The Frame is the Name of the Game

After our meeting last Sunday with the contractors, we had another one set up for Thursday. We couldn’t believe how much got done on Monday through Thursday! The whole second floor is framed up, and they framed up the first floor on Friday. Crazy that it sat empty for a month...and yet now that things are going, it is moving so fast!

Overall, we’re pretty psyched about the layout. Because of the placement of the stairs, we just couldn’t figure out how to get a double vanity in the master bathroom, unless we wanted to eat more into our walk-in closet, which we weren’t willing to compromise on. But as I mentioned before, we got a bonus of a walk-in closet in the guest room, so there is something good that came out of it!

One of Mike’s big concerns was how the stairs all work together – the stairs to the basement, the stairs to the second floor, and the stairs leading outside to the rooftop deck. I have to admit, I still don’t fully understand how they all work together, but Mike is very happy. Our concern was that we want the first floor as wide open as possible from the front door to the back of the house, without compromising too much space upstairs. And we didn’t want the transition from the second floor to the rooftop deck to be awkward. It seems like it'll all work out!

The addition is built out!

Master bedroom - check out the cool tray ceiling and the bay window! We'll probably put in a nice built-in cozy bench with storage underneath the window. How fun will it be to curl up there during a storm and read a book??

This is the second floor, looking to the front of the house. Guest room closet is in the foreground, then the bathroom, then opening for the stairs, then the master.

Guest room addition!

The first floor, looking towards the kitchen and back of the house. We are measuring to see if we'll actually be able to fit a coat closet - that may be another tough decision we'll have to make - coat closet or pantry? We won't have room for both. Mike is leaning towards pantry, I'm leaning towards coat closet. We'll see!

This is the first floor, looking to the front of the house. It's a little hard to see, but the coffered ceiling in the front room is framed out - we love that look and are so excited to see the finished product!

And now, some more frustrating news on the neighbor. Mike and I spoke with her again for about 45 minutes on Thursday, and at first she said “I’ve made up my mind, and I’m just not comfortable with it.” That was a terrible moment - I thought for sure we were completely screwed, and our only remaining hope would be the law change. Despite hearing a definite "no", we continued the conversation with her, asking what she thought about Joe offering her money, and tried to talk to her about what we could do to make her comfortable with everything. She said that she doesn't want our money, because she is saying no because she's uncomfortable, not because she wants something out of us. She just isn’t budging very much at all. But by the end of the conversation, we had at least gotten her to say “let me think about it some more and get back to you.” So…hope is not ALL lost, but I’m not sure what can possibly happen to make her change her mind. I think one thing that we are going to do is place a call to our city councilman to try and get him to call her. He is the one who is trying to pass the new law, so we know that he’ll be on our side. And she called him earlier to find out more about the law, so at least she’s taking this seriously and we also hope this means that she respects him enough that she would listen to him.

The new law would not state that we don’t need her input at all…it would require us to send via certified mail an envelope that contains engineer-signed drawings of the basement, proof of insurance, etc. The neighbor then has 10 days to contest the rehab. If they do nothing, we can proceed as planned. If the neighbor contests, they must have a LEGITIMATE reason for doing so. I have a feeling that our neighbor’s concern that her house will fall down is not a legitimate reason (because it won’t!).

Unfortunately, it's putting a bit of a damper on the whole process. I have moments of being super-excited, and then in the back of my head, I think "but we may never actually live in this house".  I almost just wish we HAD a definite answer because if it ends up being that we can't build out the basement, we'd need to figure out if we're getting out of this whole thing now, selling it when it's done, or renting it out when it's done. And we have NO idea how the contract would work, since our contractors can't hold up their end of the bargain. But we'll keep going through the motions, and hope hope hope that we eventually move into this house!

So to keep up with our optimistic side, we are meeting with our kitchen designer on Thursday!! We'll measure out where the stove, fridge and sink will go, and we'll start the conversation about cabinets. Very exciting!

Oh, and fingers crossed that Hurricane Sandy takes an unexpected turn out to sea and everyone on the east coast is A-OK! The contractors don't seem too concerned...when I asked what they are doing to protect the house from Sandy, they said "it'll get wet!". Okay...

Progress...FINALLY!

I haven’t been ignoring this blog for a month because there has just been SO much going on with the house that I didn’t have time. Quite the contrary. The house was demo’ed, and then it sat empty with no progress at all, for a full month. Mike and I went away to Italy thinking that the framing for the walls on the first and second floor would be done…and we came home to the house looking EXACTLY THE SAME. Needless to say, we were very upset. Apparently something happened with the permits or something – who knows. Between this and the neighbor…there were times that Mike and were talking about just throwing in the towel.

But in the last week, things finally started happening! And today, for the first time since we found out our neighbor wasn’t signing the papers to dig out the basement, we have felt excited and optimistic.

First of all, there is progress! 

The formstone (and apparently stucco, aluminum, and about 3 other layers) are off the bay window. 

There is a giant gaping hole on the second floor of the house where the addition is going to go. 

And the interior side walls have been framed.

Exciting!! We had a 2.5 hour meeting this morning with Joe, Josh, Jon and Jimmy (the 4 J’s!) at the house and laid out all the details of the second floor. We still can’t figure out a way to get a double vanity in the master bedroom, but we did squeeze in a second walk-in closet for the guest room…so you win some, you lose some. Overall, Mike and I are pretty happy with how everything is coming together on the second floor!

Laying everything out so we can get a feel for the size and layouts of the master room, bathroom + closet, the regular and rooftop deck stairs, and the guest room bathroom + closet.

We are meeting with the crew on Thursday to finalize the first floor (which isn’t much to figure out – it’s pretty set)…and…the basement.

The basement has been a HUGE source of worry and stress for us, since the neighbor still hasn't signed the papers. It’s pretty much the reason that we have gotten disenchanted with this process. We don’t have any definite news, but we have made some steps in the right direction: 1) confirmation that the law will most likely change, hopefully in mid-to-late December; and 2) our carpenter Jimmy, who could make conversation with a fly, has been in contact with the neighbor and seems to making headway. We may also write a letter to our council representative who fully supports the law change, and see if he has any advice or power to get this DONE so we can finally move on! However it happens, Joe has assured us that it will happen. So we are definitely getting excited and optimistic again! Finally!