Plan B

Most of you already know this, but in case you don't, I terminated my contract with Remy's QC last week. There were a lot of factors that led to this, but the bottom line is that I did not feel I was getting what I paid for.

Remy's QC is billed as a "design-build" organization. Since my job seemed pretty straightforward, I though that would be fine. In reality, there was not much "design" going on, and the level of detail of the drawings they were presenting to me was pretty poor. After a few conversations with Remy where he mentioned being able to change stuff while in construction, I seriously feared that he was counting on hitting me up with a ton of change-orders.

All in all, confidence and trust eroded and if I'm going to drop some serious coin on a remodel, I expect to have a high degree of confidence in my design-construction partner. It simply wasn't there and he was hemorrhaging time. I had expected to be in construction by this point. Instead, we were still going back and forth on drawings that were never quite right (probably because they were being done by his dad who had NO experience--I could navigate the software better than he could that night he came to my house), and he went all passive-aggressive on me when I called him on the fact that my house is his dad's guinea pig.

In any event, I've decided to work with an architect (Pete) to produce drawings that I will be able to bid out to other contractors. I want drawings that are the Bible of my remodel. When, if in doubt, the drawing will dictate how something is supposed to be, or where it is to be placed. None of this loosey-goosey "we can change it while in construction" stuff.

Pete was out at the house last Friday to do a site survey and is working on preliminary concepts. I expect to meet with him next week to review them.

Tree trimming extravaganza

Both brothers were in town this past weekend for the sad occasion of a memorial service for our aunt, but we managed to enjoy hanging out at home and maximized the rare event that we're all in the same town at the same time.

John listened to my dilemma about the magnolia tree and promptly went to work. I'm so glad I got such conflicting info from two different tree companies and took the "I cannot be bothered to sort this thing out right now" approach. That meant that my tree was an untouched canvas on which John could work some tree trimming magic.

As a reminder, here is what it looked like before:

And now, you can actually SEE the house:
I know that's not the very best comparison since the lighting is totally different (morning vs mid afternoon), but you get the idea. I've also been working on pulling the grass from the driveway. it really annoys me that the grass sprouting in the driveway is way more lush than the grass in the lawn area. I've finally gotten 98% of it and my house looks somewhat respectable once again.

John also advised against trying to keep the apple tree. It seems to be too far gone to rehabilitate into a handsome addition to the yard. I'll call around in a few more weeks to have that removed. I'd like to at least enjoy the apple blossom season after being forced to deal with picking up all those apples last fall.

The roses are putting out buds and I'm excited to see what the one closer to the house produces (it had stopped blooming by the time I moved in while the other one was going strong all the way into January when I pruned it). It is definitely another floribunda. Both have beautiful, lush growth and I sprayed with soap yesterday after spotting some aphids. I hope they bloom soon!

All in all, it was a productive weekend at The Dump and some quality time with the fam.

Gnoming around

In a fit of "I have a yard and it needs some character," I bought a garden gnome. Actually, according to the website where I found him, I "adopted" him (they were having a 50% off "adoption event"). His name is Buckston.
I put him in the back yard to hopefully decrease the chances of him getting bitten by the travel bug.

Side note

I'm interrupting the regularly scheduled blogging to show you the terminal cuteness I created WITH MY OWN HANDS:
This was a baby shower gift for Amanda's baby Nolan (who arrived on 2/26). I made him over a weekend in January for the shower and just now uploaded pics to my computer. One ear is larger than the other. Unsurprising, given my knitting skills, but it adds to his charm.

Impatiens = Cheap and Cheerful Color

This weekend brought some amazingly beautiful weather with it. Saturday was busy with lots of stuff, but Sunday offered several hours to putter in the garden. My pre-emergent weed killer I spread a month or so ago has done a pretty good job of keeping the weeds in the rose bed to a minimum and most of the pansies are thriving.

The bed in front of the porch has been weeded and enriched with compost and pre-emergent weed killer several times, but still grows some amazing clover. I weeded it again and decided that it needs some plants to improve the curb appeal a bit. It's a mostly shady bed, due to the magnolia tree, so I was struggling about what to put there--I didn't want to invest in some nice perennials that are going to get trampled once construction starts, but most bedding plants are sun lovers. In the end, I opted for a flat of impatiens for $20 in the "mystic" mix of hot pink, light pink and super-light pink. I plugged in all 48 plants, and I'm sure they are far too close together, but I so don't care at this point. I want an explosion of color and foliage that won't break my heart when they get thrashed by construction workers with big boots.

I watered them this morning and told them they better not die today--I need them to last at least a week. :)

Wrapping Up Design

Herman and I have been exchanging e-mails over the past two weeks to tweak and fine tune the drawing that will be used for permit application. He is coming out to The Dump tonight so that we can bang out the last few details and wrap it up.

In preparation, I took blue masking tape and taped out where some new windows will be going. What seemed fine and dandy in a 2D birds-eye view is not so ideal in application. I discovered that I had estimated too large for the windows that will flank the fireplace, so, with the help of the tape, I have re-scaled my expectations there.

I also taped out where I'd like the architectural feature of the fireplace to go (trying to add more vertical interest instead of the short and squatty fireplace I presently have. I also taped out where a 40" flat panel TV will go. Y'know, I have to make sure it will fit and look good.... :) It's a bit high at the moment given how close the couch is (hey, the room is small), so I'll adjust it downward and can easily go smaller based on the tiny viewing distance.

Forgot to take pics of my tape masterpiece, so I'll try to do that tonight.

First House Guest and Inspiration

Big brother Tom is in the midst of a kitchen remodel himself, and we've been chatting regularly about it. A Southwest fare sale popped up in early January, so I booked a ticket for him to come visit and help me plan my kitchen.

We got down to business on Saturday--went to Quesco to drop off the drawing for kitchen planning, picked up the list of stoneyards from the Countertop store and trekked on up to a stoneyard in Brisbane. After about two hours of browsing, I found it--the kitchen inspiration I had been seeking. It goes by the name of "Kashmir White":

It's an overall light effect, with the ability to tie in darker elements. I love the white, gray, green, red, black potential of it. I was on the fence about the direction I wanted to take the kitchen, and I think this Kashmir White will lend itself to straddling the contemporary/modern that I'm embracing elsewhere in the house with the more classic look that I can quite let go of completely.

We went to a few other places looking at stone, tile, flooring and appliances and all in all, I feel really good about the information I have gathered.

To top it all off, Tom pried up some linoleum in the kitchen and found oak under it! Yeeee-ha! I'm really hoping it's not totally thrashed so that I can keep all the existing oak in The Dump. That will save me another round of indecision...