Tuesday
Happily, Week 7 has started off on a better note than Week 6 ended. There was a lot of electrical work yesterday, and then the sheetrock guy arrived at 7:15 a.m. to begin work on WALLS!!!
There was a great deal of wall work accomplished today, you can see photos.
Our addition is looking lots more like an actual room and less like a construction zone! Sheetrock work was finished yesterday, and today there was major progress on the plastering. A couple of new photos are posted
Almost all the addition walls and ceiling are plastered now, and it looks like that work will wrap up tomorrow. Cabinet installation should begin next week.
I'm guessing we're now about a week and a half to two weeks behind the orginal schedule (see calendar), which had board and plastering done two weeks ago. This was supposed to be the second week of cabinet work, and last week was also supposed to be Pergo floor installation (nothing but cement and plywood yet, alas).
We are neither upset nor alarmed by the delay, as we expected things to take longer than initially planned. I am, however, REALLY hoping that we don't get much more than two weeks behind, as I'd like to be able to unpack stuff and start using our kitchen again sometime before the end of September.
We only know of one day that nobody was working here since the project started, and so far we're very pleased with the way Brian has been managing things.
Meanwhile, I'm getting used to living in cramped, kitchen-/diningroom-/washingmachine-less quarters. In fact, being able to do things like sit in the kitchen, eat in the dining room, boil water on the stove or walk in the bedroom without huge things (boxes, a TV) on the floor is all becoming a fading memory.
The end of the heat wave has been a huge help for me, as we don't have to worry about zipping up the plastic-encased living zones so we get some air conditioning effectiveness; no longer is it horribly stifling in the work area of the house.
And hey, it's not all bad living in a construction zone!
And, of course, we look forward to a great new kitchen!
First the good news. The plastering finished up Friday -- latest pictures at the Week 7 photo page.
Work on the cabinets is supposed to start this coming week.
Saturday morning a couple of guys from Wallace came by to check on window installation measurements -- we've been quite pleased with their part of the project -- and they commented on how nice the space is looking.
Then Lee and I went off to Pool & Patio Specialists in Westwood for another try in ordering the Grand Cayman Lane Venture rattan furniture we liked (if you missed the Week 6 installments, we'd ordered it at Wilson Casual Furniture and then were told three days later that the fabric we picked was discontinued; we drove all the way back to Berlin and finally picked another fabric, and THAT was discontinued, at which point we cancelled our order. ) The Westwood store is listed as a dealer on the Lane Venture Web site.
We decided to select a first, second and third choice fabric at Pool & Patio -- the saleswoman (who was very helpful) told us it's end of season and the new line of fabrics will be out next month. If all our choices are out of production, then we'll just go back there (it's closer than Berlin anyway) and pick something next month.
The really good news: Their price is more than 15% lower than Wilson's!
The week's less than good news: We still don't have the refrigerator we ordered. To make an incredibly long, drawn-out and aggravating story shorter, Sears was supposed to finally deliver us the bisque refrigerator we ordered yesterday. Lee called them about the order Friday night, and it turned out THEY WERE PLANNING TO SEND US ANOTHER WHITE REFRIGERATOR. So that delivery got cancelled, and Lee's been on the phone with them numerous times, totalling well over an hour, trying to get this resolved.
It's still not resolved. Apparently although we did actually order a bisque frig -- the model number on our receipt is bisque, and they charged us $20 extra for the color -- somehow somebody input that it was white somewhere (I'm trying to stay out of the details on this. Lee -- the firm yet rational one among us -- is handling it, which is better for my blood pressure. Blatant incompetence makes me nuts). This all happened back in February, and now we don't know if they even have it in bisque anymore. Lee's supposed to talk to them again tomorrow morning after they check their nationwide stock....
So that's about it for this week. Lee set up the folding table and chairs in the soon-to-be step-down eating area this weekend, and it is a lovely spot, with a view to the yard through the sliding door and windows. It'll be even nicer with floors, real furniture and finished walls, counters and cabinets!
Overall, it's been much more tolerable in the house since the heatwave ended, and we don't have to keep everything zipped up for air conditioning -- a bit less claustrophobic. On the other hand, I'd sure like to have the other half of my house back.
