Finishing touches

We are officially all moved back into the house and the kitchen. Got the house cleaned, a new couch, new rug and had a bunch of friends over on Friday night to break things in. The kitchen took a beating but it survived. Before the party our friend Bonnie came over to take some professional photos. She is an awesome photographer and an architect. I can't wait to see them because she makes everthing look good. She said she will be finished in a week or two with the post production. I know, very professional.

This weekend I built the last of the built in shelves for all of the TV and stereo equipment. All of the attachments are hidden so it looks like the are projecting out of the wall. Here are some photos. Professional shots to follow.

Extra points if you can guess what movie that is.

Erin is ready for the Skins game on our new couch. The new rug got broken in on Friday night when her friends turned it into a dance floor.

Final Inspections

The final inspections were today for the kitchen and the old basement project. I had to get them all taken care of this time. The same inspector that has done most of them on my house came and did it all at once. Quick with no comments really. I also did the final walk through with the contractors. I didn't have much to punch list. They did an awesome job. Last night we started to move all the furniture in and unpack the boxes. Once again the kitchen is a mess.

 

Lots of boxes to unpack

 

Next week we hope to have some professional photos thanks to Bonnie. We still need to move in a lot of furniture and get some new furniture. We are getting a new couch next week.

I also have to stain the big pantry door, put up some shelves and somehow figure out why the TV is not working.

 

We are getting very close to the end of the project. It is all down to the small details. On Friday night we came home to find that all of the walls which were supposed to be white (most of the walls) were the wrong color. They were a light gray. When I called the contractor Saturday morning he was not too happy about that. Benjamin Moore mixed the paint incorrectly. So they have recovered from that and most walls have a second coat with the correct color. Now they are focusing on the last details. Outlets, light fixtures and shelves. 

 

 

The new stools came in today and they look great. Erin picked them out. You can also see the two pendant lights in at the adjusted height.

 

Most of the pulls are in. I also took the protective plastic off of this drawer so all can see that the cabinets are not blue. Several people have asked if we really had blue cabinets.

 

Cabinets are in above the refrigerator.

 

All the outlets are in. This is a USB outlet which can charge apple products without a plug.

 

Shelves need to be sanded and receive a second coat of paint.

 

A closer look at the pendant light.

Progress

They made a lot of progress today. The contractor thinks that they are going to be completed on Monday. At least that is when they asked me to schedule the final inspections. That's two days ahead of schedule. I had to go on another Ikea run for some of the cabinetry filler panels and hardware. That set me back another $350. Two of the doors were damaged when we got them so I had to exchange those too.

Today they put the refrigerator, range, garbage disposal and most of the cabinet doors on. They also finished the tile and hooked up the hood. There are still a lot of small details left to do but they seem pretty confident it will get finished. Right now things are a mess but under all the stuff you can see how good it is looking. I can't stop standing in the space and staring at it all.

 

They are going to install the cabients over top of the refrigerator tomorrow.

 

The new stone piece came this morning. It looks great. No seam and it matches!

 

 

The sink now works and that little button is the "air switch" for the garbage disposal. No need for a switch on the wall.

 

 

The bottom of the cabinets and bottom of the hood all align with grout lines. It all worked out really well.

Counter tops are in .... mostly

I was pretty nervous about the counter tops. This was the last big piece that I sub contracted myself. I had trusted a referral of this fabricator. They ended up showing up around 11am. The brought the big island piece in first. It had a lot of cuts to jog around. Here it is going in.

 

We had to try 6 or 7 times to shave back the wall details to squeeze in the counter. That's Chris who is a pretty bad ass carpenter.

 

 

Here they are cutting in the hole for the sink. Don't want to mess that one up.

 

It finally fit and looks awesome. They put the sink in and also roughed in the faucet.

 

 

Next came the waterfall detail at the wine refrigerator.

 

The wine refrigerator goes in this space. They did an awesome job with the mitered corner. When we can find the battery charger for our good camera we'll share some detail photos.

 

 

Now what is wrong with this photo? This is supposed to be the waterfall on the south end of the island. This was the last piece they brought in to install. I can't believe they even tried to bring it in the house. The seam is one thing... the fact that it is two slightly different stones is crazy! They did such an awesome job with everything and then this happened. They were supposed to come back today with a new piece but it was too late so they are supposed to come back tomorrow first thing. Erin is going to be here for that and kick some butt if it does not look good.

 

 

They also got some of the glass tile back splash in. It adds some nice color to the space since most of the walls will be white too.



 

 

I think the schedule might be slipping a bit. I know the counter tops are a huge step but the progress has been very slow the last week. The only real progress today was the tile. To do all of the cabinet doors, shelves, drawers is probably another 3 days. Plus painting, finished electrical, hook up sink, appliances... It may be another 6 or 7 days. I sent them a note about the schedule and what is left. Not looking to rush but would like an updated completion date. 

 

 

 

Cabinets

The kitchen looks smaller now that the cabinets are going in! They hustled to get the all the base cabinets set in place for the counter top guy to come tomorrow morning. It was exciting to come home and see all the base cabinets in place. Now you can really get a sense for the layout and final size.

 

There is the wine refrigerator facing the living room.

 

Erin has requested that they move the hood higher... let's see what the contractors say about that.

 

I put the sink in to see how the size looks. It is big. I love it.

Cabinets

Yesterday I took the day off and worked from home part of the day. It was mostly a wasted day. I tried to get all of the deliveries, especially cabinetry, to show up first thing in the morning. All deliveries showed up between 3pm and 6pm. The contractors were able to do some small details like cladding the masonry and built in shelves in the pantry.

The floors are now mostly covered and the place is a mess again. Once all the cabinets go in it will be the home stretch. I have the counter top measurement scheduled for first thing on Thursday. The contractor wants me to push it back, but hopefully the can get it done. We are going to make the call tomorrow. If we can measure Thursday we'll have them installed on Monday.

Here is the pantry. I can't wait until the door arrives. It's going to look great.

That is a big refrigerator! Hope it fits.

 

We need all of these cabinets set into place by the end of the day tomorrow. That is a lot... Hopefully they can do it.

It is all a mess again.

 

This is structural duct tape. Holding the cladding detail in place until it all dries.

 

It would have been nice to leave more brik exposed but it was a mess. We are going to leave he small portion above the beam exposed.