Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day.

Grandfathers and Great Grandfathers included.
Hilarious video courtesy of Auntie Apple and Auntie Gae Gae.

April and Grace were here last week during all the commotion. We had a wonderful time in Homer, Alaska and I know that Everett adores and misses his Aunties. Me too.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Demolition phase is over.

Wow. I've lost track of how many days have passed. I'll just do a daily log now.

May 27-29. Matt worked hard and pulled all the remaining rock, fake and real, from around the fireplace. We saved some of the nice pieces for path stone.
May 30-31. Final demolition of the fireplace. The freestanding box and flue was removed, leaving the chimney (self-supporting) above the roofline. Since there is no rush to take it down and add extra work by patching the roof, we'll leave it in place and use it for the ductwork of a floating range hood.
June 1-2. Clean up and completion of exterior closet demo.
June 3.Really amazing Feng Shui consultation with great local lady. Deserves an entire post.
June 4-7. Oona in Homer with Everett and Aunty Grace and April. Matt kept at the busy work and scratching his head, started scratching at the ceiling and made the much appreciated (but daunting) decision to scrape off popcorn ceiling.
June 7. Ocean's festival. Golf Tournament.
June 8. Meet and hire electricians. Finalized kitchen layout - which is pretty much exactly the same as it was, but with visibility into the living room.
June 9. Learn about lighting design. Shop around town. Look at gorgeous lighting catalogs. Drew up lighting plan.
June 10. The closet wall at the top of the stairs was picked up and moved 12 inches, opening up the hall while still providing privacy to the bathroom and maintaining a functional closet. They did this with very little drywall damage and no new framing. Well done Jason and Matt. This was a critical step because this wall contained the power for the ceiling and the electricians are coming tomorrow to add overhead lighting in the kitchen and living room.
June 11. Fun and fast electrician team of two guys (brothers?) worked from noon till 8pm installing 12 recessed lights, pre-wiring for range hood and under cabinet (LED) and quick jack pendant sink lighting and several new switches. 500' of 12/2 later...
June 12. Built pony peninsula wall for range and bar top. Brought boiler chase up to code, making it possible to sleep at night. Changed moving day to next weekend. Sigh.
June 13.Selected new appliances - went with stainless Frigidaire range and fridge. Installed drywall inside of chase, installed range hood motor in ceiling. Began the serious undertaking of scraping popcorn ceiling.