Light Fixture

This is the light fixture we got for the dining room. It's a James Moder model 94164S22.

Artisan kitchen & bath will install it sometime this week. I should have pictures posted this weekend.

Contractors!

Phillis was supposed to be back this week to begin on the living room. Over the weekend we moved most stuff out and that room and the foyer are ready for her.

But Tuesday she didn't come. Wednesday she didn't either and I called, leaving her a message as to why. She didn't call back. When I got home on Thursday, she still hadn't shown up.

I have dealt with with a lot of vendors and contractors professionally, and the one thing that I will not tolerate ("up with which I will not put!") is not being informed. Plans change and things happen. But let me know what's going on so that I can manage it on my terms.

I left Phyllis another voicemail and a terse email.

She returned my call, leaving me a message saying vaguely that something came up she had to do and "forgot" about our schedule, but won't get back to us until next Thursday!

She sent this email as well:
I am sorry. I really goofed -up. What was I thinking. I can not express how horrible I feel.
Sorry for the inconvenience. I will start next week Thursday.

Most sincerely,
Phyllis

We don't have a lot of options and we do like her work. Maybe she will paint a room for free.

Dining Room Complete

Phyllis finished painting the dining room yesterday and it looks fantastic! I will post pictures this weekend after we are finished repopulating everything.

We need to buy and install a new light fixture and Phyllis pretty much mocked the switch plates as not matching anything that we've done to the house. They look like the originals.

Where do you buy switch plates??

Week 1

Phyllis started last Monday. The first four days we spent repairing some cracks in the plaster and smoothing it out so that it blends in with the existing.

I was talking with her on Wednesday morning and asked if she was done with the repairs and would start the painting. She laughed at me and said "Matt, Matt, Matt...I have a lot more to do the make your walls look fabulous and that's what you're paying me to do." Okay, then...

She painted the ceiling on Friday (and politely suggested that we replace the light fixture in there)as well as the inside of the china cabinets. They are dark. She said that the need to be dark in order to show off the glassware. That's not intuitively obvious to me, but she's the professional.

Today she did a second coat in the cabinets and did the first coat on the walls. The red on the walls looks really good.

Got to love those right-brained people!

Start Date: 8-21-2009

Phyllis will start on the dining room next Monday, 8/21/2009. We’re excited that she’s able to start right away.

Of course, that means that this weekend we will need to de-populate the china cabinets and cookbook bookshelf and move out all the inessentials. We’ll need to do the same for the living room during the week, next week.

Here’s her quotation and scope of work:

Date 8/13/09

PROJECT TITLE: Living Room, Dining Room, Front Entrance
PROJECT LOCATION: 2608 Lefeber, Wauwatosa, WI

Cost
Living Room, Dining room and Front Entrance

1. Repair cracks in ceiling and walls. Match ceiling and wall textures.
2. Prime coat repaired areas.
3. Paint ceilings in 1 color apply 2 coats.
4. Paint walls in 1 color apply 2 coats.
5. Apply 1-color faux finish to Dining room walls.
6. Colors: All Ceilings, OC-50 November rain.
• Living room main walls 1663 New born’s eyes, Niche 1664 Sea reflections.
• Dining room base coat on walls 1294 Potters wheel, Faux finsh glaze, HC-64 Townsend harbor brown.
• Front entrance,1103 Camel back.
• Paint brand is Benjamin Moore.

Painting the rest of the first floor

We really liked Phyllis (iPaint is her company. I think it’s just her.) who did the painting in our den and her creativity was very helpful to us. What do we know about that stuff? She had the right balance of providing options but also offering guidance.

We have decided to have her painting our dining room, living room, and foyer. The Dining room will be a couple of shades of red with a “wash,” the living room will be blues, and the foyer will be an amber sort of color. Hopefully she can start next week and be done in two.

She wants to paint our kitchen a grey but we’ll hold off on that for a while.

I’ll start taking pictures and provide updates on this page.

More On Outlets

Matt:

Yes, the electricians are aware of the units that can be ordered off the web. They shy away from these sources for a number of reasons:

--You can never be sure you will get what is shown, these parts may not be the true “contractor grade” that you obtain from a local supply house (obviously some negative experience going this route).

--The preference to support local business. For this reason they did, originally, try to get the parts through Interstate Supply, an electrical distributor located in downtown Milwaukee who advised them the lead time would be 7-10 business days.

--Knowing that you wanted the part sooner, the electrician visited ALL the local Home Depot locations to see if he could get it in stock (no luck in the color we wanted, ivory. The reason we have been on the hunt for Ivory is that it matches the switch plates in the kitchen) or through their contractor division. The desk person in the contractor division told him “3-5 days max”. So, the parts were ordered through the contractor division, based upon the lead time we thought they were quoted. You see how that has turned out. Conversations with the department manager have yielded no positive results. Response has been, “There is nothing I can do to help you”. So much for customer service.

--Home Depot Contractor Division is now telling them we should have the parts by Friday. But, in order to give myself some reassurance that we will have something, I am having the electrician also order the parts off of the web site listing you provided AND keeping the item on order with H.D. (Somebody will have to take something back). With my luck they will now both come in on Friday.

--The final result? I am shooting for Friday. Yes, this is very frustrating. Our electrician has acted with every good intent of satisfying your request as quickly as possible. This just proves the saying that “No good deed go unpunished”.

Hope this helps address some of your concerns. I will keep you updated.

Regards,

Jill

Electricians Cheese Me Off

We've been waiting two weeks now for our electricians to fix their mistake. they were to have put in surge suppressor outlets and they just put in standard ones. We can't move in until that's complete.

Jill--

Yes, I got the note from the Pella rep. Everything seems to be working - the screen door is spring loaded to close automatically. Nice.

Those outlets are in stock through a number of places. I simply do not believe that the electricians had to wait what, ten day?, to get them. They could have come from Singapore in less time.

It sounds like you're implying that they won't get it done today. How about gong with another electrical contractor, having the outlets over-nighted so that they can be installed tomorrow?


From: Jill Doss
To: Matthew Piette
Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 10:38:37 AM
Subject: FW: Door and other questions

Matt:

I spoke with Pella service this morning. They confirmed that the tech was at your house yesterday and performed the following:

Replaced rollers on screen door

Repaired/readjusted screen door

Also, left note on how to adjust blind within the window—did you receive?

Unfortunately, the electrical service was not completed yesterday as I had hoped. I had a stern conversation with the office manager at the electrician’s office letting her know we have been waiting for the parts for an unreasonable amount of time—have the parts actually shipped from the supplier (a UPS tracker number from the source will prove to me the parts are enroute and as to the location)? She is checking and will call me back. She agrees, and apologizes, that this has been a rather bumpy experience, to say the least. Hopefully I will hear something positive soon.

I will keep you informed.

Jill

Moving Back In

We began moving back in over the weekend. Repopulating bookshelves is harder than you'd think because you need to come up with a system. It's taking me a while, but so far, so good.

I moved one of our Persian carpets down and we will decide if we're going to move another one. Probably so.

The electricians should be done today and we will move the electronic equipment in tonight.

Update

Matt:

The latest from the electrician is that the surge suppressor outlets are expected at the supply house this week. Hopefully, if they are in by Thursday we can have them installed on Friday. As soon as they come in, I will be advised and we will make arrangements to have them installed.

Still waiting on a return call from the window rep…..

Jill

Screen Door Issue & Some Other Stuff

Matt:

There was not enough room, vertically, to get the equipment in place, so there DVD (or Blue Ray) and the cable box need to be placed side-by-side.

We have not placed the shelves back into position (aside from the ones inside the cabinets with the doors), as I was not sure how you intended to shelve your books. I placed the shelf clips on the kitchen table. Phyllis marked the shelves, in the back unpainted areas, with their location to assist in putting them back into the correct position.

The outlets are on order, the electrician is still waiting for the arrival. I have a call into him to check on the status.

A service call was put into Pella yesterday when we noticed the difficulty with sliding the patio screen door. I have just left a message with the Pella rep to see if we can get an eta on the service work and am waiting for his call back. I will let you know what I hear.

Regards,

Jill

From: Matthew Piette [mailto:mjpiette@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 7:48 AM
To: Jill Doss
Subject: Door

Jill-

The shelves for the TV and other equipment looks great. I had assumed that the electronic equipment was going to be stacked, but now I see you interned it to be placed side by side. That works.

The other shelves look good also. I'm looking forward to repopulating them with books.

Any word on the outlets? They must be here by now.

What's the story with the screen door? Will the Pella person be there today? Let me know.

--Matt

End of Week 5

Week five was a lot of finish up stuff - hardware, touch-up painting, etc. Everything will be complete next week.

The outlets are a bothersome delay. The electricians did not install ones with surge surpressors built in and had to order them. It's hard to imagine that they would be more than one day away, though. Nothing is.

Look at the spot for the TV. Per Jill's recommendation, it's black (or maybe "charcoal"). It looks cool. I can't wait to see how the television looks there.

Matt:

Phyllis is here painting the last of the shelves (three coats of oil base paint), so they will be ready to go next week. The last items will then be taken care of by Greg on Tuesday. He will return to do the finish up work (shelves, window, door, hardware, etc.) Please have the items in the dining room moved out of the way so that we can have the sofa back into the family room. I will let you move the TV and related electronic equipment into position. The electrician will return to install the surge suppressor outlets as soon as they arrive. Everything else looks beautiful….Have a good weekend!

Jill

Here are week five photos:

More On Outlets

I'm not sure why there was confusion on these outlets, but there's another delay.

The whole front door thing turned out to be much more expensive than we wanted to spend right now, so we decided against it. We will consider other options.

OK for the door, we put that off for the time being.

I let Phyllis know about the touch up paint, where she can find it.

The surge protector outlets need to be special ordered. None of the electrical wholesale houses stock them. They have been ordered and will take about a week to come in. So, the electrician will not be finishing up that work tomorrow, but rather next week. They will keep me informed as to the arrival of the items and schedule the installation asap after that. I will keep you informed.

Jill

Outlets

From Jill regarding our outlets:

The electrician did not put in the surge suppressor outlets and will return Thursday afternoon to perform the “swap”. Thank you for inquiring! They do look exactly the same…..

Week 4 Progress

Week four was mostly painting and HVAC. The painting turned our really well. The base coat isn't quite as pink as it looks in these pictures, and the finished walls and not quite as yellow as this seems.

Lights

Thank you, I think it looks pretty swell, also.

I am confirming on the question regarding the electrical with the electrician. Will let you know.

Jill

P.S. Greg is at the house handling finish carpentry (baseboards, shelving, door handle, hardware, etc.)

Phyllis will be back this afternoon for touch up painting. Also, Greg will cut the TV shelves, but not install them. Phyllis will need to paint these, and then Greg will return to construct and install the TV mechanism. Phyllis would not be able to paint with everything constructed and in place.


From: Matthew Piette [mailto:mjpiette@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 7:54 AM
To: Jill Doss
Subject: Lights


Jill--

I like the way that the lighting turned out, especially those on the bookshelves.

You had said that the outlets on the east and south walls would have surge suppressors built into them so that the computer and other electronics will be protected. Can you confirm this? They look like standard outlets to me, but what do I know.

Thanks,

Matt

Thursday's Update

Matt:

I am back in the office today and was able to stop by to get a look at the progress of the family room project. It looks really fantastic. Phyllis was just finishing up the family room and was going to be starting on the kitchen wall.

Ray is working on the numbers for the storm door (same one as used on the side entrance) and what it would take to rework the interior door.

Phyllis and I discussed paint colors on the door and have some really interesting suggestions. Speaking of, if you are considering painting the door you may also want to carry it onto painting the vertical trim on either side of the door and the pieces to the right and left. The trim pieces would be a different color than the door. Phyllis suggested stripping the paint off of the mail box slot, it is brass underneath, polishing it up and applying a protective coating. A new larger, front light fixture would also add to the look and ultimately, you may want to consider a larger, more substantial porch railing. Something in black with straight lines would be best. And, of course, we could handle all this work for you……

Let me know your thoughts!

Regards,

Jill

HVAC still scheduled for tomorrow. Electrical finish scheduled for Monday morning. Greg scheduled for Tuesday (trim work and TV shelving.

Project creep

Anyone who has been involved in any sort of project, construction or otherwise, is aware of "project creep,"the concept of the project expanding as it goes along.

"Since we're doing this anyway, we may as well do this too." It's going to happen, so it's important to establish a limit. I was happy that the creep for our kitchen was about 10%, in dollars.

The den will probably be less so. We discussed a lot of other items, from redoing the first floor bathroom to repainting the living room & dining room, to redoing the floors. But that would have been too much.

One thing we do need to to is refinish our front door. Those of you have seen it may remember it. It's the original door, very thick and heavy. We like it (Jill always wants to replace it!). The street-side it very worn, but the inside is in good condition. It doesn't fit very well either.

Jill suggested painting it instead of staining, and we're intrigued by the idea.

Here's the latest from her.

Matt, thanks for the update.

I have let Phyllis know about the baseboards.

An accent color on the front door would look really eye catching from the street. The paint would also wear better, over time, than staining the door. Even using a spar varnish on the door, you will still see fading from the sun over time. The paint, since it is opaque would stand up better, with an oil base product providing the best protection from the elements.

I think a dark raspberry/maroon/burgundy tone, hunter green, or even a very dark navy blue would look great. I will take another look when I am at the house today and also discuss with Phyllis to get her thoughts and let you know. A new, full view, storm door would definitely be needed to show off the door properly.

Stay tuned..

Jill

Begining Week 4

Matt:

A few things from today:

The floor looks totally awesome, I am very pleased with the way it blends with the kitchen.

Phyllis is starting your base color painting today. It is from this that she will produce her finished color palette. Don’t be alarmed when you come home and see maroon on the walls! This is the base that the color is built onto.

Also, we were looking at the radiators. Of course they are very functional but now start to stand out against all of the color. We could have them painted to match the baseboards ($80.00) or, you can have them painted out to match the walls (including the radiator underneath the small window on the south wall) ($230.00). Or, we could leave them “as is” ($0.00). Let me know your thoughts.

The front door, the outside is very worm—I am assuming you just want the outside stripped and refinished, along with planning it down to open and close easier? If you refinish the inside of the door, it butts up against the vestibule closet, which butts up against door trim, etc., etc. And then, where do you stop refinishing? You may want to consider replacing the storm door with one that matches the door on the driveway side at the same time. Let me know…..

See you later this afternoon?

Regards,

Jill

Week 3

Week three was all about the floors. They are red oak hardwood, the same as the rest of the house.

The floor guys were here on four consecutive days. The first day was installation and the next three were to apply the various four coats of stain and varnish.


Next week is all about the walls.

Floor Progress

Matt--

Yes, it looks very nice. I stopped by late this morning on my way in — the floor was all installed and they had just finished sanding. I will check with them tomorrow as to finish up day.

Phyllis was painting away today….

Everything is turning out very nice. I can’t wait to see how the painting looks!

Jill

From: Matthew Piette [mailto:mjpiette@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 1:05 PM
To: Jill Doss
Subject: Floors

Jill--

The floors look great. They left a note saying that they will be back for the final coat on either Friday or Saturday.

Friday would be better, of course...

--Matt

A Note on Switch Order

Matt:

FYI, I have confirmed with the electrician on the layout of the switches on the archway leading into the family room. The first switch will control the main recessed lights, the second will control the bookcase recessed lights, and the third will control the lights to the niche above the sofa. A drew a picture of the layout and faxed it over to the electrician, they have confirmed it is in their work file. Keep your fingers crossed, this should be what you get!

Jill

Today's Update

Matt:

Hope you had a good holiday weekend.

The schedule for this week:

Phyllis will be finishing up the trim painting today, Tuesday. She will continue painting the cabinet doors and shelves at our facility this week.

I have reconfirmed the flooring installation for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week. A payment of $3739.00 will be due Friday, the 1st (15%).

Phyllis will return next week Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to finish up all walls and ceiling. Greg will be back this week and construct the shelves for the TV unit. Phyllis will be able to paint those this week, also. I am rethinking the paint color for the interior of the TV cabinet. Rather than just a stark black, I think a charcoal will be better. Let me know your thought.

I will leave next week Thursday open for the paint to finish drying. The HVAC contractor will come back on Friday, June 5th to reinstall the baseboard heaters.

The electrician will return for finish on Monday, June 8th. Final contract payment of $2493.37 (10%) is due at this time, plus the final amount from the change orders.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Regards,

Jill

Week 3 pictures

Week three had all the old wallpaper removed, the new trim installed, and everything primed with the first coat of paint on the woodwork.

The color of the wood is the lighter of the two colors that will make up the ceiling.

We're looking at about two more weeks until completion.

Good News on Floors

Matt:

Dimensions of all the electronic equipment was noted. Everything should fit. The size of the sliding mechanism was taken into account and the size of the future Blue Ray disc player. The will be very little space remaining (about 1 ½” to 2” at the most).

The flooring installer was able to move us up in his schedule. He is coming out this week to do a visual, and will be starting next week the 27th, 28th, and 29th. I have advised Phyllis of the change in flooring installation so she can plan to work around him if she is not finished by next week Wednesday.

We will wait until after the flooring is installed to do the finish electrical, reinstallation of heating units, floor trim boards, etc. Greg is on vacation in Mexico the week of the flooring installation. He will construct and install the TV components when he returns. The sliding gizmo will not be here until next week, so he won’t be able to make it before he goes on vacation.

I think that is all for now.

Regards,

Jill

Sliding Shelf

We had originally discussed a sliding shelf so that we could easily pull out the TV and turn it towards us.

Jill was having some trouble locating one that would work, but was ultimately successful. We're going ahead with it and the wall that she mentions.

Matt:

I have located a mechanism with ¾ extension slides and a swivel base that will fit in the cabinet, a shelf needs be constructed to fit on top of the swivel. The entire mechanism would then be installed into place. The TV shelf would need to be fixed in place (not adjustable). Here is a thought—If we are going to create a specialty shelf for the TV, would you like one for the DVD/Cable boxes underneath? (This way you do not need to push the TV in to insert a DVD into the player). I have measured, there is enough room so that the two units can be placed side by side under the TV and there is also enough height to accommodate the shelving. The price for materials and labor to construct and install the two units would be $346.12. Let me know if this is a go and I will get materials on order.

I spoke to Phyllis—she wanted for me to pass along to you that the one kitchen wall we have discussed having specialty painted was not part of her original proposal. This area will be $385.00, materials and labor. Let me know if this is okay, she needs to get additional plaster and glaze.

The slight bit of touch up needed on the dormer has been finished.

Jill

P.S. Your right, the moldings look great and the TV cabinet really finishes the area off nicely.

Jill

Gaps by walls

I think we're okay with these gaps. We hadn't noticed them in 16 years and will be covered by books.

From: Jill Doss [mailto:jdoss@gsigranite.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 10:39 AM
To: 'Matthew Piette'
Subject: RE: Touch up

Matt:

We noticed yesterday that, now that the layers of wallpaper, etc. are off the walls in the bookcase area, that the uprights of the bookcase are not flush to the back wall (walls out of plumb, plaster not perfectly smooth, cabinet sides not scribed to match the curvature of the wall when originally installed, etc.). Will this be an issue for you and Laurie to see this shadow line, or will your books cover this up to the point you won’t even notice? This gap is too large for caulk to cover/fill. The ultimate solution, if this is bothersome to you, is to clad the back of the bookcase walls with ½” MDF or plywood. Or, we could simply leave “as is” and just paint out the backs as originally planned. (If we clad the backs, you will lose some depth to your bookshelves). Let me know your thoughts….

Ray will swing by to take a look at the paint on the trim.

Jill

Desk & Router

Yesterday we went to look at desks at Crate & Barrel. We found one that we liked and ordered it. We still need a chair.

Today I got a wireless router from Tiger Direct. That will probably arrive tomorrow. I’ll hook it up in the basement.

Week 2 Pictures

Here are the pictures after week 2.

An update

Wow! I am surprised by your choices. I think all colors and textures are great but thought you would go with the lighter color and smaller texture, I guess I was wrong. I have forwarded a copy of your e-mail to Phyllis so she knows exactly what you are wanting to have done. Certainly the color of the one wall, and the texture of the other can be combined.

Phyllis, who is working at the house today, needs to take the color boards with her to show at a customer’s house this weekend. She will bring them back on Monday, so you can further review an finalize your choices. As discussed, Phyllis will continue work all next week.

We planned on the arch color to match the family room color, visually expanding the space into the kitchen.

Dormer molding:

The piece that came off from upstairs should be on your front porch, behind some extra pieces of the cement shakes. It was saved because the profile on the molding is unique. We have investigated into replacement. We can find nothing that matches. Barring replacing all the molding, so everything matches, we are going to firmly reinstall the original piece, caulk and paint. Piecing should not be noticeable. This work will be done on Monday or Tuesday. Ray knows this work needs to be done prior to the awning being installed on Thursday. We will use our tall ladder to get back up there. We thought you would like to have your porch back, so the scaffolding was removed.

Some other updates:

Electrical work on phone was canceled. Service on the wall has been terminated. Phone jack in family room has made been operational. This box can contain a phone line, and an additional jack for the computer.

New subpanel is installed on finish. I will check on the outlet question.

French door: Ray double checking on screen placement to see if he can find out thought process as to why it is where it is.

Have a good weekend. See you Monday!

Regards,

Jill


From: Matthew Piette [mailto:mjpiette@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 7:58 AM
To: Jill Doss
Subject: walls

Jill--

We are tentatively looking at the rough texture for the ceiling with that color. For the walls we like the medium texture with the color of the rough texture.

Please let us know your and Phyllis's thoughts on these selections. You're the experts.

There is an existing outlet to the right of the patio door that it looks like the electrician was planning on keeping. I would like that outlet replaced to match all the new ones.

--Matt

May 12th Update from Jill

Matt:

I will make adjustment to the work order to include the downstairs cable work, thank you.

Work on the upper part of the south wall is complete, new siding, prime, paint and caulk, all done.

We will return tomorrow to start up again on the interior work, dry wall patching, etc.

We will put up a tarp between the family room and the kitchen to help hold the dust down (sorry about that!)

I just left a message for Phyllis to see if we can reschedule our Thursday meeting from 4:00 to 4:45. I would suspect it will not be a problem.

Waiting for arrival for the shakes for upstairs dormer so we can finish that up on Wednesday or Thursday and get the scaffolding out of your way

I left a message for Ray to give you a call about the functionality of the patio door.

Exterior wrapping of the trim with Aluminum is scheduled for next week Tuesday.

I think all for now…See you Thursday. I am excited to see what Phyllis has come up with on her color boards!

Jill

Two More Messages for Week 2

Okay Matt:

One more thing, as you can see, we ran short on the shakes for the upstairs. We are not getting our delivery of the balance of the materials until Wednesday….Can you please call the canopy people and reschedule them for next week Thursday or Friday? As we will not have that last part of the peak done before the Wednesday installation. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Ray would like the screen door left off until all the work is done, as we do not want drips of paint or mud from the joint compound to embed itself in the screening. He will take care of putting it in place. He feels confident that the door was made properly.

Phyllis and I could come by on Thursday at 4:00 so you can look at the paint boards and give your approval. Let me know that this works for you.

Schedule this week: Electrical Monday and Tuesday

Inspection on Wednesday

Patching on Thursday along with finish up of outside work

Begin painting work on Friday

Next week: Wallpaper removal, priming painting, etc……This will take all week

Regards,

Jill

From: Jill Doss [mailto:jdoss@gsigranite.com]
Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 1:46 PM
To: 'Matthew Piette'
Subject: FW: Work for tomorrow, 5.7.09

Matt:

The electricians will be back tomorrow. Could you please mark on the West wall in the bar in basement, where you would like the cable (ideally) placed? They can then determine what work may be needed to provide service to that area.

Also, the three switch box (to control the recessed lights) will need to be moved to a location directly below the phone. The wall immediately to the left, as you walk into the family room, has a large, brick support directly behind the wall, which prohibited installation of the box at the location we had originally planned on. Switches need to be within a certain amount of a doorway so they can be turned on easily when entering the room. Placing the switch under the small niche area (where we would have finally had room) would have been over too far for code.

We are able to install the outlet over to the right, and above the heat registers, along the desk wall

As discussed, the one 6” recessed light will be moved over to be centered above the desk area.

Also, your phone jack on the kitchen doorway was found to be on its’ last legs (discovered when installing the new switch box below). I gave the electricians the go-ahead to replace it. Hope that is okay.

All for now…..

Jill

Some Electrical Details

Matt:

I have referred the question regarding the screen to Ray, when I was at the house this morning I could not figure it out either.

An update on decision made about the electrical

Recessed lights:

(3) 4” recessed lights will be placed in front of each bookcase (not in the TV area, however), about 12” out, I am recommending “eyeball” covers on these so that the light can be directed towards the bookshelves with these lights on their own switch (would you like these on dimmers? Right now I am just specifying switches, let me know….)

(4) 6” recessed lights placed in a grid formation, centered with the window and patio door about 36” in from the walls to provide overall light to the rest of the room, currently on a single switch, let me know if you would prefer a dimmer….

The switch that currently controls the light in the niche will be moved over to be in the same box as the switches for the recessed light, that way they will all be lined up together…These will be installed on the wall immediately to your left as you come into the family room. A recessed light in the niche is not possible because of the framing. I suggested “puck” lights in this area (small, round lights). A light valance could be installed to drop down and cover the fixtures.

A quad outlet, with a surge suppressor built in, will be installed where the single outlet is currently located (where you desk will be placed). I would like to have an additional outlet installed on this wall to the far right, and also another installed behind the sofa wall. My electrician is verifying if code will allow these to be installed over the heating units. If we cannot, I would then like to have an additional outlet installed close to the desk outlet (the new radiators will be installed to the right of the outlet). If code does not allow, we will have to forgo the new outlet by the sofa.

I have also requested that the electrician install another phone jack on the desk wall (I am assuming that is what you meant about my thoughts on power for the telephone?) Would you like the jack installed down near the floor to be in line with the other outlets, or placed higher on the wall to be desk height? Let me know….

I will mention your request for a cable hookup downstairs to the electrician. I will be back at your house later on this afternoon to see how things are going….

Jill

A Note From Jill

Matt:

I will be meeting with the electricians on Monday at 9:00 to start the electrical portion of the project. I will review your requests for some extra work with them at that time. I am not sure if we can put lighting into the shadow box. That area used to be a window and there is probably framing above it. I will discuss with electrician and we can see what can be done. We will take a look at everything on Monday. I may give you a call while I am there to discuss further.

I will let Greg know that we are not moving forward on the wall shelf (I think the idea of the window is a wonderful thought)

Dumpster should be gone, door and window installed. Great progress for the first week!

Have a great weekend

Jill

Week 1 Photos

Here's our week one progress. It always goes so fast at the start.

Click on the slide show to go to this album.

A Note On Cable and Other Stuff

Matt:

I just left your house. The electrician needs to run the cable service into the house from the outside supply (the wiring downstairs does not have anything to hook up to currently). The service will be split from the outside cable and into the house just to the right of the patio door, down near the ground, where you have electrical service running into the house. They will be drilling a hole through the foundation (will be patched when done) and into the basement and then connected to the wiring that drops down from the dining room. Everything should be up and running when you get home tonight.

There will be a separate company coming out next Tuesday to wrap the windows and door with aluminum cladding (exterior).

Also, in preparation for tomorrow’s window and door delivery, the remaining furniture in the family room will need to be moved out (desk, coffee table, TV and stand, sofa, etc.) so the guys have room to work.

A lock box is now in place on the side door.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Regards,

Jill

P.S. Any thoughts on the bookshelf above the desk? I mentioned this as a possibility to Greg, he wanted to make sure he would set aside time, off site, to construct it.

Beginning

Artisan K&B started our project yesterday. The first two days will be doing some outside repair, and the inside work starts tomorrow.

Yestarday Jill stopped by with Phyllis, who is handling the plaster and paint work. Phyllis had a lot of samples of different textures, than made us matriculate a very difficult quiz to determine our personal "color pallet."

She took a whole mess of different color chips and flipped them over, making us say "yes," "no," or "maybe." After we went through that several times, she eliminated the "maybe" option. We settled on some colors and she's going to make up some samples of the ceiling and wall plaster for us to review.

It was a worthwhile exercise. Phyllis had a lot of great ideas on how to use the texture and colors to accent various features of the house. We should have had her for the kitchen!

Today Jill is meeting with the electrician to hook up a cable connection in the dining room that was not hooked up in the kitchen project was done so that we can have internet and TV access.

Next Week

Our project begins next week.

The outside should be done by Wednesday and they will begin on the inside Thursday. They should have the window replaced that first day and begin on the rest of the demolition Friday.

Next Tuesday Jill will be coming over with the painter to discuss color options.

Most of the stuff has been moved out of the den, but there's still some to go. I think that everyone falls into the same m.o. when moving. It's easier to just move everything than to go through it all and decide what to keep and what to toss. We've done the same thing and will cull through it all when we move it back.

We're hoping for completion by the end of May.

Here's how it looks, and has since we moved in:

Some Correspondences With Jill

Matt:
Tuesday, the 5th of May, should work (just waiting for confirmation from the painter, far enough in advance, shouldn’t be a problem). Should we say about 4:30? Let me know….
Jill
P.S. Pictures are great!

From: Matthew Piette [mailto:mjpiette@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 4:04 PM
To: Jill Doss
Subject: Re: Appointment to talk about paint colors and preliminary start date


Jill:
Next week isn't good for us. How about Tuesday, May 5th?
New York was great. You can see out pics here.

From: Jill Doss
To: Matthew Piette
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 4:21:01 PM
Subject: Appointment to talk about paint colors and preliminary start date

Matt:
Ray and I are working on the schedule for your project. The windows are due to be delivered on Thursday, May 7th. We plan on having the dumpster delivered on Monday, May 4th. The dormer will be worked on Tuesday, May 5th and Wednesday, May 6th. We will then start on the windows on Thursday and Friday with demo on the inside starting on Friday, May 8th.
Phyllis (the painter) and I would like to schedule a time to meet with you and Laurie the week of April 27th to select paint colors for the walls, trim, and ceiling. I am assuming you would like a late p.m. time slot (after 4:30)? That week I am available on Monday or Friday. I already have appointments on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of that week. If neither of those two days work, we could meet the following week, I have no appointments scheduled that week, yet.
Let me know what day works for you..
Hope you had an enjoyable time in NYC
Regards,

Jill

The Contract

The contract that A K&B uses is fairly standard. You would recognize it if you’ve ever done a project before, and it would be what you’d expect if you haven’t.

The payment portion required 50% down on signing, 25% when work begins, ____% after ____, and ____% after ____.

We were discussing what to fill in those blanks and Jill suggested that they like to have some clear benchmarks so that there would be no ambiguity. Considering that three quarters would be paid before they would begin the construction, I considered this more of a detail than anything else. I suggested that I pay 15% when they said the project was done, then the last 10% when we said it was.

Both Jill & ray burst into laughter, thinking that was a jolly joke and congratulated me on my sense of humor. It seemed like a reasonable suggestion on my part.

I have no concerns that they’ll take care of any punch-list because they did so quite well with the kitchen (Jill does not yet know that I need another sink strainer basket replaced because the black coating is again coming off.)

Decisions Made

We decided to go with the Samsung 37" television, LN37A550 (the 2009 model is the "B")and against the LG HVAC unit.

I ordered the TV from Amazon and it should be here in a couple of days. I have to go down to the evil Time-Warner store in Mayfair mall and pick up the appropriate cables. Hopefully there won't be much of a wait, but there always is a wait.

Greg, who did a lot of the work on the kitchen, is stopping by tomorrow to take some measurements so that he can begin making the cabinet for the TV. They'll install a lock-box with a key as well (whatever happened to the Social Security lock-box anyway?).

The HVAC unit didn't seem worth the cost for the amount of time we'd need it, especially since I'm not convinced that it would work in our space.

Electronics Decisions

We have to make two decisions: do we go with the cool, LG HVAC unit, and what kind of TV do we get?

I first recall seeing one of those wall mounted AC units when visiting my brother in Singapore in 1996. The units are pretty efficient, quite, unobtrusive, and have a remote control. I know that they work in the right setting, but will it work for us?

It would be mounted on the south (driveway side) wall. When I visualize the flow of cool air, I am concerned that it will drop to the floor then flow out into the kitchen and the rest of the house, having a negligible cooling effect in the den. We can’t close that room off and we do not want to.

I’m not as concerned about the heat because that would hit the ceiling then flow throughout the room before escaping into the rest of the house.

Hopefully next week I will meet with the HVAC guy and get his opinion.

We will get a new television. Consumer Reports recommends Samsung. The space we have is a maximum of 40” and that is more than adequate. We’ll go and look at TVs tomorrow. Jill keeps pushing us so that she can get the specs and design the cabinets for it. I’m not really interested (our TV sitting on an old St. Mary’s School desk works quite well for me) but I’ll do it.

Den Project

We're starting on our den remodeling project!

Artisan Kitchen & Bath, the same people who did our kitchen, are going to be starting on it sometime in April. They expect to take three to four weeks to complete it.

The room will have the similar layout as it has now. We are replacing the sliding patio door and the window on the east side, removing the carpet and installing hard wood floors, removing the wainscoting and wallpaper and painting the walls, installing canned lighting, and painting and upgrading the existing bookshelves.

We have not yet decided to add supplemental HVAC (this LG unit).

We're also going to have some outside work done, removing some cedar shake shingles and replacing with concrete ones.

We're signing the contract and putting money down tonight!