Remodel Day 170 - 7/22/2011

Time to paint! 

If Tom were writing this he would not have included the exclamation point.  He is not thrilled.  When Tom was just starting out as an actor he painted houses to make ends meet.  So he's really good at it.  And with this thought in mind we decided to save the $6,000 on painting and do it ourselves.  We are going to have the painters prime and paint the ceilings, but Tom is going to do the rest.  He's starting on the prime coat for the kitchen because the cabinets are going to be delivered next week.  Yay! 

Here is Tom in action. 
I asked him to smile for the camera. 
He was not willing to oblige my request.

Right now we're focused on the prime coat, but we are getting samples of paint colors.  To be continued........

Remodel Day 167 to 169 - 7/19/2011 thru 7/21/2011

The tile work is going well.  The diagonal pattern had to be adjusted a little.  I'm worried the brown might be too dark.  But I like it.  I think.  I'm terrible at making these decisions with confidence.

One of my favorite things about the soap/shampoo box is that little white shelf on the bottom of it.  I didn't like the box at first.  It seemed too shallow.  So Rob thought up a great idea.  He sent me to the guy that is going to cut our granite for the kitchen.  He has alot of scraps.  I chose a very basic white travertine scrap.  He cut us a small shelf from the scrap and added it to the shampoo box to make it a little deeper.  Brilliant!  We're going to do the same for the far end of the tub!  I love it!

Tom changed his mind about the second shampoo box.  Yay!  It's gone! 
Also can you see we decided to run the tile up the whole way to the ceiling?  Our last bathroom did not have that.  And the paint above the tub surround was always peeling.  I wanted to avoid that this time so the tile was extended even though it cost a little more in materials.



Another shot of the brown tile.  Do you like it?



One last shot of the tile work.  This guy is sick of me taking his picture.  He totally ignores me now.  Not to mention the fact that Benny also walked through his tray of grout.  Remember - Benny also walked through the cement floor he poured last week.  Benny is not making points with this guy. 

Remodel Day 167 - 7/19/2011

Time to pause and catch you up on some of our continued (and seemingly endless) researching.  It's time to talk toilets.  At first I thought - ok - it's a toilet......how hard could that be?  Silly me. 

Choosing the right toilet proved to be much more time consuming than I had thought, considering we need to account for a few facts:

1. There are 6 people in our house.
2. Kids do not connect the act of using a toilet to the act of flushing a toilet.
3. Kids seem to lack the concept of what is a "reasonable" amount of toilet paper.

Which leads me to the discussion of toilet research.  We wanted one that

1. A soft close toilet lid.  So that Henry (who is a pointer not a setter) will keep all of his parts intact without the toilet slamming down on them.
2. The flushing mechanism can tolerate a great deal of use.
3. The flushing mechanism can handle a great deal of toilet paper.
4. The flushing mechanism can handle the occasional flushing of a MatchBox car.
5. The toilet lid is heavy enough to keep out Benny.  Don't underestimate the powers of a 10 pound shih tzu.  He has super powers to get into a toilet, but not such super powers on getting out.

We scoured the internet.  We read the reviews in Consumer Reports. We went to a multitude of stores.  We interviewed a number of salesman in the afore mentioned stores.  And here were our two final contenders.

1. American Standard Champion 4.  This was the number 1 rated toilet by Consumer Reports.  It's main selling feature is a 2 3/8" trap that gets rid of ........ ummmm...... let's say "solid waste" best. 

2. Toto Drake.  Also rated very high on Consumer Reports.  It's trap is smaller at 2 1/8".  But the flushing mechanism was rated much higher by the reviews on Consumer Reports and a number of other websites.

And the winner is .............. the TOTO DRAKE!

After all the research we decided that the actual users of the toilets (user reviews and salesman experience) pointed to the Toto line of toilets as the superior choice.  We shall see.

Remodel Day 166 - 7/18/2011

The tile work continues today but I forgot the most exciting news......the shear wall passed inspection last Friday!  Now the drywall can be completed and then we move on to the prime coat of paint!

The top half of the tub surround is being down in a diagonal diamond pattern.

And the shear wall is getting drywall added.

Shear wall drywall DONE!



And the pool is back in working order! Yay!



Remodel Day 164 - 7/16/2011

Today is the day to sand and acid wash the pool.  Apparently it was necessary for the kids to get into the pool along with the workers.  I'm sure they were thrilled.  Here's a picture of the kids pretending to swim ........ in a pool ....... with no water in it.  OK - they're kind of cute - right?

Here's the pool guy attempting to work, with the kids running around inside.  Good thing I didn't get a picture of his face -
I'm sure it would not be a happy one.

More sanding.

After the sanding.  Look at the cute turtle tiles in the pool.  One per kid.



Refilling the pool.  Let's get back to swimming!



Remodel Day 163 - 7/15/2011

And.......I seem to have forgotten to mention another problem we've encountered.

The week before July 4th, there was a problem with the pool pump and it failed.  Followed by a 4 day wait for our pool service to get someone out to fix it.  Followed by a fix and then the filter spewing out some sort of sediment that is now stuck to the sides of the pool. And it feels like sandpaper.  And it it scraping up the kids feet when they are in the pool. 

• We called the home warranty service.  They say it's not covered.
• We called the pool maintenance service.  They say it's not their fault.
• We called the pool installer.  They say it's not their fault.

After many days of negotiating, round and round conversations (all done by Tom) we finally got someone to take responsibility.  The pool maintenance service is coming tomorrow to sand down and acid wash the pool surface which hopefully will solve the problem.  We've not been able to use the pool for the last 10 days.  Again - picture me with a very unhappy face.  Today we are draining the pool.  Let's hope this solves the problem.  We'll see tomorrow. (FYI - you need a permit from the city of Burbank to do this which costs $28.) 

Draining the pool.

Weird sediment stuff that is stuck to the surface of the pool.

Let's move on to a happier subject.  The tile work in the bathroom continues.  It looks great and we're happy to see one area of the remodel that is moving along smoothly.

We chose a travertine tile. 
The bottom half of the tub surround is being done in a cream and gold colored subway tile.



We didn't want to make things too "matchy" between the tub surround and floor.  So we chose a patterened floor that is in the same family as the subway travertine tile, but is a variation in the tile shape and layout.



Close up of the subway tile.

Close up on the floor.

The completed floor.  I LOVE IT!!!!!

A long shot of the bathroom. 

Remodel Day 162 - 7/14/2011

  We got some good news today - the engineer approved the shear wall.  Now onto the inspector from the Burbank tomorrow.  Keep your fingers crossed. 

But there was finally some progress on other fronts.  The tile crew started work today.  I thought the walls just had to have the green board on it, but apparently the walls in the tub surround are prepared much in a manner similar to the steps it takes to apply stucco.  Today the "scratch coat" is being applied and will be followed by the brown coat. 

Here's another point of contention. 
I want only one soap box and Tom wants two. 
As you can see I lost this argument. 

This guy made the work look so easy. 
I admire anyone that can work with their hands to create something, whether it is a  construction project or art work. 
I can barely draw a stick figure. 

I will stick to numbers and Excel. 
As Tom reminds me often "Just face it.....you're a nerd."

Remodel Day 160 - 7/12/2011

It's been a long time since I've posted and believe it or not we've been pretty much stalled for the past 2 weeks.  The shear wall did not pass inspection and it has been bouncing back and forth between the contractor, the engineer from the city, the architect and back again.  It's been very frustrating. 

It hasn't been totally dead I guess.  The drywall crews have been in to spackle and sand and re-spackle, but we can't proceed with much else.  It's like a game of dominoes.  The drywall has to finish, before the paint crews come in to prime coat the walls and then after those 2 things are done, the floors will go in.  But since the shear wall is not approved, the drywall cannot be completed etc, etc, etc.  You get the picture.  And that picture would be of me...with a VERY unhappy face.

All in all we are pretty much dead in the water.  I'm not happy.  Did I mention that already?  We've been using the time to start looking at tile for the bathroom and to visit more granite yards. 

The tile for the bathroom proved to be a more daunting task than we had thought.  Mainly because Tom and I didn't agree.  I wanted a more flat or satin finish.  After 11 years with two white bathrooms (counter tops AND floors) I am completely over shiny white tile.  It is a pain to keep clean and when you add four kids and a dog into the mix, it is pretty much dirty as soon as I clean it.  Tom is looking for a marble like finish with a high gloss in a light color.  The thought of putting in this type of tile horrifies me - not because it wouldn't be beautiful, but because I will be cleaning the bathroom floor every half hour. 

We went to CTD Tile on Magnolia Boulevard.  I was totally unimpressed.  The staff was pleasant but unhelpful to customers like us - the clueless types when it comes to design.  We also went to Lowe's.  Pretty much the same experience. 

After taking a few days to regroup (and cool off) we headed out to Emser Tile in Chatsworth and were told to ask for Juan.  (A suggestion from our contractor Rich.)  Hallelujah!!!  We walked into the showroom and talked to Juan.  We each made a case for our separate likes and dislikes. 

Juan started talking.....

he brought us some samples......

he made a few suggestions.......

suddenly the clouds started to part.......

the birds started to sing.....

AND TOM AND I AGREED ON A DESIGN!!!!!!!!!!!!

And here it is. 
A simple sketch from Juan
that put 2 weeks of dissension to a rest. 
Thank you Juan!