Helping Hands

Every day on the train there is a young man who rides in the same car as me. He is challenged in some way, as he is in contant motion -- rocking, standing, sitting, hopping, craning his neck, twitching face, etc. Even in the dead of winter when it's 10 degrees outside, he's in a sweatshirt and sweatpants -- the same thing he wears on 90 degree days. And, when he checks the time on his phone, he holds it up so close that it's touching his nose. When he gets off the train, he doesn't walk, but skips. All in all, he is a happy guy who keeps to himself.

Today he was wearing a sweatshirt that read

Helping Hands
Monkey Helpers for the Disabled

That intrigued me, so I searched for it when I got online. Check out this video our local CBS station did on the program. I love the part where the monkey puts the straw in the bottle and also where the monkey washes himself in the sink The Today Show ran a segment too.

More Kitchen Remodel info...

The floors are being sanded today and will receive the first coat of stain. Tomorrow the workers will buff up the first coat and apply coat #2. After everything is finished in the kitchen, they'll come back and apply a final 3rd coat. Hopefully it matches nicely to the existing hardwood floors that it will border.

I found a picture on the internet of a slab of Sucuri granite that looks identical to the slabs we have on hold at the granite yard.

Kitchen Remodel Update June 19, 2008

Lots of progress today. The door and window went in. The cabinet doors were put on. The island received the decoractive panels. The recessed lights went in. One coat of paint was applied. And, the counter folks came and made templates.

Colleen comes home tomorrow after a week in London, so she's going to be wowed by the progress. This weekend we have to pick out the pendant lighting for over the island, the light fixture for over the sink, and we need to visit the granite yard to pick what parts of the 2 slabs they are holding for us should go where on the templates. The granite we picked has lots of movement to it, so one area will look drastically different than another. That's one reason we picked such a neutral wall color -- the busy granite will be a strong element.









The seeds were being raided again, so I set a second mouse trap. I caught a chipmunk! Poor guy. There are about 6-8 of them that play around in our yard and live in our lawn, so I'm hoping this one was a youngin' and not some patriarch or matriarch. It's certainly giving me the evil eye, deservedly so.

Kitchen Remodel Update June 18, 2008

On June 18, Chris and Rob put the base cabinets in and placed cardboard where the island countertop will be.

Kitchen Remodel Update June 16, 2008

The floors went in today. Base cabinets go in tomorrow, then the counter guys come out to template on Thursday. After the painters do their job sometime this week, the floor guys will come back and stain and coat them.









The flash was off, but I liked the atmospheric result.

Kitchen Update June 12, 2008

The floors had to spend the weekend in an air-conditioned home to shrink the wood down before they get installed on Monday. But, the contractors started to hang some of the upper cabinets, and then covered them with cardboard to protect them.

We have picked a paint color -- a light khaki that should off-set the cabinets nicely. The door and window, that have been covered with plywood the last two weeks, should be finished Tuesday.

I don't think I've ever named our contractor, who we are thrilled with, in terms of his design ideas, his availability, the way he keeps the job site clean, and his craftsmanship. He is Chris Coppellotti of Coppellotti Construction, LLC. He works with his brother, Rob, and I highly recommend them. Chris is about 30 and very modest. Chris's brother, Rob, is a few years older than he and a bit more gregarious.


Cabinets can be seen on the left.


The temporary door. A desk will go under that bank of upper cabinets on the left.


View towards the hallway that leads to the garage.


The dumpster is full. Good thing it's now just bringing in new things. The demo is all over.

The Season I Live For

I LOVE SUMMER!!!!

Kitchen Update June 6 -7 , 2008

June 6, 2008
After several days of changes that weren't that visible -- plumbing and electrical work & inspectons, the crew put up the blueboard and started plastering. Click any picture to enlarge it to full size.


The blueboard that is helping reduce the opening of the doorway to accomodate the kitchen cabinets on the other side.


June 7, 2008

The plaster is still wet in this picture, but the 95 degree days we expect will take care of that quickly. The old maxim that empty rooms alwyas look smaller than ones furnished sure holds true here.


The view to where the peninsula and sliding patio doors used to be.


View towards the hallway that leads to the garage.


The reduced opening with wet plaster.


We're also putting in crown moulding in all the downstairs rooms, as well as trimming out every opening to give this 1989 house a bit more character. I would have opted for a bigger crown moulding, but it wasn't to be.


The temporary window and door until they arrive on June 16. You can see the replacement siding too that will need to be repainted. I think we have enough paint left over from the housepainting project 2 years ago to get a very good match, though we may end up painting everything in the porch white to brighten it.


We had contemplated removing this screen porch from the back of our house because it makes the kitchen too dark. But, the estimates we got to replace it with a deck were too expensive. So, we compromised and put skylights and recessed lighting in, which makes the space much brighter.


The next steps are to let the plaster dry, then bring in the hardwood floors to let it acclimate to the environment. Our contractor expects to lay the floor on Friday. The new appliances are due today within the next 30 minutes, and we have all the new cabinets staged in our garage. So, I think the project is going to come in on time (estimated at the beginning to be 4-6 weeks).

Updates

Nothing visually interesting has been done to our kitchen the last few days. Lots of electric work.

My brother-in-law, Chris, invited me to last night's WBCN River Rave that featured Stone Temple Pilots, Filter, Everlast and a couple of other bands. It started at 4:00 and we snuck out before STP's first encore around 11:00 p.m.

Scott Weiland sounded unbelievably great. We were able to confirm it because WBCN replayed the live set during our ride home. So, it was like two STP concerts in one night. I wish that he didn't wear a huge sombrero-type hat and dark sunglasses -- it made the performance a bit impersonal. But, the sound and lights more than made up for it. I've read STP is going to tour the country this summer, so I recommend going to see them.

We had a great time, consumed some beers and just generally enjoyed beautiful weather and each other's company.

From last night's show (grabbed from Flickr):