The Thinking Minority

Tonight I picked out and bought tile for the bathroom (Part 39). I also bought vinyl tile for under the stairs and under the washer and dryer (40). Then when I got home, I cleaned the area under the stairs (41), laid out the vinyl tile (42), cut the tiles that needed cutting (43), and then stuck down all of the vinyl tile under the stairs (44).


(And you people said I wouldn't have enough Parts...)

So, we have our first floor! Tomorrow I'll be able to move all of the stuff out of our kitchen and dining room and back into storage under the stairs.

Part 37: We picked colors! All from Behr: Waterscape for the living room, Pinedale Shores for the office, and Ocean View for the office.

Part 38: We took a trip to Home Depot tonight and bought all of the primer and paint. Now, if we can just find someone to put it all on the walls...

or, Why I Love Vocelli Pizza

Our friendly electrician turned us on to Vocelli pizza, and we've been ordering from them exclusively ever since - their pizza is really good, AND they have anchovies (which makes Mr. B happy).

Tonight, I placed an order at 6:30, and was told it would be here in 30 minutes. I've had a very bad headache today, so I was dozing and didn't notice the time. At 7:30, the phone rang and I realized I was starving - it was the pizza people, calling to apologize for being so late, letting me know the the delivery guy was 3 minutes away, and that they were sending free cannolis for dessert.

But wait, it gets better. The delivery guy showed up, apologized profusely, gave me my pizza and free cannolis - AND a coupon for a free pizza. He explained that a flyer just went out today and they were swamped, and that they were very sorry and hoped we'd still order from them again.

How awesome is that? I didn't even call to complain, and they took care of me. I'll never order from anyone else ever again. Vocelli rocks.

We installed a light under the stairs! It's very cool; it has a motion sensor.

Reminds me of a song by The Time. This is one of my favorites from Vegas.

We have walls! The basement has been drywalled (Part 33) , mudded (34), and finished (35). Woohoo!

A shameless plug: you can now find the Scott Zetlan Images store online.

More cleaning. Everything is now out of the basement, even the stuff from under the stairs. It's clean, empty and ready for drywall!

WE PASSED THE INSPECTION! WOOHOO!

Part 26b: We finished fireblocking (we think)...put up more wood blocks, and stuffed rock wool in the odd spaces. We did NOT use Great Stuff (TM) because the can says that it's highly flammable. Doesn't seem appropriate for fireblocking, but what do I know? The inspector is coming this morning, so we'll see what happens! We have the Great Stuff (TM) if she wants us to put it up.

Part 28: All of the wires are pushed back in the boxes, taped, and ready for drywall. The recessed lights are hardwired to the circuit breaker (no light switch) so that we can turn them on or off, but don't have a switch in the way for the drywall guy (our friendly electrician is friends with our drywall guy, and he's thoughtful).

Part 29: We ran pipes between the sections of the entertainment center, under/behind the wall, for any cords/wires that aren't built-in. Right now, we just think it'll hold an HDMI cable, but the pipes will make it easy to run additional cords in the future if needed!

Part 30: The bathroom fan is installed, and it works!

Part 26a: We started putting up fire blocking. A few more boards, some Great Stuff (TM), and ... um ... whatever the heck is going to go on top of the long wall for fireblocking rockwool ... and we'll be ready to actually pass inspection!

Part 27: We have lights! We hooked up all of the recessed lights (and the one outlet that's on that circuit) and put in the light bulbs...and they came on! Of course, the outlet didn't work, but that's because I installed it myself. Fortunately our friendly electrician was able to fix it. So...we have recessed lights! 14 of them, to be precise.

Click here. Fun, if you're a nerd, and it's for a good cause.

We have all of our speakers! They weren't "parts," but we also got a new receiver and HD DVD player a few weeks ago. So with the TV, I think that's everything as far as electronics go...

The speakers
The ceiling (rear) speakers (I think)

Part 24: Failing inspection.

Yep, we failed inspection. The inspector even marked the inspection report up in red ink. Sigh. The framer failed to put in fireblocking at the joints between walls and ceilings, so we have to get that done before she can pass us. I'm going back and forth between being REALLY irritated and being over it.

But hey, it'll be easy to get to 184 parts if we fail a few inspections!

Part 19: The electric rough-in is done! All of the wires are in the boxes and stripped. We're ready for the inspector, who is coming Monday morning.

Parts 20, 21, 22, and 23: All of the phone lines, cable lines, speaker wires, and ethernet lines are run. Wires are in the boxes, taped and stapled where needed. Here's hoping that when they drywall is up, we'll be able to figure out which wire is which...

The Maharaja has arrived.

The HVAC stuff is done!

Part 15.5: Further wiring progress. The electric work is coming along nicely - should be done this weekend! - and Oh Bee Juan has a lot of the non-electric wiring done (cable, ethernet, phone, etc).


Part 16: The carpet has been chosen and ordered! We got our final price quote and picked a color - it's the same carpet we have upstairs, but in the color "Pebble." The tentative installation date is December 10th. If everything goes according to plan (ha), we'll be done that week!


Part 17: The cabinets for the bar have been chosen and ordered! Again, the same stuff as upstairs but in a different color. Same style and cabinet as our kitchen, but in "sable." Check 'em out here.

For some reason, I love this photo...

Part 13: A new TV!
After much research, we picked a TV and bought it at Crutchfield. It'll be delivered sometime next month, when we actually have somewhere to put it.

Part 14: Significant Electrical Progress
There has been Significant Progress on the basement electric work, thanks to our friendly electrician (and in some cases his friendly crew). All of the outlets and recessed lights are run - so all that's left are the fixtures in the closets (laundry and under the stairs) and the bathroom lights, and the circuit breakers. I think. To be honest, I don't really know what's left, since I have no idea how this stuff works.

Part 15: General aesthetic (not anesthetic) decisions
My dear sister very generously took the day on Friday to come help me make some decorating decisions. We chose a carpet, narrowed down the cabinet choices to two (for the bar, just waiting on a price quote for one of them), and picked a granite countertop (we think, although we are still having the Granite Slab vs. Granite Tile debate). We also maybe picked a wall color for the big room - Mr. B and I are going to sit on it for a few days and see how we feel.

So...things are coming along!