Day Forty Two

Before I get started...here's some Christmas music...click. Today was the biggest day of all so far. I couldn't believe all the stuff coming off of Keith's trailer and into our home. We had to stage some of it in different areas of the house so there was room to work in the basement. We suffered one casualty along the way. Dan and I were carrying in some cabinets with Dan walking backwards ahead of me. We were talking about something and not really paying attention to what we were doing and Dan backed into one of the steps leading up to the front door and went down with the cabinet crashing hard into his shin and also catching his knee. But like a trooper the first thing out of his mouth was 'I saved the cabinet!'. He definitely took one for the team. Thanks Dan and I really apologize because it should have been me to warn you of the step but I didn't even think of it.

Assembling the cabinets was an all day job for Keith, Doug, Dave and Jason. Dave is also an air traffic controller. We used to work together for several years up until recently when he transfered out to the tower at MSP airport to be closer to his home. He works for Keith and Doug on Fridays. He has carpentry in his blood and this is a good way for him stay in touch with it. He also coaches girls soccer. A better friend you're not likely to find. Dave's also the one who helped me (or should I say I helped him) build our stained glass shop.

Jason is a younger guy who recently began working for Keith. He's a good kid. Here's a photo of him assembling the doors to the entertainment center. Speaking of the entertainment center...I had to run some errands after we offloaded the trailer and when I came back I was a bit wowed by it. It's huge but not too big. It's quite the centerpiece for the room. Actually, I think it will make our tv look not quite so large.

While the cabinets were being assembled, Dan put the finishing touches on the balance bar in the dance room. There wasn't much else Dan could do today with Keith and his crew everywhere and we needed to stay out of their way.

Did I mention how amazed I am by my brother, Keith? To watch him work is a thing of beauty. It seems that he doesn't get rattled by anything. A problem appears and he takes it in stride and provides a solution. I've got so much admiration for him...and to think, I couldn't stand the guy while we were growing up. I'm thankful for maturity.

Dave got the dart board hung in place with the bullseye the required 5'8" from the floor. Notice the arc Keith built into the doors? We wanted to hide the outlet inside the wall but we were over a cold air return and it wasn't doable. Keith did a nice job of covering it so it wasn't so obvious.

I don't think we could have been more pleased with the laminate we chose for the counter tops. Here's a bit of the bathroom counter. I think it's called, Fallen Leaf. It just seems to go well in there.

More Christmas music from, City on a Hill...click.

I called Keith a few nights ago from the place we're purchasing the bumper pool table from (Game Room Gallery in Burnsville) to see if he would be able to build a pool cue holder or would it be best if I just bought one. He told me he had something in mind and would bring it by today. This is so much nicer than what I would have found at the store. Notice again the arc Keith carried into this as well. The base piece is similar.

After it was all assembled, Keith recommended that I paint the area behind where the tv will go a flat black. I wouldn't have thought of that. It will look nicer once everything is in place to not see the lighter colored wall behind.

Here's a photo of the bar and kitchenette. We've still got a few things we're working on in this area and hope to have it nearly finished tomorrow. I'd forgotten to buy a faucet for the sink so I went out tonight and found one. Keith is working on a swivel support for the tv which will go in the upper left of the cabinets along the back wall above the microwave.

Rachel came home from school and ran downstairs to check it all out. I heard her say several times something to the affect that 'this is so cool'. She ran and got Katrina from across the street and she came down and responded in a similar way. Oh, btw...Rachel is ready for Christmas...she did this design on her own ;) Tammy got home from work after everyone had left and I think she must have said the word 'magnificent' three times in five minutes.

Magnificent...mag·nif·i·cent ( P ) Pronunciation Key (mg-nf-snt)adj.
Splendid in appearance; grand: a magnificent palace.
Grand or noble in thought or deed; exalted.
Outstanding of its kind; superlative: a magnificent place for sailing. See Synonyms at grand.

Yea, I'd say that's a pretty good assessment.

Anyway, it's been a long day and I should wrap this up. Schneiderman's will be by in the morning to deliver the couch which I don't think we'll keep. It's tan and I really think it needs to be a deeper color. We'll give it a go though and if it doesn't work out we'll have to special order the color we really want...more of a deep forest green. Dan will be by sometime in the afternoon as will Keith. We're also hoping/expecting John to come by and finish the trim work if he has the time.

Just a hint...you have to look close to get the humor in today's comic. Lemme know if you need help.

Day Forty One

Dan finished laying the bathroom tile. He told me he spent quite a bit of time last night thinking and rethinking the tile. His inclination this morning was to tile only two of the walls. I was sort of thinking the same thing yesterday after the first wall was done. We all agreed that tiling all the walls would maybe give it more of an industrial feel. Just tiling two of the walls gives it a rich look but doesn't overdo it. It looks real nice.

Seth, Pete and one other guy from Clearview Glass came by around 11:00 with our mirrors. We had to spend 30 minutes or so checking and double checking the placement of the holes in the glass for attaching the brackets which hold the balance bar. There was only one chance to do it right so as Ross Perot would say, 'my daddy used to tell me to measure twice and cut once'. Dan had nailed some supports behind the drywall to anchor the brackets to but once we got to actually placing the bar we decided to shift the position we'd originally planned for meaning we wouldn't be able to use the supports Dan had made. Fortunately we were able to center it all on some studs and get it pretty close to where we wanted it. It all looks very nice and we're looking forward to seeing the balance bar in place. Rachel got home from school and ran downstairs to see how it looked. She's very happy with it.

Dan and I spent the last 45 minutes of the day clearing out all the tools, left over materials and trash from the basement in preparation for Keith, his crew and the cabinets to arrive in the morning. Keith anticipates it's going to be an all day job fitting everything into place. I'll try and help where I can tomorrow but I'm more concerned with staying out of the way. Knowing Keith's appetite for Subway, I think I can at least plan a Subway run for everybody. It's going to be a big day tomorrow.

Day Forty

Here's another track from the City on the Hill, Christmas cd. It's from Sara Groves, a local artist from Apple Valley. The song is called Child of Love.

I stopped by Keith's shop today to drop off the knobs for the cabinets and the dart board and to also take a few more photos. I think the counter tops are going to look pretty cool. The laminate probably isn't something you would use in a kitchen but I think it will work well in our basement. I'm hoping so anyway. This is a photo of the base for the entertainment center. Up until last week I assumed they would carpet the entire basement first and then put the cabinets down but that's not the case. The cabinets will go in first and the carpet will be laid up to them. Here's a photo of the front of the bar. The bar top will have a bit of a wrap around where it meets up with the wall. We talked about putting a foot rail along the bottom but opted not to. I think they end up being in the way more than anything and won't allow for us to push the chairs in close to the bar when not in use. Space is going to be a bit limited in this area. I'm not sure but I think these are some of the cabinets for the kitchenette turned upside down. These would be part of the entertainment center.

Keith said to expect him and his crew Friday morning. I'll have to put in some time tomorrow cleaning stuff out of the basement where the cabinets will go. There's a lot of stuff down there which we'll have to keep shifting around to make room for the different projects as they come together.

I got home from work and Dan was busy putting the tile up on the walls in the bathroom. He wasn't able to lay it out quite like he'd planned but I think it looks real nice as it is. In this photo he's using a laser light to line up the bottom row of tile. He'll finish the job tomorrow. Good news...the 3-way dimmer switch problem is a now a former problem. Dan mentioned something about the thelman wire being loose but I didn't press him for specifics.

The guys with the mirrored glass come tomorrow morning. They'll be installing three 4 x 6 mirrored panels in Rachel's dance room. I'll be interested to see how that looks as I'm sure it's going to give the room a much larger look. That job will be complicated a bit because of the balance bar which will be installed over the mirrors. They'll need to make some cuts to allow for it. I should have some photos of it tomorrow.

Day Thirty Nine

Keith got the doors and trim stained so Dan's finisher, John, could come in and do the trim work and hang the doors. They look real nice and they're so heavy compared to the hollow core doors we've got throughout the rest of the house. It makes me want to change them all out but I don't think that's very high up on the list of things to do. These are the sliding doors in front of the storage area in the dance room.

Dan put in a long day and was here till 6:30. He plans to tile the walls in the bathroom tomorrow. If he has time I think he'd like to once and for all solve the problem of this 3-way dimmer switch but I won't mention that here. I think there may be a loose thelman wire...either that or the transverse conduction associated with the prolapsed eliptical transducing diode may have to be recalibrated.

I went shopping for a toilet tonight. I didn't realize all the things you need to consider when you shop for one. Dan gave me a short list...get a round bowl with an insulated tank and don't spend over $150...simple enough. I found the toilet of my dreams at the orange store and I couldn't believe it when a sales associate actually approached me and asked if I needed some assistance. I asked him if this particular model was a good one or should I reconsider and if I should reconsider, which one did he think I should consider buying. He liked my choice and assured me that it was their most popular selling model. I asked if they had it with an insulated tank and he said they did. He disappeared for a few minutes then came back with a set of stairs on wheels and proceeded to climb up and find the tank I needed from the stock overhead. He came down with an open box. He looked through it and said it looked like most of the stuff was there but that it appeared some bolts were missing. When we compared it with the contents of a previously unopened tank we discovered that whoever returned the tank had taken most of the hardware out from inside the tank and that I would not have been very happy once I got this one home and realized it wouldn't work. He went back to check the computer which told him there were 4 more tanks just like the one I needed somewhere in the store. He disappeared again and this time he came back with a helper, a forklift and a bunch of barricades to stop the flow of people passing by the moving forklift. It's really quite a production when they use the forklift at Home Depot. Anyway, after nearly 30 minutes I had the toilet tank I needed and was headed for other parts of the store to find an assortment of items I needed.

I didn't realize knobs for cabinets would be so expensive. I think I paid about $2.80 for each knob multiplied by 53 for a total of about $150 just for knobs. I think I simply didn't realize I'd need so many of them...53 knobs is a lot of knobs.

Day Thirty Eight

City on a Hill is a collection of artists who sing contemporary Christian music. Here's the title track from their Christmas CD...City on a Hill

The people at Polar Saunas got back to Dan early this morning about the problem we were having with the heater control unit. They suspected we had a bad cable and suggested we try another. Sure enough, that's what it was. While Dan was finishing up the sauna, Dick was busy taking out the door to the glass shop. We're replacing it with a 6 panel door to match the rest of the doors in the basement.

I went to Al's Vacuum this morning to price out a new 30' hose and power head. I couldn't believe the prices. For the hose alone they wanted $200...the same for the power head. $400 for a hose and vacuum...I don't think we'll be buying one anytime soon. I was hoping to have a separate vacuum for the downstairs level but not at that price.

About mid morning Dan and Dick were able to finally get going on the floor in the dance room. It was a little putzy to begin but they quickly found a rhythm and started making good progress. I phoned Dan around 4:00pm and they were working on getting the end pieces cut.

I came home from work and Rachel was excited to show Tammy and I her new dance steps on her new dance floor. We went downstairs and watched her tap her way through her program. We've been dreaming of this moment for a while. We used to talk about how it would be nice to be able to have a dance floor for her but there were times when I thought that all it would ever be was a dream. The floor looks very nice. It's not actually wood; it's an imitation wood which will better withstand the abuse from her tap shoes. On Thursday we'll have the mirrors and balance bar put up which will really give it a dance floor look.

After watching Rachel dance we all ended up sitting inside the sauna talking about our day. Of course that included Toby and Allie too. Rachel told us about how Dan's celphone kept ringing while he was trying to finish up. She was down by him when it rang and he told her to go ahead and answer it...she said, "Hello, this is Dan's secretary."...It was John. I'm guessing that caught him off guard.

Day Thirty Seven

The sauna is about 95% complete. They need to shave just a bit off the overall size of the door. The fit is exactly perfect as it is but the concern is that once it's exposed to higher humidity levels it may swell and become difficult to close. They also need to attach the door handles and put a vent in the bottom of the wall adjacent to the bathroom. Dan had the sauna heater working but the LED on the display panel for the heater control unit isn't working. The control panel turns the heater on and off as it should but the display is bad. I put in a call to tech support and left a message for them to get back to us. The sauna looks so nice. I tried to take some photos inside it but my camera lens isn't wide enough so I took a short video instead...roll the video.

We had to turn off the water while they soldered the spigot in the sauna. When John went to turn the water back on he noticed that the faucet in the kitchen center island sink wasn't working right. The spray attachment would work but the faucet wouldn't. We went to Fleet Farm and bought a new faucet to replace it. We ran into some problems with that installation so John suggested we use the faucet we just bought for our main kitchen sink and buy a different style for the island. An hour later and we had new faucets for both kitchen sinks. Talk about going above and beyond the call of duty...thanks.

I stayed up until 12:30am working on finishing the lamp. It's done and I'm happpy with how it turned out. It'll be a few weeks before I try and get some photos of it with my 35mm camera. A photo with my digital camera doesn't do much for it so I won't even bother to try.

I went around with paint this morning and touched up the areas Dick repaired in the drywall. Okay, no more painting please.

I think Dan intends to finish the sauna and lay the floor in the dance room tomorrow. The trim guy, John, came by yesterday to scope the job out. I think we're ready for him any time although he won't be able to finish until the cabinets are in. I phoned Keith today and he says he should be ready to install the cabinets on Friday. If that works out then it looks like we'll be able to have the carpet installed on Saturday. It's going to be a busy week. I'm set up for delivery of our stuff from Game Room Gallery and the cable tv hook up on Monday. Schneiderman's will be here with our couch on Tuesday. Am I forgetting anything?