CMR Update July 25

Camera in hand we headed over the the Cool Mid-Century Remodel now in it's 7th-ish week of construction. We have renamed the outside of the house the Wisniewski Abyss. Running all along the front and side of the house is a 10 ft deep crevasse. One little slip and you are trapped between dirt and 2x4s!

Since I don't have my meeting with the GC until this afternoon, and I am not exactly an experienced construction-ist -- I am assuming that these boards create the back form for the concrete that will eventually be our foundation.

Remember last week's photo where you could see George the Elder standing underneath the door? He's still there, but you can only see the smallest glimpse of his glasses between frame and floor. Plus, it seems that the porch has been demolished a little bit more!

We eventually made the decision to totally reconstruct the porch as opposed to trying to work around it which would result in reducing the interior finished square footage. It will be our first step in "phase 3 of the CMR : Landscaping". A small step in Phase 3 (which is scheduled for the new millenium) - but a step nonetheless. The porch will be rebuilt using the same lava stone that we will use in our soon to be very nifty interior courtyard that is now nothing but air, but will eventually be as walkable as it was before it was demolished. The courtyard will have slightly less walkable space than before it disappeared, since some of the original deck space will be taken up with the sky-lights that will be providing most of the sunlight in to our cunningly designed new lower level.

Inside the pit it now looks like we are going for the log-cabin rustic look. Very camp cabin-like. Should we just put some wood on the floor and get some bunk-beds?

This is a view of underneath the soon-to-be lava stone interior courtyard with very smart looking angled skylights. The skylights will run along the edge right above the Jenga tower. The difference between the higher elevation of the lower floor and the lower elevation of the lower floor is now pretty clear with this newest excavation. It's becomingeasier to visualize where the skylights will provide light for both the Rumpus Room (up) and the Pool Room (down).

These pieces of wood are a new additiona this week. I believe they have some very fancy construction project name. Maybe "story beams" - but I can't be sure. There are now all kinds of directions written on them for pipes and drains and walls.

And last. Many of you who know me, understand my need for things to be clean and neat. Perhaps it's not so much of a need as it is a disorder. It is becoming evident that I should have put just a morsel more consideration in to the housekeeping abilities of my construction crew when making the decision about who to hire. Sure, I've seen the finished products and they're mind blowing. Sure, I love my project manager who is still on-time, on-budget and has a ridiculously great sense of humor. But, dang, these people are messy.

George the Elder keeps scolding me to stop picking things up and throwing them away. I mostly ignore him and dream about secretly going over there Sunday nights to put things in neat piles and throw away scrap wood and composte all the miscellaneous landscape detritus that is just laying about. Not to mention dealing with this weird piece of ancient pvc tubing that I believe was part of a sprinkler system or something that just has been mostly pulled out the ground, but is partly still in the ground and is now just laying katywhompus amid my ever growing mound of ivy that is beginning to look like some ivy-forest-monster-blob.

I know I've got to let it go - just RELEASE - but imagine the place where the steel rebar is neatly and conveniently stacked where it doesn't need to be moved every week (don't they get tired of moving it around?). Wouldn't they all be happier?? Okay. Maybe not. But, I would be. Yes, that would make me happier.