Moving & Granite Photos

So, as promised, here are the pictures of the garage - empty and then full. Almost nothing is in the room it belongs in, mostly because many of the rooms aren't actually finished. And then, of course, there's the little factor that 80% of our stuff was stored in the old basement, garage, or attic, and we haven't really figured out how to redistribute that in the new house.


(Good thing I labeled these pics, eh? Because otherwise you wouldn't know which was empty and which was full. Der.)

In other news, the kitchen countertops are a work in progress. In theory, they're done by now. But 3 hours ago, they were still a work in progress. On Wednesday, they came to install the horizontal surfaces and (theoretically) drill holes for the faucet. Well, the north side was completely done, and the island was partially done. One granite piece for the east (stove) wall had a huge ugly patch on it, so that one went back. The other piece for that wall didn't have a cabinet to rest on, so it went into the garage. And, for some reason, the bartop didn't get secured to the island framing. So it's just resting there with giant signs that say "TOP NOT SECURE!! DON'T LEAN ON!!!" (Got it. Thanks.)

Today, the granite guys arrived at about 8:30. They were going to bring a replacement for the patched top, put the top on the newly-installed cabinet, put up backsplashes on the island and east wall, and drill faucet holes.

THEN we can unpack the kitchen!

There was some talk of getting the plumber out here this afternoon to install the kitchen faucet. That would be divine, but I'm hot holding my breath.

The good news is that we love the granite. I love it more than Dennis*, which is a little unusual, since I didn't really *want* granite in the first place. (I just wanted non-laminate; granite was the least expensive/most available alternative.) It's quite a bit darker than the sample, which turned out to be a very good thing. And it works really well with the floor tile, cabinets, and appliances. All in all, a great kitchen. (One day, there will be a stainless steel tile backsplash to go with it. And undercabinet lighting. Really there will be.)




And, at long last, our front porch columns have been put up. We also (finally) got a front step and gutters, but I don't have photos of that. (It rained last night/this morning - the gutters work great!)



There's still a long list of large and small items to go, including everything from closet shelves and the occasional missing doorstop to light and sink installation. And we've barely begun to unpack anything, since everything is still so much in flux. Got to get moving, though. This baby is due in 105 days!

In Old House news, we close this afternoon. Obviously, I love, love, love the new house, but I still cried like a baby (ok, like a hormonal pregnant woman) when we left the old place last night. We have so many great memories there. And, when it's empty like that, it seems to have so much potential; before we were so stuck in the rut of feeling like we couldn't do anything and still live there at the same time. (Remember the hardwood floors? We lived in the basement for a month!)

So, here's to (official) new beginnings.












* edit: I meant that I love the granite more than Dennis loves the granite; not that I love the granite more than I love Dennis. He was very saddened by the original phrasing. Let it be known that I love Dennis more than I love the countertops or any other part of the house or the house itself.

new kitchen sink, some new pictures

Not a ton of progress since before. But still some good stuff. I'm really liking the glass tile accent in the master bath. The blue in there still seems somewhat garish to me; hopefully we can tone it down with some chocolate accents.

Only a few lights left to install (kitchen island pendants and guest bedroom light were on backorder), and more of the doors and trim have been installed. The baseboards (mostly) look pretty good, but the pantry door has now overtaken the coat closet door in the "ugliest door ever" contest.

Also, it turns out that the sink we shopped for 2 weeks ago won't really fit after all, especially with the faucet we chose, so we got a new kitchen sink. The old one had 2 identical bowls. This one has the asymmetrical bowls. Not ideal, but I think we'll find a way to live with it.




June 23

We spent $11k at the kitchen/bath store

Honestly, I thought it would have been much worse. Terry thought it was absurdly high. I'm glad he thought that, because it means we're getting all of this stuff for much less. Well, comparable stuff, anyway.

Yesterday was Dennis & Bud's combined birthday lunch. Before lunch, we took Ruby & Bud to the lot, mostly so Bud could see it and look for possible problems. Nothing noteworthy so far on that front, but Bud does want to look at it again. It was sortof drizzly and icky when we were there.

AFTER lunch, we took them to Terry's spec house - again, mostly so Bud could look at things and say "Gah! He hangs his doors off of thumbtacks!" or something similar. I told Ruby we really did want Bud's opinion (he usually doesn't share unless pressed) so we can look out for certain things if necessary. Again, so far, Bud was pretty pleased. He did say, "you find something wrong in every house" - so true. There are some cosmetic things that need tweaking in that house. But Bud seemed pleased with the quality of the construction. I warned Terry I'd be back with my own parents in a couple of weeks.

THEN Terry came over to go over "final" decisions so he could draw up a spec sheet & contract. We went with the heavy duty insulation, 9' ceilings throughout but with vaulted great room & kitchen, wood doors/doorframes/baseboards (I'm still iffy on that, but Dennis really seems to want it.) and various other stuff. We finally picked a master bath layout (with the tub in the corner), and he's getting back to us on a walk-in shower, which we were able to extend to 4x4 instead of 3x4. Hopefully that will be roomy enough. We even worked in a 30" linen closet! I also think we got our laundry room laid out like we want it, complete with a broom closet and room for what Dennis is calling my "soccer mom hutch" (asshole). Somehow, we ended up adding rough-ins for 5 more sinks (garage, laundry, workshop, dining room hutch, basement "bar") - a little over the top. 11 sinks in one house. Seriously.

I expect to hear something from Kenworth The Appraiser tomorrow. I'd say today, but Ron The Loan Guy doesn't work on Mondays. Dennis thinks we won't hear until Wednesday - that Kenworth won't even call Ron until Tuesday afternoon, and that Ron won't call us until Wednesday. I hope he's wrong and I'm right.

We spent some time today researching quartz vs. granite countertops - Terry isn't a quartz fan, but it sounds like the pros & cons of those 2 materials are pretty much even. So, we'll look for a pattern we like. If it's quartz, we get quartz. If it's granite, we get granite. If cost is a factor, we'll consider that accordingly.

I might die if this falls through. On the other hand, we just booked $3200 plane tickets to India, so it might not be so terrible to have some cash handy.