Timeline

Arthur's been working on the cabinet trim today. I had a busy day at work so i couldn't spend much time in the house, I only stopped by to make sure someone was there.

Arnold called me and left a message asking about the size of the cooktop. I forwarded him the product information. He said he anticipates a Wednesday/Thursday installation for the countertops and said we could schedule a Friday install with Abt. He went on to say that Arthur will install the soft close fixtures for the cabinets and work on patching up the drywall around the fireplace today and he expects everything but the floors and the backsplash to be finished by next week. Finally, by Tuesday/Wednesday of the following week he expects the project to be complete.

Day Nine Thousand

No car today so no lunch time pictures. But it doesn't really matter, I don't think anyone came to the house today...again. I did get a call from Arnold around lunch time because the girls from the stone company couldn't get in the house to measure the countertops. Apparently someone accidentally locked the inside door. Again, I had no car, so I just gave him our garage door code. We can always change it if we need too.

Arnold also told me he'll be sending some guys over tomorrow to hopefully wrap up most, if not all, of the remaining items. I think them finishing everything is a bit ambitious but I also think Arnold wants to ask for another check but is hesitant because he knows we're frustrated with the speed at which the project is moving. With that in mind, money is good motivation, so maybe for that reason he sends the cavalry tomorrow. We'll see.

Fireplace

Not much to post. They sanded the floors yesterday and will varnish/buff them today. I'll try to take pictures tonight but I don't think that sort of thing is recognizable via photograph.

Late last week they finished the fireplace. Here are a couple pictures:

Fireplace

Island Light

Not sure about this light...

Bathroom

Arthur finished most of the bathroom and when I was home during lunch he was working on the lighting for the island.

Running Water!

Finally, we need to decide where we want the toilet paper dispenser and the towel holder.

Toilet paper dispenser can pretty much only go in front of the toilet. I talked to Parag and we think the best placement is the wall to the right of the toilet, I'm thinking somewhere centered between the back wall and the front edge of the toilet.

I'm also thinking the towel rack should be on the back wall, centered between the edge of the vanity and the leftmost edge of the toilet.

If I don't hear from anyone saying otherwise, I'll tell Arthur to install them in those locations tomorrow.

Handles 2

We video chatted on Monday and discussed the handles for the cabinetry/drawers. It was obvious to all of us that the smaller handles worked fine everywhere except possibly the larger drawers. Personally, I didn't think the smaller handles necessarily looked bad but it was clear that the larger handles looked very good and by comparison better. The point of the pictures below is to determine whether the smaller handles would even work. Included within the pictures is one pic of my 27" drawer and it's 6" handle. The cabinetry and handle style/colors are very similar. My drawer is 3" larger and my handle is .5" smaller then the ones we're looking at for Wheeling. We've all been to my place and I don't think any of us ever thought the handle looked too small for the drawer, so I think I'm comfortable saying the slightly larger handle will work for Mom's slightly smaller drawer. That said, I still think the larger ones would work better. I believe we've already ordered larger ones, not knowing but hoping, that they match the already installed handles. I say, if they do, we go with the larger ones. If they don't, then go with the smaller ones. Thoughts?

Handles

The layout of the handles is obviously different from what we discussed. For the drawers, mom decided to go in the middle because she was afraid centering it in the space above the indentation would be too close to the counter top. She also decided to go vertical for the cabinets because she didn't like the look of the off-centered horizontal handles on the cabinets with the centered horizontal handles on the drawers.

Indian Food Kitchen

Progress Pictures

Paint

First coat of paint will be finished today. Grout is already laid in the laundry room where the washer/dryer will be installed today. Bathroom grout isn't yet installed but will be shortly. Arthur will come tomorrow to paint the trim.

Between today, tomorrow, and Monday the guys will be getting things prepared for our Tuesday inspection by the village. They will finish pulling the 220v line, they will install the bathroom light fixture, and reinstall the existing light over the island. The only unfinished electrical remaining will be the exhaust fan's whip as well as the not-yet-started fireplace.

Overall, things are starting to take shape.

More Pictures

Some updated pictures. Nothing too crazy to report today. All of the cabinets except the laundry room sink cab are installed. Apparently that cabinet was delivered to the wrong work site. Other than that the guys are doing small things like touching up cabinets, putting a second coat of pain on the ceiling, painting the edges of the walls the appropriate colors, etc. By the end of the day they will have the grout laid and there's a decent chance we can get the washer/dryer reinstalled tomorrow- only potential hold up is the fact that we don't have a dryer duct anymore, both because the siding guys sided over it (per our direction) and the reconfiguration of the laundry room made the original hole unusable. They can fix this but Martin couldn't do it as of lunch today because he was waiting for Arnold to deliver the parts.

Cabinets

Cabinets almost finished. Grout should be installed by days end. They also plan on priming the remaining walls and dropping colored paint on the already primed walls. Finally, I spoke to Arnold about Mona's cubby hole idea, he said that wouldn't be a problem.

Loose Ends

I spoke to Arnold last night. We talked about the scratches on some of the doors. He said any that need to be replaced will be replaced. He also said they have touch up paint that will make most of the minor imperfections disappear.

We also discussed the gap between the laundry room and the kitchen. He was anticipating this gap. Apparently, the supplier not having the proper sized pantry's threw off the original measurements which are what he used when deciding placement of the laundry room door. He has filler pieces that will cover up the hole. Mona suggested we use the filler pieces to line the outer regions of the space to create a small cubby hole that can be used to store brooms, bags, or whatever. I'll talk to Arnold about this today.

Finally, Arnold told me that yesterday he just finished up a job in the city. This is relevant for us because he now has additional manpower which he can dedicate to our job. He anticipates moving very quickly now and by this time next week the project should be just about completed. Of course, this is predicated on us getting the island granite and the permit for the fireplace electrical.

I'll stop by during lunch to discuss progress payments and take pictures.

Cabinet Day

Big day today. They finished installing the outlets, painted the ceilings, and began installing cabinets. It turns out they also managed to mismeasure the hallway separating the laundry room and kitchen resulting in the gap shown below. Still, the kitchen is starting to come together.

Lastly, Dad spoke to Arnold and it turns out he found a partial slab of the Galileo marble. He'll send dad an email with the price.

Day ???...I lost count

Back to Work

I spoke to Martin who told me Arnold is working on getting us the drawing. Other than that, there were three guys at the house today. Nothing too exciting got accomplished: a couple doors, a lot of trim, ceiling in bathroom, etc. See video below.