Rain delay

Remember me telling you that my AC is out? 

And did I tell you that it's been 90+ degrees every day for the last ten days in DC?

It's true.  Visit weather.com and they'll tell you all about our historic heat wave.

Anyway, I took the afternoon off from work today to be home for the 12-4 appointment window with Vito's heating and air conditioning.  Fifteen minutes before the end of said four-hour window, they called to say they are not coming as scheduled.   

It turns out they were on the way over when it started raining hard and they can't go up on the roof during or after rain for safety reasons, which I totally get. I've fallen off a ladder and it's not that fun.

The good news is that we're rescheduled for Friday.  

The better news:  we're in for a cooler temps in the 80s for the rest of the week!

Some advice

If you want help making some renovation choices, call your friend who also happens to be a real estate agent.  Who else comes over to see how you're doing, offers great renovation advice and feedback, and then takes you out for brunch at Birch and Barley?

Shahab is the best. 

Here is what he had to say: 

(1) go with a more subtle pendant lights instead of the ones from restoration hardware. I was thinking the same thing so I bought two of these during  my weekly trip to Lowe's this morning.

(2) He recommended going with the Bianco Antico granite. True, I toyed with the idea of going with marble countertops but he's right. Marble on top of the white cabinets is too much white.

(3)  He liked my flooring options and suggested going with the maple over the oak. 

Overall he said renovations are looking great!

Narrowing down the options

I have two finalists for the countertops. 

One is Bianco Antico. It's a white brazilian granite with espresso chunks, mica chips and sprinkles of cinnamon here and there. It has taupe-y areas too.



The second is carrera marble. 

Here are a couple samples I picked up pictured with a base cabinet and flooring options.

Bianco antico on the left; carrera marble on right with Oak Provincial flooring:

And here they are with maple cappucino floors:

So by sometime next week I will have to make a decision on which combination to go with.

No end in sight

There is no end in sight to the shopping for this renovation.

Saturday I went over to Bray and Scarff in Arlington.  I ordered this and this.  They will be delivered Friday, June 25.

From there I drove out to the Lowe's in New Carrollton, Maryland to see my kitchen designer Charles.  I had to order a new wall cabinet due to a last minute change in the design. 

I was also over in Georgetown at Restoration Hardware to pick out pulls and knobs for the cabinets.

I scored these for the drawers:

and these for the cabinet doors ...

These will go great with the focal point of the kitchen.

$$$$

Money is flying out of my checking account like it's Christmas.

I just bought this and this. 

They will be delivered on July 9!

(Most of) The cabinets are in!

Jason and his crew did a great job this past week. He and his crew showed up on-time and everyday, they were professional and their workmanship was excellent. 

They started on Wednesday morning, showing up at 8 am and stayed until about 6:30 the same evening to finish the ceiling soffit framing and hang the drywall.

On Thursday they taped and mud the drywall.

Then on Friday they sanded and primed the new drywall, and painted the ceiling, installed a few extra 4-inch recessed lights into the new soffitt over sink wall, and installed the utility and wall cabinets.

Since the refrigerator was scheduled to be delivered in the early afternoon, they started with the uiltity cabinets on the fridge wall.

Here's the old refrigerator and Jason's crew nailing the cabinet moulding to the top of the cabinets.

The guys from Sears unpacking the new refrigerator.  It's a Jenn-Air counter-depth.

The new refrigerator in place.

And then the wall cabinets went in!  They look great!

A close up of the doors at the end of the cabinet run. It's a wall message center.

... with space for keys, a magnetic pen holder, a board for writing notes, and little shelves for odds and ends.

Here's a view from the kitchen looking out to the living room and front door.

 Coming soon to this wall:  a JennAir slide in range and chimney style vent hood.

Next week on Friday, Jason and his crew will be back to install the base cabinets.

Jason

A couple of weeks ago I ended up in the ER and the doctors quickly figured out that I had gallstones. If you have never had them, thank god.  If you have, then you know they hurt like hell. 

So I had to have a surgery and spent a night in the hospital.  The good news is that I'm feeling much better. The bad news for my DIY renovation is that it is now no longer a DIY project.  On doctors orders I cannot do any work on the kitchen for several weeks.

While at home in recovery this week, I brought in three contractors to give me estimates for completing the job.  I signed a contract with Jason, who came recommended from one of my co-workers.  Jason will finish up the framing, drywall, and install the cabinets.

He starts next week and should be here for about 3 days.