My Invincible Summer: 2009-03-01

Saturday February 21, 2009 with Wendy, my realtor, who gave me the key to the Abbey house in Mesa attached to a bowl of Arizona fruit. This makes it official ... Thanks to all who made this day possible.

Look close and you will see the key on the right of the fruit basket -- with the letter "K" on it ...

Woodhaven Family Trust - on Abbey Circle in Mesa. There is a special place here waiting just for y ou in the Arizona sunshine.

First stop was my rock in the sun at the pool in the back yard of the Abbey house ...

Deliveries started coming in short order -- from my email purchases. This 18 wheeler brought the new lighting fixtures for the entry, the dining area -- and sconces for the hallways.

My lights were the last load on the truck, with a fun truck driver from Illinois ...

For the first week of renovations, everything was encased in plastic for the painters ... what a mess, but what a sunny bright transformation a little change of color makes.

This is me with Steve (on the left) my painting contractor with Blue Sky Painting, and Jose, the last holdout of the four painters who worked on the interior -- and stayed to finish the cabinets ... They did very nice work as you will see in the photos.

Who is that masked man?

Oh yah -- he is the 5th painter. San Miguel Wood.

This is the garage during the week of painting the interior -- before the PODS arrived. This was our living quarters -- and our clothes are in the white plastics bins -- that we brought with us from Rob's in the Budget Truck. The PODS came two weeks later. The old washer and dryer came with the house ... and went to a good home down the street ...

One of the "before photos" of the laundry room and the clean up that was required ... in every room.

You must come for a visit and enjoy our new Jacuzzi. In fact, we have two new Jacuzzis -- latest models -- one in each bathroom !!!

This is Nathan the plumber -- installing one of our new Jacuzzis. Nathan is going to be a new daddy any day now -- firstborn son is due today !!!

These are the old style Jacuzzis that we put out to make a good impression with the neighbors -- along with a sign that said -- you must come and enjoy our new Jacuzzis. ;- )

Micah installed new garage lights

The HOA rules say the lights can only be "one candle power" -- Does anyone know what that means?

Dad rolling up the old smelly carpet ... what a relief to get it out of the house

Notice he is wearing his new Christmas PJ bottoms which has become his daily uniform:-)

Out with the old

. . . . and in with the new carpet --

However, even though it is another day Dad is STILL wearing his favorite Christmas PJ bottoms!!!

Look Ma, no hands. Dad is standing on the knee kicker to keep the long handle stretcher bar from slipping while Craig, the carpet layer is stretching the other end to meet up with the tile entry. How would they have ever managed without dad. ;- )

Inspector Bon at the door of MBR checking to be sure the surround sound wires are properly inserted in the pad and taped down before the carpet is stretched. You will notice that Micah is in his Christmas PJ's as his "uniform of the day," too. Like Father, like Son.

Craig the carpet guy is a master at his trade and did a great job, on time and under budget -- a nice combo.

Before the carpet was installed, all the walls, ceiling, cabinets and doors were freshly painted. You can also get a glimpse of the new wall color in
this photo.

The other big thing you see is the crown piece for the huge wall unit I found on Craigslist (love 'em) for the entertainment center

As for the trash - the painters went through miles and miles of plastic film and paper taping to protect floors and windows from the overspray. The end result is good--but what a mess it creates to get there ... Paint spray like grit on everything.

The photo to the right is of our master bedroom--notice the lovely carpet complete with motor oil stains. We are certain it was used as a parking lot for Harleys.

Also, I am enthralled with the lovely light fixture in the MBR complete with extra wires dangling.

This is a before photo - before the painters arrived, and after our plumber (Nathan, soon to be a first time father) installed a gas line for the dryer and range, and a water line for the pot filler - which is different from a Jacuzzi -- in case you wondered. Notice the new white plaster above the cabinets to the left. That's the dry wall repair done by our friend, James Dever - on his 10 foot ladder he let us borrow in exchange for lemon custard at Nielsens. Yum. ;- ) Grandpa Tom drives a hard bargain -- with lemon custard.

Photo on the left is for all of you who "loved" the tile work on the island ... sorry guys it is now gone. Dan and I replaced it with white bead board and matching trim. Also the cabinets are now white. What a transformation. The walls are now a much lighter cream color. Even the painters couldn't get over how much brighter and bigger the rooms felt!

Anyway, the old, dirty, smelly carpet is now gone - smokers smell and all and the walls freshly painted. Window shutters are on order - should arrive at the end of March - and a bedroom ceiling fan is yet to be selected.

The guy in the photo is Dan our neighbor's brother who just moved here from California. He has become a permanent fixture at the Abbey house. He is a certified HVAC and electrician, but does other handyman stuff too--what a great guy to have next door! Today he is installing ceiling fans and my built-in ironing board.

Below is another picture of the kitchen with the walls and cabinets painted -- unfortunately I have had to ask the painters to come back tomorrow and redo the cabinets : ( Don't you hate to tell people the job they did is not satisfactory? Fortunately they were really nice about it because I have a three year warranty with them. Thank goodness for that!

This is a hint of the transformation of the kitchen. Still have to choose the hardware for the cabinets and add the crown to the top. Carpenter comes today to install crown molding on the kitchen cabinets. He will also be finishing off the crown piece on the TV wall unit. Dad and Micah put it together the other night like a big interlocking puzzle ... see photos below.

I think they did a great job. We will still have to add the hardware and lower doors, but it should work very well with our tv and library.

The first POD arrives late today, and the last two PODs will be delivered tomorrow - so it is "crunch time" to get projects done.

Still have to find a sofa for this area so am continuing my quest on Craigslist.

I have ordered a 70 inch ceiling fan with dark cherry blades for this great room - that should arrive on Friday ... the entry and dining room lights arrived yesterday and Dan will be back in the attic adding support to the joists for the junction boxes that hold the lights and fan.

Speaking of Craigslist, I also found this black pub table with six bar stools for the breakfast area. I sold my favorite old black round table to the buyers of the barn. Can't tell you how great it was to have chairs to sit on at last! It took Tom two trips to downtown Phoenix to make it fit into the old Chrysler -- after dismantling the table legs and one of the chairs. It's the perfect table for game night. Can't wait for you to be sitting around it !!!

This is a long view of the new changes to the great room, which now looks cavernous-- Dan installed 6 new ceiling can lights which made things go from night to day!!!

Dan also cooks up a mean batch of BBQ buffalo wings in his spare time.

Micah installed two tropical style fans on the covered patio area near the pool. He did a great job - even with dad's help. ;- )

Poolside with Micah -- also in his new Christmas PJ's from Rachel and Miah. Like father, like son. Micah is taking his morning siesta before the pool guys come to replace the pool light and clean away the stains with a muratic acid wash.

The pool was acid washed yesterday and looks beautiful! We hope to have it up and running later today ... the neighborhood kids were splashing in theirs the other night and Micah and I were getting anxious!!! Can you believe it -- 85 degrees in February.

Look closely and you can see the dirty scum that came off the side walls -- yuck! No worries--it will be sparkling clean when you arrive!!!

Jason and Danny did the pool work - another find on craigslist. ;- ) Their company is called Green to Crystal Clear Pools -- with a web site that shows some great before and after restoration jobs. This afternoon Jason will give us a "how to course" in pool maintenance and get the salt water system up and running ... a taste of the ocean in the back yard.