Lights, Colors, and Fire....
February 19th and 20th -- In the morning light the paint colors in the bathrooms are winners.
The edamame color is very cheeful and calming. These photos do not truly represent the color since the light from the flash makes the color look different, but here we go...
As I was standing in the gathering room going over a list of issues with my contractor he very casually opened one of the kitchen drawers and pulled out a box. He opened the box and all of a sudden this:
became this:
Yes, we have fire. Not only in the gathering room, but also in the master bedroom:
The painters have been busy doing some additional patch work and now the skylight in the stairwell to the upper level is looking like it will soon be ready for paint.
The contractor gave me a list of door hardware to select. I now know that an entry lockset is for exterior doors, a passage lockset is for interior doors, such as closets, and privacy locksets are for bathroom doors. The locksets have been ordered and they will be installed next week when the finish carpenters return.
The guy who sets the tile showed up this morning, although this was a day before he was scheduled, so it was a surprise, but a nice surprise. The pot filler pipe was moved and the cabinet holding the range top was adjusted, so finally the white subway tile could be set as the back splash, as shown here:
This means that all the tile is now completed in the kitchen -- yay! The only tile that remains is for the floor of the second bathroom on the upper level.
On Monday, a small mountain of boxes, containing all the ordered light fixtures was delivered and my job was to place the boxed light fixtures in the appropriate room in its approximate location. As an example, this photo shows where I placed the under-cabinet lights in their boxes along the north side of the galley kitchen.
The boxes on the counter top here include two semi-flush-mount ceiling lights and the blue mini-pendant that will hang over the sink.
The electrician was supposed to set up a time to meet me this morning, and when that didn't happen I let the contractor know. Shortly after my call to the contractor, my phone rang and it was the electrician who very sheepishly called to apologize for forgetting our appointment. No worries as he was on the way over. We walked through the house where I had strategically placed all the light fixture boxes. He explained that his partner was home sick for the day and that both of them would return first thing tomorrow morning to get started on hanging the light fixtures. We also discussed the electrical requirements for the greenhouse and he will put additional outlets and two separate circuits in there so that when I need to run the soil heating coils and the portable heater or the ventilation fan, I won't blow a fuse.
But, the best part of my day with the electrician came right before he was about to leave. We were standing outside discussing the placement of the outlets on the deck. I looked at the street and asked him where his van was. A huge smile broke out across his face and he turned his gaze across the street. I followed his gaze to see an unmarked, all white armored truck. I looked back at him with a look of disbelief and he was now nodding with an even bigger smile on his face. Really, I said? Yep, he replied.
The former electrician's van was always breaking down and it had been broken into by vandals. He told me that the former "Brinks" truck used to transport money had been impounded by the FBI because it was being used for money laundry runs in the south. It was impounded, auctioned off, and somehow now the prized possession of my electrician. I said something stupid like, "Wow, now you are literally bullet-proof" and he nodded, before asking me if I would like to take a ride around the block. I called "Shot gun" and he said "literally!" I have never ridden in an armored truck before and now I can scratch that one off my bucket list. It was really amazing. The doors are incredibly heavy. There are all sorts of latches, some to secure the doors, but others open and close little ports that are made for inserting the barrel of a gun to ward off approaching attackers. The passengers sit very high off the ground in these chairs that have springs as the ride is pretty rough. There are two 100-gallon gas tanks to hold diesel fuel, and the engine is basically one that would be found in a semi. It gets about 10 miles to the gallon. There is such a feeling of invincibility while sitting in the front seat that it felt like we could just roll over and crush the vehicles in our way. With the large storage space behind the cab, the electricians had started to build shelving and a portable work bench and generator. It will really be an amazing work vehicle, and as my electrician said as he dropped me off at the end of our little spin, the large sides of the armored truck are just perfect to serve as a rolling advertising sign for his company!
The rest of the day I spent researching bathroom fixtures, such as TP holders, towel bars, robe hooks and the like. It seems like there is almost no end to the decisions that need to made, even though everyday the construction zone is looking more and more like my new home and less and less like, well, a construction zone.
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