Sunday January 20th
Meeting of the minds, so to speak, today at the house...and then down to road at the local diner as it was quite cold in the house!
We have been trying to have a sit-down meeting with the builder for a couple of weeks - one at which I could attend so it had to be a weekend. We are clearly behind schedule and being a project-manager personality I wanted to know for how long and by how much. Andreas does try to get this information out of the builder, but he tends to talk around it and Andreas accepts this.
Anyway, we meet up and essentially discuss a few small items and then I say, ok, how long is the delay? Builder talks around the question and when I bluntly say, well, will you have it done by? March 17th? (that's our contracted completion date). He just shrugs and keeps saying 'I will try I will try'. I am clearly not going to get a straight answer so instead I start asking specifics about when he is going to need certain items like our tile choices, our flooring & doors choices, the kitchen delivered... We go through all the items and he gives me estimated dates and suddenly we are into April and he's just barely installed the hardwood flooring.
There is my ah-ha moment, and he knows it, so he reluctantly gives me a new estimated completion date of April 12th.
While it was expected it is still not the best news. The trick is, Andreas and I are getting married on April 26th and want to be in the house by then!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Fireplace selection
January 12, 2008
We had, on our drawings, two fireplaces. One for the master bedroom (I lost the battle on a double-sided) and one for the basement rec room.
I had also been asking for some time as to when I get to choose my fireplaces...since the 'choosing' is the fun part! One of the things that irritates me about our builder is that he says not yet, not yet. Then we get notice that such and such needs to be decided in one or two days!
So, with constant nattering, we finally get to pre-arrange a fireplace-picking meeting with Sasha, the HVAC guy. We even got an email ahead of time with the brand-name and model numbers that were 'in budget'. This allowed us some time to review the fireplaces before committing...yay! We also discover they are Made in Canada, and I always like to buy Canadian!
One chilly Saturday morning, yesterday, out we go to some industrial park in the north-east corner of Toronto, where apparently the fireplace business is hopping. We talk to the distributor while waiting for Sasha to show up and in the end we selected a 36" with remote for the master and a 42" with brick inlay and fan for the rec. room. Oh yes, and of course the "8-piece realistic-looking half-burnt pile of plastic oak logs" for both.
We had, on our drawings, two fireplaces. One for the master bedroom (I lost the battle on a double-sided) and one for the basement rec room.
I had also been asking for some time as to when I get to choose my fireplaces...since the 'choosing' is the fun part! One of the things that irritates me about our builder is that he says not yet, not yet. Then we get notice that such and such needs to be decided in one or two days!
So, with constant nattering, we finally get to pre-arrange a fireplace-picking meeting with Sasha, the HVAC guy. We even got an email ahead of time with the brand-name and model numbers that were 'in budget'. This allowed us some time to review the fireplaces before committing...yay! We also discover they are Made in Canada, and I always like to buy Canadian!
One chilly Saturday morning, yesterday, out we go to some industrial park in the north-east corner of Toronto, where apparently the fireplace business is hopping. We talk to the distributor while waiting for Sasha to show up and in the end we selected a 36" with remote for the master and a 42" with brick inlay and fan for the rec. room. Oh yes, and of course the "8-piece realistic-looking half-burnt pile of plastic oak logs" for both.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Taps and Tubs
January 6th, 2008
The last few days Lianne's been back to work but Andreas picked up all the new taps for the master bath and sinks. Some had 'flaws' so we took them back and apparently Lianne's eagle-eye served her well. The store didn't see the flaws. (Yes, they were there and big enough to be noticed!).
In the meantime, ta-daaaaaa, the big 'ole tub gets picked up and a deck built for it and everything.
Of course, we go to the house a few times to measure and to decide the size of the deck along with the rest of the bathroom etc. It REALLY cold in that house right now as there are gaping holes everywhere and it's the dead of winter. Lianne usually gets about 30 minutes of work done before she's itching to leave as it's so damn cold...it actually is colder in the house than outside some days!
Here is Lianne getting a taste of future spa-like bathing opportunities & Andreas checking for the correct positioning of the roman tap set.
And that's not all...fearing the drywall would be imminent, Andreas gets the central vac all installed - here it is coming from Home Depot!
The last few days Lianne's been back to work but Andreas picked up all the new taps for the master bath and sinks. Some had 'flaws' so we took them back and apparently Lianne's eagle-eye served her well. The store didn't see the flaws. (Yes, they were there and big enough to be noticed!).
In the meantime, ta-daaaaaa, the big 'ole tub gets picked up and a deck built for it and everything.
Of course, we go to the house a few times to measure and to decide the size of the deck along with the rest of the bathroom etc. It REALLY cold in that house right now as there are gaping holes everywhere and it's the dead of winter. Lianne usually gets about 30 minutes of work done before she's itching to leave as it's so damn cold...it actually is colder in the house than outside some days!
Here is Lianne getting a taste of future spa-like bathing opportunities & Andreas checking for the correct positioning of the roman tap set.
And that's not all...fearing the drywall would be imminent, Andreas gets the central vac all installed - here it is coming from Home Depot!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year!
Welcome to 2008!
This year is going to be a crazy one! The wedding is on for the 26th of April and meanwhile we're renovating the house we currently live in (a.k.a The CrackHouse).
However THIS house got a new door to the front Under-The-Porch cold storage. It's been relocated because the room where the other door is became a bedroom.
And here is the what the house looks like on New Year's Day 2008
This year is going to be a crazy one! The wedding is on for the 26th of April and meanwhile we're renovating the house we currently live in (a.k.a The CrackHouse).
However THIS house got a new door to the front Under-The-Porch cold storage. It's been relocated because the room where the other door is became a bedroom.
And here is the what the house looks like on New Year's Day 2008
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