I'll Know It When I See It

A few decades ago, there was a fairly significant U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Justices struggled to define pornography. The closest they could get was Potter Stewart's oft-quoted description: "I know it when I see it." That basically sums up how Shaw and I will know when the house is truly finished.

Last week the garage walls were finished and painted, the new doors went up (and down, and up, and down...), the window was painted and I even installed new blinds. It looks so clean (except for the floor - too cold to do anything now) that we don't even recognize it. But our cars are thrilled, having been banished to the driveway since March. And, after having to clear almost two feet of snow off the cars last week in order to dig them out, so do we.

The 11 feet of counter and cabinets were installed in the basement laundry area last week too, containing four wide drawers that hold all of our gift wrapping supplies in addition to light bulbs, Logan's stuff and other household items. We call it the Candy Spelling Room. Almost all of the punch list items have been resolved. When I showed the list to one of the workers who's done the tiling, some sheetrock and painting, he came over to feel my forehead. "You must be sick," he said, "this list is so short - it can't be you." Tomorrow the crew will return to empty the last remnants from the trailer outside, just a few boxes and other items that will go into the garage. The next item on my to-do list is to find cabinets and shelving for both the garage and the workspace in the storage part of the basement, so we'll actually be able to find things when we want them.

We've decided, though, that we won't feel as if the house is really complete until both the trailer and the porta-potty are gone from the lawn. When we see that, we'll know it.

The Width of a Wheatie Flake

That's how my father used to describe anything that was so close you couldn't see the space between it and the finish line. Which is how I feel about the house.

My dad loved our house and everything we did to it. As this week marks three years since he died, I've been thinking a lot lately about how he'd regard our little project. Provided we didn't tell him how much it cost I think he'd be pretty damned impressed.

We're still almost finished. The basement is more or less set up, except for the cabinets and countertop in the laundry area that are due to be installed this week. Considering it's still mostly an unfinished basement it really does look like an operating room. My study is newly painted and all put back together, and I can even get to my desk.

Which leaves the garage. The old doors were removed last week and the openings covered with plywood, which gives the outside of the house an "Early Katrina" look about it. The ceiling and walls have been sheetrocked, but matching new ceiling rafters to the old - as well as closing in the walls - has apparently been more than a match for the wall guys. Some of the seam lines look like EKG's, and with the new doors scheduled to be installed tomorrow it's a bit of of a race against time. But there's a crew there today so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

The trailer is still on the front lawn, morphing into the slowly melting snow around it. Right now it's holding lots of stuff from the garage so we can't empty it just yet, but we're hopeful there will still be something of a lawn left when they take it away.

At this time three years ago we were in the middle of the window replacement/family room redo project. I remember having over 40 people standing in our family room one late December night for a shivah service, with no sheetrock on the walls and a bare cement floor. We managed; nobody cared. I also remember our wedding by the pool five months later, my mom's 70th and 75th birthday celebrations, Thanksgivings and a photo album full of wonderful gatherings. Our house is a home, no matter what.

But we still want those garage doors.

Mi-Mi-Mi-Miiiii.....

Friday, December 4th. While she hasn't sung quite yet, the fat lady is definitely approaching the microphone. This week, the new cabinet fronts were installed in the dining room (the ones we'd ordered in the first place, that is), the railings along the stairs in the family room and basement were put up, all the hardware was placed on the kitchen cabinets (except the one that still isn't in), Sparky installed all the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors (one keeps yelling "FIRE! FIRE!" and we had to unplug the damn thing until he comes back next week to replace it) and the Spiderman ceiling fan in Shaw's study (if you have to ask...), the carpets and furniture were all cleaned, the table and chairs for the kitchen were delivered, and UV protective film was put on the new windows. The final inspections have been scheduled for next Monday, which means the only actual work left for the contractor is the garage, installing some cabinets in the laundry area of the basement, and painting my study. The rest is up to us, as we still need to unpack and clean an awful lot. But again - she's at the microphone.

I've decided to look at this entire experience as a learning exercise, as I know I've learned quite a bit in terms of how to plan for, manage and live through a major remodeling project. Most of what I've written on these pages has been anecdotal - although all true - yet there are many pearls of wisdom which I would be remiss if I failed to share. So, my final entry - which may or may not be the next one, depending on how the next few weeks go and what befalls us - will be sort of a debriefing memo containing advice and suggestions for anybody contemplating a similar endeavor.

Monday, December 7th - another date that will live in infamy. We passed all of our inspections!

She's clearing her throat, folks.

Ho-Ho-Home

As yet another illusory deadline sails past us like a rotted log floating by during a canoe trip, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas as the new target completion date. Not including the garage, of course (more later). Although, I must admit that in spite of Thanksgiving week consisting of only three work days, an awful lot was accomplished.

On Monday, the plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters and tile guy were all on site. All of the kitchen appliances and the sink were installed, and the electric outlets and lights were all hooked up. The base molding was finished, the living room and foyer painted along with the basement walls being touched up, and the tile backsplash in the kitchen was grouted and complete. On Tuesday, the family room, kitchen and upstairs hall were all painted and the basement carpeting installed, and on Wednesday the house was cleaned - pretty much - by the contractor's guys who also moved the furniture out of the trailer and back into the living, dining and family rooms. The garage was cleaned out, with all that stuff being moved into the now-almost-empty trailer. I stayed home, and thus began a five-day campaign to get the house looking as livable as possible by the end of the holiday weekend, by arranging furniture, hanging pictures, setting up lamps - whatever.

Also on Wednesday Sparky stopped by to put the recessed light trims in the kitchen and install the bulbs, now that the ceiling had been painted. That night, five of the bulbs in the 11 fixtures popped at various times during the evening. And when Shaw plugged the new TV into one of the electric outlets near the kitchen counter, nothing happened. At all. It wasn't the TV, so clearly there was some sort of electrical problem. As we were going to be out for several hours on Thursday, I called our contractor on Thanksgiving morning with some concern. I told him what was going on and he said he'd call right back. About three minutes later Sparky called and I explained the situation about the popping bulbs and my fear of a possible short-circuit. He told me that it must be a defective batch of bulbs, and said that if there was a short they would all pop and a breaker would trip. Okay, that sounds plausible.

When I told him about the dead outlet, he told me that particular outlet is connected to a GFI across the room (that's one of those rectangular outlets you see in kitchens and bathrooms - anywhere near water - with a little reset button on it). Sparky asked if the GFI's green light was on - I said no. He told me to push the reset button, I did, and the light came on. Then he said we should try the dead outline again, and lo and behold it worked. End of crises. About 30 minutes later the contractor called back to see if everything had been taken care of. And all of this was on Thanksgiving morning. Which is one of the many reasons why, despite the relative lack of speed and some shall we say quirky contractors, we'd use this company again any day.

Now, about that garage. As I've probably mentioned, ours has no interior walls or ceiling - just the framing and exterior sheathing. Apparently that was code back in 1961. We'd included finishing the garage in the original plans, but as we knew the space would be needed for storage and work prep during the bulk of the project, this piece would be left for last. Now that the rest of the house is all but complete I thought we'd start on the garage, but our contractor suggested that we wait until we have the final inspection for the house. This way, the inspectors can give their much sought-after approval, and then we can do the garage work without having any of the problems we ran into with the basement when we were told we needed revised plans from the architect.

Now that's a plan.