Milestone

As I picked Will up from the airport tonight, I hit exactly 100,000 miles in my car. 

Cabinets: Good News/Bad News

Our cabinets arrived last week and were loaded into the house, stuffed into every available floor space we have left.  They started to install them, beginning with the cabinet outside of the bathroom, the upper cabinet above the dishwasher, the sink & sink cabinet, and the trash bin cabinets.  Then came issue number 1.

It was discovered that if the matching upper cabinet to the right of the window and the cabinet covering the exhaust hood were installed, the hood cabinet would be overhanging the double windows in the back of the kitchen by 5.5 inches too long.  *Someone* mis-measured.  Course, the kitchen designer pointed fingers at the contractor; the contractor blamed the designer.  No one wanted to take responsibility for the mistake with good reason: to make the cabinets fit, the hood cabinet would have to be rebuilt, and it was one of the most expensive cabinets (due to its sheer size).  No one wanted to have to pay for it; all we knew was that the mistake wasn't ours and so we weren't going to pay for the fix.  

 So, while the three parties decided what we wanted to do to move forward with the hood cabinet, the contractors installed the cabinets on the other side of the room: the chef pantry, the one above the fridge, and the unit that will contain the microwave. And that is when we noticed issue #2. 





We ordered creamy white cabinets doors in a matte, powder finish.  Along the edges, the paint was messed up: shiny speckled spots, as if the paint had not dried completely before they wrapped it in the protective paper.  We noticed the imperfection on every single door and drawer in any kind of light.  Every. Single. One.

*cry*


So, after a week and half, we have solved both issues, with major delays to the final product. 

For issue #1: we aren't hanging the 2nd upper cabinet next to the window.  The stove and the hood cabinet slide down closer to the sink.  We add an alcove behind the stove and some glass shelves to the sides of hood cabinet. 

Issue #2 is a bit more complicated.  The cabinet company sent an employee/driver to pick up the defective doors and drawers and take it back to the factory.  We sent back every door, drawer, filler piece, kick plate, crown pieces back, plus two cabinets with bad construction.  Any surface that faces outward was sent back to the factory to be sanded down and repainted.  The factory is Tulsa.  Three days drive from DC.  We have no real idea when the cabinets will get to the factory, when they will get fixed, and when they will be put back on the truck to be sent back to us.  Did I mention that the cabinet factory is closed between Christmas and New Year's?

* still crying*

All we know is that this is a significant delay.  Without the doors and drawers and the two cabinets, the contractors can't finish setting the cabinets, can't pay tile, can't lay counter tops. Can't. can't. can't.

the run of cabinets, minus the fronts and appliances

Soooooo.  While we wait for the return of the cabinets, there is a limited amount of work that can be done.  Basically, the contractors can work on trimming out the doors and around the floor. After that... we wait.  We wait for the return of cabinets, which most likely will be around the second week in January.  So much for the delivery date of December 20th for a finished kitchen. We are now looking at January 20th, and possibly even into early February. 

*sobbing*

new alcove that will be above the stove

movable shelves of the chef pantry, which allows storage on the back wall of the cabinet, both sides of the movable columns, and on each of the doors (not pictured)

starting to add the trim around the door, and reusing the header piece from the old dining room doorway

Happy Birthday Juliette!

 

 HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY, JULIETTE!!!

We hope your chocolate party is a huge success!  

Flooring Down!

The hardwood floors were installed today and they look great!   It took the crew almost all day to put the planks in and we think that they did a really nice job.  For the moment, the oak wood is its natural color-- the staining is one of the last things done in the whole remodel.

The best news is that there are no squeaks!  We bounced up and down all over the floor and it is quiet, which will be a welcome relief to our downstairs neighbor.  

Cabinets Delivered!

Cabinets, floor to ceiling!

Bright and early on Monday, the delivery truck rolled up the street with about 27 linear feet of our cabinetry.  We aren't ready for them, but here they are. 

We needed to find a place to put them.  Since the garage and dining room are full of appliances and our make-shift kitchen, Steve (our project manager) was able to stuff a majority of them into Will's office.  Stacks of base cabinets and upper cabinets all in one place, with a few exceptions. 

We have some in the living room and that makes for a fun obstacle course to get to the tv room.  The good news is that they were the last things to been delivered and they are here.

However, it will be a few days before they are in place.  We need to have the floors laid done first and then they can set them.  The floors should be done by Tuesday....

one of the pantry units

Mud and Sand

 The drywall crew came back Friday and Saturday to mud the dry wall joints and to sand them.  The way that they can so-perfectly apply the joint compound is frustrating for us home improvement novices.  They are able to apply the stuff just so smoothly and lightly that it hardly needs sanding. 

Oh, but sanding they did.  If everything in our house wasn't covered in a fine layer of construction dust before, it certainly is. *sigh*  I wonder if the construction crew dusts and mops as part of their final job....

My Wish Came True

Last year for my Christmas card, I drew the four of us (Will, Stirling, Jackie Kitty [RIP Baby Kitty], and me), in our Christmas PJs, dreaming of Christmas wishes.  Will got his: England won back from Australia the Ashes Cricket Tournament on home turf.  Stirling got her big pile of bones.  Jackie got her big bowl of goldfish in the sky.

This week, finally, I got my wish: a professional. 6 burner + griddle, dual fuel, double oven cooker. 

My G.E. Monogram Cooker

I haven't fully unwrapped it--cuz it isn't installed yet and it will have to be moved and I don't want it to get hurt.  I have opened up the ovens (they come with pans!) and turned a few of the knobs (they are so smooth).  I can't wait to actually use it!  Though, it will be hard: it is so pretty and clean, I hate to get it dirty.