Shrinkage.

Met with the cabinet maker yesterday, so that he could do a final measure before sending the kitchen plans into production, now that the interior framing is essentially complete. SURPRISE!!!!….but not the good kind. 😦 We are two feet shorter in the kitchen than he had originally planned for. <insert long, dejected sigh here>

Kitchen from the back door

The space is very close to the drawn plans, but the variables due to plumbing and HVAC in an old house tightened us up some. Add to it, a tiny rendering not to scale, that John was working from, and probably some misguidance from moi, he went with the 16′ dimension on the long wall, instead of the 14′ reality version with the corner notches being considered.  So…onward and upward we go, making some alterations here and there. There are fairly drastic changes to the island. Going from 10 feet to 8 is a big freaking deal. Bye bye bookcase (boo!).  See ya later, pull-out spice cabinet (not too broken up over this one). Not quite sure how we’ll make both the microwave drawer AND the trash/recycle bin work, in addition to the dishwasher. Oh, the joys of the unexpected…

We have seen some good progress on the exterior (trying to shift into a positive frame of mind, here). The cedar brackets for the roof overhang have been installed, and they look great. The roof and siding should be installed over the next few weeks, so we’re looking forward to the continued development of how the addition will appear from the outside.

Still lots of decisions yet to be made:

Another view of the cedar brackets

We need to pick a our hardwood for both the first and second floors; laundry floor; recessed lighting; electrical stuff- switches and outlets; bath fixtures, etc… We may try to add on a first floor bath redo, as well. Time (and $) will tell…

Backyard view- door and brackets complete

Driveway side- there's a stained glass window to be added to the 2nd floor master bath

From the neighbor's driveway

Lots more progress…

The First Party Aftermath

I could sum up this week’s progress in one word. DIRTY. Actually, I shouldn’t say just that…there is strong evidence of a lot of work, it’s just that the dirt and dust seem to take center stage. I wish that I would have taken more time to organize the areas that one would have thought would be unaffected. EVERYTHING is affected.

I worked my tail off, pretty much flying solo last weekend, packing up the kitchen and living room. A certain someone (Jason, uh HUM) stayed up a little too late, while imbibing a little too much, on Saturday night with friends at our first “party” in the new part of the house. As much fun as it was, the responsible one went to bed at a decent hour. However, if you know me, you know that I nearly ALWAYS go to bed a decent hour, so it’s not like I was ultra-disciplined, or something. Right, Anne? 😉

The Amish finished the exterior framing this week, and the windows arrived and most were installed. I met with the builder and his crew on Thursday early, and we talked through a lot of the interior wall placement decisions. Even with our solid architectural drawings, there is SO much to think through.

New kitchen looking in from existing living room

We ended up losing an extra partition wall with a pocket door in the master bath- no biggie. And, we had to account for a bulkhead on the short side of the kitchen, where the fridge is going- also not a huge deal. The cabinet guy can easily hide it behind some faux cabinet panels up high. No sweat.

On the photo to the right, you’ll notice that they haven’t yet installed the door. It will be a really nice set of french doors with a fixed transom like the windows, that will open up onto a patio (someday). Lots of light, which is great…our house has always felt really dark. Standing in the old kitchen is just weird. You would think, that it would feel bigger, with all of the cabinets gone…but it’s just the opposite. I don’t have a clue, how the cabinets ever fit, let alone how we cooked a meal in that lilliputian space.

Master bedroom from the hallway

Next week we’re hopeful that the roof will go on…too much water trickling through right now. Also, the loveable Smurfs (see last post) are coming back to do the exterior shake siding and trim. The cedar brackets that will replace the temporary supports on the roof overhang, should be arriving, as well. I’m thinking that the interior framing should also be complete, so we can get our cabinet guy in to do a final measure, so that our cabinets can go into production. I have a sneaking feeling that the cabinets are going to hold up the project a bit… but I’m willing to take that gamble for the reward. 🙂

What a difference a week makes!

So, I’m not sure if it was the prospect of the change of weather, or if our new framing crew is just THAT good…I suspect it’s the latter…but we’ve had a very good week on the project. We were introduced to David and his crew- an adorable Amish bunch, which Jason lovingly refers to as the “happy little Smurfs.” As inappropriate (but funny) as that sounds, they are truly the happiest, sweetest group of guys that have been doing some exceptional work.

This is about where we started the week...

Mike, our builder, advised me yesterday that he is now planning to use them for our exterior work. Jason actually commented that he wished we could use them for everything else on the project. For any of you that know him even a little…you know what a monumental statement that is!

Wednesday (and remember the Amish crew arrived Tuesday)

Last night when I got home, Jason and I had a glass of wine in our new kitchen. 🙂 It is so much fun to try to visualize how it will look…but being able to walk around in the actual space, is beyond exciting.

End of day, Friday

Our new kitchen and dining space!

The primary intent of Mike’s call to me on Friday, was to say, “Monday’s the day. We’re comin’ in.” Translation: “If you want to salvage any of your things that are on the west side of the house, move your damn stuff, Fosters!” So, our weekend project is nicely lined up. Complete kitchen clean-out of the cupboards I DO have. I suspect that we will be amazed at the amount of stuff we were able to jam into our few lowly cabinets. We also have to rearrange the living room, protect the television and furniture, roll up rugs to get them ready to be sent out for cleaning, and store everything in the built-in bookcases. I see another yard sale in our very near future…pickers, be warned!

It should be another good week ahead, with more visible progress expected. Obviously, the plan for demo into the existing living space is huge, but we also have the windows and doors being delivered on Tuesday. Once those are in, it will be much easier to discern the exterior design that our architect had in mind. Good stuff.

The head Smurf (aka Jack).

Concrete and some lumber…framing is next

Things are finally moving along, I’m happy to report! Over the last week, the opening was cut in the basement wall. Of course there was one little issue where the contractors busted through the WRONG SPOT…but I won’t go into the painful details about that. Suffice it to say that we’ll have two openings from the existing basement to the new portion that are oddly close together. It’s all workshop space for Jason, so no harm, no foul. Er…sort of. Never a dull moment.

Hellooo, new workshop

 It’s hard to see on the photo on the left, but that’s my washer and dryer that have been moved away from the wall. (I’m missing those just a bit, if you’re wondering)

The view above is over a partial plywood wall blocking the opening- from critters, I suppose. Below, is Friday’s progress: concrete, along with plywood buttoning up the floor. It’s a pretty great feeling to walk around in there, finally getting a true feel for the space that will be, even if it is just the unfinished basement.

Floor below AND above

There is a large pile of lumber in the driveway, awaiting our guys from Best Builders. I think it’ll be a few more weeks, and then we’ll have the first and second floors framed and under roof. Fun times ahead!

Kitchen plans

It’s been a sloooooow week for the Foster Cottage Reno project. The block foundation has a nice coat of black sticky tar, and has been wrapped with foam board insulation, but other than that…nada. All of my scurrying last weekend in the basement, although not in vain, had no impact on expediting the basement break-through. It’s tough seeing sunny weather come and go, with no activity on the exterior work. I won’t even get into how I’m feeling about the no a/c on this lovely, humid, 93 degree day in Western Pennsylvania. I keep telling myself that the mere inconvenience of missing a modern-day luxury for a few days of sweltering heat PALES in comparison to those on and near the East Coast who are dealing with having lost everything due to Hurricane Irene. That will put things into perspective in a hurry. (But I’m still a little cranky 😉 )

I’ve attached our draft kitchen plans, as a little self-imposed catharsis, to feel like we’re making good progress.

Kitchen plans

Not too many changes here. Our fridge is taller than is pictured here, so the cabinets above will look a bit different. Also, we adjusted the scale of the high upper cabinets (shortened them), which then makes the low uppers taller. (Confused yet?) The range hood is more substantial, as well. All else will pretty much be as-is. We’re going with a period look, with painted cabinets in a creamy white, and inset doors and drawers with latches and bin-pulls. Nothing ornate or figured…just wouldn’t fit in our little cottage.

Jason scored some outstanding lights for above the island. We both love an eclectic look, and will have a few industrial elements. Although not exactly alike, the photo here is close. It’s a repro from what Sears used to call the”trouble finder” light.

I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that week upcoming has some activity that I will be excited to report.

Do you think our neighbors love us yet?

Don't YOU wish you had one of these in your driveway?

This weekend, we had the realization that the builders will likely need to break through the basement wall early this week. In order to pour the concrete floor in the basement, they want to have the opening created, so it will mean cutting into the block foundation to create a wide doorway, for access to the new part of the basement. Needless to say, we were NOT (and are not) ready for this to happen!

In looking at our options down there, the “best” place (and I use that term loosely) is right where the laundry tub and the tankless water heater are mounted. AND where the water and gas lines all reside. I worked all day Sunday on cleaning out and around this area…no easy or pleasant task. (It’s very “basement-y” down there, read: YUCK) I have SO much laundry and stuff hanging around, so it was a good time to really clean out. Two gigundo bags are in the back of the truck, ready to go to Goodwill.

It should be an interesting week. Interesting to see the progress. Interesting to find out if we’ll be missing hot water for the foreseeable future. Interesting to know if I’ll have laundry access. Interesting (for my in-laws) to possibly have to move out about a month earlier than we had planned!

Kitchen counter shopping

Thursday night of this week, we met with John Nagg of Acclaimed Kitchens to discuss the final details of the kitchen design.  He is going to build our island top, but for the counters for the rest of the kitchen, we had long ago settled on soapstone as our material of choice. John turned us on to a stone fabrication outfit, that he had just been in touch with that day, knowing he was coming to pay us a visit. He was advised of a very special few slabs of soapstone that just arrived. So, today, I made the trek to Butler, PA to see what they had.

The first photo is a more traditional example of soapstone, and what we thought we wanted. The dark swipes are just where she rubbed over with water, so that I could see what it will look like oiled. The white streaks are veins, very typical of soapstone. The second photo is the “special” slab. It’s pretty spectacular, I think. It’s called some sort of crocodile something-or-other.

What’s your favorite? A or B? We’re using it not only for the counter surfaces, but also for the FULL backsplash- all the way up to the upper cabinets. I look forward to your input!

Soapstone A

Soapstone B

Foundation

Block and brick are in

Our guys from Best Builders have had a busy week! Amazingly, despite some serious rainfall, they have been able to work around it keeping things dry, and lay the block foundation as well as the brick for what will show above ground.

For those of you that are kept up at night by bright white windows that don’t match others on an old house (that would be US), the awning windows for the basement will be painted. (Whew!)

So, other than the kids thoroughly enjoying the “worker men,” and the new attractions in which to get dirty, it’s been a rather smooth week. Jack, who incidentally has  strong dislike for the sand on some of the most beautiful beaches on Earth, has a particular fondness of it in a big brown dirty pile in our driveway. It figures.

It's deep in there!

Progress!

I’ve had a very busy couple of weeks…we are just back from a vacation in New England, and the week before that, I was out of town for a week on business. But in light of the progress made, I’m thinking that I should head out of town more often!

 

 

 

 

Other than the the weigela being plucked, which was an expected loss, we had a very clumsy excavator operator who smashed a few of the stones in one of Jason’s hand-crafted walls along the driveway. NOT a good scene when the contractor paid a visit yesterday morning, while I was at work. So nice to start off on the right foot.

Other than that, our DirectTV doesn’t seem to be working, even though it appears that they took care to anchor the cable to the house…”no connection to the satellite” it tells me. Oh…and pray for continued cool weather, if you care at all about Jason’s well-being amidst my loathing of hot and humid weather. Our a/c condenser unit is leaning up against a tree about 20 feet from the house. It also had to be moved and has not made its way to its new home just yet. The poor old thing must be nearly 30 years old, so it will be a miracle if it still works anyway… we may just be adding the cost of a new one onto our tab. Oh, the joys…

At this point, we have the excavation done, the footer poured, and the block goes in today and tomorrow. Despite a few of the little hiccups, this is a VERY exciting time! More to come, in the days ahead.

Foster Cottage “before”

While I try to figure out what I’m doing, I thought that I could post some photos of the house as it is today. One day soon, I’ll find the true “before” photos, of the house when we moved in, and scan and post those, as well.