Finally, at approximately 1 PM, we got the "ok" to head north.
We have had so much rain lately that when we arrived on Mohawk Trail, we were greeted with an array of beautiful wildflowers.
We settled in on our new porch ready to observe. We waited patiently. However, when time was closin in on 3:30 PM, we thought DJ might have had second thoughts about coming. The clouds were very dark and gloomy; Lavonia's weather was predicted to have a gully-washing downpour. But, just when I was ready to make a call to Brad to see if the plans had changed, the truck arrived.
DJ has quite the setup inside his construction trailer. In the front end of the trailer, he seems to have a mini-workshop. You can see our cabinets stacked on each side of the trailer.
Dave picked out the wood (Hickory) and the stain color for the cabinets. We opted to stain the kitchen and bathroom cabinets the same. In our current home, we have pickled white cabinets. We decided to go for a big change--one that doesn't go out of style.
DJ's crew includes James Sr. and James Jr. (father and son). The guys carried in all the cabinets and set them around to take stock of the project that lay ahead.
(DJ on the left and James Sr. on the right)
The drywall crew had left drywall stacked in the kitchen (you can see it on the floor in some of the photos), so after the upper cabinets were installed, the cabinet crew had to move the drywall into the livingroom.
Unfortunatley for the resident clutz (me) a stack of quarter-round molding that was stained for the finishing touches was placed in the living room in front of the French doors. I quickly tripped on it and chipped a piece from one of the ends. Duh! But, other than that, I think I left everything else undamaged.
Dave and I watched in amazement at how quickly the cabinets were installed.
The following photos show DJ and James Jr. as they progressed in installing the kitchen cabinets. (James Sr. was installing the bathroom cabinets, which you'll see later in this blog entry.)
Here's a close-up view of the front of the drawers and the hardware we chose, which has an oiled bronze finish. As a standard feature in Tomorrow's Homes specs, all drawers have the "easy close" feature. Which means when the drawer is nearly closed, you can let go and they will pull themselves completely and softly shut.
Here's the view of the kitchen at the end of today's installation. Notice that I opted for all drawers in the base cabinets (except under the sink, of course). This was suggested by LaVonne (owner of Tomorrow's Homes) when I complained that I couldn't get on my knees to retrieve items from bottom shelves. I'm so grateful for her suggestion. And, the best part is that Dave will not have to install sliding baskets on the shelves as he did in our current house. The drawers on the left side of the kitchen sink wall are wide enough to hold larger pots and pans or miscellaneous items.
I plan to put my dishes in the drawers as well. Here's a picture of the latest craze for accessible dish storage.
I had been a little concerned that the floorspace might be crowded after the cabinets were installed. But, I was pleasantly surprised at just how much space there really is. Yipee! Kalli (our dog) and Graykitty (our cat) will be delighted to know there is still room to sit in the kitchen and wait for their share of scraps!
The following photo shows the cabinet for the guest bathroom (aka, Dave's bathroom). We opted to go with the new trend of raising the height of the bathroom sink cabinets in both bathrooms to 36-in. Dave says he'll not get such a back ache bending over to rinse his face when shaving. See, we are kind to our knees and backs in our old age with our newly designed kitchen & bathroom cabinets!
In the master bathroom (aka, Pam's bathroom), I am finally getting my sit-down vanity area. This vanity design continues the kindness to our body parts by not having to stand so long to put on my makeup or fix my do. And, I have drawers for all my junk!
As always, there are a few issues to resolve.
First, the HVAC crew installed the stove vent too far to the left so that it is not centered over the microwave vent cabinet.
Second, the kitchen bar wall extension (L shape) is not plumb and it is also too deep.
Third, DJ inadvertently forgot to make one of the cabinets (upper cabinet to the right of the sink).
All these little issues will, of course, be corrected post-haste.
The most difficult "fix" will be dealing with the kitchen bar wall extension. But, DJ came up with a great solution (stay tuned), and he'll be fixing that at his next visit.
DJ and the James gang left at nearly 6 PM. They will return tomorrow to install the missing cabinet and to finish with the trim.
As of now, here's the latest tentative schedule that Brad has given me:
Tuesday, 9/22 - Interior doors being delivered
Mon, Tues, or Wed (depending on weather)— Garage floor being poured
Thursday, 9/24 – Garage door being installed
Friday – 9/25 – Interior painting
Tuesday, 9/29 - Bathroom floors being installed
Note: I think the kitchen countertops will be installed sometime next week (according to DJ's best guess).
Well, that's all for today folks!
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