Day 126

Carpet Crafters came out the other day & did a fine job installing carpet in both the master bedroom and Kim’s closet:

Stretching carpet into place is something I have, over the years, purposely avoided as I figure that one good day with a knee kicker (a device used to install carpet which is powered by whopping it with one’s knee) would leave me limping around like Quasimodo. In my defense though, I do believe that all the professional installers I have ever seen have been no older than twenty-something.

A few days before Carpet Crafters hit the scene, I got home from work to find a stack of plywood unceremoniously dumped in the driveway. After confirming that the wood was earmarked for the big tub’s pedestal improvement, the builder once again advised me he was trying to schedule both his carpenter and Creative Marble to be there at the same time for the ‘Big Lift’. “Oh boy”, I thought, “Let’s see how well the new carpet’s Scotchguarding holds up to two squads of workmen plus sawdust & adhesive!”

Well, late one afternoon Donny & Jason from Creative Marble rolled in and started prepping for the modification. Since it was later in the day than most craftsmen work, I asked them how long they planned to wait for the builder’s carpenter to make an appearance. “We’re not waiting; our boss told us to make it right.”

I can not fault the boss’s sentiment – Creative Marble‘s work, and not what holds it up, is all anyone will ever see, and I admired their desire to have the finished installation reflect their pride in doing good work. So for the next four hours or so, Donny & Jason carefully removed every piece of cultured marble, shimmed the pedestal with materials they had brought with them, and then reassembled everything. They did a heck of a job (with virtually no mess), and Big Tub now looked like a million bucks:

The rage nowadays in closet storage is wire grid shelving. But for various reasons, not even considering the high cost, neither Kim nor I care much for it. Since I have a whole shop of woodworking tools geared towards cabinet production, it was a no-brainer to put myself in charge of shelving/cabinetry.

The only problem is that boards don’t come from the mill already painted in Big Tub’s trim color, and the painting of ‘Tom’s cabinet & shelves’ was not on Decolores’ to-do list. Since spraying paint anything goes considerably faster than brushing it and looks better (if done correctly ) I opted to cut all boards to size & spray-paint them before final assembly. Below is one “wave” of boards (of four or five total):

Why look! Here’s Michelangelo at work on the Sistine Board:

In addition to a standard clothes rod & shelf in her closet, Kim requested two additional cabinets. In what I’m calling a “sweater hutch”, she asked for a series of floor-to-ceiling, 18-inch deep shelves on which to store folded garments.

Roughing out the big picture on paper, I didn’t need a slide rule to tell that this thing was going to be too wide to turn corners to get to the closet if it was assembled in the shop. And, being made of medium density fiberboard, it was also going to be HEAVY. So all the piece parts were brought into the closet & assembled. My trusty service jack was then called upon to place it in its final position.

The lady of the house also requested a shoe barn for the North wall:

I guess having space left over means it’s time to purchase more clothes …

…after a plumber finally stopped by & installed the faucets. Technically, we could say that Kim got the first bath, but I don’t think this really counts:

“I wonder what happens when I push this button?”

Actually, nothing happened the first time the button was pushed because no one had untangled & connected the hidden myriad of wires necessary to make Big Tub whoosh water around. Ya want something done right…

The Boyz finally got waterlogged & moved on which allowed Kim to make her own determination of the tub’s suitability. I think she will keep it:

With Big Tub successfully filling & draining, I consider the builder’s contributions to our project complete. While the amount of time required has not been unreasonable, Kim & I both have grown weary of strangers wandering through the addition doing one thing or another & invariably leaving a mess behind. It will be nice to finally lock the doors.

Unfortunately, the project itself is not done yet. For whatever reason, the man recommended to sand & stain the hardwoods bailed on us before ever starting which has forced us to be put at the bottom of someone else’s list. Many elements of moving in to the new space can not occur until the floor space is available. Also, I’m on the hook for building/painting base & wall cabinets for the laundry room.

But on a cheerier note, Jerry has agreed to bring his Bobcat over and bring the yard up/down to final grade. It will be nice to at least have the place looking like we live there.

Have you ever heard of a Harley Rake? Well stay tuned – That’s what Jerry said he was bringing!