Broken Bow Finished

It is a few days past two months since my last post and this will likely be the finale.  I've had to overcome my delusional idea that everything needs to be completed and in place before final pictures.  My perfectionist self needs to take a rest!!  And who am I kidding, it's just not going to happen any time soon.

We're comfortably living in our home with an eye toward more improvements in the future.  Almost all of them are outdoor projects; landscaping, house painting and so on.  Yes, we do want to remodel our bath but I'll have to be institutionalized during the process.  The entire experience was very good, the pluses way outweighed the minuses.  Except for the tile people, every subcontractor that worked here was excellent, respectful, clean, professional and had a sense of humor.  We couldn't have asked for more and managed to snag all their business cards for future projects we'd like to handle ourselves.

Things we love:

1.  Brazilian Tiger Mahogany floors - just beautiful, darkening with time, strong and scratch resistent (we've already babysat the dogs to prove that point) and enriching the feeling in the house.

2.  Simington dual paned windows and doors - there were dual paned here already but what garbage!!  Not only do we get a $1500 tax credit, we get much less noise and heat in the house.  Very worth the money although the tax credit v cost of the windows is huge.

3.  New front door - oh my goodness, no ugly dried up wood with huge air leaks!  Who wouldn't love that.

4.  Kitchen counters and appliances - all great, easy to clean, beautiful to look at  and very functional.

5.  Bathrooms - a huge improvement however, limestone is tricky so I wouldn't select this product again. Basically I can't clean the tiles with anything other than hot water and have to be careful when using harsher products in the sinks and toilets.  Limestone is a soft stone that doesn't hold up well to lots of use.  When asking why I wasn't told this the "designer" said "well these are bathrooms that will get little use so I didn't think it would be an issue".  Didn't think!!  Both bathrooms are beautiful but not practical.  The guest bath, because the floor is not polished stone, will be less problematic.

6.  Yard - we've lost our hardworking gardener to the bottle - a factoid that came up late in our relationship.  As you can see from the pictures, landscaping the backyard presents challenges.  Stan is the Mountain Goat and does all the up hill work. He enjoys it, so he says, but I'm not crazy about his being up there.  Most of the plants are now in place on our hill of granite.  Our only concern is debris (rocks) sliding down during the rainy season.  Everything would head straight for the pool which wouldn't be fine with us.  Our plan is to plant ground cover to keep everything in place.  You can see that there isn't lots of soil to work with, a totally different way to garden for me.  Note that most of the succulents and cactus on the patio level of the garden came with us (in pots) from Cambria.  They are so much happier here, growing like weeds.   Everything is happier.  I had fabulous begonias this year and two orchids are blooming now.  I wasn't anticipating this good fortune.  It's likely the very mild summer weather has helped more than anything.

7.  Living in a single story house - oh this is so nice!

Although this place is bigger than our main house in Cambria it doesn't hold as much.  The walls are not as large so decisions about where and how to hang pictures has been frustrating.  There is little storage space which means more of what came with us has to go.

To sum up this experience I would say we shouldn't have moved to remodel so quickly but what's done is done and we're content with the final product.  Without question a major remodel has to include moving out, there is no other way to maintain sanity and live comfortably.  The people you hire will become your family for awhile so it's important to have a good feeling about them, it's important to know you can communicate easily about tough things.  Add 25% more time and 25% to the budget you are quoted because no matter how hard you try to stick to it, something will come up.  You'll see an opportunity to make a cubby hole with glass shelves (that requires dry wall, paint, counter top, glass for shelves) or need to cover windows you hadn't figured on - whatever......if you factor those %'s in at the beginning of the budgetary process it will allow you wiggle room.  Easier to feel you've saved rather than overspent at the end.  A couple of things we learned before our first remodel, years ago, that still hold true for us....request a budget meeting with your contractor weekly or biweekly (difficult for us to do on this project which was frustrating) and always get "materials releases" from every contractor or sub working on your project.  Materials release is proof that your sub or contractor paid "in full" for materials used on your house.  Since you will be responsible for those bills in the end and you who will have the mechanics lien placed on your house if the contractor goes fishing in Montana or kayaking in Hawaii :-) with your money, you just gotta do it.  If your contractor is unwilling to agree, you need to find another one.

So the B&B on Broken Bow Ct. in Rancho Bernardo is open for business.  Come one, come all!!  Thanks for following this, patiently waiting for the last post (some of you were patient :-) and being so supportive.

Much love,
Ellen & Stan

Below is a link to "Broken Bow Finished" You can view the pictures or slideshow.   Photo's begin at the entry/front door and travel through the dining room, living room, kitchen/my work space, Stan's work space/den, powder room, guest bedroom, guest bath, our bedroom, hallway, laundry area and the mountain of granite.  Please enjoy!

You are invited to view Elly's photo album: Broken Bow Finished Broken Bow Finished Sep 16, 2010 by Elly View Album  Play slideshow

Per Suzanne's Request

We received some questions about our choices and why we did certain things.  Aha - you've figured us out!

Regarding the guest bathroom, more pictures might help.  The rock comes flat, polished and on mesh - ready to go.  What I didn't visualize was how much grout would be on the floor and how uneven it would be.  Mostly what didn't occur to me was the cleaning nightmare it would be.  To try to talk me out of pulling up the floor they applied a sealer that enhances the stone and darkens the grout as well as seals.   Well, to me it wasn't that big an improvement.  Still will be hard to clean and there is just too much grout.  Should have remembered this from mosaics.

Guest bath counter.  Backsplash still not complete.

Bath floor.  In the center by the left hand corner of the cabinet is the enhanced portion (god forbid they should have done the whole thing!).  While it looks better enhanced it doesn't look good, in my opinion.







Close up of the difference.







Another view of shower stall.  Seagrass limestone, a double row of glass tile as an accent, rock on the floor.

Accent tile.







I'm trying to arrange the furniture.  The two seater piece is supposed to be in the living room with the sectional.  I think the woman that looked at our floor plan and measured everything was on drugs!  Today we tried moving the two seater up to the level above the main living room.  Not liking it there.  The goldish colored thing you see on our metal table is the ceiling fixture for that room.  Me thinks that was a mistake too.

The two stools are where the two seater should go.  Looks more open to me now but have to play with it some more.  Note:  still need flooring in here.






New chair designed by Candice Olsen for some furniture company.  I love this chair!!











Suz, if you'll notice you can see both edged of the Ceaserstone here (could've been a better photo).  Notice the bar counter extends out without the support of a cabinet.  Same is true for part of the island in the kitchen.  Because of the way it is structured we had to have a wider edge on the counter material.  I had chose just a simple polished edge (you can see that on the lower counter where the cooktop is).  Two reasons - 1. it's less expensive to have that edge (no fabrication, just polishing) and 2. it's more contemporary - our taste.  Cambria kitchen had that edge as well.  No one seemed concerned that we had both edges in the same room and I think it looks fine.


Better view of the differences.









All for now.  Happy Sunday.

Pain Has No Memory

The saying "pain has no memory" is so completely true!  The first time I heard that was after Steve was born.  I had asked my Dr. how women can keep having children once they've been through the experience of birthing.  Though not at all the same, remodeling (or building from scratch) is a birthing experience and perhaps we've learned, finally, that we don't want this kind of pain anymore.  The last month has been especially difficult.  I have felt, more than once, that I'm losing it and we've been very tense with one another.  Don't ever let anyone tell you this will come without pressures and frustrations.  In the end it is good to put your feelings into some kind of perspective.  Is this as horrible as the oil spill in the Gulf?  Is it as awful as losing something precious to you?  Is it a lasting pain?

After moving back into our bedroom/bathroom, May 15th, progress seemed to slow although people were here all the time.  The reality is the schedule was way too ambitious.  It didn't account for things like being one tile short of a floor and having to send to New Jersey to get another or the flooring bullnose and tread coming in the wrong color.  It didn't include the floor people wanting to be alone (no other subs in the house) when they worked or a host of other things, like my picking the wrong color for one of the bathrooms and not being here the day they painted the wall to yell STOP.  One of my worst nightmares was when the tile people started using their saws (two saws) IN THE HOUSE.  We weren't here then either.  The painters had just finished painting the house, including the purple wall in the dining room.  One of the tile guys just parked his saw adjacent to said wall and proceeded to cut, splashing everything!  I was sooooooo mad.  There is no excuse for using a wet saw in a house where plenty of outlets are available outside (extension cords work well also), our tile guy in Cambria taught me that.  Five tile people here, all of them barely out of diapers and not two brain cells to rub together.  They chattered like teenage girls, they congregated in the guest bath to talk (all of 'em) while only one worked, they'd work for an hour and take a 20 minute break.  All of this, as Steve pointed out, would have gone unnoticed if we hadn't been living here.  Even the other subs were complaining about the tile guys.  Eventually things were straightened out but not before both of us were in knots over it.  It's not like these kinds of things haven't happened to us before but......pain has no memory.

I should add that upon completion of the guest bath with the rock shower pan and floor I decided I hated it.  My instinct was to go with the limestone on the floor, except for the shower pan, and I should have stuck to my gut feelings.  It's going to get ripped out and redone.  Ugly!!

So here we are getting very close to the family party on Memorial Day weekend and I can see there is no way we'll be near the end.  Steve is starting to worry the party will take place at his house.  Our project manager knows/feels this and is caught in the middle, so to speak, because this is what Marrokal had promised us (let's not talk about our obvious naiveté).  As we realized it wasn't going to come together, I had to let go of the idea that everything would be perfect - actually, I was just praying for a functioning toilet and sink.  The day before everyone was to arrive, Kathi (one of my dearest friends of a lifetime) flew in from Reno to help me stay calm and unpack boxes.  The date is now Thursday, May 27th and the granite people are installing all the countertops while the flooring people are laying down the dining room floor.  Kathi tells me it is alright to order in pizza's and salads for the 11 expected guests the next night (hard to believe I needed to be told that was o.k. to do!) and we shopped for weekend necessities (beer & wine) until we could get into the house to unpack boxes.  We vacuumed and cleaned all the kitchen cabinets while Stan brought in a few choice boxes to be unpacked.  We were looking for Heathware, silverware, glasses - just the basics although we ended up opening a few more things just to find what we were looking for.  When the floor people had finished that day we had two completed rooms and the hallway - our bedroom and the dining room.  They also had partially completed the kitchen and den/office with the wood.  Stan spent the night at Steve's while Kathi and I shared our bed (no guest room or guest bath).   Friday we woke up, already exhausted, as Stan and several workmen arrived at 7am.  Picture a house with no appliances, sinks, toilets, doors, light fixtures, furniture other than some of our bedroom things, molding, etc.

In what can only be described as an episode of Extreme Home Makeover we had a fully functioning home by the end of the day.  Everyone, save the tile guys :-), who had worked on this house showed up to put as much as possible together.  Plumbers, appliance installers, electricians, finish carpenters, movers, etc.  At some point one of the carpenters yelled out "bus driver, move that bus".  Hilarious.  Steve went to the airport to get Mom and Karen (the other half of the friends of a lifetime) who escorted Mom here to her birthday party.  Kathi and I met the three of them for lunch while Stan stayed home to tell the movers where to put furniture.  I was wound up so tight the two glasses of wine I drank for lunch didn't even phase me!  When I got home, a couple of hours later, our project manager and one of the carpenters were washing windows.  It was an amazing experience.  It was a gift that just blew us away.  By the time people arrived for dinner, we were in business.

I am not there yet but I will love this house.  It is light and open with views out of every window.  We love the way it flows, the colors we chose and the floors.  Most of all, at this point, we love the JACUZZI.  There will be another week to ten days of work, the tile isn't finished and the living room floor needs to be laid.  We have a long punch list of things to be addressed.  At this point we want to be alone, enough intrusions!  I'm including pictures to give you an update and will add new ones when we've got everything in place.  When it is all said and done we'll forget what the past 3 1/2 months have been like and just reap the rewards.

The guest bath shower

OMG!!!!

It has been a very trying time.  Just thought I'd say we are alive and struggling to have some semblance of a home for Memorial Day weekend.  This project won't be nearly finished, likely there will be no appliances in place or toilets working until late Friday afternoon.  Needless to say, Mother will stay in a hotel.  It is what it is and hopefully the family will be comfortable enough for meals and gathering.  Some of the floor will be wood, some will be sealed concrete.   It's not pretty!

This is the update for now.   I'll feel more like a lengthy msg. and pictures next week.

Trying to Breathe

Were it not for the challenge of trying to get a livable house by May 28th, we'd be fine.  Well, having to pack up again isn't that swell either.



Our flooring, albiet covered plaster dust, and the gray/green color of our bedroom walls.  Fireplace ready to receive a granite covering.







View from the entry looking into the dining room (sort of)

Looking from the kitchen toward Stan's office/guest space (the other side of the pocket door) and my desk space

 The new retaining wall.  Citrus and herbs planted above, rose bushes (my first, ever!) below on the right at about the center of the photo.








Some of the succulents and cactus transplanted into the yard.  The two above pics are of backyard.   I won't show you pics of the trees cause they look like lost little things sitting on top of rocks.  I can't say enough good things about our gardeners and how hard they've worked.










So above are the accomplishments for the week - drywall completion, tons of yard work, painting of all the ceilings and priming of all the walls.  This coming week the "finish carpenter" will install all the doors and do whatever else a f.c. does, except not the molding just yet.  The electrician will finish up everything except the switch plates and I don't know what else is in store.  More yard work......

Oh yes...I do know,  the cabinets come in!!  On the 17th the granite templates are made, the painting is continued, the flooring will start progressing and hopefully our windows and front door will also be installed.  The bad news...it takes the granite people two weeks to complete fabrication (cutting of the pieces to match the template and polishing).  Granite (at least the kitchen and guest bathroom) will be installed on the 28th.  Mom and family arrive on the 28th.  No cooktop, no sinks in working order!  The next day, a Saturday, if the plumber is willing, we may get those things.  I'm creating a menu for Friday night that involves a BBQ, plastic plates (maybe I'll spring for Melamine) and a large trash can.  Other bad news....Stan tried plugging in our magnificent refrigerator today (in the garage where it lives) so we could use it for the next two weeks.  It doesn't work!!

The good news - we'll take a little vacation to Ashland, OR beginning Wednesday which should relieve stress nicely.  When we return we'll move into the bedroom/bathroom/closet of our house and I am just so happy at the prospect of living there, I don't care how many rooms we'll have.

I'm trying to breathe, Stan is exhausted and we're both sore.  Other than that it has been a great week :-)

Can It Be May?

No pictures this week.  You'll just have to believe me when I say our bedroom has been painted, the concrete floor is prepped for wood, most of the walls (in the house) have been finished and are awaiting paint and the backyard is coming together.  I have to go away more often, things move swiftly in my absence.

This week saw the planting of trees on our mountain of granite and the building of a retaining wall out of concrete blocks.  Today we shopped for herbs and roses.  Our gardeners come Monday to finish working on the drip system and plant.  We're putting in a Meyer Lemon, a Mexican Lime and a Cara Cara Orange with the herbs underneath.  We'll also put the roses in and work on planting all the succulents we shlepped from Cambria.  Last Sunday I stepped up on the lower part of the back slope (to place the pots of succulents for planting) when what should I meet passing by - a King snake!   In my mind it was at least 10 feet long, Stan says it was 3 1/2' at the most.  I uttered a mumble and then said "Mother of God" which I'm convinced never crossed my lips (or mind) before this chance meeting.  While Stan finished whatever it was he was doing, I sat in the car completely stunned.  I don't know if I can ever get up on that hill again.  I'm not cut out for this kind of stuff.  Lizards are one thing, snakes.....not a chance I'll adjust and while Stan was the usual Mr. Calm & Collected, I didn't see him smiling either.

Next week there will be pictures and more progress to report.  We are two weeks away from moving back in, four from Mom's birthday (OMG!).  Everyone seems intent on making this happen.  All the lights and plumbing fixtures are in the garage, the tile has been ordered, flooring and cabinets come in at the end of next week (I think).

More soon..........

Garden & Further Optimism

We have a busy weekend with Doug & Sue here.  Tess vaults today at a meet at UCSD, this will be our first time to see her compete this season.  Busy, productive week at the house, all good.  Next week I'll be up north to see Mom so will write a brief post.

Our bedroom has been drywalled and skip troweled.  Look - no monster fireplace wall, no more ugly blue tiles!  The fireplace surround and the small built-out hearth will be a granite remnant we found. The room is ready for paint and floors to be layed.  They're working quickly and efficiently, now patching the holes in the living room ceiling made by rewiring and close to completing all the walls in just 2 days.  Bedroom wall color is Herbivore, a meduim grayish green - that is Frazee's name for it.  Moving back in get's closer and closer.



Dining room








We met with the tree guy and the landscaper.  As I listened to the landscaper talk and began to brainstorm with her,  I thought why am I going to pay this person $50 an hour to come up with drawings and oversee the work when her ideas are similar to mine.  So with our gardeners, Rudy & Abel,  we'll do it ourselves.  After cleaning the back completely of debris it's clear that the hill is mostly granite.  Dirt for planting trees above and some below, nothing in the middle.  It will be interesting and challenging to figure this out.  We can always ask for help later.  Meanwhile, I can't find a single gardening tool in the packed garage!

I don't know about other credit card companies but American Express has a "shopping mall" through which one can make purchases and earn triple points.  I never paid attention to it before (even though I used to regularly order things from stores that are on their list), finally I have wised up!  By ordering on-line (through their "mall") we get something extra out of this!  We'll take a free upgrade any day.  Then there are the rebates!  Replacing windows, buying appliances, getting window treatments that keep heat out/in, toilets that are low flow... now is the time to do it.  It's another way to get something back while making improvements.

That is all for this week, next promises to be very fully packed.  I'll catch up when I get back from Palo Alto.

Here are but a few of the interesting sites that have inspired and aided me.  So much out their to assist the creative in you......

The Improvised Life
Reliable Remodeler
Decorating Diva
The Kitchen Designer
Kitchen Remodeling Blog
Houzz

So Over Moving

Last week we moved to our final rental.  Although it is a comfortable place and will work nicely for us, I just can't wait to get back into the house.  I'm done.  Stan, being the easy going one, takes this in stride - I do not.  Two months will seem like nothing when it is over but right now it's dragging on forever.

My recollections of last week pretty much cover the bad and the ugly (moving AGAIN) and not the good.  The electrician and A.V. guy began work, the gardeners tore out more of the jungle, etc.  Beyond that is a blur.

Today I picked all the interior colors, more than two, so we're over budget again.  Greens, grayish greens, one eggplant/purple wall in the dining room and a couple of beige/wheat colors.  A fairly neutral palate but lots of light coming into this house will make the colors change.

I also went with Rudy and Abel (our gardeners) to buy plants.   Christie and John, you will not be surprised that I haven't learned a damn thing about controlling myself at a nursery.  Hopefully, though, your wisdom filtered into my choices.  We bought several colors of New Zealand Flax (Phormium), Rock Rose (Cistus) in white and pink, Mexican Sage and a couple of other varieties of Sage, Lavendar, Rosemary, grasses, 3 Protea and a Leucadendron and Kangaroo Paws.  It's wonderful to learn I can grow a lot of the same things here as in Cambria, drought tolerant plants are a must (San Diego is on water rationing as far as outdoor watering is concerned).  We've already filled other garden spots with Kangaroo Paws, Flax, NZ Tea Trees, asparagus fern and Gardenia's (something I couldn't grow in Cambria and not terribly drought tolerant - an occasional excess isn't too bad :-).  After all this goes into the ground we will still have much to do but beginning is exciting and spirit lifting.  Having said that, we meet (tomorrow) with the tree guy and a friend of his who does landscape design.  The backyard is much more challenging than the front (though not as large) and mostly granite.  I'm wanting to plant all the succulents I brought, Agave's, Citrus trees and other kinds of trees.  I need expert advice.  Hopefully we'll get a plan going tomorrow and Pete (the tree guy) will commit to a date to plant trees.  By the way, the nemesis of the gardener in this area.....bunnies!  Lot's o rabbits everywhere!  I wanted to plant lettuce in the herb garden but I fear we'd never see a leaf.

Today at the house all the dry wall was delivered, they'll begin work tomorrow.  The electrical and plumbing inspection was taking place when I left, hopefully it is a go.  Insulation will go in tomorrow and that inspection will take place on Wednesday.  The pocket doors (3) were installed today so they can be dry walled at the same time as everything else.  (We still haven't made a front door decision.) Dry walling will begin in the master bedroom so that we can move in on or about May 15.  When dry wall is complete in the m.b. the painter will do his thing and the floor will be laid in that room.  By then the rest of the house will be ready for paint, etc.  As we tried to narrow the time-line down (with our project manager last Thursday), it became clear we probably have an additional month before completion.  Lot's of it will be loose ends and final inspections but it will be mid-June before it is finished.  In the meantime, our goal to have Mother's birthday party at the house on May 30 is still in place.  All the floors may not be wood, some could still be concrete and all the countertops may not be finished or the painting.  I'm glad it is a family party!

We can't say enough good things about our project manager and all the sub's working on our home.  A wonderful group of quality professionals and for this we thank Marrokal.  We still have issues with them and no one seems anxious to find resolution.  Stan may have to handle it with the checkbook if no answers are forthcoming.



The Chinese chest be bought to replace the altar table we sold to the new owners of the Cambria house.


While looking for something I came across one of my favorite silly little books "Today I Will Nourish My Inner Martyr" "Affirmations for Cynics" by Ann Thornhill & Sarah Wells. Let me share.....

"On this day I will look at my past mistakes and project them onto the future."

Resources:
Great for finding the right plants for your area
I'm not using Frazee paint but they have wonderful colors that can be copied by any paint company (using Dunn Edwards, painter likes it's formula and it has low VOC's)

Productive Week

A busy week of spending money and amazing transformations.

This is a view looking through the kitchen into Stan's office/guest room. Note the floors :-).  Not only is the Sautillo tile gone but the concrete is as smooth as can be, ready for new flooring.

This view is from the living room looking at a new wall (kitchen & pantry on the other side).  To the right of the new wall is a half wall that will be bar height.  We ended up not changing the arched window at this time.  Instead we got a blackout shade that will roll up into a sofit in the ceiling and can be used when we want to darken the rooms for t.v. viewing.  If we stay here long enough we'll replace the window but it just didn't seem important compared to other things and it needs to be a large window for the view.

Another view from the living room looking at the entry, new dining room and down the hall to our bedroom.  The wall on the right will house a large bookcase/entertainment center and next to that wall, where the concrete is darker (it's drying), is a very teeny closet that will house all the audio/video stuff, the server, etc.  Stan's bailiwick.





Monday we bought a new couch and chair.  We ordered all our lighting:

    This is the flush mount light for the entry


and this is the dining room fixture, both by Hubbardton Forge.


Some things are coming in higher than we'd hope.  We picked out the doors a week or two ago - wrong, we're not getting Mahogany.  Instead we'll get Douglas Fir (like we had in Cambria which is fine, they just didn't think they could get them) and have the painter stain them.  On-line we found a front door we like very much, it was about $1700 pre-hung.  The entry-door through Marrokal's supplier (Mahogany with glass insets) came in at about $4500.  We're taking a trip to L.A. to see if the door we found is as nice in person and if necessary we'll rent a truck to bring it down.  If that doesn't work out we'll keep looking.  The finish on the walls (what we had in Cambria) is known as "skip trowel".  The plaster (or whatever you call it) is shot on the walls, then they go back over it with a trowel to smooth it out, but not evenly.  This leaves a finish that looks (and is) more interesting, has texture to it.  Originally the budget called for just shooting it on, which is a builder spec look and not our favorite.  So this is going to be $3500 more and includes our bedroom which didn't lose any walls so they have to redo the current ones.  Getting the picture?  The good news is the painter's bid is lower than we'd expected but includes only 2 wall colors and a ceiling color.  Oh dear, I'm gonna want more colors than two and each additional one costs another $200.  The painter's bid does include staining doors, prepping, putty, caulking baseboards and all that good stuff so it isn't too bad.  Perhaps I'll use fewer colors and live in the house for awhile before picking additional ones.

Today I met with the gardeners to plot the next section of garden tear out and planting.  Steve reminded me that I need to get things in the ground early so they'll survive hot weather.  Coming from up north that hadn't occurred to me.  Still no trees which means I can't get too deep into planting in the backyard.

This is a section we've already ripped out except for the Bird of Paradise (which will be moved) and the Palm trees (which won't).







They'll continue to rip out above the wall to the end of the house (but not the plants & trees closer to the street - yet) and what is growing at the base of the wall along the driveway.  We'll just keep doing this section by section until one day it will be done.  Challenging!  Creative!





Our project manager, Mark, says we're still ahead of schedule.  After the electrical walk through the "rough"electrical and HVAC (heating and air conditioning) began.  Next week will be inspections on both those things then insulation and the insulation inspection.  After that, starting on or around 4/15 the dry wall gets hung.  Also the cabinet maker did the CAD drawing this week which we'll review next Tuesday, they then start building the boxes which takes 3 wks.   At the house during that period they'll finish the dry wall and skip trowel, the doors and painting will start and the floor will be laid in our bedroom (at the very least) so we can get back in when all the dust is gone.  Time can't move fast enough at the moment.

Still Ahead......

We've moved into Steve's house for this week while he and the kids are away for spring break.  Our poor underprivileged family is spending a week on a chartered boat in the British Virgin Islands.  Next week we'll move to a less expensive (than the one we've rented until now), cleaner house in Escondido until we can move back home.  Nomads!  We're nomads!

So this week I felt better and got back to work.  Completion of framing, basic in-ground plumbing and concrete patching took up the week at the house. We are still ahead of schedule.  Our electrical walk-through was postponed until tomorrow so that "everyone could be there" (whatever that means?).  Our designer, our project manager, the audio-visual guy, the electrician and us chickens will attend.  This is where I get to ask for more lights and beg to move some and receive their recommendations.  Stan is working with the A.V. guy to get the house prewired for "all our needs".  From my perspective, innocuous speakers are the only important need.  No more plant stands!

This last week I chose the tiles for the bathrooms.  Yes, I'd done it before but then we changed the configuration of the two baths and I have more flexibility.  I want the powder room to be a bit dramatic, the guest bath to be beachy for the mermaid collection.

So I chose a Limestone from Israel - Hebron White, a mosaic glass tile blend called Enchantment (iridescent purple/olive green/pale green) and the Caesarstone remnant in Mocha for the counter.  Depending on the final cost the idea is to put the Hebron in 16x16 tiles on the floor, cut those in half and use them in a staggered pattern as wainscoting on three walls and run a row of the mosaic on the back wall (as a backsplash) behind the cabinet and toilet.  The cabinet will float and will be stained "Wenge", almost black.




For the guest bath we're sticking with the beach rock on the floor and the shower pan, the Seagrass Limestone on the shower walls, the rest of the Mocha Caesarstone remnant as the counter and a row of a mosaic glass tile blend in Muse (clear iridescent, Fleet blue iridescent and a pale green glass) as the backsplash.  Love it all, no second thoughts.


Beside those monumental decisions we selected a door style.  All our doors are 8 ft. tall (just couldn't be your average size door!!!) hollow-core, white doors builders use in spec houses.  We picked Mahogany two panel doors and Mahogany for the pocket doors as well.  They stain them on site - the top panel being longer (a rectangle) than the bottom (a square).  We decided to use the same style door as our front door (french style) but plan to replace the wood panels with rain glass.  Simple yet distinctive (we hope).

The garage is so full we can't take anything else on.  Yet, the refrigerator arrived and we managed to squeeze it in.  Tomorrow the toilets, sinks, fixtures, etc. will have to find a space as well.  We're still trying to sell the Viking Professional 48" stove that came with the place.  We relisted it today for $1000 - a bargain for someone who cooks seriously and has room for a behemoth - at least we think it is a bargain because it easily has 10-15 years of good cooking left.  We sold the Sub Zero for $700 - also a bargain.  By mid May I'll be giving the thing away!

Some decisions haven't come easy so we've just tabled them.  Lights!!!!  God, there are a lot of lights out there!  We wanted something "different" in a dining room fixture, a beautiful Asian style called "Shanghai" with shades and gew-gaws, but not cheesy.  I thought it was $485 so showed it to Stan and he loved it too.  It was $4,895.00!!  We just had to leave and pretend I dreamt the whole thing.


This is our choice for pendant lighting over the island in the kitchen.  Simple brushed nickel finish with a white glass shade.  Cheap - so we ordered it.









And here's a picture of the Caesarstone in the laundry with the red washer & dryer, white cabinets and flooring as yet to be selected.








I don't know how far north of us you had to be living not to feel the 6.9 earthquake (centered south of Mexicali) about an hour ago.  Australia is probably a good place though I know it's not north :-}  We shook, we rattled and we rolled for quite a long time.  I thought about Haiti and building codes and how I hate building depts. and permits.   I thank the people far wiser than me for the rules and the ingenuity that has created designs and materials to withstand some of what Mother Nature dishes out.  The idea of being "up to code" is very appealing.

This being a blog about remodeling I won't give you my opinions on the Catholic Church or the Easter Bunny.  Stay tuned.......

Ahead of Schedule

Last week was very productive for the building team.  Stan say's, according to our Gantt chart, we are a week ahead of schedule.  This Thursday we have the electrical walk-through where we get to talk with the experts (electrician, a.v. person) about wiring, lighting and switch locations.  Perhaps all the drywall will be up by mid April.  We meet with the architect and project manager on Tuesday to get a better idea of the time line.

I spent most of the week in bed with the flu so my achievements aren't worth mentioning.  I made no decisions and researched very little.  Today was my first day at the house since last Monday. I walked into the house and remembered I don't like the framed part, didn't like it last time either.  Everything looks small and sort of like a puzzle and dark!  Huge holes in the floor where plumbing needs to go.

It is an amazing spring day in San Diego, clear as a bell, wildflowers a bloomin, everyone outside. Since I accomplished nothing, wasn't even around, I'll let the photo's do the talkin.  (Do you know if you double click on the pics they enlarge - I didn't realize that....neat :-)  More later this week.....

Backyard hill full of Acacia and rat's nests (YUK!)

Stripped bare (well almost), awaiting nice trees, succulents, cactus, natives, etc.









Dumpster - this is the third or 4th replacement for a full one.  We've lost track.

View of the new wall separating Stan's office/guest room from the kitchen/my work space.

The laundry room - picture red washer & dryer :), white/grey counter and floor tile to be determined this week.  Going to be a happy little place......












Framing, framing...... holes in the concrete for plumbing.  Looking at the guest and powder room, beyond that the dining room and entry.

Hell Week

So where was I.....

Moving again was just hell. We weren't ready to do it a second time in one month. I'm promised we'll hire movers to take us back into the house, we had no business doing this alone (even with Steve's help moving the furniture). I'm an exhausted, blithering idiot and although he might argue the point, Stan is no better. Our large 3 car garage is packed to the rafters with boxes and furniture. In the driveway lives a porta-potty, a huge dumpster and a load of lumber.

On Wednesday demo began, by Friday night all the walls, cabinets, plumbing, drywall and some of the floor were gone. How they worked so quickly is beyond my comprehension (most of them without masks!). Monday and Tuesday floor removal will continue and framing will begin.  (Pics shows a view of the "family room" fireplace area before and after plus a view of the "breakfast nook" soon to be my work space)



Fast tracking the decisions has also been exhausting and frustrating. We seem to be all over the County of San Diego looking at floors, plumbing fixtures, doors, granite, Caesarstone, etc. ( I sent you a link to our granite choice in the last post but I understand it didn't work - perhaps because it was misspelled. I'll try to improve my skills with this blog thing.) Caesarstone is a product made up of 95% granite, the rest resin - some of it with recycled glass. It is less expensive than granite, more contemporary looking (to my mind) and has all the qualities of granite - durable, hard, easy to clean. We're using this material in several locations. In the kitchen all the counters, except for the island (the Jurrasic Green granite) will be Caesarstone, color "Buttermilk". It will require 2 slabs with nothing leftover. Since my office/work space is adjacent to the kitchen, the counter will be of the same material. In the laundry room it will be "White Ash" (white with flecks of gray glass), a remnant that will look great with the red washer and dryer. The guest bath and powder will be remnants of "Mocha". We've also selected glass tiles for the backsplash in the kitchen, glass mosaic tile for the bath backsplashes and a polished limestone tile called "Seagrass" for the floors and shower surround. Selecting a wood floor was the final bit of insanity for last week. Too many choices and after standing in the showroom for two hrs. in Santee (out in the middle of frickin nowhere!!!!), I would have picked just about anything to get it over with. We brought samples home (a more relaxing place to make choices) over the weekend and were able to make a decision - Brazilian Tiger Mahogany. Reddish, lots of grain, I hope it works cause we're both over it!

Sorting out our issues with Marrokal, our contractors, is difficult and anxiety producing. Basically we're used to having a line-item budget and regular meetings with our contractors to know where we are visa-vie the budget. When we nixed some of their great plans for this house and said we'll spend X amount, what exactly did they cut to get us to that number? One cost reduction (without our prior knowledge) was fixtures - turns out we were supposed to pick toilets, sinks and fixtures for two baths and kitchen for $2000!!!! HELLO OUT THERE- what were they thinking??? There was no discussion regarding our choices or likes and dislikes. At the outset we made it clear this house is to reflect champagne taste on a beer budget ..... it can be done. Marrokal is more interested in the champagne budget because, duh, they get more money. I get that but I don't get creating a budget and not sharing every item with the homeowner. Annoying. Obviously we didn't ask all the right questions and make our desires known - a problem created by hurrying the process and minimal brain cell activity on the part of the homeowners!

I started this blog entry Saturday evening and here we are on Monday morning. Things look brighter today. It helped that we did nothing yesterday, absolutely nothing. We'll take a field trip to L.A. this week to look at doors, maybe rent a truck to bring them down here unless we find something equally as good at the right price. We have to return our samples to the floor store in, OMG, Santee and sign off on the final plan revisions. Need to select knobs and drawer pulls and make some decisions about window coverings and/or replacing some of the windows. Might get in some garden design and implementation - that would make me happy. And Stan needs to golf this week!

Maybe if we were younger the fast pace would have been easier. I liked having time to researcher everything well in advance of choices, not a luxury we have now. Having said that, we can't wait for all to be over. Stay tuned...........






Bless that man I love - he just had to bring his Ikea chair to the rental house and I'd already left in the Volvo.

Decisions, decisions.....

We're having drinks and watching Charlie Rose (taped, with Nancy Pelosi), another drink is certain!

Yesterday and today were full of decisions. Since we're on the fast track with this remodel, we're also fast tracking the decision making process. In the last two days we've finalized the cabinets, counter tops, back splash as well as the bathroom cabinets, plumbing, tile etc. and placed the order for appliances. There have been communication break-downs with Marrokal (our remodeling company), naturally we think it is their issue. We also had our meeting to "pass the baton" - their description for the transition between design and actual remodeling. Our "Project Manager" is Mark, low-key and organized and very nice. He presented us with a Gantt chart showing the schedule/time line of tasks, completion date is 6/10/10 but we are assured (their term) that the house will be usable by Memorial Day weekend. This is a whole different ball game from building in Cambria!! Gantt chart - I don't think so.

I would always prefer to make decisions quickly. It is less stressful for me to decide then let it go. I'll always see something else (if I look) that I'll like better but if you wait around for that perfect thing you get stuck in the mud. I'm surprised that Stan is comfortable working this way. He's happy to leave some decisions to me and I'm quite happy to let him go over every frickin' word of contracts and argue, with Marrokal, the meaning of "supply" in one sentence. Was he this way at work? This is not a side of his personality I've experienced before. I think he's really enjoying his involvement with this project where as when he worked there was no space in his mind for such things.

Today after two meetings we went to Old Town and had Margarita's and lunch at Casa Guadalajara. Great place. As long as we can find time to do something else and not take the stress out on one another we'll be good.

Photo's to come soon. Here are some websites to check out some of our decisions:

Refrigerator - Leibherr - German, bought floor model (big splurge - will go into our trust :o)
Liebherr Refrigerator
Jurassic Green Granite - pic probably won't do this justice but think prehistoric, think making a statement

We Begin....

I'll start by saying that we know we're crazy!!

February 2, 2010 we moved from Cambria to San Diego. We bought our new home knowing we wanted to remodel the kitchen and clean up the yard a bit. We love the "bones" of this house, the great view and it's location near Steve, RJ and Jenna.

Since we are strangers to the area we chose to hire a "remodeling firm" that does everything - design, interior design support, construction, etc. No doubt this is a more expensive way to go but will allow us to accomplish our goals quickly. So far we have interacted with the architect and, as Stan puts it, the chief salesman. Their job is to listen to our needs, then suck us in to adding more to the project. I'd say they are very good at what they do! The architect, Michael, has been great. He loves what he does, listens well and respects our "ownership" of this project. A very different experience from the one we had in Cambria.

Tomorrow the team increases to include the "project manager" who will join a walk through of the house in advance the actual start. There are others on this extended team but we don't yet know who they are (stay tuned...). Monday they begin "staging" which lasts for two days. We've been told our project will be completed, or close to completed, by Memorial Day weekend when we plan to celebrate mother's 95th birthday.

The extent of this remodel now includes knocking down every interior wall save one. It encompasses the kitchen, moving the dining room, moving the laundry room, moving the powder room, redoing the guest bath and replacing ALL the flooring. We move out on Monday. Demolition begins on Wednesday next week after staging. Our understanding is it will take two days to accomplish the tear down. Incredulous!

For the record I've gone from being calm, cool and collected to having a major breakdown. Today it was so bad that I went on-line (supposedly) to see if our buyers in Cambria had sold their house. Before I knew it I was looking at pictures of our former house, longing for unpacked boxes and organized spaces. This will pass, but not for awhile.