December 24, 2014

Dining Room

Keeping our eye on the cooks

Living Room South

Living Room North

Week 37 Sunday

December 21 2014

The move went smoothly other than a little battle of the trucks.  Even though we had saved quite a few parking spaces, everyone thought they needed more room.  The new furniture was supposed to arrived yesterday but because of an accident on the 5 it arrived late at the delivery location and they rescheduled to delivery today also.  Now I have 3 trucks all wanting to deliver at the exact time.

First the fireplace installers arrived with not one but two moving truck size vans.  They had 3 small boxes seemed like an overkill.  Then the truck from storage arrived so I had to get the fireplace trucks out of there.  Then the LA movers showed up and complained that they did not have enough space to get their truck in, even though there was a lot of room.  I was upstairs so R got it worked out.  Then the LA truck started complaining that the boxes were in their way and that they were going to leave, yada, yada, yada.  Anyway as you can see from the pictures below it all got delivered albeit with a little bit of drama but most of it is here.  We still have a few boxes left in storage that need to get here on Monday but we are getting close.

We spent Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday putting things away and are still not finished.  We should have it done by Monday.  The painters will be back to finish up and touch up anything that happened in the move.

I have a lot of art to get up on the walls on Monday and a Christmas tree before M and her friend get here for the Holidays.

Have a great holiday everyone and thanks for reading.  My next post should be with pictures of the finished project.

Week 37 Friday

December 19 2014

Another crazy day around here.  Everyone on the job trying to get their parts finished.  The clean up crew is here washing windows, gathering trash (where does it all come from), removing the protective coating from my lacquer cabinets, (wow they look great), finish trimming the lighting fixtures and doing last minute carpentry work.

The electrician didn't make it but will be here tomorrow along with the fireplace company to install my cannon balls.  We have lived here 14 years and have never used the fireplace because it was too much trouble, no gas starter and carrying wood.  I'm looking forward to flipping a switch and having a fire.  Not to mention better for the environment.  I'm still missing a few things that are on order like a sliding glass door for the master bathroom and my heat registers better arrive today, those openings in the ceiling are not looking great.  

The crew will be back  tomorrow to finish a few more things and the final cleaning.  Moving trucks are coming tomorrow morning, hope it doesn't rain because it was pouring all day yesterday.  The end is in sight.

James and crew delivering the new dining room table 9'6" x 44", heavy, and a bitch to get up the four flights of stairs.  It took 3 of them but it arrived in one piece. Glad we will have a place for the family to sit for Christmas dinner.  There is  a lot to be thankful for this year.


Stay tuned and watch the transformation.  If you want a hint of it's future look at my Pinterest posts.  http://www.pinterest.com/jdzinesf/hyde-street-penthouse/

Week 37 Tuesday

December 16 2014

Luckily the concrete sub was able to push back a day because they were nowhere ready to have him on the job.  The doors that conceal my office, in the entry, took two full days to get installed properly.  They work beautifully now though.

Every room is clean and ready to go.  They are going to polish the floors, fill any small gaps and then add an additional sealer to the floor.

They took down the scaffolding today, wow I forgot what a great view I had from those windows.

Living Room

Dining Room/Kitchen

Now you see it

Now you don't

Everything is falling into place.  Plumbing - why could I only get 6" of water in my tub after filling for 24 min.  Solution - plumber installed the wrong faucet.  This one has a flow control.  Thursday he should finish up and I will have a complete bathroom.

Electrician - lighting fixtures, they figured out the problem.  Two very small set screws in the mud ring need to be screwed all the way in or they get in the way of the trim and make it very tight to install. Electrician will be back on Thursday to finish up installing a few things.

Carpenters still have a number of things on their check list to complete but we are getting close.

Friday the new furniture will be arriving and Saturday our furniture that has been in storage for eight months.  Hmmm how much of that will we really need other than the furniture.

Stay tuned and watch the transformation.  If you want a hint of it's future look at my Pinterest posts.  http://www.pinterest.com/jdzinesf/hyde-street-penthouse/

Week 37 Monday

December 15 2014

Another crazy day with a lot of workers on the job.  Nothing is easy, the large doors going in the entrance to conceal my office are not going in easily.  They have spent most of the day on them and they are still not finished.  The crew will be back early tomorrow morning to finish up.

The problem....concrete sub is coming early tomorrow morning and there are still a lot of tools etc. on the job.  They swear it will all be gone and we will be ready for them when they get there on Tuesday morning.  I called the sub and tried to push the floor finishing back one day.  He is trying to make the change but don't know yet if that is going to happen.  

Magic Doors for Den in Place

The den doors are in place and look great but they are very heavy and don't move easily.  You can get them open from the outside but that would not work from the inside so now I have to find some hardware to make them work.

Doors to conceal my office getting installed

Still trying to get these worked out and again very heavy and hard to maneuver as they are tight to the ceiling and floor.  3 guys working on them most of the day. 

Element lenses going in

The electrician show up to install the cook top and the trim for the element lighting fixtures.  Of course they are short 11 of them but they should be in on Friday.  Once we start working on them however another problem...I am starting to hate these things.  The lens is screwed into the trim piece.  When the electrician puts them in they are not flush to the ceiling like expected.  At first the look like the above picture which pisses me off to no end.  He goes up again and finally manages to get them to slide all the way with a lot of pressure.  They finally look good.  The problem...you will never be able to get them out if the light burns out.  I am definitely going to have the rep come by and have a little discussion with him about these fixtures.

Advice if you decide you want these type of fixtures use the 3" not the 4".

Guest Bathroom

Master bathroom

Shower door and partitions were installed today.   Really upset that I did not use the starlight glass as these cast a green tint.  But it is done and I'll know better next time.

Tomorrow is another day.  Not much time, movers are bringing furniture on Saturday.

Stay tuned and watch the transformation.  If you want a hint of it's future look at my Pinterest posts.  http://www.pinterest.com/jdzinesf/hyde-street-penthouse/

Week 36 Saturday

December 13 2014

Opened my door promptly at 8 am and there were 9 men ready to get their move on.  Six carpenters, 2 marble workers and the plumber.  The contractor arrived shortly after.  The pressure is on, I have scheduled the concrete sub to polish the floors and add one more coat of sealer on Tuesday.  They need to be done and out of here with their tools, electrical supplies, plumbing, etc by Monday night.  There is a lot of work left to do and they get right to it.

Laying out the doors for the paneled entry wall/hidden office

Working on the magic door hardware for the Den doors

Working on the pocket for the bi-fold doors for entry/office

Routing and putting hinges on the bi-fold doors for entry

Magic doors are in place

Marble subs finishing up the island

Finished bar top

The large doors are not for the faint of heart.  It takes 4 men to lift one.  Glad I bought the top of the line HAWA hardware for them.  They are sitting in the living room ready to be installed on Monday.

The punch list is getting shorter.  There are a few things that haven't come in yet that won't be installed until later in the week.  Pop-up drain for Master bath sink (misplaced somehow), lenses for the lighting fixture trim, several doors for the kitchen cabinets that are on order, trim for the recess on the cabinets and a few missing handles that are on order.

The plumber finally has my shower and tub computer valve working.  The pipes had not been connected properly.  Changing plumbers in the middle of the job left a few mysteries.  Kitchen sink and dishwasher still not totally installed because the marble installers were working there but should be completed on Monday.  The electrician needs to install the cook top and finish a few odds and ends on Monday.  The painters will be back to finish up and start  repainting the stairway down to the lobby and the elevator.  Shower doors installed on Monday.  It's starting to look like home.

Scheduled movers to deliver things from our storage unit.  Can't wait to get all of my art installed.  I love the white but need my color for flavor....

Stay tuned and watch the transformation.  If you want a hint of it's future look at my Pinterest posts.  http://www.pinterest.com/jdzinesf/hyde-street-penthouse/

Week 36 Thursday

December 11 2014

Well the storm hit last night and it is still coming through.  I was up working on a couple of future projects when the power goes out.  It's 7 am and I can't believe my luck.  I've been waiting 5 weeks for these counter tops to get made and 6 months for these doors.  Wow I hope they get this power back on soon.

My guys are there right on time and ready to go power or not.  They spend most of the day installing the five regular doors using flash lights.  A major clean up is also happening in all of the rooms.  I need to get everything out of here asap so that I can have the concrete sub come in and polish the floors. 

Stone sub is here with the Calacatta Oro and they work until about 2 pm doing what they can without power.  They can't drill the holes for the sink so no water again today.  They get the counter by the bar installed but not the island.  Hopefully someone will be by tomorrow to get this finished off.

R is out all day at an appointment and I am at home with no power, heat, internet and nary a book in sight because they are all in storage.  I have a kindle but of course it needs charging.  My phone is running out of juice because I forgot to charge it last night.  I spend a lot of time reading the paper, looking at my ipad which has a few things that have already been down loaded.  I am sitting on a bench with no cushion that is in the window because there is light there and trying to stay out of everyone's way.  The clock is ticking and still no power.  I am freezing.  Suddenly just as everyone is leaving the power comes back on.

I'm thinking finally internet I can work on my projects, but no internet.  I try the TV, no luck there either. I open the media closet and approach the rack.  No lights, something is not right.  What do I turn on to get this going.  I can't even figure out what button to press because there are no obvious buttons.  Call my AV guys and one of them stops by on their way home to look at it.  Of course, I am a complete techno nerd, not.  He pushes one button, the the power conditioner and everything comes back on again.  Problem solved but not by me.  Thank you Brian.

AV Rack

Tomorrow is another day and I hope a better one.

Stay tuned and watch the transformation.  If you want a hint of it's future look at my Pinterest posts.  http://www.pinterest.com/jdzinesf/hyde-street-penthouse/