countermeasures

Plumbers are supposed to be here today to make the sink and cook top actually work. More details soon.

Update: Plumber was just here and has scheduling conflicts. He'll be back Tuesday to do it all. Doh. Buuut they're getting me a new garbage disposal for cheap (turns out the old one that I saved from the original sink was old and bad). And apparently I need to put some kind of vent in for the dishwasher up near the faucet, so we're gonna have to drill another hole up there (apparently it prevents the dishwasher from burning out its motor should there be a drainage issue).

In the meantime, I'm working on plugging in the cooktop. It's gas, so I assumed it needed no power, but the ignition for the burners is electric. I have backs on the cabinets, so you can't get to the wall and there's no outlet directly behind it. There was one in the narrow cab to the immediate right, but I de-wired and put a plastic cover on it when I thought I wouldn't be using it. Once I figured out where it was, I cut a hole with handy-dandy oscillating tool and made a round hole in the the cabs toward the back large enough for the plug to pass through. Good thing I just bought that hole-saw set for my drill. The outlet itself isn't installed yet, but that's easy because everything's already there. I just need to shut off the power to the house, which entails shutting off the computer. Doin' that now... so long!

After that I'm gonna hook up a power cord for the dishwasher, which only has screw terminals. This should be easy though.

BTW, I was looking through old pics (trying to figure out where the above electrical outlet was) and came up with the pic below dated December 9th of last year. Next time I'm commiserating about how I haven't gotten much done this should lift my spirits...

drywall 'n' plate date

Who has two thumbs and hates some drywall and mud action? Me, that's who. I briefly mentioned the perimeter surrounding the back sliding door in the last entry and realized that the drywall didn't really cover enough of the edges on the left and top (right side is ok), so I wound up cutting away about six inches and replacing it with wider pieces for more coverage at the edges. I could've probably just gotten away with using really wide moulding, but I hate the look of huge 'n' fanciful casement moulding. Instead I'll probably use some small right-angle moulding and paint it white. The nice thing is that you can paint it prior to installation.

As an actual tip (because this blog rarely has useful information...), I used John's Harbor Freight oscillating tool to cut the drywall instead of a drywall saw; that made things a little easier especially since there was a fair amount of cutting with an eight-foot wide door. And as expected, it was shim city to get the new drywall to align with the old. It's not perfect, but with an old warpy house, that's almost impossible and I'll make up the difference in drywall mud. Now I have to wait for it to dry, sand, repeat, ad infinitum.

BTW, looking out the window you can see the bay window "platform" is gone (see pic in last entry), because I demo'd it last week. That was a sweaty, circular saw mess but I salvaged a fair amount of wood and will be using for Cool Recessed Shelving project.

My next entries are going to likely be a lot more exciting: counter install guy is here next week which means not only will I have counters but they're installing the sink and cook top. Following that, I'll call the plumbers who will make the sink and the cook top actually work. Wee.

In unrelated news, I was at Ikea in Burbank this week where amongst other crap, I found these awesome plates, which match my "tide pools" aqua wall amazingly closely, so I had to get 'em:

I tried to adjust the color as close as I could in Photoshop, but trust me, it's mighty close. They were $15 for four big plates, four little ones and four bowls, so I went big and bought two sets. Such a deal, as my people say. They're THESE, btw. Also got some light fixtures for the halls which I'll post later.

the doors II- lanai she cried...

The sliding glass door dudes returned this morning with a chippy 7:AM phone call to inform me they'd arrive in 20 minutes. I hate early morning. The good news is that everything went smooth and it's in. See that blue thing through the window? That's the pool. Now all I have to do is break the down the remains of the previously-there bay window (that's the chunk you see directly behind the window). One of my next big projects is gonna be some slick shelving and I'll repurpose a fair amount of the plywood, of which there's a lot. It's WAY brighter in there now- the bay window had far less window and they were super tinted. I need to do window treatments very soon. Also need to figure out moldings, trim, something for the floor, etc. The perimeter looks worse than it actually is; it's just unpainted drywall that was previously covered with the bay window trim pieces.

The only thing I don't love about the doors are the handles; a bit frumpy for my tastes, but they could potentially be far worse. I would've preferred a more minimal round tubular kind of thing. After a little prelim research, it doesn't appear that there are any other options, but I'll look into it more.

In unrelated news, counter top measure guy #2 was here today (with lasers!) and they'll be installing the counters in about a week.

ladies and gentleman, the door.

Good news and bad news. The good news is the side sliding glass door is installed. I just need to figure out how I'm gonna trim the inside edges, but it's purely cosmetic, it's all sealed up. I'll probably try and do some kind of right-angled aluminum. More importantly,  let me be the first to say: low-E coated double pane glass is nothing short of amazing. It's currently 98° out; if you touch the glass outside, there's no question, it's hot to the touch. If you touch the glass on the inside, it's air-conditioned-room cool to the touch. There's probably a 20° difference between the inside and outside surface if not more. I suspect this will really help keep the room cool, and now I want to change out the kitchen window as well (this side of the house gets the most sun). I may also try and figure out what kind of door it is and look into different handle options. The one on it isn't bad, but if there's something sexier that's easy to swap, I may do that. Oh yes, and much unlike the old one, this slides like buttah.

The bad but not tragic news is that when they said to knock out six inches of stucco around the outside perimeters, they weren't kidding. Even though the outside mounting lip is only an inch or two, there's some kind of building code that says they have to. This meant that the install guys took off more on the side door, and told me to take off the six inches around the big opening in the back of the house (I hadn't removed anything because there wasn't a door to remove). This was more of the no fun disaster I went through yesteryday of sawing with circular saw and smashing with hammers. I probably sweated a gallon and managed to minorly blister the inside of thumb swinging hammers (even with work gloves), and I still need to remove a 2x4 from one side and rip it down a half inch because the installers told me the opening was a wee bit small. I also need to clean up the disaster of rubble caused by smashing out stucco in back. The installers plan to return either tomorrow or next week to install the back sliding door.

In related news, I'm probably gonna get some roller solar shades for both doors, spefically these. I hate vertical blinds, so I think this will be a little more visually pleasing. And these apparently have little chains, so they don't work like regular window shades.

may I push in your stool?

Forgot to mention this yesterday... ordered two of these guys this week. These are for the island which will have a 13" extension sticking off the back. I've spent a fair amount of time online searching for the perfect bar stools- for some reason, bar stools are frequently a tacky, dated or cheap looking affair. Many appear to belong at a guido club named after an inert gas, a synthetic fabric or a meteorological condition (Argon, Neon, Freon, Rayon, Rain, Wind, Storm, etc.). Going in the other direction, many look super bland and traditional. I was also trying to avoid a big chrome base- in theory that wouldn't bother me, but I figured they would be sitting in front of a giant sheet of brushed stainless steel with a sink, faucet and huge fridge, also all brushed stainless steel.

I stumbled on these by accident while drooling over the lovely Kartell Eros dining chairs (over $500 a pop, too rich for my blood, but how lovely they are). Anyway, the bar stools are schmancy Italian Calligaris L'Eau ... I love the delicate legs (and that they're available in satin steel) and the nifty concentric pattern in the plastic. In very non-Mitch fashion, I ordered them in blue, not the orange you'd expect. I figured the orange would sort of blend into the reddish-tinged mahogany cabs whereas the blue would pop more and coordinate with the bluish accent wall (and future tile). They also come in clear, red and smoked gray and they all look nifty. There's also a dining chair version in the same colors; I might get these in the future.

P.S. These are insanely cool too, but at $655 a throw, they're way too rich for my blood. Damn you again, Kartell!