WEEK 17 - A WEEK OF HURDLES!

Monday, February 28, 2011

Sunday was a long day for us.  I repainted the ceiling again!  Changed the color of the kitchen walls, added a second coat to the accent wall and finished up the powder room.  Wayne worked on getting the living room cleaned and prepped.  I finally quit painting around 11:00pm

Powder Room

  

Isaak is here at his usual time, but no assistant today.  The interview process begins once again. 

I knew there was not much to do in the kitchen for him, that’s why I wanted to get the powder room painted.  Isaak can now direct his attention to the bathroom!  We start off the morning by locating the placement for the bathroom light fixture.  This will make his job a little easier having more light to see.  The light fixture has a little chip in one on the glass shades, so I have to reorder a new fixture or a new shade.  Always something!

We look at the kitchen ceiling and decide I am not a very good painter!  I love the new wall color, but hate my ceiling.  So I called Marchello the painter and asked him to quote me a price on the ceiling only.  The eggshell finish is too challenging to work with.  Therefore I ask Isaak to hold off of installing the lighting trims once again.  Marchello and I made arrangements to meet later in the day.

I came home early to meet Marchello and he gives me a great number and agrees to have it done on Wednesday before John comes back with the crown moulding.  “While you are at it Marchello…”  Those words are so expensive!!!  …please quote the living room and hallway.  We’ll see what happens when I get that quote.  My back will certainly appreciate it, and there is so much prep work to be done.

Isaak is already gone for the day.  He has put on all the wall plates throughout the kitchen and dining area.  He has finished the final skim coat on top of the shower base and installed the honed jet mist sills for the shower curb.

Wall plates up!
Gorgeous countertops!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

March is here!  WOW!  That was fast!  My expectations were to be completed by the middle of March.  We have plans to move back into the kitchen this weekend, and start using it on a regular basis.  The backsplash tile will hold us up for a while, and the stencil and final coats for the flooring.  So for the most part we are almost there.

No Isaak today.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Tile day for the powder room! Soon this room will be complete and we will have a second toilet again!  Oh yes, it’s the little luxuries in life that count!

John and I are off completing a final punch list down the shore today.  If he does not get back to his shop by 5:00pm, I will not have crown moulding tomorrow.  John leaves the jobsite after 6pm so I already know not to expect him tomorrow.  That’s ok for me; I did not want them to rush the finishing.

I get home all excited to see the tile completed, but only a half of one wall is completed.  And it looks horrible!!!  Not any fault of Isaak’s, but that of the manufacturer.  Some of the subway tile has a slight cup or concave curve to it.  I had run into this problem several years ago with the same color but a larger 4 x 8 tile.  That was the reason we switched to the smaller 3 x 6.  With the cupping and small grout spacing the tile looks more like a basket weave pattern than a brick pattern.  This will have to come down and new tile will be re-ordered.  What a bummer!

The highlight of the day is the ceiling looks fantastic!  Marchello used a Benjamin Moore Aura paint made strictly for Kitchen and Bath in a flat finish that looks awesome.  All my streaks and edge lines are gone!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Isaak is bummed to find out that John is not coming today with the crown for the kitchen and living room.  So we spend the time selecting the right heights of the pendants and chandelier.  Most of these are predetermined in 6” or 12” increments since the lights are hanging from rods.

That is one of the advantages of working with Isaak.  Since he does it all and there is an unexpected hiccup in the schedule, he can move on to do something else.  Therefore Isaak never wastes a day!

I get a phone call late morning from Isaak apologizing that he had to leave because his mom is having chest pains and needs to be rushed to the hospital.  He is all apologetic about leaving his tools and things about the kitchen.  I tell him not to worry about the kitchen and concentrate on driving and getting his mother to the hospital.  Wow this family does not get a break. 

Fortunately it is a combination of stress, anxiety and a case of vertigo.  No signs of a heart attack! 

I head back to the house around 4:30 to meet with our floor guy Dave, and guess who is there?  Isaak is back already finishing up the installation of one of the pendants.  Wow this man constantly amazes me.  His dedication to his work is fantastic.  Isaak has managed to get all the lighting trims on and bulbs in, chandelier up and one of the pendants installed, clean up his tools and out of here by 5:00pm.

Dave and I talk about the floor and make plans for the final finishing the floors next week.

Wayne comes home to find the house a glow with light!  And there is a lot of light!  Of course all the fixtures are not meant to be all on at the same time; each is task specific.  And in keeping with our traditional excitement; we go around and play with every switch and dimmer there is!  It was another long evening of just gazing at our new kitchen in awe.  So after too much time has passed it is time to go out for dinner.  Neither one of us wants to cook and dirty up the kitchen!

Friday, March 4, 2011

I am so excited for today.  The crown will go up and the roll-outs and dividers will be installed.  We can finally start moving back into the kitchen.  Wayne has taken a vacation days for today and Monday so the unpacking can begin!  Isaak decided it might be a bit too crowded today, so he is off at another one of his clients fixing up snow and ice damage.

John and Joe arrive and are impressed with the paint colors and lighting fixtures.  I’m complaining about the little things of having the screws in the canopy aligned a certain way.  Yes, I am very detailed oriented, which others refer to as anal-retentive.  By the way does that have a hyphen? ha ha!  I am explaining to John how the little things bother me, but the big things do not bother me as much.  When it is big, like curved tile, there is only one solution to make it right.  John says he is happy to hear that because the crown moulding was not dry enough to make the trip today.

Yes, I was disappointed, and I could tell John was just as disappointed.  We all take great pride in our work, and when a client is disappointed we all feel personally responsible.  I reassure John that this is ok!  I much rather have it done right the first time than spending the time fixing it up later on.  There are many other things they can be doing today.  Now I have to break the news to Wayne.

The guys spend the day adjusting end panels, locating hardware and starting the fascia mouldings.  After the first fascia moulding or crown carrier is installed I notice a difference in color.  The doors are much creamier than the moulding.  These are definitely two different colors.  John checks with the shop and even though the formulas are marked the same on the paint, there is a difference. 

Now we check all the base mouldings, casings, shelves etc that were painted after the doors and drawers.  All of these match the moulding and not the doors.  This was definitely an error at the paint shop, not the cabinet shop.  Wow the mood of the room dropped severely as all our hearts are weighed down with disappointment.  But there is only one way to make it right.  The pieces will have to be repainted to match the cabinets.  I feel bad for John, because he can not recoup this time in labor. 

Joe installing hardware



And the winner is....



Awesome spice cabinet!

See there was still lots of great things that happened!

This will be the biggest hurdle of the project, but it does not keep us from using the kitchen.  It will just postpone our moving back into the kitchen.  Now the backordered backsplash tile might have a chance of being installed first which will be easier than trying to cut around the mouldings.  I have to find a bright side!  The kitchen is going to be great! 

PROGRESS may seem dimmed, but it is still shining!