L U M B E R H E A V E N

......................................................................

here's chris' favorite place aside from our house and lowes...dykes lumber. made a few field trips here looking for molding to match the rest of the period molding in the house...didn't find exact...but close enough. it's always kind of fun and weird to go there.

......................................................................

P R O G R E S S

......................................................................

i'm late to post the 'action' from earlier this week.
the upper cabinets went in along with the microwave that is above the stove.
our contractor kindly covered all the painted cabinet edges in blue tape so nothings gets scratched while work is going on, and speaking of blue, the floor is currently coated in a blue waterproof membrane and waiting for the cork to be installed.
the backsplash tile has been installed but not grouted.
our countertop was templated on monday and is being installed on saturday...can't wait!
last week new windows went in...after alot of drama and waiting i was a little disappointed with them but after everything is done and trimmed and gorgeous i'm sure they'll be fine. anythings better than the  "1972 brown aluminum,  clouded over glass, wont stay open with a 2x4 underneath"  windows that were in there before!

......................................................................

L O W E R S I N

......................................................................

the lower cabinets are making their way into the kitchen!

......................................................................

T I L E U P

......................................................................

the guys installed the big wall of tile which flows all the way to ceiling from the lower cabinets. there'll be opens shelves (hence the giant brackets) as well on this wall. of course the gaps wont be so noticeable once everything's grouted. looking good!

......................................................................

T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y

......................................................................

very noble...and very naughty.

......................................................................

T I L E R E - P L A N N I N G

......................................................................

according to our architect's plan, every surface has been meticulously mapped out, especially the tile layouts as they dictated the alignment of alot of other things. until you're contractor is installing them... then it's all down the toilet (dramatic, yes). Unfortunately, the idiots we bought our tile from...which was  delivered 3 weeks late...gave us the wrong measurements. so everything that had been planned
had to be re-planned, and discussed for an hour and a half.
we have a large wall above a set of lower cabinets that's going to be all tile up to the 9 foot ceiling ...it's alot! so it has to be right and look spot-on. in the plans 9 of these large tiles fit perfectly. in reality there'd be a strip of tile at the ceiling that would look ridiculous. so to fill that unexpected gap everything else in the room had to be moved up a half inch and bigger spacers need to go between the tiles.
so no, i will no be recommending this tile supplier.
all's well though! these aren't huge changes but they definitely throw a wrench in.

gerald (one of our architects) trying to figure it all out with the guys

here's our contractor laying it all out on the floor to see how it can fit better

......................................................................

O K , A L R E A D Y ! !

......................................................................

i love snow, really. it's just getting a little nuts...and it's not melting from the last storm. we have a mountain of snow in front of our house the size of a church bus that'll probably be there til april!

......................................................................

T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y

......................................................................

cabinet assembly edition. arnold is literally sitting in a box of cabinet door hinges. i guess somehow that's comfortable.

......................................................................

A S S E M B L Y W E E K E N D

......................................................................

this weekend was all about cabinet assembly... for me at least. chris worked on the closets so we can put all our stuff back in them! personally i can't wait to get my stuff into these cabinets!
the cabinets were ordered from Scherr's in North Dakota. they are fully custom. the great people at Scherr's worked with our architect Emily and went back and forth a few times on shop drawings until they were perfect. everything is clearly packaged & labeled for easy assembly once they get here, which was as easy (actually easier) as assembling any ikea cabinet...only made 10 times better. the boxes look amazingly well made so far and the construction and custom paint on the door and edge panels looks spot on. i'm excited to recommend them to everyone looking into doing an affordable kitchen remodel.
i'll write a full (and i'm sure glowing) review of these cabinets when they're up.

......................................................................

L A T E A R R I V A L S

......................................................................

finally! late to the party are the cabinets and the bathroom tiles. well they're
finally here...and strangely they picked a snow day to arrive...not the best conditions for unloading a truck but hey, we'll take whatever we can get! The cabinet doors look great...the paint came out gorgeous and smooth and looks pretty durable. Now it's a weekend of assembly!

bathroom woodgrain tiles from italy

G R A Y G R A Y G R A Y ?

......................................................................

maybe 2 different grays for cabinets and very light gray walls is too much gray. never thought i'd say it but yes...there is such a concept as too much gray. so 2 grays in the cabinets and white for the walls. that was easy!

......................................................................

T H A N K S

......................................................................

just got $105 bucks back from NY state for recycling my old non-energy efficient fridge!

......................................................................

H A P P Y B - D A Y L U C I L L E !

......................................................................

happy birthday to my big sister lucille...who's so, so, much more than a sister to me!

......................................................................

W A G O N S E A S T !

......................................................................

finally! our cabinets are being trucked here to brooklyn from the fabrication plant in north dakota. seems they've had about 5 huge snowstorms that have brought biz to a slow crawl out there, which is why they're 3 weeks late. temperature in north dakota right now is a chilly -2 degrees. hopefully they'll survive the 4 day trek to our balmy 30 degree nyc weather!

......................................................................

A L M O S T

......................................................................

our contractor has partially finished the tub tiles...then he ran out of tile. which is the result of people telling us they have things when they don't. i'm finding this quality to be badly infecting the two tile suppliers we're using. it' some kind of plague!
shower tile is coming from someone here in brooklyn who has barely been able to deliver on anything's he's promised (said he had bullnose tile for us then didn't, said he had edging material then only had half, said he had replacements for broken tiles then had to order them, said he had tons of field tile in his store then didn't ... delivered the last box after our contractor left).
bathroom floor tile coming from manhattan (said she had floor tile in their warehouse in miami 3 weeks ago then told me yesterday they're on a boat from italy which broke down at sea). hmmmmmm.
anyway...so far so good.

......................................................................

T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y

......................................................................

too cute tuesday: construction edition

......................................................................

B E T T E R L A T E . . .

......................................................................
hmm better late than never...whatever! the reno's moving along at a good clip only to be stopped in its tracks by important things coming in late.

the windows: 2 weeks late
back door: who knows?
cabinets: 3 weeks late (the north dakota cabinet guy actually has a good excuse "you know that storm you had a week ago? well, we’ve had 4 or 5 in the past 6 weeks")
bathroom tile: 2 weeks late
if i had know this i would've started demolition after christmas...but who knew.


on a side note i'd like to be done in time for us to enjoy the hgtv dream house we're gonna win. please? pretty please? this is totally ours...we got this. we'll win a house in vermont (conveniently located 4 hours away), a car (to get up there), season pass lift tickets (we haven't been snowboarding since we've been homeowners), and some money to pay all the taxes.
sounds good to me! come visit! ;-)

......................................................................

K I T C H E N P R O G R E S S 2

......................................................................

the progress continues! the new mudjob/subfloor is in and well as the first phase of taping/spackling.

......................................................................

S H E L V E S I N P R O G R E S S

......................................................................

we finally have some shelf brackets in! we debated and thought this out so many times to make sure these shelves can carry all the weight that's placed on them. this is where all the dishes are going and those can get pretty heavy especially considering the weight of the actual shelf itself (still being and debated and thought out) which we hope will be substantial and thick.
how do you like the 'visual aids'?
chris had some hefty angle irons cut at a local metal works around the block and our contractor installed them behind the sheet rock. eventually the shelves will slip over them like a sleeve to hive the entire bracket. cool huh?

......................................................................

B A T H R O O M P R O G R E S S

......................................................................

the bathroom is shaping up (doesnt look like much now) with all it's sheetrock and the subfloor/mudjob. next up is the floor heat and then tile. The tile we chose for the floor (which then turns up the vanity wall until it meets the mirror) is a really amazing gray/brown woodgrain tile. i think it will be so interesting and different! The layout itself is pretty much the same as it was before...only with every inch brand new!

......................................................................

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R !

......................................................................

hope you did something fun and fabulous for new years! we had the guys

working on the kitchen all day and our plumber installing the new radiator.

it's exhausting even when you're not actually doing the work...just answering all

the questions and trying to stay out of the way is exhausting.

after a delicious new years dinner of tofu chicken sandwiches (prepared on the construction table) we were both asleep by 10:30.

......................................................................

T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y

......................................................................

this is our friends Dave&Karen's doggy Hafez...a super cute wippet. we were at their house on christmas day for an amazing meal and lots of doggy snuggling.

......................................................................

C H R I S T M A S P R O J E C T S

......................................................................

with 5 days off around the christmas holiday we got a chance to work on a few little things in the kitchen construction site. The guys were here christmas eve and made some progress on the sheetrock. with the back wall still open (awaiting the plumber...what else is new) we got to do some much needed insulating with some spray foam from foamitgreen.com.

you've all seen this on all the home improvement shows...well you can buy small setups for diy application...and it was so easy (tyvek suit and goggles/gloves included!). You could really feel the wind blowing in from the uninsulated back wall before...these house were just the brick and the plaster...no insulation! Even though we were only able to cover a few sections it seems that they were the important ones as i can really feel the difference (especially with the blizzards howling winds).

......................................................................

W H I T E R A D I A T O R

......................................................................

....i'm dreaming of a white radiator....ok. after much debate we going with one of these traditional yet sort of slim radiators that costs $150 over a custom built european style runtal which costs $900. yes there was great debate. the runtal is 2 inches...this one is 5 inches...in a house this size every inch counts! jon the plumber bought this at the plumbing supply store. you buy 'em matte black (primed i guess)...and they look like hell. but with some spray paint at the perfectionist hands of chris, this baby's looking good decked out in white.

you can see the one she's replacing in the background...looking kind of sad.

......................................................................

M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S

......................................................................

hope you all had a great christmas. thank god i got these new snow boots from my sister in law Linda! I've already gotten tons of use out of them with this crazy blizzard that

delivered 18 inches...our street still isn't plowed 2 days later!

......................................................................

L I V I N G I N I T

......................................................................

It seems like we've been at it for so long already...but when i just typed 2.5 weeks i think it's great progress! I guess when you're living in the middle of a major renovation and it's filth, it gets old fast. this little kitchen/bathroom reno has taken up our entire house! we thought we'd have our downstairs bedrooms as our safe dust-free haven but then our plumber told us he had a lot of work to do in our large bedroom closet which is where alot of plumbing runs through. so the entire closet had to be emptied into the second bedroom which was packed to the ceiling with stuff already. this is also where our 2 cats are locked up during the day.

so downstairs is mess.

upstairs, where the actual work is happening is a wreck. with our dining room and living room right outside the kitchen this has become a real work zone with appliance storage, central command/work table (with tools & plans), 2x4 storage, the plumbers entire van load of pipes, fittings, doo dads, connectors, and ominous looking tools...etc.

i am learning great patience in this process...and even with the mess i am grateful that we can even do this ;-)

......................................................................