Floor. Done.

After 9 hours on my hands and knees, one sliced finger and two people banished from the house, we have a kitchen floor. I really have to stop saying "that doesn't look hard".

It was.

Hard.

I started Friday; a very hot and humid Friday, after dropping Ariana off at camp. With the air-conditioning blasting, I had about 5 1/2 hours to finish before I had to pick her up. Assuming that would be enough time (ha!!), I got the supplies all ready and applied the glue to the sub floor, using a brush on the sides and a roller for the rest of the floor. After an hour, it was dry and ready for the tiles. "Wait, how do I do this again?", I thought as I stared nervously at the floor. I quickly realized my first mistake; gluing the entire floor when I need to put the border around first. After a few sticky moments when I thought I might be attached to the sub floor forever, I finally got enough new tile down to make the rest of the installation glue free. The cutting though, seemed to go on forever. Given I was using cork, it was pretty easy, but still, it was a relief when I hit an area when I could lay down more than two tiles without having to cut.

Sticky and sweaty, a quick glance at the clock made it obvious I was not going to be able to pick Ariana up - luckily, baba-san was working from home, so he went and got her and her friend and took them out for ice-cream. The last thing I needed was two 5-year-olds wanting to "help". I was getting tired and the brisk pace now was slowed down by bad cuts on the tile and one slip that resulted in a Sponge Bob Squarepants band-aid on my thumb. I had just changed the blade on the knife, so at least the cut was clean. And really, I was putting in the sweat and tears (almost, a few times when I thought "I can't do this"), why not a little blood?

It was after 5 when baba-san returned and I was not nearly finished. We had a birthday party to go to and I sent them on without me; needing to finish before the glue lost it's stick. I have to admit some of the tiles are a bit messy, but by the time it got past 8pm, I just wanted to be done. Finally, at 8:15pm, the last bit of tile was placed. I grabbed a quick shower and went off to relax with friends, physically exhausted.

Sunday morning came with a soreness I hadn't felt since I had a really good workout (which hasn't happened in eons). It took me awhile to get moving. Wishing I could just lounge for the morning, I knew I had to varnish the floor, sealing the cracks (some a bit larger than intended) so water wouldn't ruin the floor. That was easy and only took about 20 minutes.

We left for another birthday party, spending the day away, leaving the floor to dry in peace. When we returned late last night, the floor was shiny and dry.

Today we will put the house back together; tomorrow after everyone has left for the day, I will put another coat of varnish down and then take myself out; a massage perhaps?

Back to the Kitchen

After a few diversions, some pleasant, some really sad, I am back to the kitchen. In particular, putting down the cork floor.
Myself.
You see, I have this habit of thinking I can do something. Something I have never done before. "It can't be that hard", I usually think before ordering all of the supplies and preparing my family for the fact that I am going to be handy.
So far, the gathering of the supplies needed has been more work than I imagined. The difficulty started after I found the flooring I wanted. The initial contact with the company was great - the pleasant guy answered all my questions and sent me the samples I requested. The problem started when I actually wanted to order the tile. I sent the hand drawn, fairly accurate floor plan thinking I would get back an estimate on the tiles I wanted. Instead, I got an estimate that was about 50% more than I needed; based on the total dimension of the room, not just the area I needed covered (no I don't want to tile under the already installed cabinets, thank you very much!). A few more emails went back and forth with the final "you can order what you want" coming from the less than helpful salesperson. I ended up making a phone call to try and get the guy I spoke to on the phone. Yes, I know I need to order an additional 20% for mistakes, etc., I just don't want to order 2 rooms worth of tile for 1 room worth of work.
My order, finally made, is sitting in neat little piles in my living room waiting to be installed.
Tomorrow.
Yesterday I spent the day prepping the plywood base with the cement based filler that took 6 trips to 3 different supply stores to find. I pray it is the right one. I just now know that any cement based anything dries faster than you want it to and the harder it gets, the harder it is to move around the floor. My entire body is achy, so today, instead of putting the tiles down, I took the day off to recover. Other than carefully marking up the floor and quickly covering it with anything I could find to prevent things little and big from making a mess, I did nothing. Floor related that is.
Tomorrow I will be on hands and knees again - attempting to lay tiles down in a straight line.
Wish me luck.

Channeling Taylor Swift

Lights......

We finally finished the lighting - under cabinet, inset and these beauties, which hang over the penninsula. They are made of Murano glass, with a brushed nickel wire going up to the ceiling.

I did most of the painting last week; what I thought would take a day took a few, as several coats were needed for both the ceiling and the walls. We ended up going with a pale shade of blue, which took applying several samples to get right. Ariana was very helpful, not only helping me paint the walls, but in weighing in with her favorite. The trim needs another coat and then I will be done.

Today though was Father's Day, so well all took a well deserved break and went to the Pepsico Sculpture Garden.........a visual treat of beautiful gardens and some amazing sculpture. Having to go to work there every day can't be all bad, especially if you have a view from your office.

Pizza!!!!

The test - homemade or ready bought crust. The homemade wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. And, with the granite counters, rolling and kneading were easy. Ariana decided to "decorate" the store bought crust, so I completed my homemade specimen.

Diligently working, Ariana slowly placed the pepperoni (her new favorite food) around the pizza. She ended up lifting my own diligently placed peppers thinking they would make a good addition. Then, into the oven and -


OMG!!!!! - See something wrong with this picture - no cheese!!!!!

That's better.....
Baba-san thought the home made crust was better than the store bought one (honest or just "knows what's good for him"???) In any event, the meal was decent. But now of course if I am going to be making pizza, I need a pizza pan!

It's All In The Details

More than a week after getting all the appliances working, we have moved on to other things. A few replacement cabinet doors arrived, now sitting still in their boxes in the garage. We will get around to putting them on, eventually. Right now we have more pressing things.

The shelves that were delivered were the wrong size. We have been informed that the correct size doesn't exist (salesperson's error) and so we have two choices - have the originals cut down and stained (for another couple of hundred dollars) or buy wood and do the whole thing ourselves. This week I will price out the wood and make a decision.

Baba san picked up the under cabinet lights, which are now installed and doing their job wonderfully. The soft blue glow illuminates what needs illuminating and eliminates the need for the overheads much of the time. I took a trip into the city and, thanks to friend and design expert Kevin, finally found and ordered the small pendant lights that will hang over the peninsula. We celebrated the purchase with cocktails at the W Hotel on Union Square and a short and thoroughly disappointing visit to the Nordstrom Rack that just opened there.

After a frustrating time with the cork manufacturer, I finally ordered the tile for the floor. If I didn't like the tile so much I would have gone elsewhere for the actual tile - where oh where are knowledgeable and helpful sales people anymore? The next three weeks will be spent painting the ceiling and walls and preparing the floor for the installation.

Tonight we will use the oven for the first time - making pizza, also for the first time. It was Ariana's idea. I just found a recipe online for the dough and have a bunch of toppings already to go. With it will be a salad from our garden, or more accurately, the lettuce plants I bought to plant in the garden that have grown so much we can actually eat them - I am so excited!!!

More on the garden and the pizza another time................manga tutti!!!!

Worth the Wait

After two visits from the gas company that installed the stove and another two visits from the manufacturer's repair company, it finally works!!!! Had the gas company guy installed it right in the first place, we would not have had the many phone calls and aggravation that have made the past two weeks extremely unpleasant.

The first time it didn't work, shortly after they hooked it up, we called the gas company. The guy who had installed it shows up, turns on the stove (of course it worked for HIM) and then looked at me like I was nuts and said "it works now".

The second time it didn't work, we called the manufacturer, who called their authorized repair person. Of course, when they showed up it worked, so he checked things, said all was well and left.

The third time it didn't work, and keep in mind it usually decided not to work at dinnertime, we started keeping a log - turning it on at various points in the day and recording what happened. We thought and thought, coming up with the many theories on what was happening - was it the temperature? would it light with a match? We also called the manufacturer again, explaining in detail what was wrong. He again sent the repair person, who again tried it and of course, it worked. UURRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

After multiple phonecalls to the manufacturer by both baba san and myself, the problem was finally diagnosed.
The gas company was called.
They came.
They admitted guilt.
They fixed.
We cooked.
We ate.
Joy.

Patience

We are enjoying our not-quite-finished kitchen immensely. The layout really works and makes things so much easier. Getting used to where things are will take some getting used to, but all in all things are working out well. We still have a bit to finish over the next few weeks.

Monday brings the plumber back to finish installing the dishwasher and the cabinet guy to touch up the surfaces on several of the doors, which arrived; minus some stain, badly stained, nicked and otherwise unacceptable. The range repair person is also coming, since it still is not turning on with any consistency. It did not work at all on Friday and Saturday, but today is working like a charm. Luckily we have the grill outside where we have made our meals.

I have been working out the design for the floor - we are going with cork. There are so many options and colors it took me awhile. Now that the counters are in and we can see how they work with the cabinets, the decisions are a bit easier. I should be able to put the order in next week.

Baba san ordered the under-cabinet lights, which should come in about 2 weeks. While a bit more expensive, he decided on LED lights - more energy efficient and we will never have to change a bulb. I have almost decided on the pendant lights - one more trip down to The Bowery should finalize that.

The only major decision left is the back splash tile. I have some ideas, but will continue to think about it. I probably won't order anything until the floor tile is down so as to see how everything works together. In the meantime, I have to paint the ceiling, trim and walls - VERY CAREFULLY, I might add.

The Counter

Ah, to have real counters again. While we were waiting, baba san got creative and laid down folded cardboard boxes and wood from the old shelves, not just to protect the cabinets but so we could use them until the real thing was installed. That happened yesterday, with three rather large men carrying in the slabs of granite. Of course, that meant I had to clean off the surprising full space of toaster, microwave, various plates, glasses, silverware, etc. that had accumulated.

After that I mostly watched as they grunted and groaned while maneuvering the giant pieces. And then, voila!! I ran my hand over the smooth surface, congratulating myself on the last minute change in stone - baba san decided we should be designing kitchens after he saw the finished work. I just want him to clean up after himself so the beautiful counters stay beautifully clear of miscellaneous objects that seem to appear every time he walks into the kitchen.

My Bert

Bertazzoni that is. A most beautiful range. Now, if only it would work. But, just like an Italian, it needs some sweet talk. Sometimes it turns on right away and others, I can hold the knob until I am frozen and only hear the "click, click, click" of the starter. I have a call into the manufacturer and I am supposed to hear from then today.

Today was one of those days when it turned on right away and I took the opportunity, at Ariana's request, to make some popcorn.

Delish!!!!!

Tomorrow the counter gets installed. I am patiently waiting for the phone call that will tell me the time it will arrive. I can't wait to get everything set up and get the sink installed. As much as I have enjoyed not having to do dishes and to try out the restaurants in town, I am ready to start cooking again.

Especially when I have such a lovely thing to cook on.