So Many Compromises

Way back when we hired the designers they had this project broken into three phases- 1.  Schematic Design (basic floorplan and layout) 2. Design Development (Finishes, fixtures, furniture, etc.) and 3.  Construction (a few hours were set aside to consult for changes during the construction phase so the design intent would stay intact).  This was a very good way to break it down and would have worked really nicely....if we had hired a good builder on the front end.  Since we lost the builder but still tried to proceed with the design, some things got lost along the way.  Essentially, all the stuff I hate, like picking out faucets and doors, and paint colors, etc is now left to me.  The pragmatist in me understands that as long as everything is functional it really doesn't matter.  But of course, when you're putting it together and spending all this time and energy, you want it to look good at the end.  Therein lies the struggle.  

With the sobering HVAC quote and the knowledge that other large expenses lie ahead, sourcing things on the cheap has become really important.  Since the interior doors we wanted needed to be ordered, our contractor wanted that to be done soon so they'll be ready to install in time. Unfortunately, those doors aren't yet common.  Many places we called didn't have them, some weren't available yet, and we had a difficult time finding someone that really knew what they were talking about at HD.  Even though the weather is absolutely gorgeous, we spent our Saturday morning as a family looking for 2 matching doors on the cheap.  We went to the Habitat Restore.  They had millions of doors, but many 6 panels and many too large.  We went to a salvage store, but they didn't have any either.  Scott called an antique place and they had one door for $55, but we have to have 2.  Finally we wound up back at the trusty HD.  This time we lucked out with a guy who really knew what he was talking about.  He was able to get the door that we wanted (yay!) but it was going to be $250 each (boo!).  He also pointed out that if we were looking for a solid door to really block sound (which we are) that we would be much better off with a raised panel.  The raised panels in the middle allow for a thicker sound dampening.  When he told us that a 2 raised panel door was only $100 each we knew what we had to do.  So....I spent all that time researching, calling around, searching online, agonizing, and in the end it didn't matter anyway.  Frustrating.

Right now we're at the point that compromises like these are happening all the time.  I find a bathroom faucet I love for $160, but this one is ok and only $80 so we go with the cheaper one.  There was this super cool exterior lock that is sleek, can be unlocked with just a fingertip, takes a picture of anyone who comes within 6 ft of your door, can be programmed to let in plumbers and then quickly relocked, etc, but it was over $300.  We found a simpler Kwikset lock that was just a keypad for under $100 and decided to go with that since we'll have security cameras to perform some of the other features.  

We scoured the city and found that Lowe's had cheaper tile than Buy Floors Direct (even though we were told that BFD would have the best prices in town) and were able to save $500 that way.  It seems that we're scrambling to find the cheapest prices and yet I'm worried that we'll go over budget anyway.  Scott did remind me that we're getting radiant flooring that is a significant 'splurge' but I definitely think it will impact my enjoyment of the space when I'm not dealing with cold feet all winter.  

So now the 'give and take' officially begins.  Wish us luck making it through this phase with our sanity intact.

HVAC cost comparison

Two weeks ago I met a HVAC guy at the house for him to give me an estimate.  The space is small, but it is an intricate job because of the design.  We had a difficult time figuring out where everything should go.  When all was said and done we got an estimate for almost $6k.  Gulp.
Last week we met our contractor's HVAC guy.  He was an hour late for the meeting which was really unfortunate as Scott was taking a long lunch to make it happen.  When he did show up the meeting was productive and they determined what needed to happen quickly.  That evening we got an estimate for almost $11k.  Choke.  When I asked the contractor why his guy was almost double the quote we found from a recommended company he replied that he never said he had the cheapest people, but he did have the best that produced the highest quality work the most reliably.  I'm so glad that he wasn't at all offended about using the other company.  He just asked for their information so he could liase with them.  Our contractor came highly recommended and we're happy with him, but I'm so glad that Scott pursued someone else for this.  5k is a huge chunk of our budget (most of our kitchen) and we need that money for other spaces.
As of now, the plumbing inspection has been called in, the electricians are almost finished and the HVAC will go in on Thursday.  There should be no more major subs that need to be hired for this project.  The contractor will be able to fully get in the space and make his magic happen starting the 19th.  Fingers crossed.

HVAC

Things are starting to move pretty fast on the project now and it takes a lot of time to find, download, and then upload photos, so you may have to sit tight and bear with a few posts not having any photos in the interest of completion in a timely manner.

Last week Scott set up a meeting for me to attend with the HVAC guy.  It makes sense for me to be to take the meetings because I can go when little one is at Mother's Day Out and then Scott doesn't have to miss any work.  The downside is that I'm pretty much an idiot when it comes to technical things.  However, I was the good wifey and let the HVAC guy in.  We had a long discussion about what was going to go where and spent a lot of time brainstorming how the supply could get to the opposite side of the garage, how we were going to run ducts to the bedroom and where the lovely return grate was going to go.  Essentially, he wanted to run the ducts straight across the middle of the space to get the supply to the external wall, where it would best circulate air.  He then wanted to T out to get them to the corners.  I told him there was no world in which I could think of a way to make that look good.  We talked about how to run it across the wall of built-ins and hide it over there.  We talked about the possibility of a mini-split system that would require no ducts at all.  We talked about a lot of things and when we got the estimate, it was large.  Why are we scheduling with HVAC guys when we have a builder, you may be asking yourself.  That is an excellent question and one that I asked, too.  Scott wants to be sure that we're getting the most reasonable prices we can get.  I saw the builder last week at the garage and asked him about the HVAC.  He set up an appointment today with his guys.

When Scott debriefed me on last week's appointment and I said things like, 'I had no idea what size unit we needed,' or 'I think that the water heater has to go in a certain place because there's something about condensation,' or 'I think there's going to be a big soffit in our bedroom that may impact how we place furniture.' Scott decided that he needed to be present for the next meeting.  The meeting last week let me/us know enough to get us started thinking about some things- namely, we may have to actually tear up the drywall on the ceiling, which we were trying to avoid.  During the meeting today Scott talked his technical talk with the guys while I toddler-wrangled.  At a few points in injected my thoughts like, 'I can't imagine a world in which it would look good to have T shaped ductwork running across my ceiling.'  It was decided that we would for sure be ripping up the drywall once the electricians (who happened to be there) chimed in that they would also need to rip some out to get the zoning right for the existing lights.  Decisions were made quickly, we were able to get back to our day, and the estimate will arrive tonight.  Here's hoping that it's a bit lower.

One thing that we've constantly had to do during this project is redefine our expectations with respect to pricing.  Living in a hot market with construction everywhere we turn is creating the perfect storm for getting quality work at decent prices- we're learning we can get one or the other.  Either way, we think we know what we need to do and Scott ordered all the radiant heating stuff today which should be in by the end of the week.  Hopefully the contractor can get going on that early next week and things will really start moving for us.

Surprise! Building is Underway!

(Note:  I began this post over the weekend.  It's a few days behind...oops)

Last Monday I touched base with our contractor to confirm that we were a go to start next week.  He confirmed this and surprised me a bit when he said that rather than starting with floors and door he wanted to start with electrical.  He had to touch base with his electrician but wanted to schedule a meeting for Wednesday at 8.  Now, next week is our fall break at school and I have an appointment at 7:15 nearby, so I thought it would be ideal that Scott would have our daughter and we could rendezvous at the garage and have a meeting when I was finished.  Then, Wednesday of this week (Sept 30) I get a call at 8:08 asking if Scott and I were going to be there.  I admitted that I got the week mixed up, informed him that Scott wouldn't be coming (which was a shame because he knows way more about the specifics of what needs to happen), and immediately changed into my clothes to fight the rush hour traffic to get there late.  I didn't even give my daughter time to get dressed- luckily she doesn't mind going out in public in her pajamas one bit.  When we got there I gave it the good old college try talking to these electricians about what needed to be done and what should go where.

When the meeting was supposed to be this coming week we thought we had the weekend to get over there and mark out where we wanted all our plugs and switches to go.  I felt like I was having to think about and cover everything on the fly.  Luckily, they were really nice and took pity on me and told me that they had several days worth of demo and basic wiring that they could get started on without knowing exactly where each thing needs to be placed at this point.  

One thing that became crystal clear during this discussion was how valuable it would've been to have a builder involved at the very beginning.  The electricians had way better knowledge of the codes and knew things such as an outlet has to be positioned within 18" of the sink.  I planned to have the beautiful windows go straight to the counter, but it may turn out that I need a backsplash to accommodate this now.  I also was completely unaware of the structural elements of the garage and how the wiring and piping would need room around windows and doors.  We tried to have a builder and it didn't work out, so now it's requiring us to be flexible about things.  I'm sure in the end it'll work out.  

This past weekend we were able to get over to label all the lights and plugs in the space. Monday morning we met with the electricians to talk about the plans and answer any questions or discuss any issues that may arise.  Today (Tuesday) we were at the garage and ran into the electricians again.  There was some more clarification of issues.  I think that we're definitely on the right track and hope that they'll be able to finish up by the end of the week.

The Builder's Advice/ 3 Doors In

When he first came to the garage the builder told me that we were looking at a 6-7 week project.  He did warn me that his timing estimate would rest on one thing: my ability to make decisions.  The way this pacing works is that we will always be thinking 5 days out.  Example: next week the kitchen will go in; what type of cabinet fronts, hardware, etc do I want.  I appreciate this and will abide by this, except I think I may have already messed it up.
Having priced windows at different places all summer, I knew there was a lag time.  Our builder recommended a place and once our start date was confirmed, I made the appointment to order the windows.  That part wasn't so bad.  After having thought through it with so many other places, I pretty much knew exactly what I wanted (double hung for the bedroom, slider for the bathroom, casement for the kitchen and cheapest for the loft).  We played with the sizing to get to standard (i.e. cheap) sizes wherever possible and determined that it would be way cheaper for me to use the frosting film in the bathroom rather than buy the window with frosted glass.  I took the estimate to historic to get it approved and was able to put in the order.  There was a four week wait for delivery-which should happen this week- putting them in right on time for day 1.
The builder also wanted to install the exterior door on day one.  One of the people at the window shop told me that there was only a one week wait for the doors, so I thought I had plenty of time.  This was a good thing because I've been really struggling with the doors.  It's a really old picture, but our existing doors have a raised panel on the bottom, like this:

At the time the garage was built we knew that we wanted the glass on top and I never gave any thought to the doors- the contractor just picked them out and that's what we got.  I liked it that way.  Wanting to be consistent, I just assumed that the rest of our doors (2 interior and 1 exterior) would also have this raised panel look.

Except I really didn't love that look and was really hesitant about ordering doors in that style.  Between kitchen cabinets with raised panels, doors and the storage wall with door design tbd, it just made me nervous that it would be a whole lot of raised panel in a little space.  I couldn't order it.  I checked out people's doors wherever I went and decided that I still liked the shape, but wanted a flat panel instead, like this:

It seemed cleaner to me and a good compromise between traditional and modern, which is what we're going for.  And yet, I still don't love this design for an exterior door.  I really hemmed and hawed and finally decided that we would get a 4 panel door with the transom on top, just like our front door (except steel instead of wood).

Even with building approaching I still hadn't ordered the doors, which wound up being a really good thing because we realized that the space is too little to accommodate an exterior door, transom and the necessary header.  Back to the drawing board and building is due to commence on Monday.  Oops.
I frantically looked through catalogues and the lead time on ordering doors was 4-6 weeks, not 1 week like I was initially told. I talked with the builder and the plan is to install a dummy door until ours arrives.  We decided that we wanted to mimic the transom in the window and decided on this door.

Last night we thought we'd take a chance on Home Depot and see what they could do.  We wanted this door, but in steel.  It was about $540 and would take 2-3 weeks.  That was more than we wanted to spend.  When we looked at their in stock doors we found this one.

It's a fiberglass door and while it doesn't exactly set my heart on fire, I can't find one that does so we're going to go with a good door for a great price ($240) on this one.  Because it's in stock, we'll actually be ready for construction next week! We'll also save money on not having to install a dummy door.  
Because this door will be facing the alley and because our neighborhood has some safety issues, I'm already thinking of ways to cover the glass.  Currently a window film like this is in the lead.

The window faces East and I think it'd be beautiful to come out to these marks on my floor in the mornings.
While I wasn't able to make a quick decision on this, and while I'm not thrilled that I'm about to have 3 different door designs in a really small space, I'm happy with each individual decision and have peace (just don't ever judge me if you come to visit).  I'm even more happy that we'll be able to proceed with the doors.
Unfortunately, the other thing that our builder wanted to start with was floors.  Months ago we had a plan drawn up for radiant flooring with a detailed list of what we would need.  This was when we were going to have engineered wood flooring.  Apparently the switch to tile floor had consequences.  The existing radiant plan called for plywood over the top and Scott doesn't feel that it will be stable enough to support tile.  After many late nights up researching on his part, he decided to switch to electric mats instead of tubing.  This will be easier, but apparently you can't just buy a big mat and cut it down to size.  So, this week he had to take very detailed measurements to send off to a new company so the floor can be manufactured to size.  Luckily, it can be done quickly but it still won't arrive until the end of the week at the earliest.  In the meantime, we scored some cork underlayment which will act as an insulator for a steal at Home Depot.  Unfortunately, HD doesn't carry the adhesive and all the local distributors say they don't carry it in stock.  It'll be the middle of the week before we can get that and have it ready to go.
Since we seemed to have botched up the beginning of the build so badly (kind of) I'm really looking forward to a timeline of what needs to be purchased when, mostly so I know the order in which I need to freak out shop for the different design elements. I'm also looking forward to turning over some of these shopping duties.  Remember when I said our old builder just took what we wanted and ran with it?  Yeah, I miss those days.

State of the Yard, Vol. 1

I think the last time you saw the yard it looked like this.

We were digging it up to make a trench for the plumbing.  In the middle you can sneak a peek at the pad that was poured for the storage shed.  Since we maintained control of the garage when we rented the house, the tenants were looking forward to some outdoor covered storage.  As far as we're concerned this project just wouldn't work if we didn't have outdoor storage.  The building also serves as year round privacy for both sides and allows both sides to have dogs that don't have to mingle (necessarily).  The shed got built pretty quickly and covered with some sort of black waterproof paper (technical, I know), and it stopped there for a while.  We know that we didn't want it to be the same hardyboard as the house and garage.  Because we're in a historical area, the commission had some additional restrictions about materials, alignment, etc.  We couldn't source the wood we wanted for our favorite design.

We scoured Pinterest and paid attention when we went out for inspiration.  Finally, I gave up and left it all to Scott.  Truth be told, he's got a really good eye and is better at this stuff than I am.  We tend to have similar taste so I knew that he'd come up with something that looked good and was in budget.  He declared himself ready to begin so I took our daughter out of town to visit family for a weekend.  When we came back he had the tenant side of the shed mostly complete.

He actually took cedar fencing and cut it to different widths.  He didn't consult with me on the design before starting but I absolutely adore it and think it'll also look great as it weathers.  In the end he admitted the design was based off Mitchell's Delicatessen (for locals).  We ate lunch there one day and both admired a similar thing done there.  (Truth be told, I love so many of the design elements at Mitchell's.  I'd love to know who their designer was.) Leave it to him to remember that and reproduce the look on such a grand scale.  See that W shadow on the shed?  I think it's because this shed is #winning. 

He also made the forms, poured the concrete pavers, and laid sod.

The cinder blocks are where the outdoor fireplace will go.  He also built a step off the deck for easier access and the wood fence for privacy from the street.  Puppy helps him on the weekends and acts as a model in pictures.

Here's the view from the deck.  We transplanted some of our trees from the back, but will have to fill in one our two more.  The fireplace will have a tall backing and then there will be privacy from the walkway.  Their yard is looking great and is almost done.  

Meanwhile, our side of the yard still looks like this.

I have hopes that once construction begins and the weather cools, he'll return to working on our side of the yard so I won't have to look out at a black wall from my huge windows come December.

State of the Garage, Vol. 3

Building is about to commence in one week!  There's kind of nervous excitement around here.  Imagine me like a pinball bouncing off all the walls and ceiling exclaiming that there will only be two more months of apartment living before I can get settled into our 'forever' home.  Scott is more reserved, staying up late to research if the option we chose for the radiant heating really is the right one, etc.  There's lots of second guessing, planning and decisions being made so that, hopefully, everything will run smoothly once we have people on the clock.
I haven't posted many pictures of the garage interior lately because I haven't felt like there was much to see.  Since the builder told me he'd be starting with windows, the exterior door and floors on day 1, finally clearing out the space became a high priority.  I'm so grateful Fall is finally kicking into gear because it's made for much more pleasant working conditions for Scott.  Yesterday he was able to really clear out the garage so it's makeover ready.
Here are the pictures he took to show me the progress.

This is the view from the double doors towards what will be our storage wall/living room.  The wood on the floor was left over from the farming and needs to be loaded in the truck and returned.  Hopefully he'll be able to get that done next week.  When I see a picture from this angle it reminds me just how small the space is.  Sometimes I get a little panic attack about the size of the space, but then I just remind myself to breathe and how nice it'll be when Scott can do whatever he likes with his time.  You can also see where our alley-side door will be in that left corner.  It'll be so convenient once that door is installed.

Here's the view looking into the bedroom while standing in the kitchen.  You can see that the upstairs also got framed.  Because of the way the ladder was positioned to access it, I never actually stepped foot up there.  I admit that the ceilings are higher than I thought they'd be, but still low enough that I think that we'll have to ditch our box spring under the mattress.  The stuff we've bought for the project thus far is being stored up there.

On the left will be our entertainment center, then the bathroom, then the laundry room.  I never did figure out the bathroom to really make it feel comfortable for me, but it'll offer much more storage than our current bathroom and I'm excited about that.  The bags of concrete will be used to fill in the trenches the plumber is working in.  The plumber should be done today so hopefully Scott can get that filled in before the builder starts.

You can tell that this picture was taken before the big garage cleanout, but I just wanted to brag on my window.  See that HUGE rectangle?  Those will be my casement windows that open out into my yard.  Sadly, I had to ditch my bi-fold windows for budget considerations, but they would've been just perfect. Since (combined with the doors) this will be the only natural light source in the main space, it was go big or go home.  The header is actually in the wrong place.  The top of the window will line up with the top of the transom, but we are going to install a transom above these windows that I will someday get filled in with stained glass.  Note:This is why it's important for both partners to really engage with the design process.  If you skip details or zone out in meetings, you wind up putting the header in the wrong spot and it costs more money later to move.
What a huge cry from where we started in February!