Leaving our mark

The kids were out all day yesterday, thanks to J's godmother, DH, so we didn't get the chance to do the Grauman's Chinese Theatre thing until 9 o'clock at night. There was a huge pile of old hardwood with nails protruding every which way blocking access to the sideyard, so we had to clamber down across the unfinished deck and stairs to the fresh concrete. Our newly installed outdoor motion sensing lights were spastically going on and off the whole while, but we managed to get the deed done! The concrete was pretty stiff, so we had to press hard.

A moment to remember!

One way to get a break from cooking...

Pay no attention to the boxed wine.

...Enshroud your kitchen!
The kids are already whining about having to buy school lunch next week. They are proud that they've never had it before. So spoiled!! But there's only so much I can do with a mini fridge, a microwave, and the powder room sink. I'm focusing my mental energy on breakfasts and *maybe* a simple dinner or two.
You know you're a freak when you actually think it's kinda fun to set up the temporary kitchen. That's me!
I expect we'll be out of the kitchen for about 2 weeks.

Breaking in the living room

We moved into the new living room today so that our crew can begin replacing the hardwoods and making some wall changes in the old living room and dining room (soon to be dining room and office).
I'm a little in awe - I can't believe we are really starting to use our new space! R and I will still be sleeping on the pullout for a couple of weeks (kids are temporarily squatting in the master bedroom until their rooms are done), but it's so exciting to experience a whole new couple of rooms!

One step at a time

As we continue with the radiant flooring saga... They have now glued down the tracks in both kids' bedrooms. They were clever enough to screw thin board across all the tracks do that they could lift a whole section at once, spread the glue, then press the tracks into the glue.
The aluminum tracks were very noisy (clack, clack, clack) to walk across when loose. Now they are quiet!

Pretty little powder room

The protective paper is covering the tile flooring, but otherwise you can see that the powder room is complete.

One room down, nine more to go!

Radiant progress

Sometime on Tuesday, the contractor announced that we didn't have enough material to do the radiant flooring, despite the fact that we paid for what was needed for our square footage.  Wah??

This prompted a call to the radiant flooring supplier, who came by this morning to check our project.  While visiting, he checked our radiant system and even pressure tested all the connections.  Everything is installed properly.  Woo-hoo!  These systems are so complicated that this is a huge relief.

The radiant guy also resolved the materials issue.  Next, the contractor will bring the chop saw so that the tracks can be cut to length and glued down.  We are inching our way there!

The radiant has truly been an expensive, time-consuming headache, but I am so glad we have stuck with it now that the light is at the end of the tunnel.  My kids' warm toes will be worth it.

Preliminary track layout

Radiant plumbing - all done!

Relocating the bathroom door

The biggest privacy enhancer of our project? By moving the bathroom door from the hallway to the master bedroom closet, we'll gain a master suite.  We'll have our own bathroom for the first time since 2001!

As a bonus, we're also gaining a pantry area across the space where the door used to be.  Score!  You can see one remaining shelf of the teeny-weeny old pantry in the first photo below.  The opening below the shelf is the cold air return for the furnace, so that stays.  We'll be putting a message center/phone nook (or maybe a wine/liquor nook?) over the cold air return in the space where the pantry used to be.  New pantry cabinets will be installed to the right.

View from hallway: framing the wall across the old
bathroom door

Framing the phone nook

New bathroom entry from the master
bedroom closet

Drywall around the nook, new hardwood being
installed through the hallway

Old bathroom door now covered in drywall

My turn to use the workers' portapotty

Came home from a dance performance at J's school to discover this... Surprise! We're working on the master bathroom walls today! Nevermind that it's the only working bathroom in the house...

All should be cleaned up and in the most basic working order by the end of the day (minus tile, and some drywall). But between now and then, it's the portapotty for me - whoopee!

Soon this doorway from the hallway
will be gone...

The kids' old closet becomes part
of the bathroom

Enshrouded toilet with new pocket doorway
to new master closet beyond

Pop goes the circuit breaker

Sunday, when I was drying my hair while the coffee maker was on... This morning, when the washer and dryer were running, and the coffee maker timer turned on... And many other times throughout the project, though the problem has intensified since the electrician turned the power on to the new side last week...
Luckily, we spoke with the electrician last night, and our current capacity issues are temporary. A few days ago, he routed three circuits into one breaker to provide plenty of juice for the power tools, but left us a little lacking. He'll fix it on Friday.
We still have a general capacity issue, and are thinking about what we'll have to do to solve it. We're not sure if solar is the right answer.
Would you believe, the breaker popped even as I was typing this??

I can see my backyard from here!

The temporary wall that we've been living with since the beginning of November is gone! No longer are we separated from the noise, dust, and cold (the new part is still unheated). Nevertheless, it means progress, and it's so amazing to be able to see our new space without walking out the front door, down the steps, through the garage, and up the interior stairs!

As soon as the hallway paint is dry, I will be able to do my laundry without carrying the baskets outside around the front of the house - yippee!

View through the hallway from the
kitchen to the new living room

View through the hallway from the
kitchen to the new master bedroom

When the walls come tumblin' down

We only had 15 minutes of notice that the temporary wall was coming down before we had to leave for school this morning, but we made the most of it!

We can write on the wall?  Really?

Wish we had more time...

I know - I'll draw cats!

This is cool.

J and Skystripe

Starting to get excited!

With the lights in, paint on the walls, hardwood going in, I'm starting to let myself get excited that there really will be a point when the construction is over and we can just live in our lovely new space!

Living room with deck and hillside beyond

Fireplace and living room entry door

Loft above

Other end of loft

Master bedroom reading lights

Fiat lux

They've turned on the electricity to the new rooms - yippee! I ran down to Cole Hardware to pick up bulbs, and they were selling bulb-style CFLs for $0.50 (normally $6.50). You'd better believe I stocked up!

T's bedroom

J's bedroom

Master bedroom entryway

Back in action

Our contractor has recovered, and work has resumed! Photo updates below...

Hardwood installation in master bedroom

Radiant heat plumbing work continues...

Sink, toilet, tile, and baseboard installed in
powder room (floor covered by paper, sink
plumbing not finished yet)

Sounds of silence

We're going on our second day of project shut down. No, our workers aren't on strike, but the boss has the flu. It's not been a good month for him - he got into an accident and totaled his pick up truck on Saturday, but luckily wasn't injured.
It's eerily quiet around here. With the kids at school and no hammering, pounding, compressers, or voices, it's just little ole me typing away at the keyboard all day. It's been nearly six months since we've had this kind of stillness. I realize how accustomed I've become to the chaos, and how lovely it will be to settle into peace again once we are done.
I'm sure the neighbors will appreciate it too!

Stairway to heaven

The deck stairs are coming to life...

Oooh - color!

Our first paint color went up today! Exciting!

The dreaded moment

After a few days of hearing our contractor hint that he had some unhappy financial news for us, we finally met Saturday morning.

Surprise! Our project is more over budget than we thought. Somehow, all those whileweareatits did indeed add up. It's not that we didn't know they would... Perhaps we were just in denial from lack of information?

After a few tears, a re-analysis of our cost spreadsheet, and a deep breath, we reached out for another loan. Definitely not what we'd hoped, but we'll figure it out somehow. Let's just say that there are many items (furniture, technology, built-ins) we'll have to wait a little more patiently to get.

R made the astute observation that, had we known the full extent of our overages, we wouldn't have done the fireplace, the deck, and several other features that will make the end result fantastic. We're choosing to see it as a blessing that we built these when we had the chance.

My friend K stopped by today with these napkins, so apropos!

Fancy fireplace

We didn't realize when we added the fireplace stone to the project that it would be a one-week detour. But even though we didn't complete a temporary move this weekend as planned, I think it was worth it!

There's a piece of plywood serving as a placeholder for a piece of reclaimed redwood we'll install for the mantle later.