The Ranch Goes On Tour

Late last week I got an exciting request. Stephanie, the designer of our beautiful kitchen, asked if they could use our home in the 2008 NARI Spring Remodeling Tour!! It feels so good to live in a space that someone, who doesn't live here, is so proud of they want to show it off.

The tour is going to be the first weekend in May so as soon as it dries up around here I'm going to have A LOT of work to do. The area around our house still looks like a construction zone and who knows what will come up in the flower bed next to the driveway. Not only was it deprived of water most of the summer it had a dumpster sitting practically on top of it too. At least I know there should be lots of pansies and other annuals available the last week in April. We are going to be doing a lot of last minute planting the week before I think.

The same day I committed to Stephanie I signed the contract for landscaping. While there is no guarantee the plantings can be done (really depends on what kind of spring we have) the brick work can be done as soon as all the snow melts. I was encouraged when Judy, the landscape designer, said that the outside work is a reflection of her business and so they will make an effort to get it looking presentable before the tour. I'm starting to stress a little about this!

I've had to submit "before" pictures and next week Stephanie is coming out to take new inside pictures. She took some before Christmas but now that we have the sexy new stove she's going to do new ones. Some of these pictures are going to be published in M Magazine. Stay tuned!

I Think We Are Remodeling Junkies...

There are people who are addicted to plastic surgery. I think we may be addicted to home improvements.

About a week ago Brian contacted Kevin, from OAR, and asked if he had any extra tickets for the NARI Home Improvement Show. Brian and I went today, sans children, and walked through all the exhibits remembering last year when we were still searching for a contractor for our dream kitchen addition. Now twelve months later, we are done but still have a few areas in which we need some professional expertise.

1. Landscaping
2. SolarTubes for bathroom, maybe the hallway and perhaps the dark area of the kitchen
3. bathtub and tile in shower

By the end of the month, we will have a quote on the landscape plan that we got last fall, have two quotes for a couple of bathroom options and hopefully an install date for a SolarTube (which might be June). I know the landscaping is priority but knowing that we are a few thousand dollars away from getting rid of our gross shower and dark bathroom makes me really excited. I don't know if we can stop the home improvements.

We Haven't Stopped Working...

Really, are projects ever "done"?

Today, our new stove was delivered. It's definitely goes better with the new decor than the white one did! Anyone need a white gas stove? Nothing wrong with it...it's just white.

Old stove
New stove...isn't it pretty?

It was pointed out to me months ago that I never posted a picture of the bathroom. If you recall, we had a window in the bathroom that was lost due to the addition. The space where the window was cut into the tile, which is probably 40+ years old, presented a challenge. Since the tile is so old we couldn't find an exact match. The color could be matched almost flawlessly but the size couldn't be found (isn't that strange?). So, Stephanie, the designer, came up with this idea. The new tiles are placed on an angle and go higher than the original tile. Really, you don't even notice that the size is different. I don't feel like we are trying to hide the fact there was a window there so I'm happy. I wasn't sure at first but am glad that we put our trust into Stephanie's design.

We've recently gotten a large area rug for the living room too. I can't believe it took us so long to just do it. I love the way it looks, love that the boy's toys are no longer rolling under all the furniture and I love that I can kneel on the floor and it doesn't hurt my knees. I'm sure you've seen the pictures on the the boys' blog of what it looks like.

And now, a few shots of yesterday's snow storm. It sure is pretty right now, but I sure am sick of snow!

Look at the fence to the left as a point of reference to how deep the drifts are!

New Year's List

The first year we were married Brian and I started a tradition that on January 1 we would create a list of things we wanted to accomplish (in terms of goods, trips and improvements to our home) during the following year. The idea behind this was to prioritize our list of needs/wants and focus our spending and how we spend spare time. It's hung on our refrigerator and we cross things off as we can during the year. This year, our ideas got a little out of hand. Maybe that's because last year the only thing on the list was, "kitchen." In any event, 5 days into 2008, we've been able to cross off four items already:
1. Clean Spare Bedroom
2. Cabinets installed in Basement
3. Counter Stools for Kitchen
4. Table Saw

1. The room that we used as a "kitchen" for the summer was still a disaster. It was too easy to just shut the door and forget about it. And forget about it we did. It is now an empty room. We really don't have any plans for that space, but at least it's empty now!

2. While I was pregnant my dad built us some cabinets for the kitchen. We kept them this summer and planned on putting them in the basement somewhere. Initially we planned to put them on either side of the tv in the family room. This afternoon we set them where we thought we wanted them and realized quickly that was a stupid idea on our part. Then, I suggested a different wall and stacking them.
Brian likes this arrangement for a number of reasons but mostly because it covers up a crappy drywall patch from a few years ago. Some of you might remember there used to be a built in fish tank in this corner when we first moved in.

3. We have a breakfast bar on the island and no stools. Friday afternoon that all changed! I ordered three stools last weekend and they came Friday.

4. Brian is going to take up woodworking this year. He bought a new table saw earlier this week. A new table saw is a good place to start to building and refine his skills. Today we attempted to load his dad's old one, which we've had in our basement for some time, in the back of the minivan and take it to the dump. I decided it was physically too hard and suggested we just put it by the side of the road. We left and when we returned two hours later it was gone.

Little Things

Ever since we "finished" we've been working on a lot of little things. One of my tasks was to fill the space, formally occupied by our stove and now home to our pocket door. The space was really only big enough to install shelves.

The challenge with these permanent shelves is that the wall they installed for the pocket door is not square. From the bottom of the floor to the top of the ceiling, there's about a 1/2 inch difference.

Essentially, I just created some supports (via dado joint) for the shelves to sit in. Unfortunately I don't have a dado blade, so I had to resort to the technique our fore fathers used, a series of cuts using one blade on my table saw.

The shelves were not even and had to be cut on some odd angles. However, I knew it didn't really matter as I would be putting some trim over the edges that would hide the imperfections and look nice. Well, look nicer that is. Each of the shelves are 18 inches apart and when finished looked rather good. Mommy will be looking for some nice looking baskets to complement the look.

This House Just Keeps Getting Better and Better

Today Brian installed shelves in the old coat closet in the living room. With the new, larger coat closet in the mudroom (and since we rarely use our front door) I was ready to give the closet a new responsibility. Toys. That's right, we have a toy closet now and I love it. I don't want to hide the fact that we have children but I also don't want to have toys "put away" in the corner of the living room. Now the upstairs toys have a real place to go.

Day 156: DONE!

On Monday the lock box was removed and we received the final bill with all the credits and extra things we added. We are DONE!

Now, I know that I haven't been very good about blogging in the last month, but frankly there hasn't been a lot to say. We reached, "substantial completion" a month ago.

The cabinet doors are now all installed and the stained glass is amazing! I know you can't see it very well in the picture so you'll just have to trust us.

The porch/landing/deck was recently completed as well. Now we can use our back door.

Here is a better shot at the stained glass, but I still feel like it's much prettier in person. Due to our blog neglect, our faithful readers have been spared (or denied depending on how much whining you'd like to read about our microwave curse) the continuing drama with the microwave. This is a shot of microwave #2. After two tries of trying to fix microwave #1 and Sears canceling try #3 because the parts were back ordered, Brian got involved and invested more time with managers on the phone than I would of had patience for. In the end, his perseverance with automated messaging and years of experience in customer service got us a brand new microwave. I found this all rather interesting in terms of cost of services and warranties. Obviously, the microwave was under warranty so none of this nonsense cost us anything other than irritation. Every time the repair guy came out to fix it we got a receipt with how much the part would be if he had them and how much his time was worth. In the end over $500 was spent on the stupid microwave that couldn't be fixed. We didn't pay nearly that much for the original one.

I LOVE the hardware. I'm so pleased that I didn't back down and buy hardware before I was ready and had the guts to go and cancel a large order when I changed my mind. We are every pleased and especially like the long handles. I think it looks much better than two small ones on either end of the drawer, which was the original plan.

A few weeks ago Brian and I had a funny, but serious, conversation about how it was going to feel when we were really done. This is what we came up with: It feels like we are ending a relationship that was good. The best piece of advice that we received was this (and it came from another contractor):

"Any company can come up a good design and use quality materials. Costs should be relatively similar between companies. What should play heavily into your final decision is, who do you feel comfortable with in your house?"

I couldn't agree more. Incidentally, we didn't go with the guy who said this. The people at OAR practically became members of the family. The boys knew them and recognized their trucks. The workers seemed to know where everything was in the house and garage. At some point I stopped going to meet them at the door when they came to work. They had keys, they could let themselves in. While I made sure I was dressed everyday before anyone came to work, make-up was optional. In fact, I have taken two sick days this year and both days Rick has let himself in the house while I was sleeping. It didn't even phase me. I wasn't even embarrassed I was wear sweats. We got very comfortable with these people!

Our relationship with the OAR Group is over. It was great and I'd recommend them without hesitation to anyone who is looking at remodeling or adding on. They weren't the cheapest company we interviewed but we sure felt comfortable with them in our house.

So, while we will maintain Ranch Renaissance, it will now focus on smaller projects. Here is our short list of things that need to be done:

1. shelves for cubbies in the mudroom
2. area rug for living room and runner for hallway
3. new toilet for big bathroom
4. do something about the grout and faucet in the bathroom
5. outside landscaping
6. paint bedroom and get curtains
7. old exterior wall framed and made to look nicer
8. install old cabinets (the nice ones my dad made) in the family room for DVD/video game storage
9. tentative...new appliances. The white ones just aren't working for me.

Thanks for your interest in our big project. It's been an experience we've enjoyed sharing with all of you!