Trim that.....

Trim that.....

April 17th -- The head finish carpenter and one crew member spent ten hours today working on the remaining trim and the second bathroom on the upper level.  The paint color is "windsor greige" (since when is beige and grey called greige?) and goes well with the oak vanity and cabinets that used to be in this bathroom when it was the master bathroom.

Even though this former master bathroom is small, there is still a lot of mill work and trim, along with a door to hang in the new entry (the old entry used to be through the former master bedroom).  The tile that looks like wood fooled even the carpenters who thought it was old barn siding.

Here is the closet "pass through" to get to this bathroom (behind the closed door in this photo):

This closet will have a clothes bar (shown here with wood clamps as the glue dries) and a wall shelving system).

The counter top for the vanity needs to be fabricated, the plumbing fixtures re-installed, the electrical fixtures installed and painting touch ups before we can call this last bathroom a wrap.

The finish carpenters installed the mirrors in the custom-made medicine cabinets in the master bathroom, and completed several other tasks, including:

• installing a fold-away-hanger in the laundry room;

• setting an odd-sized heating vent in the kitchen;

• trimming the guest closet with baseboard and a clothes bar;

• finishing the attic access with a lovely "picture frame"

• attaching a kick plate on the rear-entry door.

They also installed hardware, such as door stops, switched out some passage and privacy doorknob sets.  At the end of the day they were off after making good progress, but several items still remain and they will return one day next week to install the rest of the door knobs and a shelving system in the greenhouse, in addition to bathroom fixtures (towel bars, etc).

After they left, I went up to the master bedroom suite and enjoyed the view of a beautiful sunset looking west.

Doors are not my friend today....

Doors are not my friend today....

April 14th -- Bad day today.  There was snow overnight, the painters overslept, and doors are not my friend.

The contractor let me know that the sliding door in the dining room is bowed, which is why it won't lock properly.  It was shipped that way, is under warranty and the company will pay for the painters to repaint the replacement door that has already been ordered. In the meantime, I bought a double drapery rod fixture for this door that will hang sheers and then some solid color panels.  This door is not my friend....

It was near the end of the day when I was in my office preparing to move my computer and local area network from my office to the master bedroom so that the floors in that rood can be finished and the room painted. The head painter, who had been here all day, called my name and then said it was very important that I come downstairs immediately.  I did and he was standing in front of one of the translucent library doors as it was fracturing -- yes, it was making a cracking noise and shattering, but not into shards as the glass is tempered.  We both just sort of watched it in disbelief -- then he went into action and asked me if I had any heavy plastic -- I had just taken the box spring and mattress out of their protective plastic bags (yes, I did finally set up my bed in the master bedroom).  Here is a photo of the glass as it was fracturing.

Here are the plastic bed bags that we wrapped around the door as it continued to fracture

We called the contractor who said he would be there immediately.  None of us had ever seen anything like this.  It was actually interesting to watch, but a real bummer.  At least the contractor was reassuring to me and said that it was under warranty and that he would order a new door.  He put masking tape on it to make sure that the glass would not drop in lots of little pieces.  Clearly, today doors are not my friend. 

The only explanation is that it was a cold day after the overnight snow and for periods of time throughout the day the sliding door was open, bringing cold air into the house.  In the late afternoon the programmed furnace came on and perhaps there was both cold and hot air that affected the glass in the door.  That's the best explanation I have, but it is a mystery.

The painters have really been working hard to complete the interior of the house because the weather did not cooperate for completing the exterior.  Between the woman who cleans my house and the painters, we have decided that it would look interesting to paint the ends of the main staircase that goes from the main level to the upper level and that I would find a bold color carpet  runner that would run down the center of the stairs.  This would provide a cleaner look,  and according to my cleaning person, would be a lot easier to clean than carpet. It turns out that when we pulled up the old carpet, the stairs had been painted like this in a previous life.

The walls will be gray, the trim white, and tomorrow I will start looking for a runner.

The painters finished painting the windows and trim in the living room, also gray,  and they will finish painting the stairwell walls tomorrow.

Despite the bad day for doors, the city inspector came today to do the FINAL inspection, and we passed.  As the painter kept telling me...it will only be a matter of days as we get closer and closer to getting everything done.


Tomorrow is another day and at least tonight I will sleep in my bed!

It's beginning to feel a lot like home....

It's beginning to feel a lot like home...

April 13th -- All the subcontractors decided to rest on this Sunday.  I spent the last two nights sleeping in my "dog bed" in the master bedroom -- the floor never felt better.  I'm in the process of moving everything out of the "temporary bedroom/office" so that the painters and floor guys can finish up.

The second upper-level bathroom wall's have been textured and await painting.  The living room windows and trim have been painted and the lathe and plaster walls repaired, awaiting painting.  The walls in the stairwell that leads from the main level to the upper level has been prepped and awaits painting.  The final coat of paint has been applied to the pergola and only very minor touch ups to the exterior and some gutters await painting.

The Gathering Room, Mudroom, 3/4 bath off the Gathering Room, and kitchen have been cleaned and await only very minor paint touch ups. That was my cue to begin the grunt work of putting in shelf liner in all the drawers and cabinets.  

My espresso machine is now set up in the kitchen near the prep sink and pot filler faucet.  It was delightful to make my usual morning latte and to be able to use the pot filler to add fresh water to the espresso machine tank.

 I also put a few bottles of wine in the wine rack over the refrigerator.

And, I even hung a hat on one of the hooks in the mudroom.

Probably the highlight of the day was when I cranked up the fireplace in the master bedroom and enjoyed its warmth while I put clothes that I had moved from my temporary bedroom into the custom chest of drawers made by the finish carpenters.  Oh...did I mention that we are in the midst of a spring snow storm?

Here is the view of the snow still flying this evening as I look out on to the covered porch off the master bedroom.

The low temperature tonight will be around 17 degrees and I'm looking forward to the warmth of that fireplace!

By the way....

By the way....

April 11th -- And, the new Ethernet connection to the gathering room actually works!!!  

Here is a photo of my netbook, sitting on top of the AV cabinet in the gathering room, that is connected to the modem/router in my office.  If you look closely you'll see that the Internet browser on the netbook is pointing to the previous blog post!  

Picture me now doing my happy dance!

Strung out and wired up....

Strung out and wired up.....

April 11th -- It is amazing how there can be days with absolutely no activity at the house and then everyone shows up at once to work.  When this happens there is an intricate choreography as the subcontractors have to synchronize their work so as to not collide into each other.  And, that would be the theme of  today's activity.  The painters arrived at 8:00 am and shortly afterward the electricians showed up.  

The electricians wanted to make this their last visit, although I have a feeling that I will see these guys periodically as they are an affable group.  We discussed the wiring of the greenhouse with two circuits and enough outlets to accommodate grow lights.  It was a very warm day here for early April -- and these guys are no dummies -- the first thing they did was install the outlet for the ventilation fan so that they were working in a green house and not a "hot house."   This photo shows the ventilation fan, which works well, and the small halogen light hung between the two skylights in the roof.  The halogen light will be used sparingly, and will not only provide light at night, but can also be a back up to the portable heater if necessary. 

 On the south wall of the green house, between the two banks of glass panels, the electricians installed three outlets that will power up future grow lights.  I will install shelving hardware on each side of the glass panels, so that there will be two banks of approximately three foot adjustable shelving for starting plants from seeds.

 On the west wall of the green house, next to the door, they installed a light switch for the halogen light and an outlet that will power up the heater to keep the green house above freezing in the winter.  A thermostatic adapter outlet will go into this outlet and the heater also has a thermostat so it will "fire up" as the temps drop.



















An additional outlet was added to accommodate the irrigation clock that will control the new sprinkler system.

The roofer was here early and completed the drain system for the porch off the master bedroom. The drain will empty into this downspout.  The roofer will return to install the elbow and drain so that it can be painted.

The biggest challenge of the day involved Internet connectivity, and the electricians, who are masterful problem-solvers, said, "Bring it on."  

The challenge is that the modem/router for my home computer local area network (LAN) is located in my office in the extreme southeast, upper-level corner of my house and my new "smart TV" is located in the gathering room, in the extreme northwest, main-level corner of my house.  Because my plan is to be able to stream media from the smart TV via the Internet, a connection between the smart TV and my computer modem/router is key.  I know what you are thinking...just use wireless...well, a hard-wired Ethernet connection is faster and more reliable than wireless any day of the week.  Also, the wireless is spotty given the distance between the modem/router and the location of the smart TV.  

What are the solutions to this problem?  There are a few, which I have explored over the past few days:  a) string a cat5e Ethernet wire from the modem/router through the house to the gathering room; b) buy a more powerful modem/router in the hopes that it would provide greater coverage, but that would be via a wireless connection; c) use a series of "repeater modems" connected from the modem/router into a device that is plugged into an electrical outlet that is 'daisy-chained' through the house to create an ethernet connection between the modem/router and the smart TV; d) set up an second modem/router that is dedicated to just the smart TV, or how two independent local area networks in the house; or e) move the modem/router from my office to another part of the house that is closer (in distance) to the gathering room.  Whew...

The solution....I am now the proud owner of a box of 500 ft of indoor/outdoor cat5e cable (one can buy a 100ft ethernet cable, or a spool of either 500ft or 1000ft of cat5e cable, but  I needed to cover a distance of 150 ft); a package of 25 Ethernet connectors, two Ethernet jacks; and two electrical wall plates.

Here is phone junction box on the back of the house and you will see two lines that run outside the house from the junction box inside the house....to the AV cabinet in the gathering room.

Here is a photo of one of the electricians, who is taking the two lines of cat5e cable from outside the house (shown in the previous photo) -- one line will be connected to an Ethernet jack for Internet connectivity and the other will be a new telephone jack in the event that I will need a future DSL connection through the telephone line.  He is wiring these cables into the AV cabinet in the gathering room.  There is already an Ethernet cable behind the wall that will go from the jack he is installing to the smart TV (that I cannot wait to install).

The cable goes from the jack in the gathering room, outside the house to the telephone junction box,

around the north side of the house, under the eaves....

to the east side of the house (above the roof that cover the front porch) and 

enters into the house near the southeast corner (just under the window) to my office, behind my computer desk and adjacent to the telephone jack for my DSL connection!

A "patch cable" will be connected between the Ethernet jack in the wall to my modem/router, shown here.

In order to accomplish this feat, the electricians had to crawl under my computer desk and install the port into the east wall of my office.

So, now I have a hard wired Ethernet connection that will travel from the modem/router in my upper-level office, outside around the north side where it enters into the west wall and ends up in an Ethernet jack in the back of the AV cabinet in the gathering room, where I will be able to complete the connection from my modem/router into my smart TV.  This photo shows, on the left, the plate with the Ethernet jack (in the middle) with two co-axial cables at the bottom of the plate (if I ever get cable or satellite, which is unlikely).  I am hoping to test this connection within the next few weeks when I can install the smart TV and take it and the surround sound system for a spin.


 

At the end of the day, the painters provided me with a great treat....they moved all of the trim materials that have been stacked up in the foyer.  They cleaned up the area in preparation for painting it!

All of the trim pieces that the finish carpenters will need were moved from the foyer and placed on the front porch, as shown here.

The painters will be back tomorrow morning at 7:30.

At the end of the day I made a verbal agreement with the landscaper who will install a new irrigation system ( low flow heads to cover the lawn for the parkway and the front yard, a drip system for the front perennial bed; and for the lemon thyme planted around the flagstones in the patio that will go around the deck to the garage; and to the area in the backyard where the raised veggie beds will be located); two privacy fences; a flagstone patio; and the grading of the back yard that will be covered in landscape cloth and covered with pea gravel around the future raised veggie beds, and area where shrubs will be planted.  The expected start date of the landscaping is April 21st, with the possibility that if the weather cooperates, they can even begin next week.

In anticipation of a revived and redesigned landscape, the raspberries along the garage have decided to make their presence known.