A closet from Ikea - and a road trip to find it

The Phantom Screen really does work, and I have wrested control of the remote. Here's what the screen looks like partway down. From the inside, there's no reflection...it's almost like it's not even there. The motor is quiet, smooth, and perfect. It will be very cool. Still not quite sure how to keep the cats from climbing it, though, and my guess is that it's not warrantied against cat-inflicted damage.















We were pleased to see all the bamboo flooring down, and the finish work of the tile around the fireplace. While it would have been nice to just have the wallboard around the doors, building code requires something else. The guys did a nice job - both tiling and flooring. We have cardboard down in a bunch of places, which isn't aesthetically pleasing, but will protect the floors until everything's done. We won't get back up there for a few days to see the hardwoods, which will go in starting today.

After some amount of hemming and hawing, we decided to go to Ikea for the walk-in closet "equipment." We'd been to Ikea previously and kicked the tires on the closet components; and then tried fairly unsuccessfully to configure it on-line. So, we left for the store on Sunday morning in the hopes of arriving before the crowds. We guessed about some back roads to get there...and without any sort of map in the car, it took more than an hour for what should have been a 25 minute drive. Of course, we were not going to ask for directions or buy a map; we simply drove around and hoped for the best.

There was one person who knew how to configure the stuff in the closet section of the store. I don't know if these guys get paid commission, but if they do, he's got a gold mine. Anyway, a few hundred pounds later, and not too many dollars more, we arrived at the new house with flatpack closet materials for Steve and his team to assemble. It's probably a bit lazy of us, but I'm not sure that I'd come up with the time/energy for assembly between now and when we move in.

The countertops are supposed to arrive tomorrow - from there, it's on to appliance installation, final electrical and plumbing, and some miscellaneous items, including touch up of various dings and dents that the wallboard has suffered over the last few weeks.

I called the guy at Humboldt Moving today to set up the move date. They did a good job a few years ago, and again last fall to move us to the temporary living, so I'm sure we'll be in good hands again. Pretty soon we can start repacking and shlepping up bits and pieces on our various travels up there.

A Phantom Screen

I canceled a bunch of meetings yesterday morning and went out to the house - it was a perfect day to go if I needed reassurance about things (which I didn't need).

The driver to go to the house was that the guys were scheduled to install the screen that goes on the outside of the big folding doors (see Feb 24 post). The house design is such that when the big door opens, you would have a wide open pass-through. In the woods of New England, having something to keep the bugs out, the cats in, and maybe even the coyotes, bear, and neighborhood cats out seemed like a good idea. The solution: Phantom Screen's Executive Screen, which is a retractable powered screen that is mounted into an overhang outside the folding door and comes down on tracks along each wall edge. We had seen this at a "This Old House" tour a few years ago and thought it was pretty cool back then.

To hold/hide the screen, Steve and his guys engineered the housing that the screen retracts into. It's quite a set up, and it gives us an access panel for when the screen or its motor requires any maintenance. Without this, it would have meant minor de-construction. This may also be handy for the pest guy to check and treat for bees, wasps, and whatever else tries to take up residence. Below is a shot looking up and across the length of the housing. (For some reason the photo keeps reverting to un-rotated, so it's a little awkward.)















Here's the roller during installation...














...everyone breathed easier when it really fit. Apparently there was some question about how it would do. It's really a lot like a big window shade, but the screen slides in to a slot at the top. Here are some of the guys pulling the screen into place on the roller. I wasn't able to stay for the whole deal, so I'm looking forward to getting back on Saturday to see it in the finished state. A few of the Empyrean guys came over to check it out - they're going to see about actually pre-fabbing the housing, rather than having the builder make it on site.















The rest of the house was busy. The tile guys were working on the surround for the fireplace, and the flooring guys were installing more of the bamboo; the hardwood was due to be delivered, and will need to sit a few days to acclimate before install. On the outside, the painters were busy getting the stain on the clapboards.














We ordered the granite for the kitchen counter. After a certain amount of dithering, we finally settled on a fairly standard granite...we had this whole great plan of distressed granite for more of a raw, rough look, but we decided against it because of the maintenance requirement. We also decided firmly against a piece that, while beautiful, would have required a 3 hour+ drive to confirm it was okay. All the counter tops should be done and delivered/installed Tuesday of next week, which will be pretty cool. With that in, the appliances can go in, and the wrap-up will begin.

After the visit to the house, I was giddy...not a normal state for me, but everything sure is looking good. Can't wait for move-in day.

Miscellaneous progress and an update on the windows

What a view!















I've been a bit busy and haven't gotten around to updating for about 10 days, so there's been a lot of progress. The cable rail was installed this week, and it's wonderful. Steve carved away the wallboard so that the posts are half-embedded in the wallboard and have a lower profile than if they were just hanging off the edge. I hadn't recalled how nice these were going to look, and the really good news is that the cats really can't dive between the cables. The trick will be to keep them off the railing, since from there it's a long drop to the living room floor.

A big nor'easter is on the way, bringing lots of wind and rain. We've had some rain and even a bit of snow since the skirt went on to transition from the roof to the gutters, and it seems to have done the trick with respect to the window issue. I guess when the path of least resistance goes into the wall, it's a bit of a problem, and so that's what the skirt addresses. I'd like to get up on the roof someday soon to see how the skirt actually fits on. In the meantime, we may be back to the house today, and if so, I'll look forward to seeing the windows dry on the interior. We are getting word that we'll need to put gutters all the way around the house, including the deck above the kitchen; this should discourage/prevent water from forcing its way into crevices. In the meantime, the windows seem to be doing exactly what we would have expected - keeping the weather out.















With the arrival of the cabinets, the appliance delivery has begun. So far, just the dishwasher(s), wall ovens, and downdraft are at the house. We went with the Fisher & Paykel dish drawers as we like the separate drawer system. Having had one before, the trick is to separate heavy washing from light washing to take best advantage of the water-saving features while still getting clean dishes and not pre-washing everything.

The cooktop will be delivered on Tuesday and the microwave still hasn't come in to the Yale distribution center, but will be in with time to spare (we hope). We're psyched about the microwave because: (1) we don't have one at temp living, and Peter really misses having one to reheat coffee; and (2) I don't really want a microwave, but if we have to have one, this one is under-counter and won't be obvious. It's a Sharp, and opens up just like a drawer. The only bit that will be a challenge is reading the control panel, which will be just low enough to require putting on a pair of glasses, or memorizing the control locations.















The tile flooring went in this week, but still needs the grout. The only place we got "wild" was the guest bath, with this washed-blue color, which really does look better in person!

Also, the sauna is no longer a general storage room and the bench is installed. On a very wintry day like today, it would be good to be there and enjoy its warmth.














The lighting is ordered from Wolfers/Standard Electric. We did pretty well with the selection and while we went overboard on the outdoor fixtures, they're going to be great. Electricians were at the house yesterday getting ready to install fixtures and putting in the last electrical outlets, including the required ones on the kitchen island. We'll try to get away with one set of outlets inside the island and one set on the far end, so they won't be so obvious, but will probably be required to put a set on either end of the island instead - code is designed to replace the common sense that people fail to exercise, and so we end up with things that we wouldn't otherwise want.

We also settled on flooring, and installation should start in a week. We'll have a light bamboo in most rooms, which should really accentuate the light and openness of the house. We had wanted to put a darker wood in the media room, the office, and the master bedroom, but since the bamboo and hardwoods are different thicknesses, it makes for bad transitions. To match up the thicknesses, Steve will have to shim the floor at the point where the two woods will meet. So, we've left just the bedroom and media room with the birch to minimize the transitions, and the office will be bamboo. It's a concession, but one that we were willing to make. The birch will take a few weeks to arrive, so they'll get started on the bamboo and install the birch when it is in. The bamboo price is pretty good - $7/sf installed (before Steve's markup), and we've been assured by all that it's going to be a good quality and long-lasting product.















We're really happy with the "sports lockers" we put in the mudroom - they should keep all our stuff under control and keep miscellaneous shoes and fleeces from being strewn throughout the house. Al did a great job building them, along with all our other cabinetry. He'll definitely stay on our list, as we'll need some bookcases and storage for compact disks (the old house had a built-in bookcase that held them, albeit awkwardly). We've looked into IKEA for the master closet stuff, but their on-line builder is a bit weird - we can't figure out how to address corners and so forth. Otherwise, what we saw of their stuff in the store looks solid and is reasonably priced.

We're about 5 or so weeks from move-in, we hope! At this point, we need to keep things moving from our end so that we're not the ones causing a delay to anything. We're also down to the point where various cost over-runs will start showing up. The site work will be a doozy, since we raised the elevation of the house by 2 feet to keep the crawl space out of the groundwater. The additional fill required, along with simply moving a whole lot more dirt around, will add up big-time.

There will be other places where we'll be over budget, offset to some extent by a series of allowances we're not spending, so we'll do an accounting of where we stand before we do any of the "optional" items, such as the generator. We have some non-optionals, like the treatment system for the well water, which aren't even in the contract, so we'll need to make sure we get those things in place before we have a bunch of fun with things like the plasma TV. Goodwin's High End will be getting much of our discretionary income for the video display, associated boxes, additional speakers, and of course the standing upgrade list to the audio components. We had a nice visit there yesterday, including listening to the Rockport Mira speakers they have set up in one of the demo rooms.

Cabinets and Trim

It will be nice to get into the house. Until then, the house is still kind of in the utility mode. There are people in it every day, but they do things to, not with, the house. On my last visit, one of the guys was tidying up - and I could almost a sense the house resting and settling into its skin.

The arrival of the cabinets was a bit of a flashback to the old house. The photo of the installation feels like the mirror stage of the pre-demolition "scavenging" photo from October. The cabinets are looking good - I am anxious to get there this weekend to see how they look for real. So far, we're very happy with the decision to go with a local cabinet-maker. I like the idea that we're working with someone who owns the business and employs guys locally, does a good job, and didn't gouge us on pricing.















The doors, casings, and trim are well on their way. The house was designed with caseless doors and no baseboards, but we opted to fork over the extra bucks to give more of a finish. I never quite "got" the lack of trim in the old Deck House, and think this will look better. Additionally, if a door ever needs to be replaced, this will be loads easier than a caseless style.

I've been revisiting some prefab and green building sites lately - and think that some people have the wrong category in mind when they look at NextHouse. It seems a lot of people are thinking that it's prefab (it's not) or that it's innately green (it's not). I would categorize this as a kit house, and not a DIY version - unless the "Y" in DIY happens to be a professional builder. There's a lot that the builder needs to know and needs to supply, and have the mind of a good engineer to see how things ought to work. I still think we could have done better on the green front, but my green issue is less in the construction than in the destruction of the prior place. The passive solar, our design changes to get better air flow, our use of what will be a killer fireplace, and what we do with flooring and other finish materials will be the places we'll end up making incremental steps.