Thank Goodness...it is eggnog and the holidays are here and my casa is finished!!

The house on Henry Street was, miraculously, finished one week before the new (from the ground up) Harris Teeter grocery store opened in Old Town. The ongoing joke was that it would open before my little addition & renovation was complete. 

While I sing praises and will refer my architect, Kim Beasley, to anyone, I will politely refrain from uttering (in profanity laden sentences) my contractor.

Feel free to call me if you are circling the wagons of contractors; I will gladly inform you if the company I used is on your short list. I will strongly urge you to turn away and run as fast as you can. Let me give you two examples and then I will concentrate on all that is good with my casa on Henry Street, which happens to be across the street from Starbucks.  My amazing boyfriend, Jeff, is delighted with that. Score one for me.

Story #1: When the porcelain floors that resemble wood planks were placed in the great room/kitchen/laundry room/pantry/coat closet and grouted, I noticed the grout, Summer Wheat, looked more like Neopolitan ice cream without the strawberry. The conversation went like this:

Homeowner/me: This is not the way the grout looked at Mosaic Tile. It is supposed to blend in with the tile, making it appear seamless.

Contractor from Hades:  That is how it is supposed to look.

Homeowner/me: I don’t think so. Look how this small portion is rich, dark chocolate brown. The entire floor should look like that.

Contractor from Hades: I think you should adjust your expectations.

Fast forward: HB Fuller's grout expert (who knew that position existed?) flew down from NY and with the skeptical contractor at my side, promptly announced after 5 minutes of inspection, “this is totally incorrect. There was a flaw in the grout. It should all be dark brown, so it blends in with the tile.”

I could have given the stink eye to the contractor; rather, I told him I appreciated his inspection and asked how it could be remedied.  The fix was done 2 months later (they were a little slow in their follow up but they also reimbursed me $280 for my grout cost, which was unexpected).  That barely made a dent in the Change Orders that I had to encounter.

Moral: Never doubt your instincts. Do your research. Stand your ground.

Story #2:  The final 10%.

The final bill was sent to me without any detailed documentation.  The work had not been finished; however, the punch list was still being worked on and it was endless.  Dragging their feet, not showing up for over a week, working on other jobs.  My architect, Saint Kim, informed me that I should refuse to pay the final bill until the punch list was complete.  

My new master bathroom shower kept filling up with water. I had used it twice so it wasn’t my hair. There was most likely debris in the drain.  They said it was a warranty issue; I held my ground. I won.

#3: final bill sent again. went over it with the intelligence fitting a Wharton graduate. What did I find? An overcharge in excess of a year’s supply of Teuscher’s chocolate or  4 Eric Javits purses or a day’s purchase of groceries at Whole Foods. You get the picture.  I dug through my detailed notes, sent the contractor my findings, refrained from calling them incompetent and received an apology. Great accounting. I paid the bill and was finished with them…until my new Toto toilet decided to keep “running”.  Now Toto has been called and since this is the 2^nd episode with the master bath wall mounted toilet, they are supposed to expedite a repair or replacement. 

What have I learned?

Keep your sense of humor.

Have 30% in reserve for "change orders". 

Even with the best research, you can still end up with a contractor you don’t like or respect.

Get a great architect.  Buy him gift certificates and give him gift baskets – because he did so much work he didn’t even bill me.

Fight fair and stand firm. Drop the “F bomb” when necessary. I did this one time with the said contractor when I found out they actually installed the  cheap $10 round drain in my new master shower…while the $120 custom drain was sitting in a box downstairs with the other bathroom accessories. Then, they proceeded to use a different color grout. Then, they actually built UP the tile around the drain instead of sloping it TOWARD the drain. Yes, three fixes. The “F Bomb” was warranted and had the effect desired.

Get a great kitchen designer. Dawn Summers, owner of  NVS Kitchen & Bath, was a tiger. She went head-to-head with the contractor and won every time. She reminds me of Melissa McCarthy – hysterical.

Mosaic Tile: excellent products, price, showroom in Chantilly and an incredible designer to guide me through all the different options. Ana Bowyer- genius.

Lighting designer: The BEST ...Alexandria Lighting. 5 minute walk from my house. Joshua is a combo of Amy Pohler, the personality of Mitchell from Modern Family and the king of lighting. Incredible prices and he has so much knowledge. My lighting is the best!! Still thankful I only had to purchase 2 Murano glass pendants for the space above the Island. One more and I would be eating Ramen noodles every night. Well, that isn’t true because my amazing boyfriend, Jeff, is the MOST amazing chef and cooks for me.

Furniture: can’t afford much right now. Have a couch and table in the great room and a new bed & mattress in the new master. The new side tables are coming from Boyle’s Furniture in NC. Great prices and great choices.

New project: yes. A new project.The fencing and back 'yard' and landscaping.

Groff Design is a lifesaver. The 3D color renderings and the creative design options blew me away.   White PVC fence with little maintenance. Gutters that would feed underground and surface elsewhere – no unsightly gutter guards on the ground. Low maintenance and low kill plantings, including a Japanese Maple! 

I also have a motion detector light in the back of the house. I was surprised my mom didn’t want barbed wire circling the fence posts. She still may put a “guard dog on premises” sign as a further warning.

I am living exactly where I am supposed to live – in Old Town, close to shopping, metro, church, restaurants and the bike / running trail. I am blessed beyond words can express.

  

I couldn’t have done this without my mom, who oversaw the project for 9 months. She had a heart attack in August. She is recovering and will be moving up to Old Town Alexandria soon – she will thrive up here. She jokes that the contractor gave her a heart attack…she might be right!

My middle name must be..."That will be a Change Order:

Side of the house with the new Hardiplank

picture #2: one of my two Murano glass pendants for the kitchen.

I can actually see the end of the tunnel and it has been paved with sweat, sleepless nights and costly errors...errors that my contractor has fixed at their cost. Yes, I am up to six change orders; however, they are all (always ending in two or three "zeros") issues that were unforseen. A few tears here and there, a few less splurges on dresses and pedicures. Today, I just realized that I am going to be getting standard white plastic wall and electrical outlet switches. So tonight, I spent 2 hours on the internet and found the coolest switches that don't have screws in them. Who knew? Why would I want to spend the extra money? I guess it is because I am actually celebrating the fact that my ex-husband isn't around any more to spend my bonus money. That is reason enough, believe me.

Mastic....a word I learned from my mom, who continues to amaze me with her vast knowledge of countless home construction terms. She also has a list of 60 (yes, that is right) items I need to review and check off with my contractor, who is most likely wishing he never took on my job. Seriously, how many home owners have someone on sight every day of the construction process? That was my mom...for 5 months. Fortunately, I have been here most of the time. I'm still worried that my washer & dryer won't fit into the new laundry room and more than sad that my dream item: the drop down ironing board won't fit. Remember, this is the same girl who is over the moon about her wall mounted Toto toilets...Life begins at 50 I tell ya....

I think a sinkhole has developed in my back parking space. the massive truck that comes in to remove the trash container is so heavy that it crushed the cement square where I park. I fear that my car will disappear down the hole. My contractor said they will fix it.

I'm inhaling too much dust and I'm too lazy to dust. Pathetic. I wash out my yogurt dishes in the bathtub. For those Seinfeld fanatics, there was an episode with Kramer about this.

My boyfriend has cooked for me more times than I can count. I bring him Ketel Vodka. I do my laundry over there as well. I tried doing it at the Laundromat a while back but it used 10,000 quarters.

My sub contractors are really nice and when I buy them lunch at the Chinese restaurant and Dominos, I know they appreciate it...that is, until I made them take down all the crown moulding. My painter informed me that the walls were never primed before the crown moulding and caulking was done. My architect came over, the owner of the contractor business came over...they are very accommodating but what if my painter hadn't told me the damage it would  have caused down the road. UGH!!! So now when they see me, they run to a corner of the room. Bottom line: it's my money. It has to be done right the first time. No apologies. Did I tell you my architect is so amazing? He's so smart and so direct and professional. He has stood by my side throughout the process and when so many things have gone wrong and I've had issues, he is there to make sure it gets done right.

One of my other favorite splurges: mini blinds built INTO the glass panes of  my French doors on the lower level and on the sliding glass doors in the Master Bedroom? No dusting! No installation of blinds into the doors, no clanging of the blinds when I open the doors - a very clean look.

picture above is my master bath (still unfinished) that has two gorgeous glass niches.