Week 22
A lesson in coordination and communication comes this week. Joe met with the countertop installer out at the house this week. What comes of this meeting is the following: 1.) He is not available until late October or November. (I communicate that this is far too long) 2.) He cannot even give us a ballpark estimate of how much installation is going to cost. (I communicate to Joe that this is shady) So we dreadfully await the estimate to come back this week. This leads us to our next coordination issue.
An alternate countertop option. So we go to the "Other Big Box Hardware Retailer" which shall be unnamed, similar to Voldemort. With a kitchen sketch in our hands outlining exactly the square footage, linear inches, etc etc in our hand we go to the kitchen department. We survey alternate counter options for at least 15mins, with no assistance. Then a less than eager employee, we shall call "Not to Sharp Sally", came over and asked if we needed any help. We went through the usual rotation of questions of delivery, lead time, installation etc. The hardest question come to find out was "What is the thickness of a solid surface countertop?" Or exchange went something like this:
Us:"What is the thickness of a solid surface countertop?"
Sally: "This thick" (referring to the instore sample counter)
Us: "What is that dimension?"
Sally:"Right here, this thick. (Again pointing to the counter)
Us:" Yes, we see the counter, how thick is that, 1 1/4"?
Sally:" Well the backsplash is all the same, this thick (Again, pointing)
Us:" Do you have a tape measure, so we can measure the thickness?"
Sally" I think so, but you can see the thickness right here (pointing)
Us:"Thanks, Sally. Where are your shotguns?"
Sweet Jesus. Upon further investigation on our own, which included going to the tool department to get our own measuring device, we found that the solid surface countertop is 1 1/2" thick. In case you cannot visualize the pointing to the store sample to get an accurate dimension.
We also worked on the dining room today. The chair rail and the crown molding have been taken down. Now there is a ring of drywall patch circling the dining room. Our nemesis, plaster, has struck again, where there are random holes in the wall where it decided to just crumble at the slightest touch, some places randomly fell apart, no assistance needed. So there is a series of patches being applied before it can be primed and painted. We are painting it the same color as the kitchen. We will revisit the chair rail detail at a later time. We will be putting crown molding back up, with the assistance of John and his pneumatic nailer.
On another ER related note, appendicitis strikes again! One degree of separation this time. Cousin Heidi (the Bride to be Oct 28) had her appendix taken out this morning, after attending a Tiger's game yesterday. Get Well, Joe will sell you some drugs if needed.
Week 21
The kitchen progress slows to odds and ends until the countertops are installed. Joe is in charge of setting up the arrangements for this, at this point none have been made. Mysteriously, the installer has been unavailable to contact over the last week. I am not sure how anyone runs a business for profit if they are "unreachable". For those of you reading this at the Schott, please "remind" Joe of his kitchen obligations during the day, his "positive reinforcement reminders" at home don't seem to be sinking in.
A good experiment was tested this weekend, another 24 home alone period was tested. We all know how the last unsupervised weekend ended up, that's right the ER. I went back to Toledo for a bridal shower and a "quick" trip to the new IKEA in Canton, MI while Joe entertained a football crowd in Columbus. No visits to the ER were required this weekend.
You will notice that there are no appliances left in the dining room. The fridge was moved to the basement by Joe and JD before the football game. I think Joe scammed him by throwing a "gameday" party and forgot to mention "move appliance party" on the phone. The other big accomplishment throughout the week has been slowly integrating food back into the kitchen. We have a real live pantry that is housing the rations that came up from the basement. The rest of the cupboards have yet to be filled, everything has to be run through the dishwasher. As the kitchen chain reaction goes, no dishwasher until there is a sink, no sink until there is countertops, no countertops until Joe makes the arrangements. Also in this pic, you will notice the only remains left of our Favorite contractor, John. It is his Little Giant, one of his most prized possesions in the whole entire world, behind his ipod and Ed his cat. We have not seen John at the house for quite some time, the kitchen takes its toll on everyone, but we never thought on our favorite and most tool owning friend John.
Week 20
The Kitchen Remodel puts the "Labor" into Happy Labor Day weekend. This week has brought big improvements to the kitchen, mainly the addition of 3 functioning appliances actually located in a permanent location and not the dining room. During the week, our shiny new glorious stainless steel appliances were delivered and placed in the center of the kitchen. Some assembly required, to be specific the utility connections.
To help us celebrate Labor Days, Foreman Dad and Mom Socie made the trip to help out. It was also the Foremans 53rd Birthday. A celebration was held by birthday breakfast cooked on the new stove. Let's not forget the anchoring of cabinets to the floor. Word has it that Evil Shelia at home ate half of the birthday cake that Amy had made.
Let there be Light. We also bought Foreman Dad a new pair of sunglasses. His opinion is that we have a "well lit" kitchen and there isn't any shortage of accent lighting. Anything will seem brighter than 1 fixture with a 50 watt bulb. We prefer the zoned lighting plan which includes: work lighting, task lighting, accent lighting, party lighting, microwave programmable lighting, fridge automatic sensor lighting and away lighting. But in fact there is no track lighting.
A lot of odds and ends were picked up this weekend, the final lighting plan installed, anchoring of the cabinets, installation of the appliances, paint stripping of the basement door and confirmation of countertop selection. Look for future blog postings on the countertops.
The fall season is upon us, which brings a lot of distractions, like football and weddings. It is going to be tricky to squeeze in the final renovation work between all of the upcoming events.
A lesson in coordination and communication comes this week. Joe met with the countertop installer out at the house this week. What comes of this meeting is the following: 1.) He is not available until late October or November. (I communicate that this is far too long) 2.) He cannot even give us a ballpark estimate of how much installation is going to cost. (I communicate to Joe that this is shady) So we dreadfully await the estimate to come back this week. This leads us to our next coordination issue.
