On schedule and under budget.
That's how we like our tradespeople :-)
We did indeed have 3 last days of work done in the basement last week. Then, poof, by 2pm on Thursday they were packed up and drove away. Sniff.
I'm gonna miss those dudes. The ones who do stuff for you out of the goodness of their hearts because you're paying them.
Anyway, let's take a look at the week's progress...
*Ceiling
Bright and early Tuesday morning, the acoustical ceiling installer was hard at work. I'd finished my task of priming the walls (in both rooms) over the long weekend. He started with the grid in the family room and in no time he was popping in ceiling tiles. Next he moved on to my studio where he installed 2 more grids and a bunch more ceiling tiles. In less than 6 hours, two years of looking up at fiberglass insulation and duct work: gone. Yes!
*Electrical
Wednesday marked the return of our electrician. Now that the ceiling was finally up, he could place and install the recessed lighting. We walked the space together and discussed placement and then I left him to his task. Other than one small problem (one recessed light short because he had previously installed one in an additional spot), things went pretty smoothly. For me anyway, I didn't do the electrical work. He was here late (after 6pm) but finished everything up--which I'm sure he was happy about. I'm not sure how happy he'll be when I call him to tell him the awesome energy saving light he installed in the closet is suddenly not working. Could the bulb really be shot after being switched on, um, twice??
*Built-Ins, more trim and finishing details
Our carpenters were here on Wednesday and Thursday. They built a narrow desk/counter for my studio, installed pegboard for my gift wrap center (slightly to the left of where I wanted it, but that's what you get when you go grocery shopping instead of hovering), and trimmed out the 2 windows. They also built the doors for the family room cabinet--I decided to use some of the leftover beadboard after all. They cleaned up, left me a whole mess of wood (per my request), collected the final payment and drove off into the hot & humid afternoon.
They'll be back.
*Paint
Then it was my turn. After painting no less than 4 sample boards (a first for me), I finally selected a wall color for the family room: Benjamin Moore's Castleton Mist. I spent the weekend putting on 2 coats. Turns out, that's a big room down there. Of course I knew that because the carpet man came and measured for the carpet that is supposed to be installed this week. 12x23--plus the stairwell walls for me to paint. My task for today involves the trim...
The walls aren't the only thing that got touched by paint last week. I bribed Bobby Law into getting down the Victorian-style mirror from my favorite chest. It's been in storage in the garage since moving here. The ceilings are too low here to use the piece as we did in our last house. I had the brilliant idea that I would use it at the bottom of the basement stairs to set the Victorian coastal vibe I'm after. Victorian coastal, that's a decorating style, right? I'm still going to do some highlights on it but it has hanging hardware and as soon as the carpet is in, it's going up.
So this week we are in the homestretch. At least for the family room portion of the basement. Plenty of painting to do ahead of getting the carpet installed. And then: the re-installation of the 2nd television and dvr and filling the room with furniture.
Good thing, because the kids have less than a week of school left. Eek!