We have a lot of moving parts to get Lovermore ready. We are in an in-between place right now. The cabinets have been stripped and painted and the fireplace carpentry work has been done but we are waiting for the cabinet facing and drawers/doors to be installed. Wait, I didn’t upload a picture of the fireplace with carpentry yet? My bad, here it is.
Our carpenter, Bo, installed crown molding throughout the family room and entry way, and put sheetrock over the columns and bricks above, and built us a nice new wooden mantle. Next step is to have tile installed over the brick fireplace surround and on the hearth. In addition to painting the sheetrock, of course.
Did I mention the latest work we had done in the kitchen? I was freaking out over what to do with the raised bar area, given the assumption that I could not cut the overhanging granite piece. This is what the granite guy who I used for my previous kitchen in Los Altos told me – that I could not cut granite in place. It was too difficult to get a good cut and it would make too much of a mess to do it indoors. This is the same guy who told me that he could not match the existing granite. I had carried both of these assumptions with me, and they were making my design decisions very difficult! Well, we met with Tyler from Sosa Granite, and he told me that not only could the match the granite perfectly (we took a sample of the slab to the house and it is indeed a perfect match), but he could also cut the overhanging piece of installed granite no problem. That means that we can make the pony wall facing the great room nice and neat, and it gives us a place to put electrical outlets on the countertop. So that solved two problems. Here are two pictures of the cut granite ready for the pony wall to be built.
However, scheduling all the moving pieces necessary to finish this work was driving me nuts. Electrical, painting, granite, finishing the counterops, tile for the fireplace, lighting fixtures, doorknobs, landscape work, pool service… Did I mention that we are having my whole family over for Thanksgiving, which is in TWO WEEKS? Well, I’ve been going nuts. Rich had been helping me, of course, but I still felt like I was drowning in details and out of my element. I had been thinking, “This is why people hire general contractors!” Last week in a moment of desperation I asked Rich if he would be my general contractor, and he said, “Of course, I thought that is what I had been doing anyway!” Yes he was, but I was still worrying and that is not a good thing for me, him, our relationship, or the house.
When it comes to some things, Rich has a much deeper faith than I do. He is my rock, and he just knew that it was all going to come together and that there was nothing to worry about. Our agreement that he is the general contractor allowed me to stop worrying about it, and his clear mandate that he is in charge of coordination and scheduling made everything clear. Plus the obvious advantage that Rich works in Livermore only a mile away while I work in Sunnyvale an hour and a half train ride away. Yes, it was obvious but sometimes it takes me a while. Once I stopped worrying about the details, the Law of Attraction kicked in and what was previously clouded and confused became clear and perfectly arranged.
Anyway, this is all to say that my Rich is the WORLD’S GREATEST GENERAL CONTRACTOR! As of today he has arranged all the scheduling of all these professionals and the timing of everything is working out great. We should have everything in place, all the electrical, paint, cabinets before Thanksgiving. We won’t be moved in to the house by then but we can make it work. Then the weekend after Thanksgiving (pending availability of workers, still need to arrange) we can move the majority of our stuff, and the rest of it the first weekend in December.
Getting out of the way of my manifestation and letting the Law of Attraction do it’s thing even worked for finding the perfect refrigerator. The previous owners took their refrigerator with them, which at first I was pretty upset about. I left my refrigerator in Los Altos for the new owners, and my new house the previous owners took their refrigerator with them! My realtor told me about the Sears outlet in Hayward where you can get appliances for up to 50% off with only cosmetic damage. Rich and I went there over the weekend but didn’t find anything we liked, plus we were still not sure about whether to get a counter-depth refrigerator or not. Well, when we went to Lowe’s later that same day, the perfect solution jumped out in front of us. A new Samsung counter-depth 4-door unit where one of the freezer units can be converted to refrigerator. So we can have counter-depth and still plenty of refrigerator space in the house. (We have plenty of freezer space with a large freezer in the garage.) And the price? 38% off. Gotta love how we manifested that.
Did I mention that I had been freaking out over the cost of the tile installation? I had gotten two previous quotes that were both much more than I expected. Well, on Saturday we met with Art from Amador tile and I liked him the best of the tile guys I had met. I got his quote this morning, and his was the most reasonable! He can’t do the work until the first week of December, but that’s OK because we don’t need his work complete for Thanksiving, or to move in. We just need it in time for the BIG REVEAL — Rich’s Rotary club Christmas party which will be held at our house on December 12. That is the big deadline that we are pushing for now, but I am feeling pretty confident that we will get it all done.