There’s nothing like a deadline to get things done. For us, the HBA’s 2010 Tour of Remodeled Homes was a great kick in the pants to try to take care of the last few construction items, or at least most of them.
In seeing the house come together, the yard was looking a little worse for wear. Knowing that several hundred people would be visiting shortly caused me to hire a landscaper to redo the front and side yards as well as the parking strip and clean up the back yard. He took out the sad-looking magnolia, ceanothus, azalea, smoke bush and mossy lawn, resculpted and moved the camellia, resodded, planted stepables and stepping stones and redesigned and installed the entire front and side yards. John Catandella of Catandella Landscaping did an excellent job, worked fast and hard, was easy to work with and was able to fit us in on short notice. He is awesome! He will return in the summer to help us revision the back yard.
Chuck of ecohaus refloated the floor where the engineered hardwood was not sitting properly. We decided to forego fixing a second section that was also giving us trouble, as it was too difficult for him to do. Chuck was able to reuse all the millwork, flooring, cabinets and threshold. Dana reinstalled them and Vitaly of Aspen Painting caulked and painted, and the Wet Bar was as good as new.
Johnny of Laurelhurst Fan Company installed the blades, nose cone and back cover for our vintage bath fan at no charge. He also camouflaged the galvanized ductwork. Now the fan really sings!
Ron of Stellar Cellars put the finishing touches on the wine cellar. It is now perfect!
The concrete guy came out and patched some of the driveway, curb cuts, egress wells and door jamb.
Erik our contractor of Ostmo Construction spent a whole day attaching various knobs and the dryer vent. It had been dumping hot, humid and dusty air into the laundry room. I was wondering why it was so muggy and linty. My husband leveled the washer and dryer as Erik was having difficulty with that task. Erik was here the day before the Tour attaching the upstairs thermostat, Rainbird (irrigation timer) and adjusting the height on the under counter refrigerator.
We finally got the door hardware back from Bliss Restoration. They had replated some existing door hardware that we had wanted to reuse. Sadly, once Dana the finish carpenter of Guillory Construction had installed them, we decided that removing the door was best. Oh well.
Shiloh of Classic Sash returned with our two screens only to discover that one was the wrong size. Looks like one screen will need to be remade. Doh! He was able to reseat the window hardware though. Pete tweaked the screen door hinge, rescreened the door and installed a closer.
The new kitchen cabinet doors finally arrived from Crestwood and were fitted in the full-height cabinet box. These were replacements for the warped ones.
Alex returned twice to do some quick aesthetic fixes on the neighbor’s garage. Yay! It no longer looks shabby chic!
Pablo and Pancho of Aspen Painting returned to paint the last few cabinetry items, touched up a couple of interior & exterior surfaces, matched the existing dark stain on the main floor and painted the neighbor’s garage. The garage faces our house, so we were happy to finally have this done.
Ben Aldred and Scott Foster of the Hollywood A-boy assisted in selecting a fan for the upstairs bath. The conundrum was whether or not we wanted to vent the adjacent powder as well using an inline fan or just stick to a regular fan venting just the main bath. We opted for the latter then realized that the former was the better decision because it would provide better ventilation and be quieter. C’est la vie!
Aaron of Portland Metro Electric returned to install the under cabinet light at the Wet Bar, sump pump receptacle, office light fixtures and an exterior outlet. He came back a second time to install a light in the master closet and a new fan for the upstairs bath and replaced some oddball receptacles and plates. He also reattached the grounding wire to the house.
Dana, our savior, reinstalled the millwork at the wet bar, installed the replated door hardware, fixed the squeaky powder room door, changed the exterior door hardware to the correct ones, installed a couple of cabinet hinges, a latch and the robe hooks, adjusted the screen door knob, fixed the door sweepers and attached the under cabinet lights at the Wet Bar with a stud gun.
There’s STILL some work to be done. The original 4 month project has taken nearly a year to finish, and now will run into the start of phase two of the remodel. Tune in next time for the last 1% of the original project, we hope!
In seeing the house come together, the yard was looking a little worse for wear. Knowing that several hundred people would be visiting shortly caused me to hire a landscaper to redo the front and side yards as well as the parking strip and clean up the back yard. He took out the sad-looking magnolia, ceanothus, azalea, smoke bush and mossy lawn, resculpted and moved the camellia, resodded, planted stepables and stepping stones and redesigned and installed the entire front and side yards. John Catandella of Catandella Landscaping did an excellent job, worked fast and hard, was easy to work with and was able to fit us in on short notice. He is awesome! He will return in the summer to help us revision the back yard.
Chuck of ecohaus refloated the floor where the engineered hardwood was not sitting properly. We decided to forego fixing a second section that was also giving us trouble, as it was too difficult for him to do. Chuck was able to reuse all the millwork, flooring, cabinets and threshold. Dana reinstalled them and Vitaly of Aspen Painting caulked and painted, and the Wet Bar was as good as new.
Johnny of Laurelhurst Fan Company installed the blades, nose cone and back cover for our vintage bath fan at no charge. He also camouflaged the galvanized ductwork. Now the fan really sings!
Ron of Stellar Cellars put the finishing touches on the wine cellar. It is now perfect!
The concrete guy came out and patched some of the driveway, curb cuts, egress wells and door jamb.
Erik our contractor of Ostmo Construction spent a whole day attaching various knobs and the dryer vent. It had been dumping hot, humid and dusty air into the laundry room. I was wondering why it was so muggy and linty. My husband leveled the washer and dryer as Erik was having difficulty with that task. Erik was here the day before the Tour attaching the upstairs thermostat, Rainbird (irrigation timer) and adjusting the height on the under counter refrigerator.
We finally got the door hardware back from Bliss Restoration. They had replated some existing door hardware that we had wanted to reuse. Sadly, once Dana the finish carpenter of Guillory Construction had installed them, we decided that removing the door was best. Oh well.
Shiloh of Classic Sash returned with our two screens only to discover that one was the wrong size. Looks like one screen will need to be remade. Doh! He was able to reseat the window hardware though. Pete tweaked the screen door hinge, rescreened the door and installed a closer.
The new kitchen cabinet doors finally arrived from Crestwood and were fitted in the full-height cabinet box. These were replacements for the warped ones.
Alex returned twice to do some quick aesthetic fixes on the neighbor’s garage. Yay! It no longer looks shabby chic!
Pablo and Pancho of Aspen Painting returned to paint the last few cabinetry items, touched up a couple of interior & exterior surfaces, matched the existing dark stain on the main floor and painted the neighbor’s garage. The garage faces our house, so we were happy to finally have this done.
Ben Aldred and Scott Foster of the Hollywood A-boy assisted in selecting a fan for the upstairs bath. The conundrum was whether or not we wanted to vent the adjacent powder as well using an inline fan or just stick to a regular fan venting just the main bath. We opted for the latter then realized that the former was the better decision because it would provide better ventilation and be quieter. C’est la vie!
Aaron of Portland Metro Electric returned to install the under cabinet light at the Wet Bar, sump pump receptacle, office light fixtures and an exterior outlet. He came back a second time to install a light in the master closet and a new fan for the upstairs bath and replaced some oddball receptacles and plates. He also reattached the grounding wire to the house.
Dana, our savior, reinstalled the millwork at the wet bar, installed the replated door hardware, fixed the squeaky powder room door, changed the exterior door hardware to the correct ones, installed a couple of cabinet hinges, a latch and the robe hooks, adjusted the screen door knob, fixed the door sweepers and attached the under cabinet lights at the Wet Bar with a stud gun.
There’s STILL some work to be done. The original 4 month project has taken nearly a year to finish, and now will run into the start of phase two of the remodel. Tune in next time for the last 1% of the original project, we hope!
