A heroic effort....

A heroic effort...

December 19th -- On my way to my house this morning I picked up a dozen donuts for everyone working on my house.  As I pulled up, I saw the head painter and one of the members of his crew standing outside.  They were literally covered from head to toe in white dust.  It turns out that the head painter "pulled an all nighter" and had finished texturing all the walls so that the cabinets can be set.  He will need to do some touch up before painting, but that will wait when he returns from his working vacation with family after the first of the year.   He had worked all night except for two hours that he spent sleeping in his truck.  His assistant showed up at 5:00am and helped to complete the job.  The two of them looked like a wreck but they had actually finished before they thought they would and were so happy to see that there were donuts for breakfast.  I also gave the head painter a Starbucks gift card and told him that I didn't want him to be thirsty when he was at the airport.  This is a huge hurdle out of the way.  I am very grateful that the painters have indeed come to the rescue, although I never imagined that it would take an all nighter to get the job done.

The finish carpenter explained that there was a slight glitch with the installation of the kitchen cabinets and the range top hood fan that he discovered.  He came up with a solution and wanted to run it by me.  Because of the placement of the vent for the range top hood fan, a small portion of the stainless steel chimney for the vent will need to be covered with a trim piece, valance, and molding instead of being positioned between the cabinets.  It was a good solution as there will be a future photo in which I will describe the problem and the solution.  The finish carpenters put a lot of thought into what they need to do before they begin their work, which is very impressive.

The contractor was on site and told me to go pick out the granite slabs for the kitchen and vanities.  When I went to the granite yard, I was told that there were only three slabs of the granite that I had decided upon and was given the location to view them.  All three slabs were from the same block and although granite is known for its veins and fissures, each slab had a serious flaw -- a fissure that looked as if someone had taken a key and gouged a line across the granite.  This type of fissure weakens the granite and will make it more difficult to install.  Given that I selected a black granite with grey cells, this fissure was not acceptable.  Unfortunately, the granite yard was not expecting another shipment of my selected granite.  Ugh...now I will have to see if there is another source for my granite. I will deal with that problem tomorrow.

At the end of the day I returned back to my house to pick up my mail.  The progress that was made in just one day was amazing, in large part due to the painter's efforts.

First, the hardwood floors are done in the master bedroom, closet and hallway, and all the walls and ceilings have been textured, as shown below

Also, the hardwood floor guy had even used my snow shovel to clean up as much of his mess as well as the drywall and texture mud.  You can see the snow shovel in the photos below

The finish carpenters had moved some of the new four-panel doors from the mud room on the main level to the upper level in preparation to hang them.

With the hardwood floors installed on the upper level, it is time to tackle the repair and patch work to the oak floors on the main level in the dining room and the guest suite.  The hardwood floor guy removed the sections of oak planks that he will replace and blend into the existing floor.  In these photos you can see the original fir floors below the red oak floors and the sections that had no flooring because there was a wall that we have now moved.

The finish carpenters were working hard to get the kitchen cabinets in, especially since we need to make room for the appliances that will be delivered next Tuesday.  The contractor will pick up the dishwasher first, and then the double ovens, microwave, range top and refrigerator will be delivered.  All of the appliances will be set into the cabinets, with the exception of the refrigerator, which will have to be temporarily placed in my kitchen/living room area.  The refrigerator will be installed later with the sinks and plumbing fixtures.

When I walked into the kitchen, I was so pleased to see much progress, as shown below:

Here are the cabinets on the south wall of the galley style kitchen

Here is the wine rack above the cabinet that will hold the refrigerator.

Below are photos of the north wall of the kitchen -- you can see the wall cabinets, the venting pipe that goes into the ceiling, and the space where the hood vent and chimney will go over the range top, in between the two wall cabinets, and then connect to the vent pipe. These cabinets have already been set, and the finish carpenters put that big piece of cardboard up against the base cabinets for protection.  As the head finish carpenter told me, this kitchen will be a challenge because the maple cabinets are finished in a farmhouse style, brilliant white and they will do their very best to make sure they leave no dirt or fingerprints on my new cabinets -- I love these guys!

Here you can see one of the finish carpenters working on the wall cabinet on the south wall of the kitchen and the base cabinet where the farmhouse, apron style sink will be set, shown in greater detail in the final photo below

When I left the house tonight I began to feel as if things are getting back on track and in sequence, but there will be several weeks of very detailed trim work to go.