Yesterday was a busy day for me work-wise, so I didn't get over to the house until after 2:30, by which time John and Rob had a whole laundry list of things they wanted to discuss with me before they had to leave. We talked about crown molding in the kitchen, the height and placement of the newel posts on the stairs, the wood stain on the windows, and a few other odds and ends. I didn't even have a chance to look around the house until after they left.
The first thing I noticed upstairs was that they had tried to cut a hole for our old medicine cabinet in the upstairs bathroom. Another "D'oh!" moment...
I later learned that they can't move that pipe, so I had to order a wall mirror for this bathroom. I guess the medicine cabinet will have to go in the donation pile.They had also installed the pocket door in the bathroom (it separates the sink area from the toilet and tub/shower). I was expecting it to be a cheesy Home Depot number, but in fact it was a nice oak door that matched all the others. Rob and I discussed it today and decided to use a white water-based wood stain on it rather than staining it a dark color like the other doors or painting it white.
The color scheme for this bathroom is cobalt blue and white, as an homage to the original bathroom. We're re-using the tub, light fixtures, and hardware from the old bathroom in here (but not the medicine cabinet...) The tile is a little more modern -- white subway tile with blue glass mosaic accent tile and a recycled glass countertop on the vanity.
It appears they were more successful cutting holes for the medicine cabinets in the master bath, but in another "D'oh!" moment, I noticed they didn't leave enough room for the sconces on the outside of each one. Fortunately, the cabinets have a 1.25" lip, so they can shift each of them about an inch towards one another and that should give us just enough space.
Downstairs, I noticed that someone had been adding some rather unimaginative graffiti to our re-purposed basement door. (It used to be our storm door.) Apparently this is John and Justin's handiwork.
Today I had to go over to the house after lunch to drop off a check for the countertops and go over the details of the beadboard wainscoting in the upstairs bathroom with Rob. I was glad to see Ian back on the job, since he'd been AWOL for a few days. He was installing the glass accent tile and chair rail in the master bath. The glass tile is actually a grey-green color -- the brown stuff is the paper facing, which he'll peel off when the tile is set.
John and Steve W had been working on the stairs, and installed three of the newel posts. I asked Rob if they had ordered the iron railing yet, and he said they were just waiting on the 'shoes,' which are the little pieces that attach the railing to each step. He said they were taking a long time to get here because they were being shipped from Italy. Yep, that's right! I'm getting dozens of Italian shoes! Jealous?
I had to snap a picture of this list that's been floating around the house all week. Rob was on vacation Monday and Tuesday, so he made a list of stuff for John and Justin to work on while he was gone on a huge piece of cardboard. I guess that's one way to make sure they don't lose it -- although I'd think it would still be in danger of getting recycled.
Before he left for the day, Rob got started on the last item on the list -- installing the cabinet hardware. John made him this nifty little device with a pre-drilled hole in just the right spot, so he didn't need to measure and mark each door.
The knobs are pretty basic, but that's what we wanted -- and we found them for a good price. Some cabinet hardware can cost $10-15 or more apiece, and that really adds up when you need 20 knobs and 20 drawer pulls just for the kitchen.
After Rob left, I noticed that he had installed the new trim on the living room windows. Much better! I think he may have actually just pulled the old trim off and cut it down to size. Smart! This doesn't look so hot now, but once it's painted it will be much prettier.
After I got home and caught up on all the email that piled up while I was out, I remembered that our light fixtures from Old California Lantern Co. were supposed to be delivered today. I tracked them on UPS and discovered that they had been delivered not long after I left the house. If no one is there, the UPS guy just leaves stuff on the front porch unless it requires a signature, so I knew there was $1200 worth of custom lighting sitting in front of my house. Now, my neighborhood is not exactly a high-crime area, but I didn't like the idea of having that sit outside all night, so I went back to the house. I carried everything inside, opened the boxes to make sure nothing was broken, and stacked them down in the basement with the rest of the lighting and plumbing fixtures. We've got quite an impressive inventory of stuff down there.
The floor guys are supposed to start working tomorrow, so I imagine the house will be a madhouse in the morning with the SAI crew trying to move all their tools and supplies out of the way. We've been instructed not to come to the house over the weekend as they will be staining the floors tomorrow and Saturday and will be finishing up on Monday (we hope). All the other projects will have to wait until they're done and the floors are dry. Rob said I could come by before lunchtime tomorrow, but suggested I call first to see how things are shaping up. So, I may have one more report to file before I am banished for the weekend.
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