Winter's Back

Apparently NV's rain dance worked. We still need more rain and snow, but the last week or so we've gotten a lot. Fortunately we've got a break to clean up and dry things out a little.

if a tree falls halfway...

Yesterday on my way home from the Red Cross, I saw a neighbor out walking during a break in the rain, and so had to drive closer to the other side of the street. The branches over that side of the street seemed low, and after parking I saw Mike looking at the tree, and indeed it was low. It was low because it had fallen half way over, and hadn't fallen all the way only because it managed to fall against a stump. I warned the people in the houses opposite, and Mike and I went and told the people in the house where the tree was. The owners weren't home, but a nanny, child and dog were. I went in to get the number for the Oakland public works department, and before I'd gotten far I heard a truck braking. I went back out, and public works was already out there in force. Seems another neighbor had already called them a couple hours before. Given how busy public works must be, between the storms and budget cutbacks, it was amazing they got there as quickly as they did. Fortunately no one was injured, and there was no major damage done. It could have easily flattened a car or pedestrian.

Meanwhile, the kitchen cabinets have been ordered! We really wanted to go with the EcoHome ones, but they came in at over twice the price of the KraftMaid ones, even with some of the less expensive options selected (e.g., doweled vs. dove-tailed corners, frameless vs. inset faceframe). H&H was somewhere in between. The clock is now running, so I'm packing the kitchen, moving some stuff into the dining room to use in the mean time, and after some guests this weekend, I'll demolish the kitchen next week. Then it's on to electrical and plumbing.

glacial kitchen progress

Progress on the kitchen has been slow, or at least feels that way. I've been finalizing the layout of the cabinet design and getting estimates. Since the cabinets are major part of the expense as well as the look of the kitchen, and I can't do it myself (without a major learning curve to learn cabinet making, and a lot of time), I'm getting three estimates. I can't blame the weather (which was glacial...there was ice on the bird bath the other morning), though that has kept me away from Habitat for several Fridays. I can't even blame jury duty, since the case settled while they were calling role, so it only took a few hours out of my day.

The first estimate is from Home Depot, which had a very helpful, friendly guy help me finalize some details while he was inputting the cabinet specs into their system. KraftMaid makes nice cabinets, and has taken some green steps, but doesn't specify FSC-certified lumber and would be shipping the cabinets all the way from Ohio. They ship a lot of cabinets, so there's some economy of scale, but still not the best thing.

Another estimate is from a local green home improvement store, EcoHome. They're a great shop, with a huge selection of eco-friendly paints, flooring, cabinets, countertops, etc. We got our bamboo flooring from them, as well as all the paint we've bought in the years since they opened. They have a company make the cabinets locally, using FSC-certified wood and low- and no-VOC finishes. This will definitely be the greenest option, but probably the most expensive.

The final estimate is from a local cabinet shop here in Oakland, H&H Cabinet. They were the last on my list, so the drawings were pretty complete by the time I got to them. They've got a small showroom above their shop which is only staffed some of the time, so the hardest part was getting over there when it was. This may be the cheapest option, but we'll see.

I'm hoping that EcoHome's estimate will be reasonable enough that we can go with it. They're super-knowledgeable, always looking for new and better options, and have done a lot of work figuring out the trade-offs involved in the various options. With the recession, they've been adding more variety to the products they carry. Instead of purely high-end stuff that's as green as possible, they're also carrying some more modest stuff that may not be as green. Regardless of whether we get the cabinets from them, we'll probably get the flooring (probably natural linoleum) and countertops (maybe Paperstone or Vetrazzo; the latter is made locally).

I'm also hoping this will all be reasonable enough that we can splurge a little on some art. We recently went to a local (as in around the corner) open studio. Turns out the house with the funny sculptures in front (a couple doors over from the house that burned a while back) belongs to a local artist who works with copper. Kenneth Griswa does some very high end installs, but also does some more modestly priced work, too. His portfolio includes some boffo copper backsplashes and range hoods as art. They're decorated using a variety of techniques, and are in a word, amazing.

In any event, the basic design of the kitchen is done. It's got the classic work triangle, and despite any limitations imposed by costs, it's going to be 1000% better than our old kitchen. It'll be twice as big, with lots more counter space and storage, and open to the dining room (via a large doorway and half height walls at the counters), so it'll feel even bigger.

DIY Chuckle for the Day

from Rhymes with Orange

Thanks, Millard

Millard Fuller, 1935-2009

Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, passed away today at 74. Over 1.5 million people around the world live in better homes built by Habitat volunteers, because of the organization that he and his wife Linda founded in 1976.

But countless other people, including K and I, live in better homes because of what they've learned volunteering with Habitat. I'd been volunteering with Habitat for 9 years or so when it occurred to me that I might have learned enough to design and build an addition myself. There's a lot of kind and patient people who taught me things to thank, too, but Millard Fuller has to be at the top of the list. Thanks, Millard.

Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

While many of you in home improvement land are dancing for joy that the temperatures are up to the 50s, I'm hoping for our temperatures to get down to the 50s later this week. You see, while you've been freezing your collective butts off, we've been basking in unseasonably warm weather, with clear sunny skies and temps in the 60s and 70s. Which is wonderful and all, but means we haven't been getting rain. We're facing the 3rd year of a drought, which will have a bad impact on an already dire economy. Lower temperatures usually come with a storm, and there's supposed to be one moving through beginning on Thursday. Even if that messes up my usual volunteer day at Habitat for Humanity, I'm all for it.

In any event, today I worked on the kitchen. Not by tearing down walls, removing old cabinets or the like. Not even by moving stuff out of the kitchen. No, I spent the day trying to find old files that were part of the overall house plans so said plans would open without complaints in the home design software I used. When I finally acknowledge that that wasn't going to happen, I moved to measuring the actual kitchen space. And realized that having the old files wouldn't have helped me that much, because the plans I submitted for permits didn't have exact measurements for the kitchen (or probably anything else, for that matter). So I've begun creating a new set of plans, this time for just the kitchen, so I can figure out exact cabinet layouts and such.