All systems: Go

Yesterday got away from me before I had a chance to write an update of our Tuesday status meeting. Bryan was on time -- in fact, he was early! -- and all went well. Andrew noticed a few little tweaky things that Bryan said were fine to fix ("good to catch this now before we close everything up") and we all felt like things were going smoothly, and definitely quickly.

We talked about the pattern/direction of the wood floors for a while. Basically, all the areas will be edged, like the LR and DR are, but we'll use fewer edge strips (three, instead of five) in deference to the smaller sizes of the rooms. Sort of like this:

(you can click to enlarge, which helps with the jitteriness)

...with mitered corners in the places where they'll show:

We won't bother edging or mitering the parts of the floor hidden by cabinets. It's simple old cottage, after all, not a Noe Valley showpiece.

-----

In other carpentry news, Bryan's going to build us a bench in the breakfast room. I had been kicking myself for cheaping out and not ordering the bench cabinets just to save a measly $1,000 (realize that a pair of good chairs will cost almost that amount and not look half as good, and lack storage), and then Bryan suggested that he build a storage bench to fit. It'll be roughly based on a drawing I've had kicking around the clipping file for years:

(The sketch is by Sarah Susanka, author of Not So Big House, illustrating the dimensions of her "perfect booth" in Fine Homebuilding magazine.)

We'll paint it white to match the rest of the millwork, and the seat will flip up for seasonal storage. I can't really say why this enchants me so, but it does -- I (heart) booths.


---

Here's what's coming in the next couple of weeks:
- Cabinets are arriving Friday! They'll probably have to stay in the living room for a bit. As Cam said today: "I really hope those cabinets look amazing, because he's a PITA to deal with." Amen, brother.
- Tile started today, and will continue for for ~4-5 days. We need to work with the tile guy to add the black accent hex tiles after the tile is laid.
- Wood floors will start Thursday, possibly Friday, and take 3-4 days. This will happen in tandem with the tile.
- Cam's notes say "painting and casing to start Tues" -- which probably means wall and ceiling painting, which would be a lot easier to do before the cabinets get installed.
- The bathroom windown "tilt-pac" is still not here. Bryan said he'd check with Beronio and get us an ETA.

Our to-do list:
- We really need to order the lights, because they're all going to be custom finishes, and Rejuvenation says "We build and ship most custom light fixtures in two to three weeks." Better get on that...
- Cameron's still hashing out the final stuff on the toilet and sink. It's looking like Expo's going to get our business because Floorcraft finally pissed him off, too.
- We need to buy hardware for the French doors this weekend.
- We need to pick paint colors this weekend. We should get Andrew to give us the thumbs-up on our choices at next Tuesday's meeting.
- Replacement kitchen sink will come Any Day Now. (I hope.)
- We need to call Mark and tell him to be ready to measure countertops next week, and that we'll need pieces of carerra for the shower curb and the top of the pony wall.