From Sub Zero to High Altitude

While the work at the house continues, the most exciting thing that happened last week was the delivery of the kitchen appliances. Normally, this would just involve a big truck loaded with a variety of boxes in the company of a few stalwart guys who manhandle the equipment up the stairs and into their assigned slots in the kitchen; basically, something like this:




This being our house, however, nothing could be quite that simple. One of the appliances, the Sub Zero Pro 48 is 7 feet high, 4 feet wide, 2.5 feet deep and weighs a whopping 875 pounds, without any food in it. Without getting too biblical, it would have been easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for this thing to get up the 3 foot wide stairs. The range was not much easier to maneuver up the stairs, but to be fair, it weighed only around 600 pounds.

If we can't go through the house, we have only one option: go over it and that's where Ed and this amazing ride come into the story:



When Ed first showed up on the scene, he impressed us immediately with some extreme parallel parking:





Next, the boom was prepared for takeoff and gently swung around to make sure it was not going to run into the house while it was operating:



The Pro 48 was then stripped of its doors, drawers and all other removable bits:



It was then put in a sling and hooked up:



It was then gently lifted a few inches to test everything:



3-2-1-Take Off!




Here's a view you don't see from your deck every day, you hope:



What goes up must come down:



And the perfect flight culminates with a graceful 180 degree mid-flight turn and a soft landing that would have put Nadia Comaneci in her prime to shame (click on the video below to see it).



Just to make things more interesting, Ed has to thread the unwieldy refrigerator past two bridges and slipped it into a tiny space barely bigger than the fridge itself -- Nadia had it much easier:



To really appreciate what a truly amazing piece of precision delivery this was, check out the exclusive CraneCAM footage that shows what the fridge saw in its brief but breathtaking flight here. The guy in the vest at the beginning of the video is Ed, whose voice you hear at the end guiding the fridge down to a soft landing like a NASA flight controller.

The hook returns empty for the range:



And hoists it with equal grace and ease over the house:



Once again, a bit close to the deck for total comfort:



Now getting the fridge into the narrow patio is not the same thing as getting it into the house and the crew had to engage in extreme Tetris to get this 1/2 ton piece of steel into the house:




Whew! It's finally in the house.



Eventually, all the appliances are nestled inside the house, waiting to be installed:


While Ed's spotting and precise guidance was critical to this operation, without a steady and precise hand at the crane's controls, the whole operation could have ended in disaster. In all fairness, we must acknowledge the cool-as-ice crane operator who stayed absolutely calm, confident, and fearless through the operation:



Of course while the crane was stealing the show in front, the actual construction and finishing work continued along. The back wooden deck is nearly completed:





After the sealer was applied, the upper deck looked absolutely fabulous:




Speaking of wood, the last of the hardwood flooring is installed in the entrance foyer:



As were the tiles:




And the Bathrooms get closer to completion with lights, tiles, soaking tubs, and plumbing:






Even my fortress of solitude is getting closer to being done:



And the fireplace is getting ready to receive its stainless steel surround:



Next week: More finish work and maybe a better use for the empty elevator shaft.

Enclose and Organize

The work at the house continues at a frenetic pace and the crew is actually working inside the inside of house, adding features to the inside of the house that will make it possible to organize the contents of our new house.

The most spectacular transformation was in the kitchen, starting from a couple of long bare walls:




and ending with this:




This tranformation came about thanks to some of the most stunning, meticulously crafted, and precisely installed cabinets by the artisans at Mueller Nichols.





I confess I don't know a great deal about making and installing cabinets, and I'm not sure why we have to inflate the new cabinets; I just hope they don't spring a leak:



Of course we did not want the bathrooms to think that the kitchen was getting all the cabinet action and had the same folks build equally stunning cabinets for the bathrooms:



Next, the small hanger that passed for the master closet went from this:




To this:




The other two bedrooms in the house also got the California Closets treatment:




At the same time, the hardwood flooring crew were hard at work finishing the installation of the floors:





and then turning their attention to the tricky matter of applying hardwood to the most severly uneven surfaces in the house: the stairs.




To help us see all of this improvement, our electrician has been busy installing lights, dimmers, switches and outlets:





And some of the lights can be aimed to shed light with great precision:



Not every light in the house of the extra bright variety and some, like these, shed more subdued illumination:



Since light and heat go hand-in-hand, we also need a few of these smoke detectors to make sure we don't get too much of the latter in the process of creating the former:



And one of my favorite features of the house, the elevator shaft, got accesorized with four battleship Grey doors this week in anticipation of the arrival of the elevator cab and machinery:



And here's the view from inside the shaft:



Back in the kitchen, there was some discussion about how to attach the sink to the newly installed cabinets:



As it turns out, the sink is not a problem, but the 3 foot tall faucet is whole different story:



Meanwhile, on the outside, the construction of the decks proceed with the upper deck getting a discreet gate for ingress and egress:



And both decks getting water and gas plumbed for future projects:



Next week: Finishing the cabinets, getting some appliances, and the last couple of doors.