Lights & Pipes

I had to go up to Silver Spring for a job interview this morning (long story), so I stopped by the house on my way home to see how things were going. In retrospect, I should have gone home and changed first -- it was way too hot and dusty in the house for me to be running around in dress pants, heels, and a cardigan. I eventually shed the sweater (I had a tank top on underneath) so I could work with the plumber and the electrician without melting into a puddle of sweat. They both seemed to have a lot of questions for me.

The main level bathroom now has a faucet and mirror...
... and a handheld shower.
In the kitchen, we have pendant lights over the island, a ceiling fan, and faucets on both sinks.
The electrician asked me to show him where to move the sconces in the upstairs bathroom. He came up with the clever idea of taping up the foam from the mirror to show where it will go. Unfortunately, it looks like there's a piece of wood right where we want to relocate the sconce to the right of the mirror. I hope he can work around that!
Meanwhile, John was still working on the stairs. He finished installing the iron balusters from the landing up to the second level and put their Italian shoes on. The plumbers kept giving him a hard time (in a good-natured way) about being in everyone's way on the stairs.
Lots of activity in the master bathroom. We now have a Silestone countertop, sinks, and faucets on the vanity.
And we have a Silestone deck around the tub. There was some further debate over the tub filler, but since we had already designed the whole deck around installing it in a certain spot, the plumber said he'd do his best to make it work.
The plumbers expressed some concern about this photo being posted on the Internet, because it depicts "three dudes in a shower." I think it's pretty clear that these three dudes are not actually taking a shower together. They're just installing the handheld shower.See? There it is! This is another decision I had to make on the fly when the plumber asked me where I wanted them to install it. I tried to position the bar so that you can use it as a conventional shower when it's all the way at the top, but still reach it from a lower position if you are sitting on the bench.
After the plumbers and electrician left, John asked me how the medicine cabinets were coming along. I told him I hadn't applied the finish coat yet because they were taking forever to dry after applying the stain. He asked me if I had sanded them first before I stained them -- which I hadn't. He explained that they probably already had a finish coat on them, which acts as a sealer, so the stain is just sitting on top of that rather than soaking into the wood. Ugh. He suggested I go to the hardware store and pick up some supplies to clean them up and start over.

Rather than subjecting myself to another trip to Home Depot, I went to our local Cherrydale Hardware store, which manages to cram a whole lot of stuff into a relatively small space. What a difference! The second I walked in the door someone asked if he could help me and then walked me over to the wood stain aisle while I explained the problem. He consulted with another employee and they also recommended that I sand the cabinets down and stain them again before applying the finish coat. They sold me two sheets of sandpaper, a tack cloth for cleaning off all the dust, and a brush for applying the finish (total: $8.15). I'll have to go back to the house tomorrow -- in more appropriate attire -- and put all this stuff to good use. Let's hope that does the trick!

Red, White & Bluey-Purple

Happy 4th, everyone!

Yesterday was a holiday, but Rob and Justin worked a half day in the morning and the Steves came by to meet with another potential client. Josh and I stopped by to see how things were going, and I checked on my medicine cabinets. Rob suggested I put a finish coat on them to seal them against the moisture in the bathroom, but they were still a little sticky from when I stained them on Thursday, so that will have to wait. Rob said he and Steve W both thought I did a nice job with the stain -- which was nice to hear.
I was thrilled to see my washer and dryer all cleaned up and moved into the laundry room. Rob said he ran the washer a couple times to get out all the dust that had accumulated inside while it was down in the basement for the past 5 months. Apparently, he learned that trick the hard way on a previous project when the homeowner complained that all the clothes in her first load of laundry turned brown. Oops! Anyway, I can't wait to do laundry in my own machines again! No more hoarding quarters...I hadn't noticed it, but Rob pointed out that Justin had left out a letter when marking the bathroom mirror. Or does "Fagile" means "mirror" in some language I'm not familiar with? We all had a good laugh over that -- including Justin.
Here's where the mirror will eventually go, but first they'll have to move the sconces over and down a bit so they end up on the sides of the mirror rather than above it.
My friend Ann -- who is visiting from California this week -- commented that this bathroom is "bluey-purple," which is a color our friend Michelle made up when we were in middle school. It was a bittersweet memory for us -- Michelle died in 1996 after a bone marrow transplant to treat her lymphoma -- but we sure had some good times during our "bluey-purple" period.

Counter Fit

There was a flurry of activity at the house today. When I arrived this afternoon, I was happy to see that the stucco crew had finished the area around the arched window of the master bath. No more unsightly gray patches!
And they had also patched up the holes that Rob made searching for the electrical outlet.
Inside, the counter guys were adjusting the hole for the kitchen sink. Apparently they'd been working on it for most of the day.
In the main level bathroom, we now have a sink, a toilet, and a sconce. We briefly had a mirror, but Rob said it was chipped so he sent it back.
In the master bathroom, we have a shower door and a window that you can push open at the top to air out the shower. It's a steam shower, so you have to be able to seal it up when you are using the steam function -- so it can potentially get a bit musty if you leave the door closed all the time. Rather than having to leave the door ajar, we had this operable window installed.
We have sconces in the master bath now, too.
And a ceiling fan in the master bedroom. A vast improvement over the fluorescent light!
The medicine cabinets we bought at two different Pottery Barn outlets are slightly lighter than the vanity in the master bath, so my task for today was to clean them up (they were VERY dusty!) and stain them so they'd match a little better. Rob got me set up down in the basement and then I was on my own. I've never done anything like this before, but it was fun to have my own little project to work on. And although I never met him, my paternal grandfather was a carpenter who made furniture, so I must have at least a little bit of woodworking skill in my blood.
While I was working on the cabinets, the Steves were giving a tour of the house to a prospective client, who seemed very impressed. They introduced us and suggested he take advantage of the opportunity to ask questions of the homeowner. We talked for a few minutes and he told me he thought the house was beautiful. It was nice to get such positive feedback from a complete stranger.

Elsewhere, John had installed more of the iron balusters on the stairs.
And Rob had converted our 2-panel island into a 4-panel island, which looks much better. Yes, those are Rob's feet sticking out next to the island. He's not taking a nap, he's working on the kitchen sink. Once the counter guys had installed all the soapstone in the kitchen, Rob and John had to make some more adjustments to the sink to bring it flush with the bottom of the counter.
Here is a transcript of the conversation I overheard just before taking this photo:
John: Robbie, would you like to do the caulk and I can do the screwing?
Rob: Nah. I'm already down here.
Naturally, I had to see what they were up to... and the scene fit in quite nicely with the double entendres in the dialogue.
After much cursing -- some of which was jokingly directed at me for choosing this pain-in-the-ass-to-install sink -- our dynamic duo finally coaxed it into place. This is a Kohler Carrizo sink, which has a 33" two-level basin. The sink in our apartment kitchen is about half this size, and if you try to wash anything large, like a cutting board or cookie sheet, you end up getting water all over the place. I hate doing dishes, but I imagine it will be a slightly more pleasant endeavor with this sink.
Here's a view of the kitchen from the stairs. It's changed a lot in just one week! Check out the same photo from last Thursday.
Tomorrow is a holiday, but they are still planning to work a half day, so I may go over in the morning to see how things are going and finish up the medicine cabinets.

Plumbing

We stopped by the house last night on our way out to dinner with our friends Ann & Matt to celebrate Josh's birthday. After some discussion, we reached a consensus that the detail on the iron balusters should line up with the handrail. I left a note and drawing for John trying to describe what we wanted, but just to be safe, I asked Josh to stop by the house on his way to work this morning to explain it to him in person.

When I went by the house this afternoon, I saw that the message was clearly received. John is the man!
While he and Rob were drilling holes for the railings on the stairs down to the basement, John entertained us with some Albanian folk tales. I wish I had known him when I was taking all those folklore classes in college -- he would have been a great resource! John asked what I'd like them to do with the space between the wall and the base of the newel post under the lip of the hardwood flooring. We need some kind of trim there to make the transition, but since it doesn't correspond with anything else in the house, there's nothing to specifically match it to. We eventually agreed on a simple oak crown-molding-type-thing.
Rob was pleased to note that the ceiling fan in the back upstairs bedroom did not, in fact, interfere with the pull-down ladder as we feared it would. There is just enough clearance that you can open it without hitting the fan blades.
The plumber was working in the house today, and I was happy to see that we now have a toilet in the master bathroom.
We also have a laundry sink in the laundry room, and the ironing board cabinet has been stained to match the windows and doors.
The plumbing fixtures have also been installed in the other upstairs bathroom. We have a porcelain and chrome theme in here, just like in our old bathroom, since we are reusing a lot of things from that room.
This wall cabinet was above the toilet in our old bathroom (it's from Pottery Barn -- it wasn't original to the house). It fits nicely above the toilet in this bathroom, too.
In the main level bathroom, the tile guys have prepped the vanity for the sink installation.
Tomorrow's going to be a very busy day at the house. I hope to be able to capture some of it without getting in the way. We'll see...

The Kitchen Sink

When I went over to the house yesterday afternoon, Rob and John were on the front porch cutting holes in the stucco by the front door. The stucco guys had accidentally stuccoed over the electrical box for our exterior outlet (for Christmas lights, electric yard tools, etc.). It took them a few tries, but they found it. Fortunately, the stucco crew has to come back anyway to finish the back of the house and the exterior of the master bathroom, so they can patch this up at the same time.
Inside, John had installed all the hand railings on the stairs.

We spent some time trying to figure out the best way to line up the metal balusters. They are supposed to alternate between the single and double twists, but the topography of the stairs makes it look a bit haphazard. John taped some in place and suggested Josh and I come back in the evening and take a look.Ian's crew had grouted the main level bathroom with white grout. I think we made the right decision on that -- the gray would have made it look too busy and detracted from the cool deco tile. (I know the yellow paint color looks different in these photos, but the one below is the closest to the actual color.)Upstairs, the master bedroom walls and built-ins have been painted. Like the classy fluorescent light fixture? That's just temporary. We'll eventually have a ceiling fan with an integrated light. The electricians were at the house installing all the electrical outlets, switches, ceiling fans, and light fixtures. Here's the cool little light I picked out for the entryway in the master bedroom.
The ceiling fan in the front bedroom downstairs.Here is the new light in the living room. We didn't have an overhead light in there before, so it was a bit dark. The glass matches a Tiffany-style table lamp that will go in this room.Here's what it looks like switched on.

I don't think I've taken a photo of these yet. They installed these teeny little radiators in the basement. They're about a foot tall.The pivoting wall mirror I ordered for the small upstairs bathroom had arrived, so I grabbed a part of the towel bar that goes in the same bathroom to see if the brackets matched. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it matches exactly because it was made by the same company! We had bought the towel bar at Restoration Hardware several years ago, and I ordered the mirror online from a company that sells all sorts of home furnishings, so I wasn't expecting them to be from the same manufacturer.
We now have a wood panel on the back of the kitchen island. This isn't quite how I was expecting it to look -- I thought it would have 3 panels, not 2 -- but it will have a countertop over it and chairs in front of it, so I'm sure I can live with it.
Rob and John were trying to install the kitchen sink, but the cabinet turned out to be an inch smaller than the sink, so they had to trim the edges off to make it fit. I'm not sure how that happened, since I'm pretty sure I provided the specs for the sink when we ordered the cabinets.
Fortunately, after much trimming and tweaking, they were able to fit the sink in the cabinet. We were all extremely relieved -- especially since the countertop is going to be installed tomorrow.
Lots of other stuff will be happening tomorrow as well. I think the appliances will be delivered, and the electricians will be back to finish installing the lights. I'm excited to see the kitchen come together.