happy if I didn't have to pick up a paint brush or roller for months.
The biggest news is that we got the "old" house officially on the market this week. After lots of hard work and late nights, we got all the holes filled, paint touched up, cabinets wiped down and floors washed and polished. We've already had a handful of showings and have our first open house tomorrow. While the market certainly isn't where we would like it to be, we are still hopeful that we'll be able to sell the house at a price we can live with. Definitely a different experience from selling our house in Los Angeles 5 years ago. Ahhhh...I still remember the days of the southern California housing bubble fondly.
So while our "to do" list remains fairly long, the pace has slowed a bit. The next challenge on our horizon is what to do with what will soon become the mud field known as our yard. Maybe it's spring fever, but I actually look forward to figuring out the landscaping and to getting my hands dirty with planting.
Happy spring everyone! We look forward to having everyone over for a visit soon.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Remembering why
We've officially made it through our first week in the new house. The adventure certainly continues as we finish moving out of the "old" house and getting it ready to put on the market. I can honestly say that the thought of more painting makes me sick, but alas, ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do to get a house sold these days.
On the more positive side, I've had some wonderful moments over the last week that remind me why we did this. Just some of the highlights...
Watching the sun rise through the trees across the river valley from our bedroom windows. (We don't have shades yet, so morning tends to come early in our house.)
Woke up Saturday morning to find 6 deer lounging in our backyard. They just sat there, relaxing and munching for a few hours while our family ate our breakfast and started the day. I wonder if seeing deer in our backyard in St. Paul will ever get old.
Enjoying a week without TV. All these beautiful trees spoiled our plans for DirecTV, so now we're on to cable...but without a cable line to the house. While I've missed watching any of the Olympics, it's been really nice to not have the kids...or me...get sucked into vegetating in front of the tube.
Seeing the special lighting we installed wash over the stone wall and redwoods walls in the hallway at night. I wish I had a better camera that could capture the look, but here's a try...
Well, that's enough blogging for one night. Back in the routine of getting a little work done before heading off to bed. Good night one and all!
On the more positive side, I've had some wonderful moments over the last week that remind me why we did this. Just some of the highlights...
Watching the sun rise through the trees across the river valley from our bedroom windows. (We don't have shades yet, so morning tends to come early in our house.)
Woke up Saturday morning to find 6 deer lounging in our backyard. They just sat there, relaxing and munching for a few hours while our family ate our breakfast and started the day. I wonder if seeing deer in our backyard in St. Paul will ever get old.
Enjoying a week without TV. All these beautiful trees spoiled our plans for DirecTV, so now we're on to cable...but without a cable line to the house. While I've missed watching any of the Olympics, it's been really nice to not have the kids...or me...get sucked into vegetating in front of the tube.
Seeing the special lighting we installed wash over the stone wall and redwoods walls in the hallway at night. I wish I had a better camera that could capture the look, but here's a try...
Well, that's enough blogging for one night. Back in the routine of getting a little work done before heading off to bed. Good night one and all!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Move
It's the morning after and I'm not quite sure what to think. I'm sitting here in the new house, watching the sunrise, surrounded by nature. It's just so different than any morning I've had for a long time. But, I'm also experiencing exactly why we bought this house.
I suppose I should back up a sec. It's Sunday morning and we spent our first night in the new house last night. Yes, we finally made the move yesterday. And what a full day it was.
It started out with the movers coming around 9am. We hired a company called Localmotion to do the move. They'd been recommended by our realtor and we were only asking them to move the big stuff. They estimated a three hour job (with three guys and one truck) and ended up being almost spot on. I have to say that these guys were great. Not only did they do a good job (no dings or damage), they were personable and funny and polite.
During that time, we started to do our thing. We continued our packing. While at the new house, we started to paint the kitchen and we just continued with all this until the movers were done.
A
After some lunch back at the old house… yes, I used that term for the first time yesterday. I had to! Since we're not living there any more, it's now the "old house".
Anyway, after lunch Ann and I came back here to paint, while Jake and Cheryl took on moving. My mom also came over to help paint as well. I've said it before and I'll say it again that my fam has been a huge help with the painting. Lauren was here three days in a row and then again this past Thursday night. My dad came Th and F and did a great job with that hallway. And my mom came and took the task no one wanted, which was painting the music room…and then she stayed while we had dinner and painted the kitchen! Wow, awesome!
While that was happening, I painted the guest bath, repainted the loft ceiling and the front closet…which I didn't even know needed to be painted. Ann and her parents concentrated on moving and setting things up for the kids. I think they got through a full load of the Tahoe Jake rented, which ends up being a pretty big load.
Six o'clock came and we headed out for a dinner. We did D'Amicos and enjoyed our bottomless glasses of wine. It was nice to sit back for a while, but the work also finally caught up with everyone. Afterward, I went back to the old house to finish packing up the kitchen, while the rest came back here to get the kids and themselves to bed.
I have to admit that I didn't just pack the kitchen. I had to rock out a big too. With an empty house, I turned the stereo up a bit while packing and then plugged the guitar in, turned the amp up and jammed for a while. That felt good although I could tell I haven't been playing much as my fingers turned to mush pretty quick. More practice, I guess!
And that leads me back to here. It's the morning after. It's really, really bright in this house w/out shades. But, the kids seem to be surviving without their morning TV. Evan woke up a couple times, but was good after 2am. I think he had the hardest time adjusting. Everything was just too new and he was looking for some comforts after a long busy day.
I think I might head out and go for a run. Got to get some exercise in before getting to work.
I suppose I should back up a sec. It's Sunday morning and we spent our first night in the new house last night. Yes, we finally made the move yesterday. And what a full day it was.
It started out with the movers coming around 9am. We hired a company called Localmotion to do the move. They'd been recommended by our realtor and we were only asking them to move the big stuff. They estimated a three hour job (with three guys and one truck) and ended up being almost spot on. I have to say that these guys were great. Not only did they do a good job (no dings or damage), they were personable and funny and polite.
During that time, we started to do our thing. We continued our packing. While at the new house, we started to paint the kitchen and we just continued with all this until the movers were done.
A
After some lunch back at the old house… yes, I used that term for the first time yesterday. I had to! Since we're not living there any more, it's now the "old house".
Anyway, after lunch Ann and I came back here to paint, while Jake and Cheryl took on moving. My mom also came over to help paint as well. I've said it before and I'll say it again that my fam has been a huge help with the painting. Lauren was here three days in a row and then again this past Thursday night. My dad came Th and F and did a great job with that hallway. And my mom came and took the task no one wanted, which was painting the music room…and then she stayed while we had dinner and painted the kitchen! Wow, awesome!
While that was happening, I painted the guest bath, repainted the loft ceiling and the front closet…which I didn't even know needed to be painted. Ann and her parents concentrated on moving and setting things up for the kids. I think they got through a full load of the Tahoe Jake rented, which ends up being a pretty big load.
Six o'clock came and we headed out for a dinner. We did D'Amicos and enjoyed our bottomless glasses of wine. It was nice to sit back for a while, but the work also finally caught up with everyone. Afterward, I went back to the old house to finish packing up the kitchen, while the rest came back here to get the kids and themselves to bed.
I have to admit that I didn't just pack the kitchen. I had to rock out a big too. With an empty house, I turned the stereo up a bit while packing and then plugged the guitar in, turned the amp up and jammed for a while. That felt good although I could tell I haven't been playing much as my fingers turned to mush pretty quick. More practice, I guess!
And that leads me back to here. It's the morning after. It's really, really bright in this house w/out shades. But, the kids seem to be surviving without their morning TV. Evan woke up a couple times, but was good after 2am. I think he had the hardest time adjusting. Everything was just too new and he was looking for some comforts after a long busy day.
I think I might head out and go for a run. Got to get some exercise in before getting to work.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Painting the kids rooms and kitchen coordinating
It's already been a busy week and it's only Wed night. I've probably said that before, but this time it's a little different. With no subs running about the place, it's been the Johnson team in action.
It started out this past weekend with closet building, painting and some moving. And it's only continued. Lauren not only started to paint the striping in Evan's room on Sunday, but she came over Mon and Tues night to finish. Thanks Steve! Actually, she's done a great job. These pics are only after two days of painting and so it's only gotten more detailed since then.
Btw and I could write a whole blog post on this, but wow is the price of "Green" paint expensive. To keep with our LEED certification, we're using Benjamin Moore Aura paint. It's low VOC and according to consumer reports is a high quality paint. But even after a contractors discount, it's like forty some dollars a gallon. gulp.... yuck.
We also finished up Cailin's room. Cailin helped, although it was guided help, picking out her colors. You can stand outside both kids doors and see both rooms at the same time and wow, all that color....
We've of course been moving stuff as well. I've taken loads over every day. Mostly it's been about getting stuff into the kitchen and trying to figure out where everything will go. In some ways, it's a bit of a shift. Instead of stuff in the kitchen, in the dining room and outside the back door, we've now got room for most everything to be simply in the kitchen.
I will say that I'm already regretting not having more pull out shelves in the lower cabinets. I'll see if I can fix that myself or maybe we'll have Joe the cabinet maker come back out.
Well, Ann's parents are here as of tonight and with Ann taking the next couple of days off, things are really going to start in earnest. Ann's at the house now painting... it's 11pm. Lots of moving tomorrow and Friday. The movers come on Saturday to move the big stuff and by Sunday we should be waking up in the new place. Wow....it'll be a long week, but exciting and probably stressful too.
It started out this past weekend with closet building, painting and some moving. And it's only continued. Lauren not only started to paint the striping in Evan's room on Sunday, but she came over Mon and Tues night to finish. Thanks Steve! Actually, she's done a great job. These pics are only after two days of painting and so it's only gotten more detailed since then.
Btw and I could write a whole blog post on this, but wow is the price of "Green" paint expensive. To keep with our LEED certification, we're using Benjamin Moore Aura paint. It's low VOC and according to consumer reports is a high quality paint. But even after a contractors discount, it's like forty some dollars a gallon. gulp.... yuck.
We also finished up Cailin's room. Cailin helped, although it was guided help, picking out her colors. You can stand outside both kids doors and see both rooms at the same time and wow, all that color....
We've of course been moving stuff as well. I've taken loads over every day. Mostly it's been about getting stuff into the kitchen and trying to figure out where everything will go. In some ways, it's a bit of a shift. Instead of stuff in the kitchen, in the dining room and outside the back door, we've now got room for most everything to be simply in the kitchen.
I will say that I'm already regretting not having more pull out shelves in the lower cabinets. I'll see if I can fix that myself or maybe we'll have Joe the cabinet maker come back out.
Well, Ann's parents are here as of tonight and with Ann taking the next couple of days off, things are really going to start in earnest. Ann's at the house now painting... it's 11pm. Lots of moving tomorrow and Friday. The movers come on Saturday to move the big stuff and by Sunday we should be waking up in the new place. Wow....it'll be a long week, but exciting and probably stressful too.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Music Room Doors
I have to say that I don't know what kind of mood to be in on these mysterious music room doors. I've finally got some pictures because our artist/fabricator/?? Mark started to put the doors in this past week. They look great and they're really going to be the show pieces we're hoping for. But, they're not done. I don't know... it's always "back at it tomorrow" type of thing. Well, who knows now. I mean it's not that big of a deal and it's only been a few days, but man, I wish we'd just get these done.
Here's where we're at.
I'll post more pics once these are done. Essentially, we've got two sliding doors, both of which are installed, and a fixed panel (in the third picture), which hasn't been installed yet.
Each panel is made up a combination of oil rubber Doug Fir (panels from the old house), frosted Plexiglass and Lumicor panels. I have to give a big shout out to Ryan, our architect for pulling together the design on these. We talked a lot about how to create an open room that would be inviting, but also incorporate something that could close the room off and dampen the noise. We considered drapes, but ultimately chose this sliding door design. Ann and I choose the specific Lumicor panel (silver spun) that we thought resembled guitar string running through the plexiglass. Ryan then incorporated the wood and plexiglass for a nice contrast and design where each panel is different, but the same.
Well, after many months, it's come together and it's nearly there. I'm hopeful it will be complete in the next couple days. We'll get some paint on the walls and the guitars hung (got the hangers ordered tonight) and we'll have a pretty kick-ass room.
Here's where we're at.
I'll post more pics once these are done. Essentially, we've got two sliding doors, both of which are installed, and a fixed panel (in the third picture), which hasn't been installed yet.
Each panel is made up a combination of oil rubber Doug Fir (panels from the old house), frosted Plexiglass and Lumicor panels. I have to give a big shout out to Ryan, our architect for pulling together the design on these. We talked a lot about how to create an open room that would be inviting, but also incorporate something that could close the room off and dampen the noise. We considered drapes, but ultimately chose this sliding door design. Ann and I choose the specific Lumicor panel (silver spun) that we thought resembled guitar string running through the plexiglass. Ryan then incorporated the wood and plexiglass for a nice contrast and design where each panel is different, but the same.
Well, after many months, it's come together and it's nearly there. I'm hopeful it will be complete in the next couple days. We'll get some paint on the walls and the guitars hung (got the hangers ordered tonight) and we'll have a pretty kick-ass room.
Starting to Move
It hasn't been mentioned before in this space, but we'll officially be moving this next weekend. We've got some movers coming on Saturday to move the big stuff. Yep, so this time next week, we'll have woken up in the new house. It really is amazing that after all this time and effort, its finally here. So long, but so quick.
I have to say that as much work as I see in front of us, it really is exciting. The house looks great and except for a few things left to do, it's basically done. Except for the big stuff (couches, beds, etc), we'll be moving everything else. Actually, it's already started. I made a run of about five boxes today and rather than just drop them in the appropriate rooms, I actually unloaded them into shelves. It was kitchen stuff and half the reason was to just start seeing how things might fit together before I just start shoving everything into shelves.
Speaking of shelves, my dad and I installed the master closet system this weekend. I have to say that even though I'd done two of these prior and kind of new what I was doing, it was a big help just from a time saving standpoint to have my dad lending an extra pair of hands. Well and frankly, he had some good ideas in some tough spots...i.e. how to mount against a wall with a pocket door.
He was also nice enough to haul over furniture (my old furniture!) from Hamel that will go into Evan's room.
We also got a big helping hand from my sister and mom today painting. Lauren took Evan's room where we're doing this cool racing type stripe with orange and blues. My mom and Ann took on Cailin's multi-color purple and green. So, slowly but surely, the painting is coming along.
I throw out a big thanks in advance to everyone who helps this week. I know we'll get more help from Lauren, my mom and dad. Cheryl and Jake arrive Wed for a week full of moving and I'm hopeful we'll get a few more helping hands.
So, here we go. One last crazy house week? Nah, there will be more.
I have to say that as much work as I see in front of us, it really is exciting. The house looks great and except for a few things left to do, it's basically done. Except for the big stuff (couches, beds, etc), we'll be moving everything else. Actually, it's already started. I made a run of about five boxes today and rather than just drop them in the appropriate rooms, I actually unloaded them into shelves. It was kitchen stuff and half the reason was to just start seeing how things might fit together before I just start shoving everything into shelves.
Speaking of shelves, my dad and I installed the master closet system this weekend. I have to say that even though I'd done two of these prior and kind of new what I was doing, it was a big help just from a time saving standpoint to have my dad lending an extra pair of hands. Well and frankly, he had some good ideas in some tough spots...i.e. how to mount against a wall with a pocket door.
He was also nice enough to haul over furniture (my old furniture!) from Hamel that will go into Evan's room.
We also got a big helping hand from my sister and mom today painting. Lauren took Evan's room where we're doing this cool racing type stripe with orange and blues. My mom and Ann took on Cailin's multi-color purple and green. So, slowly but surely, the painting is coming along.
I throw out a big thanks in advance to everyone who helps this week. I know we'll get more help from Lauren, my mom and dad. Cheryl and Jake arrive Wed for a week full of moving and I'm hopeful we'll get a few more helping hands.
So, here we go. One last crazy house week? Nah, there will be more.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Getting Closer: Countertop Installed, Punchlist and a New Table
We're really in the home stretch now. We've got all our permits finalized, so it's now a matter of punchlist items. The past few days have seen the electrician out making adjustments to switches that weren't set up right or hanging the kitchen pendants
or the plumber finishing up a few items like replacing a defective kitchen faucet or installing the laundry sink and faucet or our cabinetmaker finishing up some of his odds and ends such as installed pulls, adjusting doors or adding missing trim pieces.
Speaking of the laundry sink, we did finally get the laundry countertop installed on Friday. We went a with a gray/blueish marmoleum (can't recall the exact name) that would withstand the traffic of a laundry / mud room, but wouldn't carry the expense of granite. I couldn't get a great shot, but here's a couple views of the countertop portion of the room:
Last time I posted, I had just completed the closet system for Cailin's room. I had also ordered systems for Evan and the master closets. All 27 boxes showed up last Friday, which ended up being a lot of heavy lifting for a bunch of us. We needed to paint the master closet walls before installing there, so Ann took that task while I installed Evans closet. This install went a fair bit faster now that I new what I was doing. We'll see what the more complicated master closet holds this upcoming weekend.
Ann continued her painting into today so that we can get our doors installed in the music room. This has been the hardest thing to describe, but trust me when I say that these doors will be almost art piece like when they're done...hopefully. :)
Anyway, the guy is installing them tomorrow, so we needed to get some finished paint up on the wall where they were going in.
Last thing is that we had our first piece of furniture delivered today. We decided to buy a new dining table, since our existing one not only didn't fit aesthetically, but it's also grown a bit unstable over the years with it's post cracking a couple years back. We ended up choosing a Parson's style table with a white oak top and dark metal base. It actually looks pretty good up against the oak floor. We did find some chairs, but those are still a ways off.
or the plumber finishing up a few items like replacing a defective kitchen faucet or installing the laundry sink and faucet or our cabinetmaker finishing up some of his odds and ends such as installed pulls, adjusting doors or adding missing trim pieces.
Speaking of the laundry sink, we did finally get the laundry countertop installed on Friday. We went a with a gray/blueish marmoleum (can't recall the exact name) that would withstand the traffic of a laundry / mud room, but wouldn't carry the expense of granite. I couldn't get a great shot, but here's a couple views of the countertop portion of the room:
Last time I posted, I had just completed the closet system for Cailin's room. I had also ordered systems for Evan and the master closets. All 27 boxes showed up last Friday, which ended up being a lot of heavy lifting for a bunch of us. We needed to paint the master closet walls before installing there, so Ann took that task while I installed Evans closet. This install went a fair bit faster now that I new what I was doing. We'll see what the more complicated master closet holds this upcoming weekend.
Ann continued her painting into today so that we can get our doors installed in the music room. This has been the hardest thing to describe, but trust me when I say that these doors will be almost art piece like when they're done...hopefully. :)
Anyway, the guy is installing them tomorrow, so we needed to get some finished paint up on the wall where they were going in.
Last thing is that we had our first piece of furniture delivered today. We decided to buy a new dining table, since our existing one not only didn't fit aesthetically, but it's also grown a bit unstable over the years with it's post cracking a couple years back. We ended up choosing a Parson's style table with a white oak top and dark metal base. It actually looks pretty good up against the oak floor. We did find some chairs, but those are still a ways off.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Back in the house with my tools
As to be expected, things are slowing down a bit. Supposedly MOC has worked through some items on our punchlist, but I can't say I noticed much of anything while at the house yesterday other than nail holes being refilled with the proper putty color. Actually, there was some dry wall work done too.
I did get one thing done this weekend though. We finally pulled the trigger on a closet system. We didn't build this into the contract with MOC, so we were on our own. We had Closet Factory build the master closet in our house now and while it's worked out great, it just seems like we should be able to do something very similar, but cheaper.
Before doing anything, we had Closet Factory come out and quote the new master closet just to get a feel for where they would be at. It was a lot...something close to $3K for a walk in closet. So, time to look for alternatives.
I wasn't really happy with what I was seeing from the big boxes like Home Depot or Lowes, nor were we really into the wire closet systems from IKEA or the Container Store. I happened upon EasyClosets.com in a search, was impressed with their design system and while it might have been on the spendier side, it wasn't $3K. And besides, they cut everything to size, which means less for me to screw up.
Instead of going all in, we decided to buy something for Cailin's closet. A test run, I guess. After designing the system fairly quickly, I placed the order last Monday night and had all nine boxes show up at the house on Friday. I got a couple hours in on Saturday and then finished the whole thing up with another hour on Sunday. It was fairly easy once the support system was in. Pretty much like working with legos after that. And I think it turned out well. It seems sturdy and looks good. At least as good as what Ann and I have in our walk through closet now, and that's held up perfectly over the 5 years we've had it.
Here's the end result:
We'll see how things look once Cailin gets a hold of it, but looks good for now.
We took the plunge and order up a system for Evan's closet and our Master as well. I guess I know what most of my next weekend will look like.
Actually, one other thing of note, we did spend Saturday talking paint colors with Nicole. We don't have them all selected, but I'm encouraged with where things are going. Of course, we still have to apply the paint. Hopefully, things go better than with the ceiling. Just remember, even rolls and don't spread the paint too thin.
I did get one thing done this weekend though. We finally pulled the trigger on a closet system. We didn't build this into the contract with MOC, so we were on our own. We had Closet Factory build the master closet in our house now and while it's worked out great, it just seems like we should be able to do something very similar, but cheaper.
Before doing anything, we had Closet Factory come out and quote the new master closet just to get a feel for where they would be at. It was a lot...something close to $3K for a walk in closet. So, time to look for alternatives.
I wasn't really happy with what I was seeing from the big boxes like Home Depot or Lowes, nor were we really into the wire closet systems from IKEA or the Container Store. I happened upon EasyClosets.com in a search, was impressed with their design system and while it might have been on the spendier side, it wasn't $3K. And besides, they cut everything to size, which means less for me to screw up.
Instead of going all in, we decided to buy something for Cailin's closet. A test run, I guess. After designing the system fairly quickly, I placed the order last Monday night and had all nine boxes show up at the house on Friday. I got a couple hours in on Saturday and then finished the whole thing up with another hour on Sunday. It was fairly easy once the support system was in. Pretty much like working with legos after that. And I think it turned out well. It seems sturdy and looks good. At least as good as what Ann and I have in our walk through closet now, and that's held up perfectly over the 5 years we've had it.
Here's the end result:
We'll see how things look once Cailin gets a hold of it, but looks good for now.
We took the plunge and order up a system for Evan's closet and our Master as well. I guess I know what most of my next weekend will look like.
Actually, one other thing of note, we did spend Saturday talking paint colors with Nicole. We don't have them all selected, but I'm encouraged with where things are going. Of course, we still have to apply the paint. Hopefully, things go better than with the ceiling. Just remember, even rolls and don't spread the paint too thin.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
A Quick Update and More Pictures
Compared to last week, it's been a pretty slow week at the house. I think we've only been over there once and the only thing that had changed at that point was a door stop had been installed for the closet by the front door. Exciting stuff, I know.
Apparently though, today was supposed to be a busy day. All sorts of subs were supposed to be out going at the punch list. I'd hate to be the guy responsible for addressing all the putty issues. I can't tell you how many pieces of tape Ann and I put up on all the woodwork where either the wrong color putty was used or no putty was used.
We do have a couple lighting issues to deal with. Not that you'd know, but there's supposed to be pendants over the bar in the kitchen. They finally will be showing up tomorrow. We're also trying to decide on trac heads above the stairway going upstairs.
Well, I suppose I should get back to some pictures. In the last post, we started at the front door, looked at the music room and then into the kitchen. If we step outside the kitchen and into the living / dining area, we don't see much that has changed. These shots show the area cleaned up and with lights on. We still need the pendants installed where the dining table will go, but that's probably won't happen until they're delivered next Tuesday. Oh and btw, that bracket on the fireplace is for the TV that will go up. I know, we're covering up the stone, but trust me when I say that it's really the only spot for it to go.
Actually, as I look at these shots, they're more of the kitchen or fireplace than the dining / living area. Oh well....moving on. The bedrooms aren't very exciting....four walls and carpet or hardwood, but I suppose to get to the master bath, we've got to go through the master bedroom. The first shot is just after the carpet has been put in and the second is after the ceiling pendant is installed.
From there, we go through the walk through closet and into the master bath. The first two shots are a week apart, but a big difference visually.
And here's the shot of the vanity
If you're still with me, we can move to the guess bedroom slash office. Kathleen mentioned that when we got to this room and the excersize room, we got some flack from the inspector regarding the window type or size. Apparently code requires an egress window that allows firefighters to get in. But, because we were working with existing window openings, we didn't have a lot of choices. Luckily, the windows are able to "un-hinge" from the frame so that they can open all the way. It also helped that Kathleen didn't tell the inspector about the murphy bed in the office...so it was just an office to him. Here's a couple steps in the murphy bed process...
Switching sides of the room, here's the desk. We've got a nice set of file drawers on the right. It did occur to me just the other day that we don't have any drawers for office supplies. Hmmm, I'm not sure what we're going to do about that. Doesn't sound cheap though.
So, I think that's it for this post. It's almost my bed time and that's enough writing and pics for one post. Ann's got the moving bug and is down in the basement (here at Portland Ave) going through who knows what and sorting in to keep, toss or donate piles. Let her go... she seems to be enjoying it.
Apparently though, today was supposed to be a busy day. All sorts of subs were supposed to be out going at the punch list. I'd hate to be the guy responsible for addressing all the putty issues. I can't tell you how many pieces of tape Ann and I put up on all the woodwork where either the wrong color putty was used or no putty was used.
We do have a couple lighting issues to deal with. Not that you'd know, but there's supposed to be pendants over the bar in the kitchen. They finally will be showing up tomorrow. We're also trying to decide on trac heads above the stairway going upstairs.
Well, I suppose I should get back to some pictures. In the last post, we started at the front door, looked at the music room and then into the kitchen. If we step outside the kitchen and into the living / dining area, we don't see much that has changed. These shots show the area cleaned up and with lights on. We still need the pendants installed where the dining table will go, but that's probably won't happen until they're delivered next Tuesday. Oh and btw, that bracket on the fireplace is for the TV that will go up. I know, we're covering up the stone, but trust me when I say that it's really the only spot for it to go.
Actually, as I look at these shots, they're more of the kitchen or fireplace than the dining / living area. Oh well....moving on. The bedrooms aren't very exciting....four walls and carpet or hardwood, but I suppose to get to the master bath, we've got to go through the master bedroom. The first shot is just after the carpet has been put in and the second is after the ceiling pendant is installed.
From there, we go through the walk through closet and into the master bath. The first two shots are a week apart, but a big difference visually.
And here's the shot of the vanity
If you're still with me, we can move to the guess bedroom slash office. Kathleen mentioned that when we got to this room and the excersize room, we got some flack from the inspector regarding the window type or size. Apparently code requires an egress window that allows firefighters to get in. But, because we were working with existing window openings, we didn't have a lot of choices. Luckily, the windows are able to "un-hinge" from the frame so that they can open all the way. It also helped that Kathleen didn't tell the inspector about the murphy bed in the office...so it was just an office to him. Here's a couple steps in the murphy bed process...
Switching sides of the room, here's the desk. We've got a nice set of file drawers on the right. It did occur to me just the other day that we don't have any drawers for office supplies. Hmmm, I'm not sure what we're going to do about that. Doesn't sound cheap though.
So, I think that's it for this post. It's almost my bed time and that's enough writing and pics for one post. Ann's got the moving bug and is down in the basement (here at Portland Ave) going through who knows what and sorting in to keep, toss or donate piles. Let her go... she seems to be enjoying it.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Post Walk Through and Many, Many Pictures
It appears that I may have been skimping on pictures lately. I don't know if it's that we took a bunch in the past few days or if I'm somehow had so much to write about that I was skipping stuff. Probably both.
We had our walkthrough with Kathleen on Friday. I can't say it's was the most efficient two hours. We got through most of the house, but there were still workers doing things and a cleaning person going through the house. We walked out at the end of the two hours with the laundry room, garage and exterior still left. The laundry room's not even done yet (no counter), the garage is still full of MOC's stuff and I'm not sure if you realize this, but it's cold outside....
In the end, the punch list wasn't too bad. The most difficult thing was probably the light switches. Between some of them clearly being wrong and Ann and I forgetting what some where supposed to be, we spent a couple trips trying to clear that up.
So, MOC now has 10 working days to resolve everything on the list. That also means we've got a few days left here to add anything to the list.
Anyway, I said pictures, so let's get some pictures in here. The front of the house is a good place to start. These are only a couple days apart with the first shot pre-lights and sidelights around the front door.
With the exception of the tape around the glass on the front door (for painting), the exterior is basically done. I guess we need to figure out a mailbox, but we're really, really, really close.
If you step inside the front door and look left, you'll see the music room. You could say this room appears finished, but there's still quite a bit left to go before the music aspect is obvious. Our sliding doors are still on the way (you may notice the track in the floor and ceiling), and we'll eventually get things like guitars on the walls. But, here's a few pics over the past few weeks.
If you look right as you come in you'll see the stairs. They really haven't changed much over the past several weeks. They had to clean up some dings in the redwood, but that's about it. I guess the one part of the inspection that we "got away with" was the stairs. Apparently we have too much space between the treads, but the inspector didn't catch it. We were just going to throw up some trim under each tread to close that gap and then take them down later, but hopefully we'll not have to do that.
I threw that last shot in because it's another view of what you see as you walk in the house. Which reminds me that I don't think I've ever taken a photo of what you see directly in front of you as you walk in. Hmmm, I may need to change that.
The last kitchen shot I posted had the counter-tops installed, but still covered in paper. Here's the next step, which goes along with the "house like a beehive" analogy. You'll also notice through the work that the appliances have been installed, but are still covered up.
I posted a shot of the cabinet hardware the other day, so we'll skip that stage. After that, it was basically coating the cabinet doors, etc that hadn't been done, removing the paper from everything and cleaning. Oh, and the other thing you'll notice here is the lights are in and work.
So, somewhat final kitchen shots....
So, I'm going to let everyone sit on that for a bit. It's MLK day and I'm home with the kids, so I suppose it's time to check them out... they are quiet... hmmm, good or bad?
We had our walkthrough with Kathleen on Friday. I can't say it's was the most efficient two hours. We got through most of the house, but there were still workers doing things and a cleaning person going through the house. We walked out at the end of the two hours with the laundry room, garage and exterior still left. The laundry room's not even done yet (no counter), the garage is still full of MOC's stuff and I'm not sure if you realize this, but it's cold outside....
In the end, the punch list wasn't too bad. The most difficult thing was probably the light switches. Between some of them clearly being wrong and Ann and I forgetting what some where supposed to be, we spent a couple trips trying to clear that up.
So, MOC now has 10 working days to resolve everything on the list. That also means we've got a few days left here to add anything to the list.
Anyway, I said pictures, so let's get some pictures in here. The front of the house is a good place to start. These are only a couple days apart with the first shot pre-lights and sidelights around the front door.
With the exception of the tape around the glass on the front door (for painting), the exterior is basically done. I guess we need to figure out a mailbox, but we're really, really, really close.
If you step inside the front door and look left, you'll see the music room. You could say this room appears finished, but there's still quite a bit left to go before the music aspect is obvious. Our sliding doors are still on the way (you may notice the track in the floor and ceiling), and we'll eventually get things like guitars on the walls. But, here's a few pics over the past few weeks.
If you look right as you come in you'll see the stairs. They really haven't changed much over the past several weeks. They had to clean up some dings in the redwood, but that's about it. I guess the one part of the inspection that we "got away with" was the stairs. Apparently we have too much space between the treads, but the inspector didn't catch it. We were just going to throw up some trim under each tread to close that gap and then take them down later, but hopefully we'll not have to do that.
I threw that last shot in because it's another view of what you see as you walk in the house. Which reminds me that I don't think I've ever taken a photo of what you see directly in front of you as you walk in. Hmmm, I may need to change that.
The last kitchen shot I posted had the counter-tops installed, but still covered in paper. Here's the next step, which goes along with the "house like a beehive" analogy. You'll also notice through the work that the appliances have been installed, but are still covered up.
I posted a shot of the cabinet hardware the other day, so we'll skip that stage. After that, it was basically coating the cabinet doors, etc that hadn't been done, removing the paper from everything and cleaning. Oh, and the other thing you'll notice here is the lights are in and work.
So, somewhat final kitchen shots....
So, I'm going to let everyone sit on that for a bit. It's MLK day and I'm home with the kids, so I suppose it's time to check them out... they are quiet... hmmm, good or bad?
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Whirlwind of a week
As Stu alluded to in his earlier post, this last week was a whirlwind of activity. The house was buzzing with activity. At one point I counted...
2 plumbers
2 electricians
3 carpenters
1 HVAC guy
2 cleaners
3 cabinet people and
1 project manager in a pear tree!
...all working in the house at one time!!! I'm surprised that there were no punches thrown. ;-)
It really is amazing how much they got done this week: hooking up the electrical panel, installing all the lights, laying carpet, finishing floors, installing railings and closet shelves, installing cabinet and door hardware, installing the front door and finishing up cabinetry...plus other stuff I'm sure I didn't notice yet. With everyone practically tripping over each other, I started to wonder why all this stuff was left to the last week. Oh well...
With all this activity, Stuart and I made multiple trips to the house. In fact, on Wednesday I made three trips in one day trying to sort out the puzzle of our cabinet hardware. As fate would have it, I was home that day with Evan because both kids had come home from school on Tuesday with lice. Lucky us! Cailin was OK to go back to school, but Evan's daycare requires that he stay home for 24 hours. So, Evan and I schlepped over to the house three times in one day...and he was GREAT! I was really proud of how patient he was.
Actually, I have been tremendously proud and thankful for how patient both kids have been with this whole process.
We have dragged them along on countless trips to pick out appliances, faucets, cabinet hardware, doorbells, etc. and we haven't been kicked out of a store yet. :-) They have also tagged along to construction meetings and discussions with our architect. Cailin always has a good question to ask or a pretty wise observation to make for someone with just 7 years under her belt. And most of all, they have put up with two parents who are often tired, stressed out and generally preoccupied with "house stuff". I don't think we could ask for better kids.
So, with just a few weeks before we move in, we keep plugging away at our "to do" list while trying to maintain that delicate balance between building a house, being good parents, doing good work, and staying married. It's not easy, but someone we've managed to not completely lose our minds...at least not yet!
2 plumbers
2 electricians
3 carpenters
1 HVAC guy
2 cleaners
3 cabinet people and
1 project manager in a pear tree!
...all working in the house at one time!!! I'm surprised that there were no punches thrown. ;-)
It really is amazing how much they got done this week: hooking up the electrical panel, installing all the lights, laying carpet, finishing floors, installing railings and closet shelves, installing cabinet and door hardware, installing the front door and finishing up cabinetry...plus other stuff I'm sure I didn't notice yet. With everyone practically tripping over each other, I started to wonder why all this stuff was left to the last week. Oh well...
With all this activity, Stuart and I made multiple trips to the house. In fact, on Wednesday I made three trips in one day trying to sort out the puzzle of our cabinet hardware. As fate would have it, I was home that day with Evan because both kids had come home from school on Tuesday with lice. Lucky us! Cailin was OK to go back to school, but Evan's daycare requires that he stay home for 24 hours. So, Evan and I schlepped over to the house three times in one day...and he was GREAT! I was really proud of how patient he was.
Actually, I have been tremendously proud and thankful for how patient both kids have been with this whole process.
We have dragged them along on countless trips to pick out appliances, faucets, cabinet hardware, doorbells, etc. and we haven't been kicked out of a store yet. :-) They have also tagged along to construction meetings and discussions with our architect. Cailin always has a good question to ask or a pretty wise observation to make for someone with just 7 years under her belt. And most of all, they have put up with two parents who are often tired, stressed out and generally preoccupied with "house stuff". I don't think we could ask for better kids.
So, with just a few weeks before we move in, we keep plugging away at our "to do" list while trying to maintain that delicate balance between building a house, being good parents, doing good work, and staying married. It's not easy, but someone we've managed to not completely lose our minds...at least not yet!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Morning before the Walkthrough
It's Friday morning. I'm at home because the boy has lice and he can't go to daycare today. I'm also trying to work, so my friends Dora and Diego are babysitting right now. I'm also thinking about the walk through we have at the house today. We've set aside two hours to go through the house room by room and develop a final punchlist. We were supposed to get all the final permits dealt with yesterday, but it sounds like there were several issues. Nothing major...hopefully. The biggest items were around needing another cold air return in the house, the inspector didn't like the lights in our closet (ceiling pendants with open edges) and apparently, the stair-rails can't have open ends.
That last one is kind of funny, or maybe not if you're a firefighter. Apparently code says that we can't have these open hand rails (see pics below) at the end of each rail because should firemen with hoses rush into your house, those hoses could get caught and snagged on the rails. I get it, but... really!?
Another quick update is that the cabinet hardware issue that I blogged about on Wednesday isn't quite the disaster I thought it would be. The order was wrong, but only for one side of the kitchen. I don't have a close up, but we're fairly pleased with the hardware. It's that bar style, but somewhat different and substantial enough that it works well with the big drawers and doors in the kitchen. And I literally mean big. We ended up being surprised with the size... in a good way of course. For example, all the drawers on the same side as this pic are ~36" wide. 36 inches for silverware? Wow....
What else? Lots of finished coating for the cabinetry and wood work that's been installed over the past few days. So, there's lots of plastic hanging around with guys inside spraying. I'll be interested to see how things look later today.
We also got to see the laundry room cabinetry for the first time this week. We didn't go with the Doug Fir wood for a couple reasons. First was the added expense. Second, that stuff is soft. I've already put a couple real small dings in places, so we opted for a laminate (Shaker Cheery, I believe). Here's a couple shots a couple days apart.
We're still missing a countertop in this room. That's actually probably the biggest missing component in the house, which if you think about it is pretty good in terms of MOC meeting there timeline.
I think I'll leave it at that for now. At the moment, I'm not feeling so overwhelmed, which is good considering the two hours of punch list we have in front of us today. It seems to change by the time of the day though. We've been at the house every day this week and there's always something. Whether it was walking around in the dark Monday night or meeting the Closet Factory person yesterday, there's so much going on, we just have to be on top of it best we can.
It's amusing that earlier this week we had to move our regular Tuesday meeting to Wednesday. Kathleen asked that since we had our punch list meeting on Friday, if we even needed our weekly meeting. right.... every time we stop by, there's always a few questions. I've said this before, but it always makes me wonder how they're making decisions when we're not there...?
That last one is kind of funny, or maybe not if you're a firefighter. Apparently code says that we can't have these open hand rails (see pics below) at the end of each rail because should firemen with hoses rush into your house, those hoses could get caught and snagged on the rails. I get it, but... really!?
Another quick update is that the cabinet hardware issue that I blogged about on Wednesday isn't quite the disaster I thought it would be. The order was wrong, but only for one side of the kitchen. I don't have a close up, but we're fairly pleased with the hardware. It's that bar style, but somewhat different and substantial enough that it works well with the big drawers and doors in the kitchen. And I literally mean big. We ended up being surprised with the size... in a good way of course. For example, all the drawers on the same side as this pic are ~36" wide. 36 inches for silverware? Wow....
What else? Lots of finished coating for the cabinetry and wood work that's been installed over the past few days. So, there's lots of plastic hanging around with guys inside spraying. I'll be interested to see how things look later today.
We also got to see the laundry room cabinetry for the first time this week. We didn't go with the Doug Fir wood for a couple reasons. First was the added expense. Second, that stuff is soft. I've already put a couple real small dings in places, so we opted for a laminate (Shaker Cheery, I believe). Here's a couple shots a couple days apart.
We're still missing a countertop in this room. That's actually probably the biggest missing component in the house, which if you think about it is pretty good in terms of MOC meeting there timeline.
I think I'll leave it at that for now. At the moment, I'm not feeling so overwhelmed, which is good considering the two hours of punch list we have in front of us today. It seems to change by the time of the day though. We've been at the house every day this week and there's always something. Whether it was walking around in the dark Monday night or meeting the Closet Factory person yesterday, there's so much going on, we just have to be on top of it best we can.
It's amusing that earlier this week we had to move our regular Tuesday meeting to Wednesday. Kathleen asked that since we had our punch list meeting on Friday, if we even needed our weekly meeting. right.... every time we stop by, there's always a few questions. I've said this before, but it always makes me wonder how they're making decisions when we're not there...?
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