Our Orange Oasis

end of 2007

January 2nd, 2008

The end of 2007 marked some semi-resolutions of the various problems we’d been dealing with, and a huge surge of DIY improvements, motivated in large part by my parents coming to visit for Christmas.

We also navigated small claims court on December 19th, and won a judgement against Paul Martinez of PhaseOut Mechanical Corp, the second electrician we had hired to rectify and complete work left undone by K-Construction. PhaseOut took our deposit and did not do a single thing that we contracted him to do during an 8-week period, including returning our deposit. Since he did not bother showing up in court, the arbitrator said he believed us, and deferred judgement in our favor. Now we have to force him to pay up, which will necessitate hiring a sherif to repossess his car or something of that unsavory nature.

   Luke tackled drilling holes in the bathroom tiles. Initially quite intimidating, (drilling through glass tiles? Won’t they shatter, crack, and splinter into pieces?!?!) we looked up a section on drilling holes in apartment therapy, which had a nice step-by-step guide. After practicing on a leftover tile, Luke tackled installing a glass shower door with gusto. He also discovered that periodically putting the hot drill bit in a piece of ice in a shot glass was quite helpful. Then he drilled holes for the toilet paper holder (at long last…the toilet paper consistently in one place instead of migrating to various inaccessible corners–with predictably comic results!) and a multi-pronged hook for bathroom towels.

    

We continued to divest ourselves of books, clothes, and at long last: the French doors were finally sold to a modern dancer in Williamsburg.

My parents then arrived on the evening of the 23rd. On the morning of the 24th, my father was antsy to get started: he was going to tile our kitchen backsplash for us. We made a quick trip to the hardware store to obtain mastic, and then he set to for about 8 hours, putting up the white ceramic penny round mosaic tiles. He also installed the stainless steel backsplash for the stove, and got the range hood working. He brought a tile cutter with him, and spent a lot of time cutting the penny rounds in half to go around the edges. Since the electrical outlets in the kitchen were poorly placed, he also cut  the border tiles down to about two inches high so they would fit  correctly. After getting the tile up, I then had my shift in the kitchen preparing Christmas Eve dinner. On Christmas day, the half-cut penny rounds had to be glued in, and the next day, grouting of the backsplash commenced. Luke and I both took turns grouting. And voila! It was done. I just could not get over it. After living with ratty unfinished sheetrock for so long, it was a shock to look over and see it tiled. All in all a most fabulous Christmas present!

    

The final result, although we still have electrical issues, hence all the wires:

  some Christmas pix–my mom checking out the amaryllis

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