The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back

It's safe to say that I've failed miserably at posting daily pictures of the garage.  With Thanksgiving and some family issues, life has taken priority over blogging.  We were warned when embarking on this venture that a major renovation is a huge stress.  I would add that it is compounded several-fold when you don't click with your builder.  We got off to a bumpy start, but tried to soldier along because I REALLY wanted out of the apartment so we could begin our lives in the garage.  In hindsight (isn't hindsight great?) that was a mistake.
Over the summer I went to Home Depot and priced out the kitchen using KraftMaid cabinetry.  I had a price and the quote was saved in their system awaiting my deposit and go ahead.  I showed the estimate and picture to the builder and he said that he could build me the same kitchen at a competitive price, provided that the cabinets be painted, which I wanted anyway.  At one point we met in the main house while I was waiting for a repairman and I showed the builder the cabinets there, which I loved.  Raised panel, sharp corners, etc.  I asked again if he could do that and he said, 'yes.' In a separate meeting Scott asked again and he said he could do it.  We asked him several times over a period of weeks if he could build the kitchen at a competitive price with the squared corners to the point he probably thought we were crazy, and he always said he could.
Fast forward to when the guys actually started building the kitchen.  The labor alone has already exceeded the cost of the Home Depot quote.  They finally reached the cabinet fronts last Wednesday.  Scott decided to forgo family Thanksgiving to get some work done at the garage and supervise.  THANK GOODNESS.  In the afternoon, after hours in the car, Scott texted me this picture:

Clearly, the builder was not able to give me the squared corners he'd been promising for weeks.  Nor, apparently, was he able to go in a straight line on the bottom.  After doing this one, Scott quickly stopped the process and told the builder that this was unacceptable.  After the long weekend, the builder told us today that he would have to go off site for a week to complete the cabinet fronts we asked for.  This was unacceptable to us.  Honestly, I can't tell you how betrayed I feel knowing that he looked at me for weeks and lied to my face about 1. how much it would cost and 2. his ability to build what we wanted.  The utter lack of respect for us and our money is too much to bear.
After a culmination of mistakes and non-communication, which I will detail in another post dedicated to a review of his company, we have simply lost confidence in his ability to complete any further work, regardless of its complexity.  Luckily, we're almost fully functional, if not 'finished.' We will scramble to get the place tiled, the window installed and shelving installed in all the cabinets and then probably move into an unfinished space, which everyone warned us not to do.  At this point the idea of living in an unfinished space is far more tolerable than paying the builder even a single cent.

Progress Report: We have a shower and a kitchen!

I cannot say that we weren't warned about the stress and strife involved in a major remodel.  This project has surely delivered.  Unfortunately, Scott knows too much.  He knows the ways of building things, what products to use, asks too many questions and insists on certain materials.  He and the builder are having difficulties 'playing nice' together.  On the other hand, as a vegetarian, I question things like why I'm financing his Slim Jim habit.  There are so many decisions to be made.  All. The. Time.  My Mother's Day Out days are spent at the garage and running all over time buying things we need of the upcoming days' work.  I'm exhausted at the end of the day and rarely have energy left over for activities like making dinner.  Eating out when you're already hemorrhaging money isn't wise.  The last couple of weeks have been a struggle.
My daughter has been a true bright spot.  She's been very patient about going to the garage almost daily and, as a reward, I've made sure to try to include something fun or a special treat for her each day.  She reminds me to go outside and enjoy the beautiful fall weather while we still can.  She insists on stopping to read books or have dance parties, or tickle fights.  She is joyful and wants to be happy and each day gives me a reminder that I should strive to do the same.  Doing this project while having a toddler is difficult, but I'm so grateful for her throughout this process and the vital role she's playing in keeping me sane.
Fortunately, each time I go to the garage now I see progress.  (It was hard to get excited about seeing mud up on the drywall or watching them sand.)  For example, I have a finished shower!

It took so long to do this shower.  The rocks (which are inexplicably brown now that it's done) were uneven, making it very difficult to start the first row.  The shower niches took a long time.  (Here's where I digress:  One of our big beefs with our builder is that if there are two ways to do something, he never asks us our preference.  He bragged on the shower niches talking about how good they looked and the fact that something like that takes time and that the guy spent an entire day making the cuts right.  Personally, I would have just carried the pattern through and not framed them out, saving a lot of intricate cuts, time and money.  Sadly, I was never asked my preference.)  Now that it's grouted and sealed, I was finally able to take off my shoes and walk around on the stones for a bit.  They feel every bit as good as I imagined.
It's not just the shower that's complete.  I also have an entertainment center!

Once it's backed we'll be able to hang our television on those support beams on the back.  It's been framed out to look like one large built-in.
We also have the beginnings of a kitchen.

Let me assure you that there's nothing tiny about this kitchen.  In fact, if anything, it seems out of scale with the rest of the space.  Seeing as I cook at least 19 of the 21 weekly meals, and countless other snacks, having a large kitchen is worth it.  They will get going on the island next because they're coming to template for the granite on Monday.  
Stuff is happening, and to be honest, many of these pictures are already dated because each day there are so many changes.  I'm going to try to be better about putting up daily photos from here on out so that we can really see.
When we began this project in October the builder assured us that we would be able to move in on December 5.  Last week I pulled out my calendar and we looked at all the work that needed to be done and the realization hit that there was no way we would be able to move on time.  Then something amazing happened.  He started having his workers work longer hours and on Saturdays.  They're nice family men and I'm so sad that they're the ones having to sacrifice family time in order to meet our deadline (even having to work the Friday after Thanksgiving), but I'm so grateful that we will only have to move once and this is looking on track to be complete.  Please cross all your fingers and toes for us.

The Color Palette

Now that all the mechanicals are done and inspected, the sheet rock is going up.  This means that choices, such as paint color, aren't far off.  When we lived in the suburbs we repainted most of the interior.  The best thing that Scott did to help the process was encourage me to get as many samples as it took to get to the right color.  And get a lot of samples, I did.  I painted them on the wall, painted some on poster board, moved them around, checked them at different times of the day, checked them against each other...  You get the idea.  When the selections were made and the painter came, I was really happy with my choices.  

I have a lot of anxiety about choosing the colors for the garage because a) we don't live there b) it's really hard to go there at different times of day to check the colors c) there's a huge window yet to be installed that will make a difference.  Many people say that it's just paint and if I get it wrong, it's not a huge deal to change later.  I get that, but I also know that it's expensive to hire a painter and if I get these wrong, I'm just going to have to live with it.  Luckily, one of the designers we used is really good at this sort of thing.  I got into contact with her and she arrived Friday afternoon to help me choose the colors which will go up next week.  Eek!

I had absolutely no preconceived notions of what I wanted.  Because it's a small space we knew we had to stay light and I did want neutral.  Our granite sample went missing, but we did have the backsplash, floor sample and the pillow sham from the bedroom to use.  That was enough.  In 90 minutes, I had the colors (and some to try against each other) for each space, nook, and cranny.  Without further ado, here's where we landed.

Sorry about the shadow, but this lets you know where we are.  Repose Gray will be the main color.  It's very light, but will work well with the others.  Eider White will be the trim color, as well as the kitchen cabinets.  It may also be the color for the storage wall, I haven't figured that out yet.  The aqua color is Aqueduct and will be used on two walls in the bathroom as accent walls.  It is lovely and peaceful and calming.  I hope that it looks as good on a wall.  I would've been open to a darker, bolder color in the bathroom, but with it being so small and so dark, we knew we needed to stay light.  

There's all my talk of light colors, so what are the purples doing there?  One of these will be our outside door color.  They're both on paper so I can take them over to the garage to decide.  I also want to paint a few of the interior doors and we have some selections, but we decided to wait until after we moved in so I could do it and forgo the labor charge.  While I was with her, I was also able to shoot a bunch of easy to answer design questions at her.  For 90 minutes and $40, I can easily say that was the best money I've spent in a long time.  

The text you never want to get from your builder

The builders are working busily.  Inspections are being passed.  Sheet rock is going up.  Then, I get this photo and message from the builder.

Stop the presses!  You mean to tell me that a) the plumber never did this b) both my husband and the builder also missed this and c) it passed inspection?  Seriously???? And, of course, this was only caught after the sheet rock went up, making it more expensive to find a spot to tap on and run the line.  Obviously, it was the plumber's responsibility, but shouldn't the builder have caught this before now? I'm trying to just let things go, but this is becoming typical of our experience.  Do something, later realize there's been a mistake, and then have to go back and redo it (for more money, of course).  Ugh.

Windows and Doors!

For some reason I thought that our contractor said that he would start with windows, doors and floors.  I got 2 out of 3 right.  Now that all the mechanicals are complete, the contractor officially began on Tuesday.  I went over this morning and snapped some pictures.  

We have a front door!

I know that I've fussed that the style of this door doesn't match the rest of the doors in the space.  However, it really matches the exterior space.  I'm pretty stoked about it.  Now I just need tips on what paint treatment I give it.  Do I go purple like the double doors that face the yard, or give it a dry paint technique like the front door of the main house or do something different?  Tips?

We also have a bedroom window.

The view into the back nether regions of our neighbor's yard isn't fantastic, but it's the best we can do.  I wanted the window to line up with the door into the bedroom, but it really cuts into where I was thinking to put a dresser.  I'll have to think about that some more now.  It's amazing how you look at a piece of paper or a drawing on your computer and think that you have things figured out, but when you see everything in reality you realize that it might not quite work.  

They also fixed the headers and got things ready for when the kitchen window eventually arrives.

The window is still going to big big and beautiful and glorious.  I can't wait.  They were cutting the hole for the bathroom window as I was there so I imagine tonight there will be a bathroom window as well.  I hope that we have now reached the point where there will be visible progress each day so that I can put in notice on the apartment when I pay next month's rent.  Fingers crossed.  

But What do you do with the Toddler?

When we first began the design process, our meetings were scheduled out in advance and we made sure that our daughter was with a babysitter for all of them.  It was simply impossible for both of us to focus on what the designers were saying and make the best decisions while simultaneously entertaining a toddler.  I will say now that there were some meetings that did not get our full attention because of the child care issue.  When this process began in January, our daughter was only 20 months old.  A lot has happened since then.
We cleared out the garage so that there's actually room to move and we're not afraid of her touching something dangerous.  She's been in the space more and is accustomed to our expectations.  She also loves going 'uppy' and allows me to wear her.  Now that there are workers in the space, she watches them and helps 'supervise'.

It's still difficult to give full attention to a conversation happening, but since we're over there so much more now for shorter periods of time, getting a babysitter isn't an option.
Another huge time consumer is all the shopping we need to do.  Recently, we had to get some doors and wanted to stop at several second-hand places to make sure we were getting the  best deal we could.  It's a lot of bucking and unbuckling the car seat and lots of looking through big racks of things.  I will say this: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A TAPE MEASURE.  That is one of our huge secrets.  Little Miss loves measuring things and making sure they'll fit.

She does a great job and stays with us of the most part.  I'd also like to give two thumbs up to Home Depot for the awesome kiddie shopping carts.  She sat in that thing playing happily for the better part of an hour while we (finally) put in the order for some doors.  And when you're all tuckered out from the shopping and there's one more store to see, never underestimate the power of Daddy's arms.

There are times when my Mommy guilt kicks in because our normal flow is so interrupted by contractor meetings, and shopping and swinging by places to check things out.  But then I remember that in less than two months we'll be in our space and it'll feel like the blink of an eye.  At the very least, we're giving her lots of opportunities to practice patience.

Does size really matter?

Last year when I agreed to move my family into the garage I had so many conditions.  One condition was that we would have designers help us.  We got that figured out pretty quickly.  Another condition was that I wanted bifold windows.  Having lived in New Zealand where this is relatively common, I was dreaming of one day having a kitchen like this:

There is not one thing I don't love about this kitchen, with the possible exception of the hardware, but I'm sure that we could all live together quite happily.  Unfortunately, once we started actually pricing bifold windows, the cost put them out of reach.  (In one estimate, the screen alone was $1700!) So the challenge then became mimicking this feel without the hefty price tag.  I settled on 3 casement windows with a transom over the top for extra light:

When closed they'll look similar, but open they won't be quite the statement.  Our builder recommended a french casement window as a possiblity:

When closed they look just like casement windows, but when open, they don't have the center bar and will have the feel of a bifold window.  We had two great options for alternatives, even if not quite the grandeur of the real thing.  The downside of the french casement is that it's only made in wood, which would mean much more maintenance for us long-term. It didn't knock it totally out of contention, but we wanted to see what the prices were in relation to our current 'opening' of 76"wide x 58" tall. Here's a picture to jog your memory.

It turns out that the french casement windows were only 58"x58".  I wasn't willing to lose over a foot of light and thought that sidelight windows would look stupid.
This brings me back to my initial query: does size really matter?  It turns out that when it comes to windows, it really does.  76" wide is a non-standard size and that made the windows almost $1000 more than if we went with a 72" width.  I wasn't willing to lose 18" of width for the french casement, but I am willing to lose 4" of width for the 3 casements in order to save that extra money.
This entire build has been about eeking out savings where we can while trying to save the design intent.  The only reason I found out about this potential cost savings was because I happened to have a quote from another company that was significantly cheaper than the one my builder gave me- but it was initially set with a 72" opening.  When I called and gave them the corrected measurements their estimate also shot up.  We've been doing a great job of finding savings and ways to cut where we can, we just wish that our builder would've helped us out a bit on this one.  I find that I'm walking a tight line between trying to stay out of the builder's way and not pissing him off, and getting myself involved in every detail so that I can try to save as much money as possible, seeing that Scott and I keep finding cost savings.  Fingers crossed by the end of this he still takes my calls.