Carpet and Office Furniture Installed

The carpet was installed just before Christmas, and the office furniture was installed on December 30! It really feels like home now. I'm finishing up the closet shelves that I'll need in order to move my stuff in. I'm also setting up my new computer in the office and bringing stuff over here little by little. I moved most of my books and DVDs in the last couple of days. I've got my receiver hooked up and the DVD player mounted where I want it. The infrared remote repeater is installed and working, too.

I had an unpleasant confrontation with my trim carpenter last week. He and his helper were here to finish up one piece of crown above the stove and the fridge. I also had 2-3 cleanup items for them to correct, and I asked if he had any ideas on how to handle a tricky problem with the crown on top of my cabinets. (The cabinet guys have no clever ideas for it.) They finished the work, and he said he would come back to do the cabinet crown if I wanted him to. Then we talked about the final balance...

He had already taken back a $500 discount he extended for not having to install my cabinets. He took it back after he installed attic stairs and some cove moulding in my back garage, claiming that he hadn't counted on doing work back there. I thought it strange because I know we talked about it on the original walk-through, and I couldn't imagine it being $500 worth of extra work. I was already miffed about that.

I also remember him saying his price included closet shelves and fixtures like towel holders, etc. I'm doing the closets and the fixtures myself. His attitude really turned when I asked how much he would take off for not having to do that stuff. He said that he wasn't really charging me for that work. It was just included in his price... Huh? When I pressed him on it, he said that closets just don't take long to do so they wouldn't amount to much money. He rambled on about how my job was taking so long and he couldn't make any money on all these return trips. How I was holding up thousands of his money by taking so long. Are you kidding? Sure, there were long periods between phases of his work, but I paid him for the work as he did it.

I was the one who had to wait on him for the most part. He'd drop off his helper who did maybe 6 hrs of work that day, and then I'd be waiting days for them to come back and do some more. Meanwhile, he'd be out of town on a hunting trip where his phone didn't work. And in the end I've had to come behind them and fix their work: re-doing doorstops that weren't attached properly, caulking oversized gaps in window casing, and other details.

He did relent and take $150 off for the closets and fixtures. At least it's something. And it's a lesson learned for me to always have an agreement in writing. But you live and learn. This guy was married to a cousin of mine when I hired him (they later divorced) and my cousin recommended him highly.

Office Cabinets Ordered, Backsplash Tile Chosen

On Tuesday of last week (9/22), I finalized everything for my office cabinets and put in the order! Torrie came out to get all the measurements and talk through the final details. I'm excited about the office. I like the J-shaped desk configuration because it puts everything conveniently at arm's length. Here's a Google Sketchup version of what I ordered. These images show only the cabinets and the drawers that will be suspended under the countertop:

I also settled on the tile for my kitchen backsplash. I placed the order today, so hopefully I'll have the material by this weekend. I may take a whole day off work Friday and start the project. This is the last big project for me to do inside the house. Then I can mount the range hood and call for the final inspection!

I'm still making some decisions about drawer cabinets for the master closet, cabinets in the laundry room, and whether or not to let the cabinet people make wooden panels for the front of my kitchen island.

The Shower Adventure Continues & Office in 3D

I visited the man-made marble place today, but the owner wasn't in. He called a few minutes ago about meeting me at the house to look at it today. I asked him to call me when he's on his way.



In other news, here's a rough 3D mockup of what my office should eventually look like. I used the free Google Sketchup software to create it. I love that tool! The colors are a bit darker then what they will be. That's because I can't model lighting in Sketchup to make them look accurate. The tan rectangle on the right wall is my marker board. Rather than using a plain white dry erase board with the cheap, tacky aluminum frame, I hope to create my own glass board. This is just a sheet of glass mounted on the wall that you can write on just like the regular ones, but they are easier to clean (writing doesn't stick when it gets too dry). I've seen them with a color painted on the back of the glass (or a painted sheet of steel behind the glass so you can use magnets to stick stuff on the surface). The color can be used to match your room. I thought a nice beige color would complement the others.