CMR Update: Wine and Ambiance 4/21

We're exactly one week away from the big move and the team is cranking over at the CMR.  Foreman Luke is managing well with his trusty clipboard in hand.  I can hardly stand to leave there since every hour brings more of the "cool stuff" that we've imagined.  Sure, the construction part (digging the big hole.  filling the hole with stuff like cement and wood.) was awful dang amazing - - but now the pretty stuff gets done.

Steve the Wine Guy did his magic today.

You start with a big crate

You add more crates

You put all the crates in a big hole in the wall and look at them

You put on some doors and you got:  Wine Cabinet!!

Howard the Electrician is hustling about making sure all the light fixtures are getting put in:

George the Younger's Lair

Nifty bullet lights in the pool room

And the King of Steel arrived today with our custom railings.  Can you say, "Totally Wicked!" - - well that's what I said.  Finally, I can walk down the hallway without the niggling feeling like I was going to end up ass over tea kettle one floor down.

Hella Cool Metal!

It's going to be hard to keep up with everything that's getting done these days.  But, it looks like it's going to get done - and we're going to see our stuff again in the house that we built.  Astonishing.

CMR Update: T MINUS 10. April 16th...

It's already Wednesday night (so we are T-7) - - but here are some shots on what's going on.  Turns out that Jorge the Stain Lord is INDEED a super hero.  The wood looks fabulous.  The final battle of Stainpocalypse was fought and WON!!  

In outdoor news... 

Before: Little octagon window not painted white and the ivy was killing everything in the front yard

After:  Mass of ivy under control (albeit not as green and leafy) and the little octagon window stands out 

New front porch light.

New garage door light

Pretty new driveway and sidewalk

The Stainlord does GREAT things in George the Younger's Room

In person this is SCRUMPTIOUS

Still - - it looks like the boy in the bubble lives here....

Why is there a chair in my house that doesn't belong to me?  

Siding installed and painted in the atrium

More atrium

And one more.  Check out the weird paint job at the upper roof level.  Half  white half red.    Need to fix that.

See this plug??  This used to be the main source of electricity running through a window.  Note that it is now "unplugged"

Instead....our very first switch.  We are off the plug!!

Three days later and things are hopping at the CMR.  SO much is going on and we are ON FOR THE MOVE next week.  Can't believe it.

Will try to get some photos tomorrow when I head over to fix a doorbell problem.  Problem?  The bell is no longer wired to the button, but the button IS wired to the kitchen where there is no bell.  Alas.

Hot times in Nacaragua

George the Younger arrived home from his 8th grade trip this week from Nicaragua.  Before we delve in to both his remarks about the trip, and the photos - - I would like to point out that I am a tad befuddled about why he would complain at all.

I was once in 8th grade.  In them there olden days we took an 8th grade trip.  That's right, "The Junior Historians" hopped on a school bus and drove a couple o' hours to one of the most riveting spots an 8th grader could even think of dreaming of .... Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  Home of the lighted map of the famous battle of Gettysburg.  We also made a quick stop in Amish Country for a little current day local flavor.  We went to a farm animal auction.  We did not get on a great big plane.  We did not need a passport.  We did not go some place warm with an ocean.  We piled in to a seat belt-less bus and slept on a gym floor for 2 nights or so.  In the interim days we listened to someone blather on about the civil war.  Whoo-hoo.

George the Younger went to Nicaragua.  This trip was hastily arranged, since the 8th graders have historically headed down to Mexico for this trip.  Given the recent spate of shootings, bus kid-napping with shootings, general in-the-right-place-at-the-wrong-time-shootings, the school (wisely) decided to head somewhere else.  The criteria of the trip was two fold:  Spanish immersion and community service.  We ended up selecting an outfit called "ViviendasLeon: Not Just Travel, Transformation."  A boy oh, boy did they meet those criteria.

George the Younger's main complaint?  "Right when we got there, they made us work!!!"  So much that week on the beach he had imagined....

They stayed with local families in Leon - 2 to 4 in a house - pairing great Spanish speakers with not-so-great Spanish speakers.  George's buddy was Tomas - - they speak Spanish at home.  Guess who was the not-so-great speaker?  Good guess.  George the Younger was ever grateful to have Tomas since the host families did not speak any English, and even if they did, they were instructed not to use it AT ALL.

They spent the better part of the trip...

Digging a foundation

Digging more foundation looking like a secret service man

Making seed "bombs"

Walking near volcanos

Communing with the locals

And yes.......

Going to the beach!!

Thanks to ViviendasLeon for posting photos on FB for all of us parents to enjoy!

Post-Script:  George the Younger is a HUGE fan of burritos.  Strangely, when he returned from Nicaragua at 1:00 in the morning he did NOT request a burrito even though he was "starving!!!"  He requested what nearly every red-blooded American 14 year old would.... McDonalds.  Who knew that you could get a drive through at 1:00 a.m.?????

It's a Date?

My favorite (and oft used) moving company is set to start our packing on the 26th.  Dog is scheduled to go to doggie camp for the move duration.  I'm calling the utilities to get them turned off here as of May 1st.

Any one among you want to wager a bet?  To move or not to move?  That is the question...

Fingers crossed (and toes and arms and legs and whatever else can be crossed) that Jorge the Stain Lord will finish on Saturday.  Then a final week of crazy begins.  Switches installed, interior light fixtures hung,  cool exterior light fixtures put in place, final installation of the sky lights and surrounding trim, casework in the wii room, wall panels, closet rods and shelves, more wiring, back doors, knobs and towel racks, faucets and sinks, door pulls and drawer pulls, grouting in the upper two bathrooms, toilets set, Steve the Wine Guy's magic, interior paint will be touched up...and stuff I am sure I don't remember.  Oh and cleaning - - holy devil's snow batman - - that place needs a good dusting!  And finally, I think that this all needs to be inspected and signed off.

So, who's betting now? 

CMR Update: Stainmageddon: The Battle Begins 4/7

All looked peaceful and quiet as I approached the CMR this morning.  The new exterior paving and cement work (most required by the evil City of San Francisco) sat drying in the morning sun.  But there, in the bottom left side windows, was a sign that all was not right within.  Then I noticed the absence of construction trucks, construction workers....  could it be?  Could Jorge the Stain Lord have arrived to save the CMR from the grasp of the evil brown stain monster?

I snuck inside to take a look.  Things looked both ominous and promising....

Keep closed from whom or what???

Not a surface left uncovered.

Red paper on windows - - - creates a peculiar glow.

Entire rooms are blocked with colossal hefty bags

Everything protected but the wee octagonal window frame

What does this mean?  A secret message for the Stain Lord?
Or just construction jesters??

But Jorge the Stain Lord???  Where was he hiding?  Where had he chosen to begin his epic battle???

The maestro's gear is the only thing left accessible

The samples are prepared and wait for final approval

A shadowy figure in the upper hall... could this be Jorge the Stain Lord??
No.  Just one of his side kicks.

Here HE IS!!!

Jorge the Stain Lord!!!

Jorge the Stain Lord many not look like much with his curious respirator mask and his unassuming costume (where is his cape??) - - but this is the super hero that will deliver us safe harbor from Stainmageddon.  He will take the reigns and where there is brown - - he will make gold.  He will sand and he will spray and he will compare and contrast -- and he will CONQUER!!!!!

Go Stain Lord.  GO!!!!!!!

All The World's a Stage....

The anatomy of "As You Like It" in 9 photos:

Hark!! Seeth Lord 2 look menacing

Pray thee, Lord 2 is menacing once more

What sayeth Lord 2?  He doth utter his single line.

Lord 2 boweth, agreeing to do Duke Frederick's evil bidding

The time to bow is anon.

Let us soaketh up the audience adorations!

Lord 2 in jollification for his fellow castmates.

The cast thanketh thy Directors.

The end.  Let them eat cake....

CMR Update 4-4-11: Progression and Postponement

It's early April.  Stuff is getting done.  Some of that "stuff" is delaying us some more - - but it's one of those, getting-it-done-right-takes-longer scenarios.  Stainpocalypse 2011 requires some serious taping off of entire walls and rooms - so they need to hurry up and get stuff done so that they can morph the whole house in to something akin to the containment room in "Outbreak."  Jorge the super stainer will then come and do his magic to make sure all is done correctly.  Apparently he is the virtuoso of all things honey oak.  I can only dream.

On the good news front - - the house is really starting to look like a house... 

Before we left for Disney we had a summit to discuss what to do with the exterior of the skylights.  All of the creative team was in attendance:

Our Creative Team:  Foreman Luke, GC Paul, and the Architects John and Geoff

They set the lights in a temporary bays and we noodled inside the plastic tent that protected all our house innards from the week of crazy rain.  It was overcast, but the greenhouse effect made it about 7,000 degrees inside the courtyard tent.  We tried to make our decisions quickly!

Skylights placed temporarily.  You should've seen them hoisting that center
one up from the lower level.  It weighs alot!

They did some finish work inside while the rain made outside work impossible:

The finish work on the beams between the skylights.  For this picture, the lights weren't in yet.

A view of the skylight bays from across the rumpus room looking in to the pool room.

Then, while we were away in Disney wrestling with our rainy weather, the sky miraculously cleared here in the Bay Area and - - - yessirree!!  We got exterior paint!!!  It's still not completely finished, but we are pleased as punch with the color.  It's similar to the old color, but brighter and shinier!

The front!

Part of the rear!

And now I am too lazy to correct the sequence of photos - - - but here are some shots of our first views of the library cabinetry.  It's going to be such a GREAT room!  It's still being pieced together like a massive jigsaw puzzle.  I stopped by yesterday again for a meeting with GC Paul (without my camera) and it's already changed so much.  The corner desks were in and the pieces were now flush with the walls.

The lower level is now almost entirely painted.  They paint all the walls and then in the last moment, come back and do all the touch up work.  We also used this color in our London house.  It's called Stone white - - but as you can see it's really a nice warm greeny color.  It is more than perfect to hang art on!  The wall to the right will be covered with large birch squares (a mid-century take on "panelling" that isn't oak or knotty pine).  We saw the samples and (fingers crossed) if it turns out that way - - it's gonna be so good!  What you see on the walls in the rumpus room and the pool room is the grid system that they use to hang it.  They just bring in the panels and "snap" them in to place. 

Rumpus room color and wall grid

Pool room wall grid

And now it's time for out with the old lights and in with the new lights!!  It's weird that coming in and finding lighting fixtures excited us so much - - but it did.  It's fun seeing the stuff you selected get installed.  We were a little nervous about some - - but in the end, we like them all.  Howard the Electrician put a couple in the wrong place - - but this is an easy change...

 

Out with the old....

New hallway scones to take the place of the weirdly placed overhead
 fixtures that were there before.  Note to original builder
 - - you can't hang ceiling lights on a sloped ceiling...

The fixtures are new, the globes were reused.  This is in the laundry room.
The globes can't be see very well in this photo, but they are true mid-century gems.

These are the fixtures that will be in the pool room and the wii room.
 Right now this one in is George the Younger's room.

These are the BIG Globes that will be in each of the boys' rooms.
    An updated look on a traditional mid-century globe.

We also made progress on the stairs.  The the little "train track" in the middle on the wood?  The stainless steel railings will fit perfectly in there.  Or so they say....

 

The kitchen is now mostly put back together - - and we are already trying to figure out the timing (i.e. when we will have the moola) to get the one that we really really want.  For now, I can say with a high degree of happiness that AT LEAST IT ISN'T PINK any more!!

 

Evidence of forward movement in Stain Wars 2011?  New Stain samples for the downstairs!!

Birch on the left.  Oak on the Right.  Fingers crossed.....and waiting for Jorge!!

And in bathroom news - - the cap pieces for the pony wall arrived from Heath and so we are 100% tiled.  The big glass wall to separate the shower is on order, the medicine cabinets are here - - and all the sink and fixtures are sitting in boxes ready for installation!

Most importantly - - we spied this in the garage on Sunday....

The potty!!!

And finally - - the first buds on our wee apple tree.  Spring is here and the move is now scheduled for April 27th!  Ready for three weeks of GO GO GO!!!!