Washington Gas is a pain in the *ss

Due to pure bureaucracy at Washington Gas, we are delayed in putting in flooring which delays our cabinets which delays delays delays.

Greg has called numerous times to ask one man SID to input info. He was less than enthusiastic. Then, Mr. Lee, admittedly dropped the ball on some other small task which was a large step in getting them to turn on the gas.

My favorite so far is that Greg called only to have the gas people say we'll call you back to set up a time for your appointment. When Greg stated he had already called 3x and requested to speak to a supervisor, the representative said "sorry, all Supervisors are unavailable." Really? are you even allowed to say that? and then when someone DID call him back, Greg was unable to determine if he was a supervisor.  Only possible with someone from Wash Gas. 

Tomorrow, (this saga is on day 10 started day before Tgiving) well earlier but I can't remember all the details, our contractor has set up a CONFERENCE call with Mr. Lee, his boss? maybe? and himself.  We'll see how this goes.

The paint debacle--crisis averted (and other pix)

Greg took this picture on the Sunday we returned from Boston. Notice the color of the siding is way different than the color of the brick... was this on purpose? was this an error?

We now have scalloped shingles on the back part of our house. not sure if i like it....yet. its slowly growing on me. i think if it wasn't there, i'd say why does it look so plain, can't they jazz it up a bit...

After calling the architect, discussing with contractor the possible error in the paint color, the actual PAINTER came to me and told me that the light color is primer, the final work product will look like the bottom half of this picture where the siding and the brick side by side look very similar in color. PHEW we didn't have to get the whole house repainted.

 

They have now finished the masonry at the pillars and at the wall. now, WHEN ARE THE STAIRS GOING IN??? actually I talked to Matt today. He said the concrete for driveway would go in tomorrow, weather permitting and then the steps.

The painted brick now covers the window that we closed up where the old bathroom used to be.

close up of the pillars--and our messy construction site

I've kindly asked for the old paint to be tossed. again. this is now the 5th time. i asked in person this time. we'll see. (and the chair and the destroyed light fixtures.)

the fan is here because the gas company is inept.

retaining wall to the side between us and the Carros

retaining wall back corner where figs were

retaining wall back wall

Slate for the screened in porch and more drywall pix

The colors of our slate

In this design but our stones will be a little less green, more blue, same variation

The stilts in action! he said "make sure to put the pic on facebook"

The solution will be to remove the 4 columns in the middle.

more stilts in action

double french doors out to the back yard

living room

Eat in

kitchen

looking down the hall at entry

dining

pantry

foyer now without bathroom and looking into living room

looking up from the old stairs

laundry room

stairs looking up into attic

attic

attic, my playroom

triangular linen closet

room on end--it was going to be D but now maybe S?

back hallway upstairs

master

my closet

master bathroom

office

office other side

more office

garage

stairs to Greg's music room

TV side of basement rec room

Kitchenette side of basement rec room

Greg's music room

Interior walls, interior issues

Today I went to the house to pick paint colors for the inside with my designer, Barbara.  The colors are picked.  Unfortunately the camera had no juice so I only took a few pix but I'll go back tomorrow.

Fireplace in the living room. why oh why did i take the mantel off... that is a major regret

this is now a gas fireplace and I can't figure out what to put around it...

These are the STILTS that the painters wear to paint the high walls, I have never seen that before. I wanted to get a picture of the guy wearing them but he had taken them off by the time I was armed with camera

FINALLY the stairs to the attic are there. I'm sure the weird jut out will be fixed.

mock up of the window sills--I like it. very clean and simple.

The main problem is the pass through in the kitchen. we liked this kitchen in a magazine and it was very similar to our lay out so we kind of modeled our kitchen with this feel--

See the pass through into the family room?

Our pass through is 28 inches. very narrow. I'm brainstorming ideas to make this a pass through we will actually fit through.  It was hard to see how narrow it really was without the actual pillars up... I'm sure Carib, Greg and I will come up with a solution... too bad all solutions come with a price tag.