After My Parents' Visit And Still No Fridge

My parents left end of last week. They were here for a couple of weeks. They were pleased to see the remodeled apartment. They said they liked the hardwood floors, which is something that was done by the previous owner and we preserved it during the remodeling by covering the floors with cardboard.

My father, Mr. FixIt, immediately noticed the little things that needed to be fixed. I didn't want him to do any work on his vacation but he insisted. He fixed the cap of the bathtub. The chrome was damaged, probably due to contact with chemicals, so he sprayed it with chrome spray. He also fixed the exterior window sill of the living room window by repairing the damaged wood and sanding. He sanded the balcony railing. Etc.

We installed new curtains for the living room and added rings to the one in the bedroom so it is easier to open. Here are pictures:


Curtains installed and ironed in the living room.


Curtains in the bedroom, now with rings.

Windows

I ordered the new windows installation. They applied for a permit and got approved for fiberglass windows, which are more expensive than vinyl. But the city of San Francisco doesn't like vinyl windows for street-facing windows. So no choice here. It is whatever the city of San Francisco wants. For my building it shouldn't really matter though, because my building has a simple design. It has the mid-century modern architectural style. Most of the neighbors have old aluminium windows. The window restrictions make sense only for old buildings with special architectural styles like the Victorian buildings.

The custom windows need three weeks to be manufactured and then we can schedule installation. I expect them to be installed sometime beginning of August.

One outstanding issue with the windows is that the window sills are partly damaged. This building was probably never maintained and I have to now do all the work. We rescued the living room window sill, but the one in the bedroom, I checked yesterday and I scraped it, and while doing so I discovered a deep hole of rotten wood that can't be patched with wood filler. Either the whole sill needs to be replaced with a new one, or the rotten piece needs to be taken out and patched with a new piece. Either way, this is something I can't do myself, especially because this corner can't be reached as the window side in front of it doesn't slide. Unfortunatly, the window company said earlier that they don't fix window sills, which I think is odd, by the way. I have to ask them again and I might have to ask a contractor to fix it if they say no.


Fixed window sill.


Damaged window sill for the bedroom window.

Exterior Building Painting And More

The exterior of my building is in dire need of painting. The association president started getting estimates thankfully. So hopefully by the end of this year we can get it painted, if we have enough cash reserve in the association's account, that is. It looks a little ugly from the outside currently.

I spent some time doing some additional painting. I painted the landing in front of my door with the gray waterproof paint. Same paint as before I believe but the old one had some stains that didn't go away with cleaning. I spent the whole day yesterday finishing up the touch-up painting I had to do. One was around the outlets that the electrician updated to three-pronged outlets and new face plates. Other places were about fixing the ripped paint that was the result of removing painter's tape.

I am so tired now, I think I need a one year vacation! But no, it's all mental. Just listening to soothing music and relaxing mentally might do it. I should also restart my gym workout routine. I think it helps.

Fridge, Oh Fridge

The fridge was supposed to be shipped last Tuesday, but it hasn't yet. I tried to cancel my order as I found a local company that can ship it to me within one week, but they lured me with a discount. They also guaranteed the shipping for this upcoming Tuesday, so I agreed to wait again. It has been two months since I placed the order. If by next Tuesday it won't be shipped, I will cancel it without any more compromises.

That's it for now. I'm playing my relaxation music CD now.

Week 9

The apartment is now livable, it looks now like a home and not a like a construction site anymore. The contractor removed all his tools and the paper floor coverings. He brought in cleaners who cleaned the whole place. This was of big help for me especially since the new kitchen cabinets were all full of dust on the edges of the drawers and inside some of the lazy susans and shelves. I really appreciated this since not all contractors clean up thoroughly after the work is done.

As for the inspections, the contractor said there were two inspections, one last Wednesday for plumbing, and one last Friday for electrical, but I haven't heard back from him, so I don't know what was the result.

We decided to install the towel bar right below the liner. There was really no other solution. I asked also the opinion of another friend who also said that I should use it for small towels.



I got furniture now. I got a sofabed for the living room so that it can be used as a bed when I have guests, which will be pretty soon since my parents are visiting.



I liked the dining room furniture when I saw it in the store but the chairs ended up being a little too bulky for the small dining room and the dark brown color doesn't match the kitchen cabinets. I have to find out if I can stain them with a different color.



One more thing for the kitchen is the space for the microwave. I think there is a plate at the bottom missing. It should extend out so I can place the microwave on it. I have to go back to the kitchen cabinet store to ask them about it.




Painting and more paiting...
I finally finished painting the kitchen walls and ceiling, 3 coats! I still have to do one coat of paint for the new half partition wall in the dining room. I painted all the dining room walls already once. In the living room, the touch up paint didn't succeed so well. I had the colors matched at the paint store, but it's not a 100% match. I will leave the painting of the entire living room as a future project.

Fridge Waiting Game
I had ordered a compact fridge from the internet, a Samsung counter-depth fridge with ice maker. This is the fridge that I thought was a good fit for my kitchen since it is compact in size, looked nice, and had the features I wanted. However, when I ordered it, it was on back order from the factory. They gave me a shipping date range of 5/26 - 6/2, which I found acceptable. But I checked again with them and they said it is still on back order and they have no control over it. It will be another 10 days before they expect to receive it. I paid another $75 for rush processing. Unfortunately, there is no rush delivery since it will have to transported on a truck from New York. So most likely we won't have a fridge during my parents' visit. Maybe that's better, so we will go out more!

Inspection Is Tomorrow

This week they installed all appliances, except for the fridge, which is on back order and will be hopefully delivered in the next couple of weeks. The electrician also finished his work and now all the installed appliances are working and the kitchen has lights. Woohoo!

The kitchen is now ready for use, except for a few minor details to take care of. They told me that the kitchen sink faucet that I got had scratches on it but they installed it anyway. This faucet is the second one I bought. The first one didn't look as nice and I wasn't sure if it could be installed without the bottom plate. Now I cannot really exchange the second one since it's installed, so I have to buy a new one and when the plumber comes back one final time, he will replace it and then I can return the old one. However, I don't look forward to returning it because I already returned two other times at Home Depot, out of three total purchases. So now they will probably blacklist me. :) Besides, I am not sure they will accept returning the scratched faucet. How can I prove to them it was scratched before, as the contractor stated? Maybe I can ask if it was a return from before. If it wasn't, that means it must have been scratched during install, but I don't want to suspect my contractor so soon.

Here is a picture of the wall next to the bathroom door. The dilemma is where to install the towel bar. It should be installed right above the liner (mosaic line), but then it would cover up the nice mosaic. If it is installed below the liner, the bath towels would cover up the vent opening. Maybe install it onto the middle of the liner?


Where to put the towel bar: above or below the mosaic liner?

Tomorrow, Monday, the city inspectors are coming to inspect the work. The contractor will be with them. By the way, I asked for an additional estimate to convert all other electrical outlets to new outlets because the old ones have only two holes and no ground connection. This is potentially unsafe if there is lightning. I mentioned replacing the face plates before to the contractor but I hadn't paid attention that there were only two prongs until after I moved in. He gave me an estimate but then talked about all the risks involved. I think he just wants to get done with this project first. However, if I wait until a later time, they will have to apply for a new permit. I will talk to the contractor tomorrow. I think it's important to do this. But even if I do this extra project, I will still move my furniture in and clean up everything to have a "normal" household. The workers will just have to work around these.

Kitchen is almost ready

... minus connecting the appliances, electrical work, and painting. These are small things though. The biggest items -- the tile work, countertops, and kitchen cabinets are already installed.

Here are some new pictures of the kitchen.


The tilers put the blue tape across. It looks like I had to inaugurate the kitchen by cutting the ribbon. :)

Kitchen Cabinets installed and bathroom almost done

Now that we are at the start of week 5, a lot has been done this past week:

• Installed new kitchen cabinets


• Finished the drywall and drywall sanding


• Installed wooden countertop to hold the actual countertop

Here are pictures of the results so far.
Picture below: Bathroom done (except for painting, closing the electrical outlets, and fixing the bathtub slow drain)


Kitchen pictures that show the new cabinets







Kitchen Cabinet Pick Up
I had to coordinate the delivery of the kitchen cabinets since the store doesn't deliver them. I had movers scheduled to pick them between 3 and 4pm last Monday. I worked from home last Monday to be able to be free during this time. Unfortunately, the movers were late and informed me they were arriving at 5pm, which wasn't going to work out because the store closed at 5pm. Thankfully, the store sales clerk accepted to wait longer. They arrived eventually at 5:30pm and loaded the truck! Phew! It was quite stressful.

I Moved In
Yes, I moved into the apartment, err.. construction site. :) I spent the whole day today cleaning the bathroom, sweeping the bathroom and bedroom floors to remove dust. Then I painted the laundry room and the new sheetrock above the bathroom sink with a coat of primer. I taped around all trims in preparation for painting all bathroom walls with regular paint. This will probably happen sometime this upcoming week, during one of my free evenings.

Start of Week 4

I stopped by the condo today to take some new pictures and measurements in the bathroom. I was very happy to see how the tiles in the bathroom turned out. The tiles look beautiful. It is excellent work! The selection of the height of the liners is also ideal. The tile installers did a great job.

Here are some pictures of the tiles in the bathroom.


Finished tile work in bathroom.


I asked for the soap plate later, after the tile work was in progress. I was very pleased that the tile installer provided this marble plate on his own for no additional cost. It looks nice!


This is the area above the vanity where the mirror should go.


Toilet corner area.

Other than the tile work, sheetrock has been installed on all opened walls and insulation has been placed in kitchen walls and ceiling. They are now in the process of sealing the seams and holes of the walls with mud.


Guys have higher heels than women. Just kidding. :) These heels are certainly handy for this job!


Kitchen with sheetrock


The kitchen back walls


Laundry room in bathroom

Shower door or shower curtain?

I'm deciding whether to install a shower door for the bathtub/shower area or just shower curtains. Here are some pictures from Lowes:

Kohler Frameless Tubdoor

Here is how a shower curtain would look like: Sage shower curtain

Pros and cons of a shower curtain
The curtain provides privacy so that guests won't be able to look into the tub area and see water drops, bottles of shampoo, etc. This is important I think especially because the tub area faces the door, so it's the first thing people see when entering the bathroom. Also, it is right next to the vanity, so people can easily peek into it when standing in front of the vanity. On the other hand, the shower curtain will make the room a bit darker and water can be easily stuck between the liner and the curtain and has a harder time to dry. This can create mold over the years. I noticed that in California tubs have shower doors. I rarely see shower curtains, which are more used in WA state. Could it be because of the warmer and more humid weather in California that warrants shower doors?

I haven't gone to the condo yet this morning, but will go soon when I am on my way to Lowes. I have to take some measurements in the bathroom before I go shopping. I have to get the vanity today, in addition to the light fixture, and maybe a shower door if I make up my mind. I am hoping I can find a suitable vanity because I can order only from the ones that are in stock. There is no time to wait 3 weeks for a special order. The vanity will come with a countertop and sink already. I will probably only need to buy the faucet separately. And don't worry, I won't be transporting all these myself. My contractor accepted to pick them up from Lowes. So when I purchase them, I have to tell them to keep them on the side for pickup.