Windows have arrived!

They're here!


Wah, I wanted those squares on the top of the living room window to be...well, square. A check of emails reveals that this is the design I'd approved, and rationalized at the time. Something about balance and proportion. Goes to show: go with your instincts.

But of the numerous things I have to "get over" in this project, this doesn't even make it into the Top 10.

Fire in the hole

Paraphrased from an email from our contractor today:

You missed an exciting day at the Doudna remodeling project today. Everything is fine, but we had a brief scare. Plumber was working with his torch sweating pipes together and hit a piece of the paper backing on the old insulation between the floors. The old paper backing went up pretty fast, and then hit the piece of insulation in the next bay, and then the next piece. Only the paper burned, but it went fast. Fortunately we had fire extinguisher on hand. We pulled down the burnt pieces of insulation and hauled them away. Only the paper side was burned. There was only one spot on the edge of a floor joist that got lightly scared from the flame.

We went ahead and called fire department just so they could give the all clear. They had the street blocked for a little while with the fire truck, so some of the neighbor may say something. Firemen poked around and said everything is fine.

Whew.

But the really really bad news comes from PG&E: over $5000 to move our gas service -- and that's the easy, straightforward cheap one. I can't "wait" to see what they want to move the electrical service.

Choosing exterior paint colors

Testing out paint colors. On the left, "templeton gray," (bluish) and on the right, "hancock gray" (greenish). The test trim color is an off-white interior color I had lying around.


I stink at painting, but fortunately, my photography is even worse and conceals the drips and streaks and surges.

Exterior framing done

Kitchen cabinets ordered!!

Exterior framing pretty much done. Rumor has it that windows will start to arrive next week.


The arch for the tile niche above the cooktop is framed in the wrong place, as our most marvelous kitchen designer observes.


Someday it might look like this.

(editor's note: that inspiration persisted right up until tile selection, and I still love it.)

Making use of all spaces, this area under the stairs will be accessible for storage, from two different places. It'll be a great place for kids to hide. Or grownups to hide from the kids.


Big meeting with the plumbers today to review valve placements.

Cabinets ordered

Almost a sign-off meeting with the kitchen designer, still need some measurements, but I'm on a short leash to sign off as soon as she's done, and write a very, very large check for our cabinets. We made some changes that will save some money, such as changing one drawer design to another that won't require a custom cabinet; or removing some drawers.

It's going to be spectacular. I'm still not sure how it ended up "spectacular," I'd have been fine with "great," but these things have a tendency to run away with me.




The cabinet order alone will cost over $70,000, but it's for far more than a kitchen -- it includes a desk area, pantry, hutch, and entertainment area -- over 30 drawers, 50 shelves, and 80 handles. Then the countertops and appliances are on top of that. Gulp.

Lap siding all around

We decided against shingles, so it'll be all lap siding. One of the reasons was to preserve the siding, window trim, and decorative knee braces around the remaining upstairs east-facing wall (below) -- but it turns out that the siding profile doesn't match any of the other siding anyway. So it goes.


Met with our contractor's interior door guy on Friday, to put together a preliminary list of doors.

New idea to replace the dining-room French doors: a painted ordinary door (the "servant's entrance"), but with an operable casement sidelight. The dining room gets no ventilation otherwise. Door guy is looking into it.

Thinking about exterior colors! I like the "templeton gray," a bluey gray (top strip, center color). Dave likes "hancock gray" (top color on the vertical strip). Ramon, the most competent jobsite foreman who's also full of good ideas, also picked Dave's color on his own.