So you want to renovate your house?

This is a victory post.

Few of you know the struggles that we've had with a little company called Lumber Liquidators. I'll make this as short and sweet as I know how. Here's the story.

August 27. Andy and Jessica walk into the local Lumber Liquidators store to check out a sale. Jessica has done a ton of floor research up until this point, so they know exactly what to look for, and exactly what is worth paying for. We find an interesting real wood oak floor of medium quality (but good enough) for a damned good price. We are assured that the shipment will arrive on September 21. Done and done.

September 20. Jessica calls to confirm shipment. It hasn't arrived yet, but they assure us it's on its way.

September 21. No call from Lumber Liquidators. Jessica calls them. They say that a truck just arrived and they'll check the inventory to see if our floor is on it. They'll call us back. No call back.

September 22. Another phone call to Lumber Liquidators. They claim their system is not functioning well and they are sure our wood will arrive that day (they have been claiming to be victim to a faulty system since our first visit in August). Little do Lumber Liquidators know that they delay of the arrival of the wood flooring means that we will have to delay a number of other items between us and move-in day, like the appliance delivery, painting, etc. Their tardiness is becoming a larger problem as we have to call all the other guys lined up and move dates back.

September 23-27. Same story. Phone calls to Lumber Liquidators. False assurances of a call-back. No wood.

September 28. One week has passed since our wood should've arrived. Andy goes in to the store to talk to them. Here's the story: "We sold 5 times as much of this flooring as we had in stock. As a result, we can't get you your flooring. Instead, you'll have to pick out some different flooring. No, we can't get you flooring equal to, or better than, the flooring that you have bought. We can get you more expensive flooring of the same or better quality, but not at that same price." So, here are the salient points, 1.) we had already paid for the flooring (like suckers), 2.) they were pulling a bait-and-switch, 3.) we had little choice but to pay more money for same/better quality wood because they delay in pulling our money out of Lumber Liquidators would've cost us another month of waiting for wood to ship in from someone else. On this day, we got a refund for our original payment (or so we thought), and paid $300 more for another oak floor - thankfully it was a better quality wood. The refund, we were told, would take 3-5 business days.

October 2. No sign of the refund in our bank account.

October 5-13. No sign of the refund. We make phone calls to Lumber Liquidators nearly daily asking for our money back. At this point, we involve our bank and complete an affidavit stating that Lumber Liquidators has promised us a full refund but we have not seen a penny.

October 15. Affidavit complete, we wait for Lumber Liquidators to respond. Nothing comes back.

October 16-25. We loop in Lumber Liquidators headquarters. They avoid/apologize/promise to make it right. They fall short every time. Every time they promise to call us back. Every time they promise to take our claim to someone who can do something about it. Finally, someone gives me the name and direct line of the woman in charge of our case. Bam. I spare her the whole story and simply say that I will give them six business days to refund us our money, and if it's not in our account by Monday, November 1, I am walking into small claims court and suing. Now, she knows as much as I do that settling in court is a much more costly route than just giving us our money.

October 26-28. Daily phone calls asking for the status and reminding her that Monday, November 1 is right around the corner and that this was not an empty threat.

October 31. I sit down to prepare the necessary paperwork to walk into an Alameda Courthouse first thing Monday morning. I see the funds were deposited yesterday.

I am at once filled with a sense of victory and rage. I want to punch Lumber Liquidators in the nose. I can't believe that this company only acts when their ass in on the line. Okay, I can believe it. But I don't like it. The threat of court was the only thing that gave us our money back. Those mother fu@*ers.

So, you want to renovate your house? These are the kinds of a-holes you'll probably have to deal with too (disclaimer: we've also had some really great people work for us). I'm spending some time online with the Better Business Bureau tomorrow morning.

Part 1 of some really exciting stuff

We've been neglectful. It's been a while. Our deepest apologies. In return, we offer our delightful readers a two-parter. I'll post a bunch of "before" pics here, and then you'll see our miraculous transformation. Okay, miraculous might be an exaggeration, but we've made some big changes this week and we're excited to share them with you.

To kick off the recent growth spurt, we had to take a little break. Remember, we're not taking weekends, so a forced day-of-rest is a really good thing. This is a pick of Dyna, Pili, and Andy on the dunes at Fort Funston. Beautiful!

Okay, back to the house. Andy has labored over the bathroom for waaaaay longer than any of us thought was necessary. There were many unforeseen issues and mishaps . The floor wasn't level, the leveling compound leaked through to the basement, the backer board was much thicker than expected, blah blah blah, it took a long time. Anyhow, this is a preview to the tile on the floor with a decorative border (the same decorative tile will border the shower surround that will use white subway tile). We were waiting for the plumber to finish his dirty work before Andy could finish up, and voila! the plumber came and went...

Since plumbing isn't that interesting, let's just cut to the most dramatic part. This is a picture of the area in the basement where the plumbers discovered that one of the two sewer laterals was congested with gravel and chunks of concrete. Upon purchase of the house we were assured that the line was clear. We weren't, however, told that there were two sewer lateral lines, and that the second wasn't clear. Since the concrete pad was already opened up, we decided to fix it. Now we will sleep well, knowing that our sewer laterals truly are clear! clear! clear!

The following pics are to illustrate the "before". The mudders came in today and patched up all the holes! The drywall went up and they'll spray primer everywhere to get us ready for painting. You'll see in part two. But for now, here's a preview...

The walls in the dining room, ready to be patched. The white boards are the background for the new wainscoting that will match the wainscoting on the left.

You may remember the bizarre wall that held up this part of the house and contributed to a funny layout. Poof! No longer. Andy and Dan worked hard to put this header in to the entry way. Because the walls were built before standard 2x4's were in use, the studs were only 2 5/8 inches wide. Therefore, we couldn't use a standard 4 inch wide header or the entry wall would not have matched the adjoining walls. After talking to a few carpenters and our engineer we finally arrived at a remedy that required minimal demolition and was adequate for the weight that the header will carry. Little did we know, but you can actually order a board that is 3 inches wide, so we went with a 3x8 after our engineer went through some calculations.

Finally, this is a pic of the west wall of the kitchen and the backside of the new entry between the dining room and kitchen. Remember when there was a fireplace there? Yeah, that's right. Well, observe Kimber's beautiful electrical holes now because it's the last time you'll see them...

Here's a last look at our friend Dennis (left of Andy). We call the ancient and very fire-happy floor furnace "Dennis". Why? Well, look closely and you'll see that someone spray painted "Dennis" on the side of it. Who are we to argue? In this pic you can see the rest of the basement as it stood this morning - the base of the fireplace is there, there are no posts into the supporting beam, and all our stuff is in there. This, too, will change.

And, to end this post on a fun note, here's a pic of Pili wearing her new pumpkin Halloween costume. She is THE CUTEST little pumpkin ever. I die.

Homestretch?

The title of this post may come back to bite us in the end. But we may be seeing the beginning of the end. Andy has spent a tremendous amount of time getting things right in that house. We often refer to the tv show, Holmes on Homes. In the show, Holmes walks into every house saying "I hope I won't have to do too much...oh no! We'll have to tear out the entire basement and start from scratch!" While things aren't that bad, Andy's definitely focused on doing things right the first time. Music to any good contractor's ears.

Here are some pics to show progress...

Dan and Andy framed the kitchen entry.

They included a small pantry next to the built-in. Access will be via a little door in the entryway between the dining room and kitchen. I hope to add a laundry shoot at the bottom. I love laundry shoots.

In the meantime, Eliza, Melanie, Sarah Isabel, Gianna, and I went to the Alameda Antiques Fair. I found the most amazing light fixture to go into the kitchen. It was such a deal!

The glass is an old, heavy, milky color, and the metal had a subtle detail. Beautiful!

In the meantime, I'm choosing paint colors. I'm using this image for inspiration. Grays, blues, and gray-purples. Things are looking great (apologies for the sideways photo - I can't fix it).

In other news, football season is starting. Dyna claims to be a Packers fan when her mom is around, but when Mel was away on vacation she revealed her true colors. Go Bears!

And, a rare showing of my baby belly. We can't wait to meet the little one (though we want her to stay in there for at least 15 more weeks!).

This week, we talk to a plumber, a drywall guy, our contractor to finish some of the main floor carpentry, our HVAC folks, and our Sears appliances will be delivered. Moving forward!

Potty talk

The bathroom is gonna get it. It's time.

Andy has been plotting his attack for days. The dilemma is that the floor is a bit uneven - too uneven to ignore. He's come up with some creative ways for dealing with the problem, but seems to be succumbing to the more conventional methods.

One thing's for sure. The next owner of this house has it made. The owner(s) previous to us would've just slapped another layer of linoleum on top of the floor and call it a day. Us? Not acceptable. It'd keep us up at night. Actually, it kinda does - we end each day counting down the hours until we're scheduled to be back at the house for more work. Is there enough time for dinner, and a movie, and a good night's sleep? Will Pili's walk in the morning be abbreviated or turn into a late-morning walk? Good thing both of us are resolute. This is totally worth it.

I drove to Redwood City today to pick up a craigslist light from this really sweet old couple. It was plucked from a craftsman remodel and I think it'll go in our dining room. It's fairly large, over 20", and it would command a hefty price in a boutique vintage spot like Ohmega Salvage. And...if we change our mind I'm sure I can sell it for at least as much as I paid for it on Craigslist. Yay craigslist.

We had a lovely dinner tonight with our cousin Rachel and her boyfriend Nathaniel. I finally branched out at Cafe Gratitude and ordered something other than Yo Soy Mucho. In a menu full of self-affirmations like "I am effervescent", "I am graceful", and "I am beautiful", why in the world would they make one called "I am a whole lot"? It happens to be my favorite dish. I just cringe every time I have to say it. Anyhow, it was delish (as usual).

We No Speak Americano

We understand that many of you have been experiencing some confusion as to what Andy and Jessica are doing these days. Some of you are under the impression that we are very busy people. Those people would be correct. Some of you wonder how we can be so busy if we aren't yet parents, don't yet have a (finished) home to tend to, and are living the good life in tony Walnut Creek. What would we be doing with ourselves day in and day out? In an effort to clear up any confusion, Andy and Jessica have created a video to clear up any of the confusion.

Zip Car launch, and another wall bites the dust

On Tuesday of this week, we attended the launch of Zip Car's Low Car Diet. It was a blessedly quick affair, with some goodie give-away's, etc. The best? They included Andy in the Low Car Diet as well! As a token of our affection and gratitude, we decided to take goofy pictures.

Yesterday, Andy started to take down a most ridiculous wall. It has presented a bit of a mystery from the start. Without seeing it, my descriptors will be meaningless, so I won't bother. Simply study the picture. If you look closely at the construction of the wall, you'll see beams and headers that don't connect, severe over-construction, and a downright goofy build. Some materials are new, some are old. We wonder what story this wall could tell. Perhaps it was a post, then a wall? Maybe a half-wall? Anyway, it was a bad idea...so, goodbye wall!

Here is the old wallpaper found under many layers.

We'll spend the next couple of days pricing out a materials list from our contractor and get a move on the structural stuff. Yeehaw!

Post Family Saves the World

One of the first things we were introduced to when we first moved to Chicago was a design collaborative called The Post Family. A group of five guys, with a shared vision, decided to stop talking and start doing. Besides throwing great art openings and New Year's parties, they are a group of good people leaving their mark. I am proud of them for expanding their reach and I hope you enjoy this video.