#115 & #116 Catch-up Work

Sandy was up early and saw this incredible sunrise in our front yard. We are blessed with these vivid displays of color at lease once a week. This is also true for sun sets in our Family Room.

After the holidays, this was first time I had seen Darrell and Stacy. We immediately noticed Darrell was letting his hair grow out. Stacy was sport new work boots.


We chatted about the rest of the punch list items including:

• The metal hand rail for the down stairs hallway
• The shelf for the flat screen's equipment and speakers in the Studio
• Doggie door install
• Installing the old Kitchen cabinets in the Basement

Stacy and Darrell take the newly fabricate metal rail and temporary install on the wall to check to alignment and matching underneath wood surface to attached the rail securely.

Darrell then takes it to his shop and makes and changes and then off to the powder coater for final color and texture application, of course ORB.

While install the rail, adrill bit nicked one of the electrical wires in the wall. The boys had to cut a hole and repair the damage. It is an easy fix to re-mud and paint over the hole.

Now that's a beautiful rail.

I love the feel of it every time I go up or down the stair case.

 

 No they are not watching TV on the job. They are in deep consultation as to setting the height and angel of the corner shelf. What is challenging is how to terminate the left edge into the adjacent molding. It was a slick solution.

We had quite the discussion on the doggie door. We found the perfect dog when we were at Susan and Dave's home. We ordered one and have Darrell and Stacy build a solution around it.

Craig shows the guy where he would like the old Kitchen cabinets re-attached to the wall. We will gain a lot of good storage in a space that naturally stays cool all year.



I may relocate the wine note in the cooler to this better location.

These cabinets fit perfectly in there new location.

Not pictured in this blog is the on-going sorting and re-introduction of all the stuff displaced during the remodel.

Still to come is the before and after shots of the remodel... stayed tuned!

Day 113 & 114, Entertainment systems comes on-line

Paul Hughes is our AV guy. He is reviewing his notes as he starts to map out the audio distribution system. Paul had to trace all the wires and discover the location of the original system wires and speakers.



BELOW, you can see the rack of component starts to fill the 30" tall instrument holder.

I am glad Paul knows what he doing. Trying to get all the electronic units to speak with one another is quite an undertaking.

Note how all the cables are neatly tie wrapped and labelled with key ID info.

Paul shows Craig how to access various entertainment channels. We now have a lot more viewing choices thanks to Sandy getting an enhanced program package.

Even the dog seems to like some of the programming.

Brad, the plumber has had to return to the job site. The utility faucet is leaking and water seems to beading at the back splash.

Brad was unsuccessful in solving the leak that has Sandy and I buffed.

BELOW, Chris is clearing plugged drain. They were successful in clearing some material that was blocking the the water flow.

Stacy has been tasked with installing the ceiling mount for the flat screen in the studio.


We are insuring the that all the equipment works with the satellite and audio component.

There seems to be a lot of finger pointing to get this work completed.

Paul is hooking up the Studio system. Darrell is building a corner shelf to houses all the components as well as a set of speakers. Our visitors will have the ultimate entertainment system. The other time Sandy puts on the Dog-TV channel, "yes there is such a channel". I have observed the cats watching the doggie on the screen.

Paul spends a lot time on his phone time talking to DirecTV. We have several receivers and three have programming recorders. Paul is from Tennessee and always find another southerner at the customer Service desk.

Things were going pretty well till we got to the Kitchen and as much as we wanted to be done. We got an error code that requires a tech to come to the house. Anyway welcome to entertainment technology.

BELOW, Paul's calling DirecTV again, while we are having lunch.

Sandy is learning to drive my BMW Wagon and she asked me to teach her how to drive down the driveway. I purchased a set of 6 18" cones. She is using the cone for another purpose, yet to be revealed.

What's next... stay tuned.

Day 112, Darrell's back, Paul is arriving soon

It has been some weeks since I wrote another blog. There are a lot of reasons for not writing next blog. I not hiding behind any reason, I am just restarting my creative juices and blogging.

LEFT: Darrell, Stacy and I discuss the days work to be done.

Darrell is showing his latest fabrication, a special door stop to keep the front door from running into our antique hat tree in the entry. He even painted it old rub bronze to match our finish standard.

He is very clever in solving these kinds of problems when a commercial alternative is not available.

Another custom adaptation is our door screen. Darrell used his metal fabrication skills to create this custom cover to hide our ringer on the blue wall.













BELOW, We had an unexpected wind storm one day and one of the causalities was an antique mirror falling over and breaking one of the side panes. I think it can be fixed.

 RIGHT, Darrell and I discuss the remaining punch list items to be done. We must determine what are our needs are versus wants. The list is dwindling. 

 

 BELOW, The antique are being staged as Sandy decides how to arrange all her treasures

 

 LEFT, Here's our newest addition a display cabinet from a local antiques shore. Sandy now can display her glass and crystal figurines.

 




BELOW, Our family room is starting to take shape  every furniture piece added.

 

 I ordered bamboo drawer dividers for the Kitchen. They come in three different styles. What is cool about these units is they expand to fit any size drawer.

LEFT, We now have our new entertainment center. It is custom design to hold all of our audio-video components in a rack that pulls out and rotates 90 degrees to reveals all the the rear panel plugs and connectors.

Darrell and Stacy level the cabinet and centered the unit on the wall between the two wall plugs.

BELOW, The kitchen flat screen is mounted and ready to display when the master system is connected and turned on.

Now the next phase is officially launched... Enter the Music Man!

Paul has been waiting for the furniture to arrive and be installed. Now it is his turn to make the magic happen.

RIGHT, This is Sandy's roll top desk. Darrell and Stacy assembled it and glued or fastened any part that needed repair.

BELOW, Craig is enjoying the new hot water heater. I love the chai latte's.

Day 111, A catch all for moving-in...

Jeff is the Screen door guy. I wanted to have screen over our front door so we can let the warm breezes through the house without the flying critters from the outside landscape. He did an awesome job. As you can see it is very hard to see it mounted to the front door.

I hope we don't have anyone or dog go through it when it's deployed.

Here the reason we decided to stay and remodel, our sunsets

Here's one of the challenges of living at the top of the hill... T U R K E Y S!

Sandy thinks it is so fun to watch the baby turkeys show up every Spring. She tends to forget they grow up into full size birds. They have no natural predator, you never see one run over. In the Fall they flock into our front yard turning it into a turkey toilet... Yuck!

Our next big event is the installation of the entertainment center. We have three flat screens to get up and get running. The master system is in the Family room. We have another one in the Kitchen so we can enjoy our cook top counter or the new eating nook. The original flat screen is slated to be repositioned in the studio and mounted from the ceiling.

RIGHT, Paul is confirming we have all the parts and pieces to do the job. He starts on Monday, November 25th.

Pixar and Tamika play with a new toy in the Family Room. They were on a down stay until we turned our attention to Paul. We sure miss Pasco and Ben, however the youthfulness of young pup does add a new energy to our home. Pixar turns two year old on December 2nd.

BELOW, this is the last memorial to Ben and Pasco before we get serious about moving back into our new home.

Our utility room is 75% operational. Sandy has been preparing all meals for the kitties and dogs. My favorite item is the 24" deep sink. I love it for the special deep cleaning project only a deep sink can handle.

We love our new bathroom, heated floors, great shower fixture, glass bowl sinks, wall mirror, plenty storage, lighting and drawers. I love the pull out shelves to store all our pharmaceuticals and home remedies.

As we sort out what drawer get what item. We have decide what gets store away, what will go into a studio kitchen set and what will be donated. We directing our stuff into YES, NO go or Donate / Re-purposed.

BELOW, we need to order cushions and have a table built to reside in the elbow of the nook seating unit.

We have done our initial stage of the Living room (antique). Sandy even has her roll top desk in it's new resting space. I did restrict her to three Tiffany floor and table lamps, we will see if she can do it. Also we visited Robert's Relics in Windsor to find a curio cabinet for all her glass treasures.

This antique display unit comes with:

1- A light at the top

2- Six glass shelves to display Sandy's collections

3- It fits perfectly in the space

and we love it

BELOW, the Family room is staged for the new entertainment system soon to be assembled next Monday... Bring on Super Bowl Sunday.

Everything in the back bed room is ready to be sorted for determination of it's final destination.

 

NEXT: I don't have a clue, I am going to visit my son in San Diego for four days, more next week...

We are going to KOA for Thanksgiving, doesn't get more American then that!