Fairfax Journey

One of the joys of home ownership is an ever-present task list. When we finished building our home ten years ago, I made a list of 50-odd things that required completion, most of which still await my attention. Some items have been added and resolved, like the failed foundation sump pump I spent two days replacing last month, or the tree that came down in September. However this is the happy story of knocking an old item off my list.

During construction, we purchased two large pieces of silk-and-wood-stamped artwork from our dear talented friend, Tomoko Murakami. Tomoko taught me how to make silk art more than 15 years ago, and you can see the pieces on her website, Yusaifu #7, Blue and Red. These 70”x80” translucent panels were perfect for the large walls of the house, so we designed light boxes into our central stairwell landings, sized exactly for them.

…Except that we were so out of money, we couldn’t finish the lighting and mounting. So I carefully hung them in front of the boxes, where they looked interesting — but not exactly stunning — without back light. I don’t think a single guest has commented on them over the years, which perhaps tells you just how important proper lighting is for visual artwork.

Meanwhile, lighting technology has progressed in good ways. Back then, it would have required maybe six hundred watts of Lutron-dimmable fluorescent lights, and the $3000 was just not in our budget. Now we can buy strips of warm efficient LED lights with electronic dimmable power supplies…and 300 watts of lighting at a cost of $700 is sufficient for the whole project.

So I did it. The house is transformed, the dimly-lit stairs are now bathed in gorgeous color, and the core of the house has a luminescence that carries throughout, into all the rooms and out onto the street at night. Tomoko, I bow to your creativity, and Nancy, I bow to your vision. I feel replete.

Although it’s not yet done. Now I must fabricate the frames that will finish off the pieces. One more item back on the list.

Today we got the final signature on the job card, and received our occupancy permit.

(YAAAAYYYY! WOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!)

I’ve got to take a minute and thank all the folks on the home page, especially Bob Hartwell, Rich Dowd, and Brent Harris, who have participated in the entire project. And of course, Nancy. We couldn’t have done it without each other.

Of course, the final process was tortuous. The building inspection went well, and we got that signature on Monday. The fire department wanted a signed contract with an arborist to come trim and remove trees to meet fire regulations, plus a change to the alarm system wiring. We got that signature Tuesday.

Then there is the planning department for Fairfax. It took 4 phone calls with our architect, 3 with our geotechnical engineer, a letter from me, a meeting with our geotech on site, a letter from the geotech, a letter from the architect, and 3 visits to town hall to get the final signature. To be fair, there were two outstanding issues — drainage and slope reconstruction — raised by the town engineer. However, I cannot understand why that would delay our occupancy of the house — especially since the issues are really ours, not the town’s.

Whatever. We’re in. We’re moving this weekend.

Our first inspection for an occupancy permit is Monday morning, and I’m sure we’ll have a punch list of items to finish. But I’m pulling all the stops to get everything possible complete. I’m working half-time at my job, mostly nights and early morning, then working full time at the job site all day. Today’s been a 15-hour day, and I’m going to do some work when I finish this page. That’s why so much has happened, but I haven’t been able to blog in well over a week.

In the last 3 days:

• most finish electrical is done; 4 major fixtures still need installation.
• half the finish plumbing is done, and I’ve had to repeatedly call both Peter Levi and his plumber to get their ass on the site. It should have been finished last Thursday. They’ve lost parts, and I’m spending hours each day trying to get them what they need.
• final drywall punch list is done, all edges are straight, and all small problems are resolved.
• 1st floor tiling is done, and nearly all 3rd floor tiling is done!
• I’ve rebuilt a sink stand to fit into the ground floor powder room, installed mirrors, aligned light fixtures, morticed hidden hinges into doors, bought lights, switches, GFI sockets, decorator covers, occupancy sensors, motion sensors, more lights, waterproof socket covers, ordered more light fixtures, drilled and painted railing for cable rails, cut, drilled and stained cedar for even more rails, installed J-boxes, and prepared floor area for tile, epoxied metal reinforcement into the kitchen island for the counter, brought demand to folks to get them moving, bought lunch and drinks for crews, and made 9 hardware store visits, 3 plumbing outlet visits, taken delivery of appliances, hauled trash and cardboard to Marin Recycling, scheduled a Lutron Homeworks lighting programmer, and put in hours to create an initial mapping for the Lutron lighting system. Just 3 days. I think final exams at MIT were easier.

I’m too wiped to write more. Here are pics.

Front entrance, with Turkish Travertine tiling, and bluestone stepping stones in the landscaping.

Kitchen island, with the riverwash granite counter installed on the oh-so-cool Elkay sink, with a built-in drainboard.

Fireplace done, with more granite. The EcoSmart burner is the stainless steel square in the middle., and the back still has the protective plastic cover, with some writing on it.

Today’s accomplishment, the glass rail, waiting for the top cap and bronze cladding. This is also the top of the feature wall, with a framed light box on the right in the wall, to illuminate Tomoko Murakami’s artwork. Our pieces are the red Yusaifu #7, shown at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomokom/5200663356/lightbox and Yusaifu #8, http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomokom/5200070653/in/photostream/lightbox/

Now I have to go to work 🙂

*…or how I learned to skip workouts, and love Aleve 🙂

Tile. Pretty heavy stuff. Over the last week, we’ve taken delivery of about 16,000 lbs of it, plus another 8800 lbs of bluestone for the exterior decks that arrived a while ago. We’ve also received 5 granite countertops that weight 340 lbs each, 32 bags of Thinset mortar for the tile, and about 16 bags of mortar for the shower walls. Since I’ve either moved it all in my truck, or helping to unload it from a delivery truck, I’ve been getting plenty of exercise. I’m down more than 5 lbs in just a couple of weeks. Why didn’t I think of this before? Much easier than going to the gym. Not!

Here is our 26,000-lb garage. 1850 square feet of Brazilian slate on the right, 5 granite counters and 8800 lbs of bluestone on the left. Oh, and 800 lbs of solid wood doors in the back. The mortar and most of the Thinset are stacked elsewhere. It doesn’t look like much, but each of those 150-odd brown cardboard packages weighs about 60 lbs. I’m glad the foundation is thick. Yes, that’s a toilet hanging out by the doors, ready for 2nd-floor installation.

And the slate is lovely, even without any grout yet. Eduardo is a skilled craftsman, and places the tiles with precision, 1/8” apart, tops aligned within a tiny fraction of a millimeter, as Nancy looks on. The second pic shows a few tiles in the bedroom, and the variation in color (along with a few dusty boot-prints 🙂 The entire 3rd floor should be done by the end of this week, when we will get the appliances installed in the kitchen.

In the mean time, we’ve painted almost all the rooms, the cedar siding is done on the outside, and we have to clean alkali stains off the garage door, from the stucco process. Finish electrical work starts today, and I’ve brought all the light fixtures. Next week the finish plumbing will start. In two weeks, we should have lights and a working kitchen and bathroom. We still plan to move in by the end of June. Cross your fingers.