week 38: tops and tiles (and plugs gone missing...)

27 days until completion!

countertops are in!

The countertops (finally) went in last week, and they look rather sharp.

Here they are in the laundry:

In the master bath:

The beauty bench in the master shower:

They were only supposed to do the top of the bench, but they also did the side, which is fine, but we had hoped to run the floor tile up the side.

In the master bedroom:

The upstairs bath:

And the kitchen:

They even cut bits for the sills in the kitchen:

That kitchen sink is pretty cool. It has these ridges on the front and back sides:

that support a cutting board and a couple trays that hold prep dishes:

It also comes with a contraption that holds all that stuff underneath the sink:

Nifty! Our friends that built a modern house somewhat nearby said this sink was the best thing about their house!

I couldn't wait to see what the faucets would look like, so I dry-installed them to see what they would look like (and verify the holes were the right size). Here's the robot arm for the kitchen sink:

Here's a Graff in the master bath:

If I had a do-over I would have centered the spigot on the sink instead of the stem, but this'll work.

The Graff also came with a nifty push closed/push open drain plug:

I've ordered a couple more for the other sinks where the faucet did not come with drain plugs.

Here's the Fresca in the upstairs bath. Looks good, but we have concerns that the spigot doesn't extend out enough into the sink. We'll have to see after it's installed (and we've brushed our teeth with it):

We didn't take a close-up of the IKEA faucet in the laundry (see second photo in this post for a more distant shot), but it looks darn good. 

They're going to cut the hole for the cooktop on-site this week, but here's a photo with it sitting on top of the counter to get a sense of what it looks like:

That sucker is big! Love the looks of this thing and how it will complement the sink. We're also looking forward to having a level cooktop to cook on. The unit in our apartment is a nightmare...

tile

Tile is completely done in the guest bathroom and, except for the shower floor, in the master bathroom. Still need backsplashs to be installed in the kitchen and laundry.

Tile in the master around the tub enclosure:

Baseboard tile in the master:

Ideally the baseboard tile would have been carried at the same height clear around the room. Here it is underneath the cabinetry:

and here it is at the shower entry:

Not the end of the world, but when the trades ad-lib, things can get less-than-ideal.

Inside the shower, the plumbing for the linear drain is installed as is the permeable concrete base for the floor tile:

Tile in the upstairs (guest) bathroom:

Tile baseboards in the guest bathroom:

The tile baseboards look pretty sharp! Highly recommended if you're thinking of going this way.

missing plugs

They finally took a look for the "missing plugs" that I was aware of. Here's how the search for the junction box in the laundry went:

Don;t know how they know if they've hit (unless they press through and keep going until they hit the outer wall). They were more spot-on in finding the box for the doorbell chime:

The search for the missing can in the kitchen gave me a chuckle:

 

 This is the fourth of three cans arranged in a perfect square, so all they had to do was measure to figure out where the fourth can was. Didn't work out so well... Provides some additional work for the drywall guy, I reckon.

I also discovered two additional "missing" plugs: One in the backsplash area of the laundry and another in the stairwell. I discovered the former when I was imagining whipping up a frozen margarita when I realized that there wasn't a plug for the blender! (Dude, I was bummed...) I couldn't remember if there was actually a plug there or not, so I looked at the video I took of the inside wall before insulation was sprayed (I need a post on doing this...). Yep, there's a plug there (that blue junction box).

Discovered the other one doing an inventory of plugs and remembering a plug being added to the stairwell because of code.

speaking of the drywall guy

He was at the house touching some things up, namely left-over holes and gaps beneath the sills:

 Given how rough the other trades are on the house, he'll have more work in the future...

speaking of plugs

The goofiness with the electrician is a gift that keeps on giving. He's not installed the spec'd plugs; he's installed whatever he spec'd on the soft bid. To a certain degree this is a blessing in disguise since we plan to upgrade the plugs and switches anyway (and we won't do it with him since it gives him another opportunity to screw us via change orders). c'est la vie....

Debating whether we should go for something stealthier here or stay with white...

speakers of the house

I spent some time yesterday picking foam insulation back so the wall speakers for the surround sound could fit in the holes. Also dry-fitted them to get a sense for what they look like:

They look good. Very low profile. 

punch list

inside:

- countertops

- guest bathroom tile

- master bathroom tile

- plumbing fixtures

- lighting fixtures (partial)

- plugs

- switches

- speakers (us) (partial)

- security plug covers (us) 

- wifi stations (us)

- living room plug covers (us)

- master bathroom shelves (us?)

- guest bathroom shelves (us?)

- closet poles

- appliances

- gas (partial)

- power

- wood floor

- polish floor 

- drywall touchup (partial)

- paint touchup

- master bathroom mirror

- guest bathroom mirror

- powder mirror

- kitchen sills

- range hood

- range hood cover

- living room floor plug covers

- railing for stairwell

- railing for balcony

- doorbell chime
- missing plug in stairwell
- missing plug in laundry

outside house:

- outside lighting fixtures

- outside plugs (partial)

- cable

- roof over limestone/bookcase bump

- outdoor spigots

- solar (us)

- rainwater (us)

- gutters

- water heater

- doorbell

- garage door

- touchup eyebrows

- clean roof
- garage floor sealed?

landscaping:

- gate

- fancy fence (partial)

- not-so-fancy fence

- back fence  (partial)

- plant trees

- pavers

- grasscrete

- grass for grasscrete

- grass

- mulch

- stone

- horno base

- horno  (partial)

- walls

- wall light and address numbers

- mailbox (us)

- feathergrass in driveway holes (us)

for dan the man:
- bookshelf fills
- plug hider
- wood sill for giant window?
- kitchen shelves
- master bathroom shelves
- guest bathroom shelves
- guest closet shelves

week 33: mo cabs; mo sills; mo tile

The big news this week is that the cabinets are in! Also, more work on tile, picking sills, and coffee stains....

the cabinets are in! the cabinets are in!

We were both out of town over the past week (the bride is still out of town...), so we weren't able to peek as progress (ahem...) progressed. So it was a delight to walk in and see the cabinets all installed!

Not surprisingly most of the cabinet work was in the kitchen, and it looks mighty fine!

After the cabs were in, the builder said "I hope you like white." Indeed, we do. That's why we chose 'em.

One decision we had to make during the install was where to put the pulls for the cabinets with doors. Leverage would suggest they be at the outer edge. However, we decided to center the door pulls. There's enough leverage from the center, and they look much better (much more modern) lined up with the drawer pulls. Didn't take a photo of one of the pulls (will add one later...), but they nicely complement the de Stijlness of the house.

The Super Susan. We have two of these: a super use of typically-dead corner space.

The gaping hole on the left is for the oven and microwave. The gaping hole on the right is for the fridge.

Here are the floating cabs in the master bath. Looking good. Also floaties in the upstairs bath (photo in the tile section of this post). There's a small miniature pony wall under there to help support the cabinet. The floating is a nice effect.

Here are the cabs in the laundry/bar (aka the buds and suds room):

For the buds...

For the suds...

We went back and forth on whether or not the glass on the uppers for the buds should be clear or frosted. Ultimately we went with clear since we can always film them later if we want to. Hard to unfrost glass...

Finally, here are the floating built-in side tables in the master bedroom. That's awesome. 

Ideally the top of the cabinet would have been at the same elevation as the window sill, but we missed it by an inch or so due to the height of the electric plug in the wall behind the cabinet and the need to preserve the integrity of the wood (for strength) in the upper back of the cabinet.

cabinet QA

I checked the performance of every drawer and door in the install and found just a few problems. First, one of the doors in the buds and suds room got mauled somehow with a deep scratch across the front:

There's matching one on the left side as well...

Whoops! That's going to require a replacement.

And then there's a drawer and upper in the kitchen and one in the upstairs bath that are rubbing on stuff they shouldn't be rubbing on. We'll be sending a note to make sure the sub and builder are aware of these issues. 

File this next one under "When subs collide": That wire is (ideally) supposed to be under the cabinet (it's for the under cabinet lights). Nobody did anything wrong here; it's just the cabinet design went off in a slightly different direction than the plans, one of the challenges of semi-custom cabinets.

mo tile

Really liking the job the tile sub is doing. Nice and clean and good decisions on tile placement/arrangement. 

The builder is fond of these neat aluminum edge pieces designed for tile edges, and for good reason: They nicely finish out the edge of tile work and complement the aluminum windows:

The white wall tile is done in the master shower (all the photos above); waiting for the engineered quartz top for the beauty bench and then the tile for the floor of the shower. There also needs to be white tile on the lower part of the walls in the rest of the bathroom. That also needs to wait until the countertops are in.

The floor tile in the upstairs bath is done and looks nice. 

You can also get a glimpse of the floaty cab on the right.

We opted to not "hardwire" in a shampoo niche in either shower/bath. The architects didn't specify any, and they're hard to do right (where they line up nicely with the grout lines). Might go with an after-market shelf if need be...

pills, thrills, and sills

The builder went to the lumber yard and picked out a couple pieces of hickory for the upstairs window sills. There was only a couple pieces that had some of that hickory character to them. We'll use the interesting pieces on the lower elevation sills and the less interesting pieces on the upper elevation sills.

Delivered to the house were several boards of white oak for the downstairs sills. Decided that cypress was too soft for sills and that white oak would be better and complement the tone of the cypress.

coffee stains

Besides the pipeline spill in Arkansas, it appears we also suffered a mishap of dark liquids:

Good thing we're painting that baseboard.

coming up....

Fencing: One of these days, it will happen...

Countertops: With the cabinets in, the countertop sub can measure and fab. We need to send over details on where to put faucets holes, especially the non-obvious non-centered ones (kitchen faucet, pot filler).

Horno: Ran into a shipping snag last week, and now the cost has doubled (ggggrrrrrr....). Checking and waiting to see if there's another deal... Since there's not a platform in the back yard yet for the horno, no rush yet...

Gas: Looks like the utilities are starting to go in!

Sills: The wood has arrived; will they go in this week?

Tile: More tile work?