Thursday: Let there be light(s)! (2/16/12)

I do love it when the electricians come.  On this day, they installed the two kitchen ceiling light decorative fixtures, and the three concrete pendants (which were a bear - they had to be height-adjusted from the attic, which is not an entirely friendly place to be).

And then they pointed out that the dining room pendant (completely unassembled) had somehow become separated from the assembly instructions, which are critical.  While they did other things, I got the store to email the directions to me, and the three of us proceded to spend something like two hours assembling and adjusting wires on this thing to get it to the right height and level.  Lordy.  I don't know how we managed to order the hardest lights in the universe to install, but we did.  But I loooooooove them.

Wednesday: Fridge move (2/15/12)

Now that we finally have the kitchen sink up and running, and are close to having the dishwasher operational, I finally feel like I can start moving the food from the downstairs fridge to the upstairs.  I spent an amazingly long time taking all the shelves and drawers out and washing them down to prepare, in accordance with the directions.

Since this is an all-fridge configuration, it's quite different from our last two fridges (the coldest spot isn't at all where we expected) and I tried to quickly commit this to memory.  No go.  Brain too small.

So I used the white board front to assist my addled brain while I cart things upstairs...

Friday: Plumbing and kitchen sinks (2/10/12)

On Friday, the plumbers were here.  The kitchen sink had been installed the day before, but this day the faucet was installed and the drain was connected.  I can't quite believe it.

They also installed the Craigslist restaurant sink in the pantry, but it's not plumbed yet.  There was a bit of a cluster while planning this room - everything came about completely out of sequence.  The plumbing went in before the sink was discovered, then the hood (purchased used on eBay) was installed, largely based on where the ceiling and attic rafters were located, before thinking about where the actual sink would be....  Oy.  Much of it was my fault, actually.

The hood is there for the coffee roaster, so the counter will be very convenient.  It's just that 5 foot drain run that's now a bit of a drag.  Good thing it's a pantry.  No need to be pretty.

I actually don't remember what day this happened... they installed and painted the bookshelves on the pantry side.  I'm trying rather hard to wait 30 days to put cookbooks here as they say that paint can take that long to fully cure on surfaces like bookshelves.

And the monitors are up and running (on a limited scale).  Installing them is not an experience I'm eager to relive, so hopefully this won't require much troubleshooting.

Jack's still working on controlling all the monitors.  The plan is that our little tablet computer will be used as a "remote" to control the monitors.  Then we can use the computer or stream TV or movies on the monitors as we choose.  We've basically proven it out, but it could use some tweaking...

Tuesday: Final finish on floor (2/7/12)

The fifth and final coat was put on the floors on Friday.  We got back home on Saturday, I picked up Reuben from "country living" on Monday, got his nails retrimmed this morning, and took these photos this afternoon.  It's a bit glossier than I expected (probably because they put 5 coats on rather than 4), but I do think it looks great.  Waterlox.  So far, so good.

Friday: Too long since the last disaster (1/28/12)

So we semi-packed on Thursday, preparing to vacate the house for a few days while they did the floors.  At about 3am, I heard a CRASH-CR-CRA-CRASH, leapt out of bed (while Jack slept) and started surveying all the rooms upstairs and down.  Miraculously, I didn't see anything.  And good thing, because I was actually able to get back to sleep.  I had decided that what I'd heard was probably the dish drainer falling into the cement laundry sink downstairs (which happens amazingly often and is amazingly loud) but forgot to look at it when I wandered around.  I was wrong.  It was a portion of the basement ceiling falling down.

They had promised to replace the water-damaged basement ceiling when we were moved back into the house, but it just couldn't hang on anymore.

Those chairs needed refinishing anyway.

But the amazing thing is that it missed the triple computer monitor slated for installation in the kitchen wall niche by only about an inch.

Thursday: Doorbell, chime and floor fixes (1/26/12)

I love the new doorbell!  It has a nice black surface that mimics the black on the front door light, and...

...it's illuminated!

The chime is installed above the second sink, and like the faucet, is a bright shiny chrome.

And my favorite thing about the chime is the bright little "ding" you get when the doorbell is pushed.  And that the dog does not yet understand that means someone's at the door.  Back when we didn't really have doors and windows, he immediately learned that the phone ringing usually meant someone had come to the house.  Darn poodles.

And the floor guys came to resolve some of the sanding concerns we had with the floor.  It seems like they really removed very little of the surface, but went to town fixing not only sanding marks, but scratches from the dog racing around.  I think they did an amazing job.

It is immediately obvious that the scratches were concentrated at the two new front windows.  Methinks rugs are in order.

The next morning we had to vacate for a few days while they put down the next two coats of finish.  Off to the "country estate" for Reuben...