Our Hard Work Starts Now.

  The table looks really good right there in the center as you open the double doors, but that isn't where it is going to stay once the last wall is done in that room.  Everyone will just have to remember as it is now, open and impressive looking.  I want to wait until they get the last wall done before I move too much into the room.  That way they can access everything.
  I'm glad to be able to use this table because it comes with a pretty fun story.  My dad actually dragged this drafting table out of a dumpster at Mugu in California.  They had probably used it for about 20 years and had fixed it up until the front brackets snapped off.  My dad got them welded back on and he decided to use it.  He found the one person in LA who could add some special drafting table linoleum to the top.  He fit it into his tiny Fiot Spider and drove it to the person and back again in about a week when he was done.  This all happened before I was born, so this table is quiet old.  As of a few days ago, you can find ones very similar to this, but missing the drawers for $500.  Here's to hoping I can take as good of care of it so I can use it many more years.

  Almost everything is on.  Bill isn't sure where one of his books are and there are a few more games that he has KickStarted that still need to come in at some point.  He keeps saying that he might have a problem, but I just look at how cool everything is and how much easier it will be when we want to have a game night to find everything.

  Our Roomba, Garmelie, is a very sassy robot.  He has run a few learning sessions and was having a hard time finding his dock last night.  He has gotten stuck in a few corners in the past and was trying to get onto his docking station for over 10 minutes before Bill just put him back on it last night.  Bill left him training today and I came home to him in his docking station just fine and the Goggle Home unplugged.  Bill and I didn't do it, so it only left Garmelie.  I hope these two can get along in the future.

Basement Day 61: Clean at Last

  The cleaners came in and made quick work of the basement.  They asked to borrow one of our vacuums because they wanted to have two going at once.  I almost wanted to apologize for how old ours was and how it doesn't work very well.
  Tank has already managed to get himself closed into a room.  I was taking a video for a basement project I have planned and had opened the utility closet.  He must have come down and gone in while I was in another area because I didn't see him.  When I was back down later I heard some sad meowing and found him in there.

  Our iRobot Roomba has a birthday, and that day is today.  Now I just have to figure out how to convince the cats to ride it.  I have also named him Garmelie after the Critical Role character because the first thing he did was to draw a dick in the carpet and then not too long after he got lost and couldn't figure out how to get past a corner and back to his docking station.

  Since it was such a pain to pick out and we weren't sure if it was what we wanted in the end, so I wanted to be the first one to try out the tub.  The water has a slight blue tint and I'm not sure if that is the water, the tub, or something else.  It is odd because when you feel the water out of the faucet it feels cooler than it does in the tub.
  Bill has also started moving things down there, but it isn't ready to be seen yet.  You'll have to wait until he gets it done and you won't get any progress pictures.  He keeps muttering that he thinks he has a problem, but I think it just looks like a lot of fun nights to come once he builds the big gaming table.

Remodel Day 60: Mostly Clean

  It made me feel like my house was a museum or something with all the plastic on it.  They didn't even use any tape or anything fancy to paint the ceiling, just a brush and roller.  It looks so good and you can't see any rouge paint spots anywhere.
  Other than painting the ceiling, today was a cleaning day.  They got all of their tools out from the basement and most of their stuff from the outside.  There are still a few things, but it would be easy enough to just roll in and grab them.  Next week will be used to do a few last minute touch-ups and then they will be done.  José gave us his number in case we have any small jobs we need done in the future.
  We can even start moving things in this weekend once the cleaning people are done.  This means that the hard part for the workers is done and the hard part for us is just beginning.  I'm really glad it has slowed down at work so I have more time to work on getting things sorted, looked at, and figure out where they go.

  The speakers and TV are in.  You can see the various levels of different speakers and things.  The sub-woofer on the floor, three speakers on the wall, and there are also six speakers on the ceiling.  Bill turned the TV on and my first reaction was that it felt like I was in a movie theater.  Bill thought that was super amusing.

  We had our most thorough inspector in today too.  He checked all the corners and even rubbed up against a few to check to make sure they were structurally sound.  He checked the closet a few times to make sure there was nothing scary hiding in there.

  He was so nervous to be down there because Bill was down there too.  He used to get yelled at for sneaking down because we didn't want him stepping on any of the carpet tacks or getting sick from the mold down there.
  He explored the side Bill wasn't on a few times, at one point trying to walk under the shelves but not being able to fit because he walks with his tail straight up.  When he saw Bill he ran back to the other side even though he wanted to go see all the rooms.  Bill went upstairs and he was able to go into the media area and the bathroom.  Bill went to go see what he was doing but then Tank ran upstairs so he wouldn't get in trouble.  Bill even tried carrying him down, but he was still convinced it was a trap and that he was going to get in trouble.  At some point he will get used to being able to go down there with Bill down there too.

Remodel Day 59: Egress Ahead!

  So it looks like they just shaved a bit off the shelf to get it to work with the door to the water shut off.  This is a bit annoying, since it means that we will have to take everything off the shelf and unscrew the shelf from the brackets to get to it.  Luckily we have only had to get at it a handful of times since we moved in, so it probably won't be a problem.

  The plastic protecting the carpet is gone!  You can feel the oddities in the floor if you know where to walk, but overall it feels pretty plush and soft.  It's a bit cooler than I was hoping it would be, but that will be nice in the summer and I can wear slippers in the winter.  I've already tried laying down on it, and it feels nice, so it passes the carpet test for me.

  It dried out enough for them to finish my egress window.  Luckily there hadn't been any more landslides since the first one.  It's not the prettiest thing, but it does what it needs to and that's all that matters.

  It is about time to call in the first group of people again to regrade the lawn dirt and make it look nice again.  I'm not sure if the hay/straw they put around will get in the way with that or not, but it would be easy enough to get rid of if they need to.  I'm not sure why they spread it out, but I'm sure they have a reason, and I'm sure if someone told me why that I would say that it makes sense.
  The people to do the theatre/media zone stuff should be out tomorrow and I think Bill's real door will be showing up next week.  They had talked about getting the ceiling in the kitchen painted yesterday, but they ran out of time and it looks like they didn't do it today either.  Though there might also be a bit of confusion with it as well.  I didn't completely understand what they were talking about, but I heard someone mention semi-gloss in a confused voice.

  This is my version of the Quick Knit Baby Shrug.  I wasn't sure I would have enough yarn, so I didn't do the largest number if increases.  I also knit until I ran out of yarn, which makes mine longer than the pattern.  I really like how on one sleeve has another color for the bind off.  I also did seed stitch where it has you work rubbing and garter stitch.
  I have too many projects on my mind to do next.  I want to do a semi-mindless shawl, but I also want to do a double-knit color-work hat.  Right now my plan is to start the shawl, and if I don't like it, then I can take it out and start the hat.  I will do the hat at some point, so don't worry, you'll get to see what I'm talking about it.  It's really fun looking and a free pattern, though from looking at it, I might rework the crown to a more gradual curve.  No one should be surprised that I already plan to change the pattern.  It's some kind of crazy fluke that I can follow them correctly when testing patterns for people.

Remodel Day 58: More Little Details

  You can see the differences in the finishes of the mud and the paint on the ceiling.  The foreman told the guy to use the white trim paint to cover the matte finish and while the color wouldn't be the same, it would look better.  The contractor said that while it would look closer, it would still look bad because the colors wouldn't be the same.  They did a bit of back and forth where the contractor kept saying that it would look bad.  The foreman then said they were just going to paint the ceiling with ceiling-white paint.  All the other ceilings have the correct paint on them, so the confusion about random things in my house continues.

  There was a hole below the faucet that was patched badly before, but now it looks nice and it looks like they sealed around the tub where it touches the wall.  The upper wall was also smoothed some.

  It is so good that they are thorough enough to make sure that the beverage cooler we got works.  So very considerate.  I think it's really funny, and while it's there, why not use it?

  Bill's room no longer has the door that makes me want to put magnets on it.  This is good because he will be getting the door he really wants instead of the one that was there.  There is nothing saying that I won't want to add magnets to the new door though.

  The plumbing inspector was in and I guess everything looked good because the back of the plumbing for the tub is now behind this little plastic door/cover.  It's good nothing had to be ripped back and done again.

  They asked Bill if we wanted the handles in the traditional spots and we figured why not.  I think we even forgot that we were getting handles since you can open everything without.  They do look nice though.

  The shim is gone and some edging is now there.  It's a bit odd that the edging here is a different color than the ones on other walls in the basement, but I'm pretty sure no one else would even notice.  They also finished filling in behind the hearth topper.  The oddness with the door framing and floor framing in my craft room also got sorted out today.  The last thing they would have to do, if they haven't already, is to fix the bowing on one of Bill's walls.  I didn't check, so they might have already gotten to that too.
  The things for the theatre area arrived today, and Bill and I had picked up the peg board for his workshop late yesterday.  Everything is getting so close and I'm excited and nervous.  I hope we get as much use out of it as I picture and I hope I can get my craft room layout nice fairly quickly.  I will definitely have to downsize some of yarn, because moving it showed me that I have a lot more than I thought.  It went through one sorting and will have to go through another before it gets moved back in for good.  I'm hoping that K&CC will get to start meeting soon after I start going through it again so it won't have to live in my car, like some I already have to donate has had to.

Remodel Day 57: Moving Heavy Things

  I'm glad I still like the door handles I picked out.  Not too fancy but also not too plain.  They didn't have enough to install all the handles in the doors that need them, so some doors still have holes.

  The drink cooler is in!  I probably knew that there were blue lights, but I forgot, so I got a fun surprise.  I really like how it looks, even though it looks super modern and the rest of the items look a bit more rustic.
  You can also see that we just lost the last port for anything on the switch plate.  That was the easiest fix for it, since it didn't make sense for it to be like that.  They also need to figure out what to do about that shim on the edge there.

  The center is a slightly different color.  I'm glad that since that happened, they noticed it and put it in the center.  I figured there were things drying around it, so I didn't touch it much or see how it felt to sit on it.  They don't need me ruining the things they just finished.

  The keezer is down, which was a surprise to us.  Bill mentioned that even though they helped take the freezer out, that they would not be helping us to bring it back down.  Then today they said they had to get into the garage to bring it down.  They didn't get it at first but got really interested when Bill explained it to them.  I told him that he needs a business card.

  We were a bit nervous that the bathroom wasn't going to have a latch on it and that we would have to add that ourselves.  Another surprise of the day was that they put one in, though you have to pull the door back towards the bathroom some so that latch catches.
  Last night Bill and I tried to see if both of us fit into the tub at once.  It's a bit of a tighter squeeze than we had hoped, but we do fit pretty well.  They also fixed the problems with the doors of the cabinets in the bathroom, so now everything opens just fine.  It doesn't look any different, so we aren't sure how they did that.

Remodel Day 56: More Paint and Hanging Stuff

  They finished patching and painted the inside of the stairway.  It's a bit odd that it is now the light grey color of the basement and not the pale yellow of the rest of the halls in our house, but it makes sense to match it.  When the guy was going along the edges he was so slow, smooth, and steady.  My hands definitely shake more than his do.

  This actually went up the last day they worked, but I didn't get a picture of it until now because of the wet paint on the door.  I don't remember the mirror looking this fancy, but I'm really liking it.  They still need to fix the door problems.

  My doors now have an easy way to move them.  There is a little hook that pops out so you can easily close it when they are all the way open.  This is probably how all pocket doors are done, but I've never had one before.

  We have power in the floor now!  The electrician also messed with the one of the switches.  The one with the bonus outlet was taken down and one of the switches was removed.  Not sure why they did that and what will happen, but we shall see what tomorrow brings with that.

  The beverage cooler also arrived.  It got caught in a bit of rain, but not as bad as some of the storms that happened today.  It is super heavy and will have to wait until tomorrow to get taken down.

Paint Day 55: Caution Wet Paint

  Yesterday was a day off and we had no idea if they were going to show up today or not.  The shelves are up but the wood isn't secured to the brackets yet.  We shall see what the do about the hole for the water shut-off valve.  So far they have made everything else look nice, so we have no reason to start questioning it now.

  I didn't get to look around too much because a lot of things were still wet from the latest coat of paint.  Last we checked they still hadn't fixed all the small things we brought up, like the drawer in the bathroom and how one of the trims on my craft-room door overlaps the floor framing.  At some point Bill will be getting the door he wanted on his workshop.

  Luckily I managed to get some knitting done, since the pictures are less exciting then usual on the construction side.  I partially designed this hat a while ago, but didn't do much with it.  I then figured it out and got two hats knitted, but then I didn't like what I did with the crown.  I redesigned the crown and knitted two more samples.  I liked it more, but I knew I could better.  I finally got to a crown shape I liked more and that's what you see above.  At some point I will get pictures of each of the design steps.
  I released it today on my Ravelry Shop.  You get four sizes and a note in case you need to change it at all.  I've made so many of these and I'm glad to move on for now, even though they are a quick knit.

Remodel Day 54: Getting Ever Closer

  This will be interesting because one of the shelves is going right through part of the hole right now.  The one problem is that the lever is near the top of the hole too, so we might have to reach upward when we need to access it.  Luckily it isn't something we need often, so it being a bit awkward isn't too big of a deal.  We were also expecting the lower shelf to be a bit lower so we could fit wine bottles on there.

  They installed our server holding thing.  This is the magic place where movies and such will live using the computer magic of 1s and 0s.  It will make it easier to find what we want to watch.  It sticks out more than I had pictured when we were figuring it all out.  It is also a bit of a tight fit at the top because of the carpet.

  The bathroom how has the towel rack, toilet paper holder, some towel hooks, and...

  This cute hand towel holder.  This is my favorite one because it is just so unique looking.  We thought we were going to get another one on the other side, but so far it is just the one.

  The rain held off for long enough that they were able to get the shelves cut.  Definitely not the most exciting part, but I am excited for it.

  I didn't notice it at first, but the mantle is up.  We weren't expecting the weathering lines in the front, but we both really like them.

  Since they are getting so close to being done they have cleared a lot of their equipment out of the basement.  Bill's room is looking a lot more empty.  They still have some small things we brought up to fix, but so far it is looking really good overall.
  Our house was party central again.  We had the pest control people come through and treat our usual Spring ants.  They never come in from the same direction and I was hoping with all the dirt upset that they wouldn't try again, but they did.  Then later in the day the person from Verizon came over and upgraded our cable.  That way when some of us are playing online games and others are trying to watch movies no one will suffer.

Remodel Day 53: More Little Things

  Today was the day that Tank's wall came down.  They also took the paper that was protecting the floor in the hallway.  He is very confused and isn't sure what to do about it.  There is still a small plastic wall over to the left between the front entry and the sitting room.

  The last row of shelf brackets is up and they have stained all the boards for the shelves.  It is almost done and ready to use.  I'm excited for it.  It will be really cool to see all the games and gaming books in one place.

  They had put the cover on the hole for the water shut-off, but they might have to recut it to make room for the shelves.  They should look a lot like the ones for the books and board games.

  The banister looks darker, so now it will match what we picked for the mantle and the cabinets a bit better.  It looks so fancy and some of the glue lines are harder to see now.
  We are getting so close and I'm planning the layout of my craft room.  They still need to prime a few walls and paint them.  They also need to finish with the inner area of my egress window bump-out so more dirt doesn't get in.

Woodwork Day 52: Stain All The Things

  We were right, they got stained.  The color is so pretty and I really like the way it looks.  It's also interesting that they have the section that will look like it is coming out of the wall instead of just being straight.

  The shelves aren't installed in this picture and a few aren't even seated all the way down, but this gives you an idea of how they will look when done.  They will still need to add the last row of brackets at some point.  Just remember how empty they look now, because once they are done there will soon be a lot of books and board games going onto them.

  I had thought that it would have been easier for them to stain the wood before putting it in, but they did a really good job taping up anything that shouldn't get too much stain on it.  Next they will have to tape the other way when they go to paint the wall.

  I don't think they did anything in the bathroom, but I couldn't tell because they painted or primed the door.  It felt fairly dry to the touch, but not enough that I wanted to risk moving it.  The basement is also starting to get that New House smell.  I wonder if it is the carpet.  It feels so close and still so far.
  Earlier in the day I heard a knock on the front door and then some people loudly asking if anyone was there.  They asked me if I was expecting an order from 84 Lumber.  I had no idea so I told them that they should ask the workers and told them how to find the basement.  I couldn't tell if they brought anything in, but I hope one of the works had a better idea than I did.