Monday, December 12, 2005

Remodel Hell - The Carpet Woman Cometh

I showed up this morning in front of Triple A Drapery promptly at 9:05 am. They had just opened and Mary was still getting settled when I opened the door. I dropped Jack's name (her husband), and Mary offered to help me after telling me Jack was at the dentist.

I had spent another sleepless night last night, wondering how furniture is going to get moved while the carpeting is getting installed, when would that happen and how -- well, you've read about that already. I wanted to do something about it today, get that settled if I could, at the beginning of our sixth and supposedly final week of construction.

At 7:45 that morning, I had conferred with Glenn, who was already there (he's usually there early), and got his measurements for the rooms being remodeled, including the walk-in closet. I then added on the hallway and living room with rough estimates from the tape measure. I took those in and Mary gave me a rough estimate per square foot: she told me to add about $1.25 to the price listed for the pad and installation labor. So after I did some simple math and discovered I was well within my budget for carpet, much to my delight, I looked at carpeting around $2.65 - $2.95 per yard and decided to go with nylon (vice polyester) with a short, comfortable pile. I went with a grayish-brown color. I wanted something a bit darker than what I currently have. I have a hard time discerning at this point, however, what color my current carpet really is, it's so dirty.

Mary came out promptly at 2 pm -- yes, the same day! -- measured to be sure, and gave me the real estimate. I gave her a deposit, and then we talked logistics. She suggested that we break up the installation into two days, which would give me time to move the furniture crammed into the living room back into the bedroom. Yes!! Just what Aaron had suggested! And when Jamie checked in with me later, he gave me a commitment to show up on Tuesday afternoon/night so that we could make this happen.

I won't know exactly what days installation will take place, though, as Mary advised me that the carpet is coming from the east coast and is supposed to be here by Friday. That gives us an extra day (Monday) to make sure it's available. And in my mind, that gives us an extra day in case Martinez Construction can't be finished by this Friday. As Glenn mentioned today when I checked in with him, he hopes they can be done, but he isn't sure. There seem to be a lot of loose ends, e.g., trim and baseboard that have to be reconstructed.

So, what's new today? I looove going in after the guys have left to see what's new, what's been added. They did almost all of the painting today -- yes, the right color, a real white -- and the bathroom has been painted a glorious glossy white. The bathroom window was open, and I can see into the neighbor's backyard. (Mental note to self: keep this window shut.) The new medicine cabinet is sitting in the recessed cavity built just for it, and I can see the mirror shining back at me! And the recessed lights in the new hallway are apparent.
Glenn told me that they will most likely put the shower tub marble facing in around Wednesday.

Lots to do, four more days to do it all. This is soo exciting!!

1 comment:

Rabbi Ruth Adar said...

Yay new paint! It's beautiful!