my lucky day

this is one of those "i can't believe it days." in a good way.

 

the fridge, the magical, mythical miele — due out last year, then january, then february, then june,  july, august and well maybe sometime this fall — it has arrived. actually, it arrived in town yesterday, the day so many others were converging here. but the fridge couldn't make it, not sure why, maybe it missed the bus or something and nobody in casual carpool would pick it up. but anyway, it didn't make it here yesterday but it will arrive thursday. i think i am one of the first to get it, even before my dealer. grayson worked very, very hard to get me my fridge. thank you grayson. and he even got it for me at the old, pre-gas-crisis pricing. i have a magical life and people are going way out of their way for me, for no apparent reason. 

the fridge will have parts that look something like this:

but without all the white and without that many bottles of water.  the shelves will look exactly the same. that's pretty much it. i will have real food in there. and it will feel colder than this one. the front door will be wood, like the rest of my kitchen. when i told henrybuilt to get ready to finally do the front panel, they were quite happy. the woman i worked with there said she's leaving the business at the end of the week so the timing was excellent. all the stars have aligned. now all i need are my celebrity chefs.  any volunteers?

other news, the "head-kicks" are now in.  lots of work to get them up, but now i feel like i can invite all my tallest friends over without fear of incident. really nice touch. they are like mini-soffits, hiding all the empty space, dust bunnies and chicken feathers.

i keep sitting in the kitchen at night now. in disbelief. i like to admire the lighting. see for yourself:

tomorrow is more painting. mostly the doors and some touch ups. 

i'm obsessed, i guess.  it is all coming to a close very soon. i will miss it, but maybe i will keep making things go wrong so people have to keep coming by for a visit.  there's always the bathroom, i guess. everyone's got to have a hobby...

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mass convergence

it was a very busy day around the bokhour residence, including visits from electricians, the finish carpenter, painting contractor, floor refinisher, tiler and of course, nathan. whew! what a day.

first big deal:  electrical light day. the lights were finally put in and the power turned back on. i now can see when i walk in the kitchen and i am really liking it. i even have switches so i can turn the lights on and off!  the glass cabinets have two lights underneath:

all the wires are hidden inside the cabinets:

and did you notice the outlet covers? now i will not be electrocuted when i plug things in. once again, how thoughtful! there are switch plates that protect me, too. 

and here we have men at work: two electricians and nate. notice the shop vac. signs of tidy-ness abound. 

ceiling lights installed now, too:

the florescents are a bit annoying, but we do it to save the planet. 

i also had a chance to meet with floor guy about fixing the floor by the planter (do you remember those days? destroying the "bar-be-que pit"? installing the electrical panel? with no flooring underneath?). i will have to start a new blog for the next remodeling adventure i take on. i am open to new names for the blog if something springs to mind. 

paint guy and tile guy also came by today. i am especially appreciative to tile guy. he says most jobs aren't like mine. i think that's a good thing? for him, anyway. he stayed until past 7:00 fixing grout with acids and waters. and he taught me that the secret to applying caulk is in the sponge. "it's all about the sponge." words to live by. put that on my headstone. 

"she was all about the sponge."

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coming along

things are coming along. this week, the upper cabinets were all placed upwardly and the doors were included in the party. still looks a bit stark to me, but that will be solved in no time — as soon as i get a little sauce on the walls and fill the cabinets with all your stuff. 

here again, the south wall: expect a hood and stove in there any second. the fridge may never make it in, at the current rate. but who knows, it may surprise me...

 

on the north walls, the cabinets have glass. not on the south wall cause of the glare factor. i like them. very big and adult feeling. they must have been a bit of a pain for one guy to put up, but henrybuilt has a nice hanging system, so there were no complaints from anyone.

look! more glass cabinets...

for the under cabinet lighting, electrical has to be put inside the cabinets. there will be some kind of false bottom that will cover all the wires. they have thought of everything. maybe i will have a secret passage installed, too, while he's at it.

one disappointment, though. one of the glass tiles got cracked.** whhhaaaa! who ever did this was probably having an i-love-lucy moment of their own. i guess having only one tiny thing go wrong is not so bad for a job like this. poor dan, though, will have to redo that piece.  i am really getting my money's worth from the tile guys...  (note to self: don't go into tile business. no money.)

more news this coming week: stay tuned for paint, flooring, tiling, lights, cameras and action!

** actually, NOT TRUE!  turns out there was not crack, no i-love-lucy moment for anyone involved. some kind of glue event happened and now it is all fixed. nothing went wrong. but maybe now would be an excellent time for me to get my eyes checked...

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laminati day

my great italian love arrived today: abet laminati no. 3150, soft finish.

it arrived cut and ready to install. just a few electrical holes to punch in and then it was good to go.

a different john-fellow has begun putting it up, along with the upper cabinets that sit on top of it. quite a complicated set of installations i have going here. why didn't i just have the area painted? because this way, i can be a real slob in the kitchen and the laminate will protect me from myself. everything will clean up quite nicely. that is the hope, anyway. think of something real messy  to make and i will try it out.

here is the laminate and cabinet partially installed. you can tell where the laminate is because it suddenly ends in the middle of the wall. above the cabinets will be something similar to a toe kick, but since it is unlikely my foot will kick anything up there, i will have to rename it. head kick? hand kick? i'm still working on it...

here we have more views of the laminate. and the cabinets that sit on top of the laminate. and more views of where the eventual "head-kick" will need to be placed. there will be plenty of storage space here, so maybe i should rent out some of it. please apply. tell me everything you would want to store, for how long, what it smells like, and if your mother would approve of the item. then tell me  how often you would need to come to visit your item. tell me if your item plays well with others and if it has ever been involved in a monster truck rally. i will then make my decision fairly and without prejudice.  because, really,  i like you and will do anything to get you to visit more often. calling is okay, too.

here is another image, similar to the one you just saw. (i'm hoping you won't notice that part.) a little wider angle. someday soon the puck lights get installed. underneath the cabinets. 

another view. is this boring yet? 

dan has hopefully solved the problem of the grout, using some kind of sulfuric chemical. it not only solved my grout problem, but may help me fix my fireplace bricks as well. a 2-fer! how fantastic is that? very.

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variations

dear home doctor:

what is causing my grout to have variations in color? am i seeing things?  just sign me, 

— concerned or color blind

dear concerned,

uneven grout color is not uncommon - but i can see here you have a big, big problem. have you considered moving?  if moving is not an option, i will review for you the possible causes of such an unsightly mess, with the hopes that you can remedy it post haste!

possible causes, as suggested by the brotherhood of tile people, local 32  include:

- failure to slake the grout
- improper joint packing
- using unclean water
- defective grout

while these suggestions are to be expected, there are some causes that they seem to have overlooked. these include:

- not considering the effect of the dopler shift when traveling at a speed of 18.55 miles per second around the sun. at this speed there would naturally be a color shift while grouting 

- insufficient water-to-twinkie ratio

- gremlins

- the electrical panel that makes me look fat

- more fodder for the next i-love-lucy episode, where lucy tries to hide the flaws from ricky by trying to dance in his next big show at the club

- we are being spoken to: if you look closely, i believe one can see a vague outline of an autonomous omnipotent being...

without further study, it is difficult to say. but our man, dan, from tek tile is on the case and i'm sure he will get the kitchen back on track in no time at all. until then, carpe cerevisi!  (seize the beer!)

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tilers

as you saw from my last post, having tilers in the house is...pretty darn exciting. this project might eventually get done!  

art and his helper showed up and carefully arranged the glass tiles by degree of finish perfection, height and length. these things vary with glass tiles. who knew? not me.  so he arranged everything, we decided where things needed to be most perfect (by the sink, where i will see them every day), and where perfection will be less critical. then he stuck them up. voila!

kitchen south side:

kitchen, north side:

outlets ready to go:

it all feels a little strange without the appliances filing in at critical points, but that will all be resolved soon enough. this week, laminate will be added. i won't give away the ending, but suffice it to say, you will not be sorry if you check in later in the week.

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bears?

from the looks of this mess, you might think i have a severe bear problem in the house. fortunately, that's not exactly true. i have a tiler problem! but that's not true either, really. what am i trying to say? well, the tiles have arrived! and the tilers are making a total mess in my living room.  i guess not everyone can be as tidy as nate. i have been spoiled. but this is good news in the sense that tiles are here and now the project can get back into gear.  

when the tiles arrived, the window frame could be put in. i know, you must be thinking, how are the two related?  well, they are when you have picky people working on your project. they have made sure that the line of the window frame will match up exactly with the line of the tiles.  to do that, you need to have both frame and tiles at hand and do very, very complicated measuring, that takes years to master.  here is the idea, sans grout:

the framing was put in this past week. nicely done by someone named john. a mystery man who showed up, worked and left all without my ever seeing him. i wonder if he really exists. he probably does. nate has started working on another job so now he's doing a kind of ventriloquist act involving other workmen and my kitchen. he can drink a glass of water while he's doing it, too.  here's a bit of john's handy work:

he also took care of getting the toe kicks in place. i love my toe kicks. they go so well with my floor and the great ant highway.  have you ever seen  better toe kicks than these? thank you, john. excellent work!

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