Don't Watch

We were finally able to have some guys pick up our fridge (the one I bought off of Craigslist last January) from JJ's house where he kindly stored it in his garage for us all this time. I shouldn't have watched them do it, but I couldn't help it. It wasn't as bad as watching them bring the tub inside, but it was pretty crazy. They had one of those automated stair dollies, but it was really sounding as if it was on its' last legs. The motor really didn't sound like it would make it to the top of the stairs. Isn't that the kind of thing that you double-check before heading out for delivery?

Wolferama

Here's the Wolf range that I got from our Craigslist appliance guy. She's a little banged up since she's 3.5, but I think she'll clean up pretty easily. At a fraction of the original retail price, who's complaining?

Operation Cupcake

The boys had a busy Saturday fixing the car and moving our washer/dryer over to our friends' house. The new plan upstairs only allows for a stackable, so we sadly had to part with this set that we bought a few years ago. T managed to puddy and tape the bathroom and kitchen on Saturday. He puddied and taped one more wall on Monday. He did the ceiling today. I really need him to be done with the sanding by this weekend. It will have been a month since he started sheetrocking downstairs on Friday.

I'm not worrying about it because I now have Operation Cupcake in full effect. We are now scheduled to demolish the upstairs the weekend of May 8th. I decided that we can't wait to finish the downstairs in order to tackle the upstairs. So, we will be sofa-hopping until then and staying close by so that we can regularly be here and check on everything. I have a tight itinerary from now until the beginning of August and my teams in place. I really am determined to finish the whole house by then and I really think it's possible. No more snail's pace for this operation!

What Would You Choose?

People always ask, "If you had to choose, would you lose an arm or a leg, an eye or a ...". Well, today's question is what major household convenience can you live without? It's been surprising for me to learn which things are most challenging or not so challenging at all.

No hot water in the kitchen or no washer/dryer?
No functioning stove or no light in the kitchen?
No light in the kitchen or no light in the bathroom?
No water or no electricity?
No electricity or no heat?

None of the above is not an option. The pic above shows the only remaining functioning appliances in the kitchen. We disconnected the gas line running to the stove this weekend, so we are now stoveless. We have no microwave, so it's all about the toaster oven and the coffee pot. Our life has become one big salad after another which isn't such a bad thing.

As I stepped into the shower this morning and turned on the water, the knob came off in my hand.

Mini Stackables

I've been stalking Craigslist for this Bosch Axxis stackable washer and dryer set. I finally threw in the towel this morning and we ordered them from Lowe's. It was going to further delay things downstairs not to be able to install them, so we had to bite the bullet and move ahead. Currently, the washer and dryer for upstairs have a gas line and water pipe that are running through the studio that we have to disconnect in order to finish down there. This is the only model that will fit in the closet downstairs at only 24" wide and 24" deep. They're pretty sexy. I hope our future tenant appreciates them!

Small Appliances

These are the little baby GE appliances that just arrived from Home Depot for our studio. The range is only 24" and the dishwasher is only 18". So many tiny appliances only seem to come in white. I don't understand why it's so difficult to find these smaller ones in the US, but I'm happy we finally did. I'll report back on how they work after we get those puppies installed.

In other news, I think we found a tiler for almost 1/2 the price of last estimate. And he comes recommended by our general contractor friend that we trust completely. That is a big relief. I think he'll be able to start on the shower pan on Monday so that we can finally get that inspected.

Sub Zero Hootanany

I've been on a Craigslist quest for the last year for a Sub Zero 611 for the upstairs. Clearly, it's way too pricey to buy new, but there are definitely some deals to be had on Craig's if you are patient enough. I love this particular fridge because it's tall (84"), narrow (30") and only 24" deep. I hate the way most fridges stick out way past the counter and things always seem to get lost in the back. It is so odd to me that a 24" depth is so unusual and of course it's only the pricier brands that make them.

I was almost ready to give up, but then I found a guy that was selling TWO 611s for much less than the cost of buying 1 Sub Zero new, so I dragged my honey over to Concord and we snatched them up. The ice maker doesn't work on one which I could care less about and they only have really minor scratches. They are both stainless and we can't replace the fronts with cabinetry, but everyone still seems obsessed with stainless so they should make for 2 pretty sexy kitchens. I can't wait to start using one downstairs. Our current fridge has about 5 different climate zones. It randomly freezes or doesn't seem to refrigerate certain parts of the fridge at all. The 611 is the over-under refrigerator/freezer which makes so much more sense to me too. I have to bend way down to get anything out of our current fridge which is just silly. Thank God for fancy people that like to remodel their kitchens every 5 years and get rid of perfectly good high-end appliances!