Remodel Day 145 - 6/27/2011

Not good news today.  Well, good news and bad news.

The good news is the shear wall is up.

The bad news is it didn't pass inspection.

It's something about the pocket door that is on the far left of the wall where the pocket door is located. (not pictured).  It seems that the architectural plans were not drawn with this door marked as a pocket door, which for some reason affects the installation of the shear wall, which accordingly resulted in it not passing inspection.

I am not happy.





Remodel Day 141 - 6/23/2011 (part 3 of 3)

And finally.....the shear wall.

See that wall in the background of the picture? 

It needs to be reinforced, or so says the city of Burbank. 

I don't know why, other than it strengthens the structure of the house. 

So ok - it sounds good to me, but in order to "shear wall" it,

it must be torn down first. 

So here we go.

And as the tear down began, we were surprised to find, that this room once had wood panelling in it.  A beautiful 1970's touch.  I remember going to many a house where the rooms had this decor.



And down comes the wall.
Shear wall installation tomorrow.



AND.....as if we didn't have enough going on today, Jessie and Catie's team had their last t-ball game along with their team party.  They kicked butt in the game, which was a great ending to a very exciting day. 
GO FEARLESS FAIRIES!!

Remodel Day 141 - 6/23/2011 (part 2 of 3)

And here is part 2 of the excitement. 

Not the actual work....
but the guy that was working......
on stilts.......
as he was "mudding" the drywall. 

(Do you like that technical term?  mudding = putting spackle on the drywall).

He was the source of entertainment for the kids for most of the day. 

They particulary enjoyed when he had to walk up stairs. 

And also when he had to bend down to pick up more tools. 

Remodel Day 141 - 6/23/2011 (part 1 of 3)

Just a heads up.  This is a very long post today. 

There was SO much going on that I actually split it up into 3 parts and it still left me with a very long post.  So hang on.....because it's

MOVING DAY!!!!

No, not moving IN day.  Another moving OUT day. 

Today we move out of the family room and into the garage. 

So if you follow along, I'll show you how the day went. 




So here's how we started the day. 
Everyone stretched out in their sleeping bags in the
soon to be demo'd family room.

 


And we started to clear out the room. 
All of the furniture is being piled up in the backyard. 




And we said our "good-byes" to the temp wall that also served as our guest book.  Thanks to everyone that stopped by to sign it!




And the carpet is being pulled up. 
After 8 years, 4 kids, 2 cats and a dog, I think it should be taken directly to the Hazardous Material drop off.  I don't even want to venture a guess as to how much food, poop and pee is in that carpet. 

TMI?

Also take a look at that beautiful (?) white shiny tile on the floor.  It was there when we moved in.  It was slippery not to mention ugly.  So we just carpeted over it.  I think it is directly responsible for the reason it took Emily so long to walk.  Everytime she tried she would slip.  We ended up putting in the carpeting just before the twins were born.  It made her very happy.




And here is where we are moving into.  The garage.  The prior owners had converted the back half of the garage into a studio apartment. 
It has a full kitchen and shower in it.  So to be fair, things could be worse.......considering we are living in the GARAGE!





I'll use those brown shelves as my pantry and the blue couch in the background converts into a bed.  The girls have already called dibs on it.



 


Here is the jumbled mess of cords that makes up our entertainment system.  We are supposedly labelling them so that we can hook everything up again. 
I am somewhat skeptical as to our future success at this endevour. 
I think I'll be calling in the professionals. 

 


And now for the big reveal......drum roll please......

The temp wall is officially coming down. 
I wish I had taken a picture of Tom's face while this was happening. 
He's been waiting to see what the view will be like with great anticipation. 

 



 A little more being removed ........





And more.........





Down to the studs.......





AND VOILA! 
Here's the view we will have of the family room from the great room.





And if that was not exciting enough, the tile floor is being removed.  Yay!





This was Henry's favorite part.  The jack hammer being used to chip out the tile. 
Suffice it to say it was NOT my favorite part.  I still have a headache. 





Here's the view from the front door.





And a view of the great room.





And a reverse view looking from the back of the house to the front. 
Can you tell Tom was excited? 
I have about 200 pictures he has taken today.

Stay tuned for part 2......



 

Summer Vacation quote of the day June 22, 2011

"Do you think I can take a picture of my own butt?" contributed by Emily.

Remodel Day 139 - 6/21/2011

No work today - the crews that will continue the drywall/taping/mudding process will resume tomorrow.  But for now we need to settle on the final cabinetry color and flooring.   It's impossible to choose these things from a picture, or at least it is for me.

So Tom and I headed out today, with a list of vendors in hand.  First we went to Home Depot to check on the door samples for the cabinets.  We went with Thomasville as the manufacturer. 

Here is what we chose.

(Except the door inside panel is a square, not rounded.)

Then we headed out to another flooring vendor.  There name was Amigos Flooring.  I was very impressed.  They had a large selection and great customer service. 

Here is what we chose for the floors.

We got off track a little at our stop at Home Depot.  We noticed this display of granite edging samples.  I've been debating about how to have the slab cut.  I like the more elaborate edging, but I think it will be a place to collect all of the food smears that will certainly ensue once we begin using the kitchen and eating at the island.  But then again the plain rounded bullnose edging seemed boring.  Then these two caught my eye.  They seemed to be a good compromise between the rounded edge and a more intricate edge.  I'm going to have to put a pin in this and investigate some more later.

And finally we made one more pass back to the granite yard.  The one in Pacoima called San Fernando Marble and Granite.  I have to say they have a fantastic selection, but their customer service........um how do you say it.......SUCKS.  Yes, that's the word, they suck.  With that said I called my friend Amy Jensen who was just recently on her own quest to manage a remodel, school, sports and four children.  She is my soul mate and I asked her for advice.  She recommended another granite yard to look at so hopefully soon I will head out to Southland Stone and continue my search.  But for now, I'm pretty settled on the slab below called Typhoon Bordeaux.  I like that it has another color in it, but I'm trying to figure out whether or not it has too much gray in it.

Summer vacation quote of the day June 21, 2011

"I just wrote JK on a note to Daddy and he didn't know what it meant. I mean seriously......how old is that guy anyway?" contributed by Emily.

Remodel Day 138 - 6/20/2011

The electrical work continues but there is nothing very exciting to report.  The  wiring is being run so we can put lights into the closets and the fire alarms are being installed. 

Here's what it looks like.  Not too exciting....

So instead of a boring post, I've decided to mix things up a little....and present my "Homage to Dust". 

There is dust EVERYWHERE.  I remember when our friends the Jessens were doing their remodel and Nicole was telling me how much dust was in her house.  I smiled politely and nodded, not understanding the gravity of her statement.  Until now that is.  I finally understand.  There is dust in the bathroom, on every surface, inside my shoes......literally and without exaggeration.....everywhere.  So with that said.....I present to you.....

My Homage to Dust

Dust on the lamps

Dust on the piano

Dust on the tables

Dust on the carpet.  But the carpet is going away, so I guess this one is ok.

And dust on the kids. 
Actually, Catie wanted to join in on the dust documentary
so I thought she should get some recognition for her assistance. 

Remodel Day 135 to 136 - 6/17/2011 thru 6/18/2011

The drywall continues and this crew is speedy quick.  They are practically done.  There are some small patches left, but this is to complete some electrical and cable wiring that needs to be done. 

Here you can see how quickly the ceiling in the great room went up.  We had to keep our eye on the work so we could get pictures in progress.  You can see me talking to Bonnie in the background.  I seem to be explaining something about the switches by the front door.....I think. 

I included this picture to show you the doors more than the drywall. We went with a pattern that matched our existing doors, but we splurged on the real wood doors.  We had originally budgeted for the hollow-core doors, but they looked so cheap we decided on the upgrade. 

Future linen closet

Here is the partial crew in full swing. 
They were everywhere and obviously have this down to a science. 
They worked so efficiently it was amazing to watch.

Here you can get an idea of what the skylights will look like.  We were still worried about the lighting in this room.  But now that the drywall is going up and the skylights have been put into place our fears have been alleviated.....for the most part.  I just want this to be a light and airy room instead of the cave it used to be.

Green board near the kitchen sink. 
Used for areas that will have water near it.

Green board in the bathroom.

And last but not least. 
Catie could not miss her chance for another photo op. 

Remodel Day 134 - 6/16/2011

GRANITE, GRANITE, GRANITE!!!!! 

The days I've been awaiting (and partially dreading) have arrived.  I've begun shopping for granite.  The first outing was to Quality Stone and Tile in North Hollywood. I have to say the visit was a bust.  I had NO idea what to ask, NO idea what parameters I had and most importantly no tape measure.  From now on, I will never leave the house without a tape measure.  After wasting about an hour of a very nice sales lady's time, I went home with no more information than I started with.  Just alot of pictures but they were not meaningful.  I had not written down names or slab sizes. 


So this morning, I grabbed Rob and asked him some questions.  And here's the information I gathered before I headed out again.


1. The island will be 9' 8" so I should find a slab that is at least 120" (about 10').  Otherwise I will have a seam in the island and I don't want that.
2. I need 2 slabs.
3. I will have my own fabricator (guy that cuts the granite) come and pick up the slab after I choose one.
4. My budget is $2400.  More than enough.  Rob has budgeted for 3 slabs and we will only need 2.


And now we headed out to another yard that was alot bigger.  There was alot more to choose from but the customer service was not as good.  Also I just took Emily with me this time.  The younger 3 kids were at camp (amen) so it was easier to focus.  Last time I took them to the granite yard they all decided to play a game of imaginary paint ball while hiding behind and in between huge slabs of granite.  I was imagining them either having a granite slab fall on them or worse having them knock over a slab of granite and cracking it and then we'd have to pay for it.  OK - maybe the first scenario was worse, but the mayhem did not help me try to focus on choosing anything. 


Back to the fun part.  I am going to post pictures of the leading contenders.  I'd love to get your vote on which one you like.  I'm going to keep my pick a secret. 

Golden Persa.  This one was a heart breaker.  It was not long enough.



Typhoon Bordeaux



Venetian Gold

Colonial Gold

Nacarado



Fussion.  Before you vote on this one, know this picture is just for fun and it doesn't do it justice.  It has the most AMAZING blue/rose tones in it.  And it sells for $55/square foot!  Ouch!!  The others ranged from $12/square foot to $16/square foot.  We just liked looking at it.  It is amazing to think that nature created this.