Stucco'd On You

The painters spent the day painting away. Lots of white stuff got painted white (great room ceiling, pantry, laundry room, interior of two new closets) and lots of other stuff got primed and ready to go (great room walls, kitchen, office/guestroom, master bath). Nothing has been done in the main hall and the office/music room. I'm not sure if I'm holding it up, I don't think so. I'm halfway done moving the huge pile o' stuff out of the music room. We're out of places to stash it all and things are getting ugly in that regard. We're living the puzzle about the fox, hen, and corn crossing the river on a daily basis.

The stucco guys reappeared and did another coat of stucco. The first coat was called the "brown" coat. I'm not sure what this coat is called. There is at least one more coat to finish the process. I want them to take their time; I worked on a construction defect case ages ago where the stucco of a home leaked like a sieve. Sure don't want to be those poor fools. Of course, I was smart enough to hire a general contractor, so I'm already ahead of the game in that regard.

In one of the photos, you can once again see the "jog" necessitated by "The Encroachment." Let's say it again: who would've thunk that our 36 year old tract home was torqued on the lot and encroached on the side set-back and contiguous City drainage easement? I'm just glad I stuck to my guns and advocated the "jog" rather than the "rip down the entire portion of the home which is encroaching" point of view which was strongly suggested by one of our professionals. Thanks again, City, for taking the rational view on this one and allowing the simplest solution to an unexpected problem. It's now one big "design feature" to me!

Color My World

After a bit of a quiet spell, we were back in full force yesterday. The concrete crew (about a dozen of them) poured the patio and walkway. They did a great job and the surface drains which were installed throughout are obviously working well. No more standing water. Hooray!

Our comic interlude for the day was putting our handprints in the wet concrete. The human side of it went just fine, but the canine portion of the event was a complete failure. I thoroughly enjoyed watching my husband try to coax our 13 year old (next weekend), gimpy, huge (120 pound) Alaskan Malamute to put his paw print in the cement. Bad Ice, Bad Ice, Wooo wooo wooo! I'm surprised no one was injured. Next time we'll just tell him to stay off the concrete and he'll hop right on, I'm sure. Worked great with the littlest kid.

The painters also arrived. I'd already picked out colors which complement our granite and overall organic scheme. Since we just can't do the full-on decorating thing at this juncture (we're out of time, money, and patience. Did I mention we're out of money?) we're painting almost every wall Spanish Sand (OK, it's beige, but fairly deep in tone and saturation) and the ceilings, trim, laundry room, and pantry Swiss Coffee (OK, it's white, deal with it). The music room/hubby office will be a fairly dark grayish green called Pine, quite lovely. I got in on the painting action myself, and painted the wall in The Boy's room which had the new window. I found a leftover nearly full gallon of his paint color so it wasn't too hard. The whole room really needs painting, but there's too much stuff in there to do it right now.

Today, it is 9:30 am and there are no painters (or anyone) on site. There are supposed to be painters painting and concrete workers polishing and ladies dancing and pipers piping, etc. Hope they show up soon!

Jim --->

The last two days have been about doors and patio. The guys have worked super hard putting in the door and window casings and fitting the doors in. Some were harder than others, the French doors in the entry being particularly challenging. All of the latches and hinges are shiny brass, which I don't like and which doesn't go very well with all of the brushed nickel and stainless steel fixtures we've picked out. Fortunately, the doors have to be taken off again to be painted and our contractor assures us that switching everything out is no big deal at all.

The concrete guys have been digging, framing and laying rebar in preparation for the path and patio pour. Digging means the water drainage issue is back. Our contractor just insists that our neighbor needs to resolve their problems which result in them dumping so much water on our property. The City threatened to fine our contractor $10,000 because of all of the water and mud spilling onto the street. We still think, however, that the additional drainage we're installing will resolve most of the problem (our contractor estimates 85%) and while it's not fair, it's what it is.

Finally, I picked out paint. We'd wanted a bunch of different colors for different rooms, but since we're out of cash for a decorating overhaul right now, we're going to paint everything a beautiful, rich neutral (Spanish Sand) with Swiss Coffee (white!) trim and ceilings. It'll look great and we can always repaint at a later date.

A Bit Of A Let-Down

We got back from vacation on Friday, had a nice trip. The coolest things: 3-D 1906 earthquake movie at the Capitol complete with paper glasses to wear; tour of the Capitol, including watching the State Assembly in session (utterly hilarious, yet heart-breaking); Railroad Museum; Joe's Crab Shack (touristy but tasty and oh so entertaining: do the hustle!); tour of the Sutter Gold Mine (best tour of the trip!); tour of the California Caverns (littlest one a fearless spelunker, in part because she never had to bend over or squish through anything); fabulous, majestic, gazillion year old Sierra Redwoods at Big Trees State Park near Arnold (aka Giant Sequoias) and a very nice interpretive guide prepared by the ranger; and, a really fun new yarn store in Murphys. Truly something for everyone! Memo to self: skip Black Bart Inn and entire town of San Andreas next time.

Progress on the house was steady but not very visible. Same poor dude spent the entire week taping, mudding, and texturing drywall. One would think there's an easier way, but no. Seems like he did a great job, but it just didn't look that different from when we left. Still, we're nearly ready for paint, amazing.

Had some trouble with our flooring supplier. I'd selected a nifty product by a company called EcoTimber (everything salvaged, reclaimed, or sustainably farmed). Their only local supplier was a Danville flooring company. Unfortunately, a week after our contractor placed the order for a massive amount of salvaged oak flooring (so beautiful, full of distress marks and patina, I swore I'd never had oak in the house, but after seeing the stuff I was completely sold on its beauty and total appropriateness for our home: pre-distressed old floor equals not-distressed serene mommy), manager calls back with $1500 price increase and undisclosed $2000 shipping charge. I give my contractor extra credit: he immediately cancelled the order and found a new source. And he sold himself beautifully telling me the story. Top marks!!

'Rock and Roll

The laundry thing is completely out of control. The washer and dryer are hooked up, then they're not, then they are and they don't work, then they're fixed only long enough to do one and half loads -- one and a half loads for crying out loud -- and they're gone again. Good thing we're scheduled to go to Grandma and Grandpa's on Saturday (to see Seussical the Musical, fun!) because this kind of laundry explosion is more than I can foist on my friends. Oy.

Drywall finished today. By golly, they even drywalled over the electrical for the pendants over the island. And I'm not not not paying for them to fix that. The rooms look like rooms, and nice ones at that. Tomorrow: drywall inspection and then the taping begins.

Drywallus Interruptus

"Temperatures in excess of 100 degrees have been reported. That's not global warming, Al Gore, it's called summer." Heard on The Daily Show

Just thought it was funny. Anyway, the drywall guys came and they rocked. Sheetrocked, that is. As hoped and expected, the installation of drywall makes an incredibly dramatic change in the appearance of the house. Like it actually looks like it might be a house. Unfortunately, for reasons known only to them, the drywallers were long gone and not quite done by 1 pm when the boys and I got back from church music camp (and a quick trip to The Dog for sausages and smoothies). My understanding is that they'll finish tomorrow.

Let's Get Ready to Drywallllllll!

For the past week or so (while I've been trying to get my laptop up and running so I could post photos; success at last!), busy worker bees have been buzzing around the hive. While their daily work wasn't completely obvious, it was getting done nonetheless. Last Friday, we made it through Double Potions, passing both the lathe/roofing/truss inspection and the electrical/plumbing inspection. Hooray!! The outside of the addition is prepped for stucco (see photo) and the inside is prepped for drywall (see photo). Tomorrow: the drywall dudes arrive and begin to do their stuff. Another dramatic transformation is in store.

Snakes On A Plane

I wasn't home at all today, unusual for me, but the electrician and HVAC guys worked hard. Everything today seems to be long and stringy. Lots and lots of electrical wiring in, as well as silvery duct work snaking all over. It's so great to see useful infrastructure installed. Soon, very soon, we'll be on to inspections, insulation, and then drywall. Hooray!

Basket Full of Irony

Ever have one of those days that don't quite go as planned? All of these things actually happened today.

Everyone in the whole family needed a ride from me. Including my husband, so I decided to drive him all the way into the city to his office. (He, in turn, offered me breakfast on the way, so it was a good deal for me.) We're getting back into my car, a 2002 Honda Odyssey minivan, he leans over, looks at the odometer and starts complaining about how many miles I've put on the van. While I'm in the process of driving him a 50 mile roundtrip to work. Sheesh.

I met a friend for lunch who had knee surgery. On the way to the restaurant (not hungry, since I'd just had the huge second breakfast with dh), I spot a store, Lulu LeMonde Athletique or some such thing, that another friend had recommended. Beautiful chic running and yoga clothes. Since I try to go to the gym daily (and succeed on a less than daily basis), I'd really wanted to check out this store, but thought the closest one was in Menlo Park. We never made it over there, though, because it was a couple blocks away and we didn't want to walk that far. D'oh! (At least for me; my friend had a legitimate excuse!)

Finally, I make it back home only to discover that my sitter is completely AWOL. It turns out that her phone isn't working, in particular her voicemail, and since she hadn't gotten a message from me, she made other plans. ???

I know I'm not ready for the Daily Show, but I'm getting closer...

Back In The Saddle

All the pesky documentation issues seem to have been resolved (whew!), the weather has cooled down, and we seem to be back to work. Hooray! The HVAC guys didn't quite finish up as they'd hoped, but the new (unexpected $1800) furnace is in and lots of silver hoses are snaking their way around. As one young visitor to the site remarked, "Watch out for the basilisk!" Constant vigilance, indeed! At least as far as dirt, staples and nails, and tripping hazards go.

Lots of electrical rough-in has happened, we may be done with this, not sure. The carpenters are doing stuff, or at least pounding a lot.

Since we have a wee bit of a Harry Potter theme going today (I am Chocolate Frog Princess for a reason), I must note that I read a Mugglenet editorial recently that made me stop and think a bit. The gist of it: Snape is Nagini. Hmmm ... I like it! There's the name, the hissing, and the fact that they've never been seen together. It just can't be (and I'm wracking my brain trying to prove definitively that it's not), but it would be a stunning plot twist worthy of JKR if it is.