Twenty-three holes in the house, and did I mention the heat wave?

Last week, we got 19 new windows, and a new sliding door to boot.  This was my single largest purchase to date (not counting the house itself), and the very thought makes me a little light-headed.  But since I have chosen to live in denial, let's say no more about it.  Consider it my gift to you, future homeowner. I hope they're holding up well— but if not, they come with a lifetime warranty.  Call Anlin.

I had some delusions about continuing to work in the house while they were "doing other rooms," but I was completely mistaken. In mere moments, they had swathed the house in plastic and tarps.  I had to rescue my laptop from under wraps and take it out to Lalo's man-cave (aka the un-air-conditioned garage).

The whole of LA has been in the grips of a heat wave this week, and naturally the valley is considerably hotter than everywhere else. Probably not the best day to make 20 (additional) giant holes in your house.  So while Lalo and I sweated in the garage, Don (our contractor) sweated in the kitchen, and a dozen guys sweated in the house, the yard and all between.  

The scheduler had said the installation would take two full days.  Boy, were they wrong.   A swarm of men descended upon us, and they were done in less than a day.  Boom, new windows in six or seven hours.  By about 3 PM, though, they had wrapped up.  I had shiny new windows and a new sliding door in the master bedroom.  And it's nice to finally have a window in the kitchen (instead of plywood). We've been living with cave-like conditions for a while, as we've been without a kitchen window since demo in May. 

I sort of miss the charm of the old windows, but I can already tell they make it quieter and cooler in here. Both of those are good, in my book.  If you're mourning the look of the oldies, rest assured that there wasn't much left to save.  The years of neglect caught up to them. But that wasn't on my watch!

Since then, Don wrapped up the stucco, which sealed up the other three holes in the house.  All in all, that makes it more like a house and less like a swiss cheese.  Which comes in handy when you're living on the surface of the sun.  Although with global warming, perhaps you're looking back at 110-degree days with nostalgia. 

I'll think I'll go turn on the AC.

 

The road goes ever, ever on…

Our kitchen project continues to linger.  We started demo on June 9, 2012. Today is August 12 (still 2012, despite how long it feels)—nine weeks and a day.  Yesterday was a banner day.  We finally unpacked our boxes of dishes, pots and pans.   Yeah, some of those spices had expired. Buh-bye.

Mind you, I hadn't seen some of these things since we moved from Burbank.  We knew we'd be undertaking a kitchen reno, so we packed some of the items for long-term storage in the garage. Of course, by the time we unpacked, I was ready to let go of some of them. It's amazing what nine months can do for your perspective.  Also, I've been doing some shopping (presents for my kitchen) aand some of the old had to make way for the new.  So today we made a donation run and passed some treasures along to the next lucky owner.  

For those who have dined chez moi, you may remember the blue dishes I have had since I lived in New York (the pattern is called Mesa, and apparently there is a market for them on eBay).  Truth be told, they weren't even new when I got them, but were hand-me-downs from my dad and stepmom, Anna. A few years after that, I had a thrift-store miracle of sorts and found an assortment of that same pattern at St. Vincent de Paul. Fate.  But after eating off those dishes (off and on) for 30 years or so, it was time to say goodbye.  Maybe they'll complete someone else's set of Mesa. 

But back to the kitchen…yesterday was also our last day with Contractor Don.  We had some scope-creep and added his list of projects, so he ended up being with us longer than planned.  In addition to removing the load-bearing wall, doing the drywall and electrical, and repairing the stucco (to seal up the holes), he also installed the cabinets and generally consulted on all of our DIY stuff.  Hopefully I didn't annoy him with too many questions (ahem). Our dog, Diogy, will miss him indeed—and not just because she consistently begged part of his lunch.  They’re buds. 

So now we're on our own, with a ways to go yet.  We were set to paint this week, until Lalo tweaked his shoulder playing hockey.  Probably not the best time to paint a ceiling. I certainly wasn't going to undertake it on my own—I paint trim on my own (frequently) but when it comes to walls you have to have a team to do it well.  I'm the cut-in pro, he's the roller.  And so, painting will wait until he's off the bench.

This is a big week, though: the counters are coming!  Don set us up with plywood counters so we have something to use in the meantime.  With the counters, we get our sink, at long last.   We've been using the laundry room sink—better than the bathtub, but no comparison to a real sink and—sigh—a dishwasher. I don't know if this falls into the category of "first world problems," since I feel like we have been camping for over two months. At least I don't have to go outside to cook anymore. Now we have a fridge and stove indoors like the fancy city folk. 

The list goes something like this (the pros are only doing the first item, namely the counters):

• Counters/sink
• Plumbing
• Paint
• Lighting
• Tile backsplash
• Window treatment

So we're getting closer.  Of course, there are knock-on projects in all the surrounding room as a result of this one.  But I'll think about that tomorrow.

 

But it's only two inches off….

Our progress has been slower than expected, but we are moving along. The last couple weeks have had their ups and down.  Apparently, our kitchen shrank by two inches between the time that we measured for the cabinets and when they were delivered.  Bad math?  Bad magic?  Doesn't matter. Since we measured, it's our liability. 

I have ceased to shake my fist and lament to the heavens. But the upshot is that we lost our "filler strip" in the pantry corner. So that means the cabinet has to go right up against the wall (not ideal). The other options?  Buy two smaller cabinets (upper and lower, cha-ching) and wait three weeks for them to be delivered. Not gonna happen.  Or the sink cabinet could be off-center—but with a sliding window, a double-bowl sink and a symmetrical cabinet, it would be really obvious.  I envisioned myself sitting at my pretty breakfast bar, glaring at the zigzag arrangement.  That's a no-go.

And so we end up with a pantry cabinet that sits flush with the wall.  Oh well. 

But let's focus on the ups!  I have a refrigerator inside my house for the first time in about seven weeks.  I had purchased it from Lowes back on Thanksgiving weekend.  Yeah.  It's been sitting in the garage that long.  The nice delivery men came back today, moved it inside and even connected it for me. Et voila!  I'm back in the 21st century.

Don installed the microwave-hood combo, so that brought me up to two whole appliances!  And we moved the stove back in shortly thereafter. 

Still in progress: The countertop "templating," as they say in the biz, was completed on Monday. Now we wait 10-14 days for installation…at which point I can have a sink again—hallelujah. We also need paint and trim.Oh, and a window. Not that the plywood doesn't look awesome.  And we still have stucco to repair outside.   

Here's how I ended up with three holes on the house.  The first one you know about already—we had to tear out the bump-out because it was leaking, which set me off on my window adventure.  Still waiting for delivery.

 The second one is the planned removal of the strangely low window. It was nice to have a second window in the kitchen, but there were a couple issues. First, the window was too low for counter height.  Second, there was no place to put the larger refrigerator.  S'long, window. Hello stucco repair.

Which brings me to hole number three…a bonus hole, if you will.  As you see, we had the remnants of a bad repair job from some prior owner.  It was cracking around the perimeter, so I asked Don if he could please patch it up when he does the rest of the stucco.  So he set Lalo to chipping out the crack to make way for the repair.

I come back a short while later, and Lalo has opened the wall from the window sill to the ground.  Needless to say, I was taken aback.  It was explained to me that the entire repair was bad and couldn't be salvaged. And then Lalo kept going, since the wall exposed the plumbing, and we would be able to install a laundry fixture (the water/drain combo that makes it so you don't have to use the sink—which looks pretty awful).  So as alarming as it was to have a surprise hole in the side of the house, it turned out to be a boon.  Hooray for a pretty laundry room…someday!