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.......