Can't hardly wait!

I was put on a few days of bedrest two weeks ago, and it was probably the best thing that could have happened - not only did it give me the chance to catch up on some much-needed sleep, it also gave Erik and me a much-needed wake-up call: this baby is coming soon, and we need to get our house ready for him.

First call: Empire Today to figure out, once and for all, what could be done with the basement. Much to Erik's delight (he'd been fighting with the click-lock strips for over two weeks), our fears were validated by a professional: laminate flooring simply wouldn't work on our incredibly uneven concrete subfloor. Their quote for carpet was a bit too high for us (especially since we're still licking the financial wounds incurred by 300 sq ft of final-sale laminate), so we're having Lowes out to do some measurements this week for their bargain basement (pun intended) poly-blend. With a little luck, we'll have carpet in before I go into labor.

Next stop(s): Multiple trips to Home Depot and Lowes for paint and supplies. After a few mini-meltdowns and some very hormonal tears in front of the Olympic samples we agreed on:

Living room = Behr Liquid Blue

Nursery = Behr Corn Husk Green

Dining room = Olympic Navajo White

Bathrooms = Behr Swiss Coffee [yawn - it's just white]

Basement = Olympic Country Beige [off-white. oooh, risky!]

I know what you're thinking: "Awesome, picking colors is the hardest part!" Right? Yeah, that's what I thought, too - but I've only ever painted over nice, smooth, normal walls. As best we can figure, the previous renters "fixed" water damage by taking handfulls of spackle, lobbing it at the walls food-fight-style, then painting over the whole mess with a nice thick coat of latex semi-gloss. Water would then leak behind the paint, cause huge bubbles/ripples, and the whole vicious cycle would start anew. This means we're stuck with walls that have a lot of ...umm... character. So much character, in fact, that in one part of the dining room we actually had to peel off 3 layers of latex (down to the original drywall), treat for mold, spackle, sand, spackle, sand, tape, prime, and then paint. This same method would have worked (and is likely necessary) in the living room, but I lost patience. So instead, we've purchased several large pieces from IKEA to cover the more textured walls. Out of sight, out of mind.

Here is the finished* living room. I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to be able to unpack some of those book boxes - finally, our house is feeling like a home! I'll have better pictures once we move all the crap that's in the middle of the room.

And here is the almost-complete* dining room - we're just waiting on an out-of-stock sideboard for under the right-side window. Once we get that, we'll actually be able to [gasp] unpack our wedding presents!

*Just let me pretend they're done. We're playing Amish until I get around to making the window treatments.

And last but not least, mah huge bellah - 37 weeks (5/15). This child is going to be ginormous!

On squeaky wheels (and getting grease)

This post has been on hold for two weeks while I tried to fix my camera, but it's been too long since the last update so here you go - pictures to follow:

After almost a month of complete standstill, things are finally moving at the house again. How, you may be asking, did we manage to inspire such a minor miracle? Good ol’ fashioned tattling, folks. Observe:

To whom it may concern:
As both our 203k Consultant (Jim xxxx, copied on this e-mail) and Contractor (Ionita “Marcella” Rutherford, copied on this e-mail) have been incapable of responding in writing to my husband’s and my concerns, I am now attempting to work through Bank of America, our 203k FHA Rehab loan provider, to resolve our issues with rehabilitation work done on our home since Jan 8, 2010. These issues are detailed below. If this matter does not apply to your department, please provide me with the contact information of the Bank of America employee with whom I should be communicating.
1) County permit for electrical heavy-up not applied for until months after work was complete
2) Electrical heavy-up not done to code (took three months to fix and have inspected)
3) Roofing improperly installed – roof leaked three weeks after being replaced
4) Insulation not installed in outer dining room wall (was only fixed due to water damage resulting from roof problems)
5) Bathroom fans not installed (were supposed to be installed during roofing process – was never done)
6) Substandard work throughout house (especially drywall)
7) Construction debris never removed from backyard
8) Exposed asbestos during installation of kitchen door
9) Lack of communication regarding window installation – as a result, contractor picked locks to gain entry to locked bedrooms for window installation (all without homeowner notification)
10) Contractor used key to gain entry to home 10 days after being told to cease work, setting off burglar alarm (4/20/10)
11) Appliances purchased by homeowner on 1/19/10 (within 203k allowance) have yet to be reimbursed – Consultant has not responded to e-mails regarding when to expect reimbursement
12) Overall lack of communication throughout process
[Documentation/all related e-mails are available and will be provided to the person assigned to resolving these issues.]
Due to these myriad problems, we notified Marcella (by phone, as she does not respond to e-mails) on 4/9/10 that she was to stop all work on our home. There are several items from our original scope of work that were never handled. Due to the lack of communication from both Marcella and Jim, we are sincerely worried about what draws have been made from our 203k escrow account.
We require:
1) A statement of withdrawals from the 203k account thus far
2) Reimbursement for the appliances
3) Information on how to officially STOP the rehabilitation process and return all remaining escrow funds directly to our mortgage loan balance.

We would further appreciate the opportunity to submit, formally and in writing, a detailed account of the lack of professionalism and common sense that Ionita “Marcella” Rutherford displayed in the handling of our rehabilitation so that other potential homeowners are forewarned against using her as a contractor. At the very least, we feel that Bank of America 203k FHA Rehab loan specialists should be notified of Ms. Rutherford’s inability to apply for required permits and complete work in accordance with HUD’s specifications, as these are serious legal oversights.

I greatly appreciate your time and assistance in getting this matter into the hands of the correct person. Kindly “Reply All” so that all parties are included on responses.

I copied half of Bank of America’s corporate offices, our consultant, AND Marcella dearest on the e-mail. Our consultant responded within 30 seconds (which was amazing in and of itself, considering he’d been out of touch for 3+ weeks despite our multiple attempts to contact him) and as of this week (nine-count-‘em-nine days after this was written), the following has been completed:

Steps! Real, walk-able, ankle-friendly steps!

A fan! In the bathroom! Just like we’d asked for four long months ago!

Trash! Removed from the backyard so we’re no longer scaring potential buyers away from the house next door!

Debris! Removed from our dining room! (And just when Erik and I had gotten used to the idea of using overhead kitchen shelves as a sideboard. Darn.)

…and [drum roll please]… caulking!!!! It's not quite flashing, but we had to cut our losses on this one. Goodbye leaks, hello semi-real, working roof. (I still can’t f-ing believe those unlicensed idiots left it off in the first place.)
[UPDATE: So Erik and I were in the backyard the other day and noticed... they didn't do anything to the back dormer, only the front ones. It's totally awesome, because I was really hoping that we would still have work being done on our house three weeks pre-baby. SIKE!]

Since no parties involved ever want me within arm’s length of Marcella ever again (or in Erik’s words: “I don’t want our baby to be born in jail”), my darling husband has graciously taken over the management duties and is now working with Jim directly. I cannot thank him enough, because at eight months pregnant, I’m having trouble even keeping my alphabet straight these days. (Hear that, baby? You’re eating mama’s brains! But I still love you.)

A note: Our consultant gave me a verbal wrist-rapping for mentioning Marcella’s full name on this blog. I maintain that it’s weeeeelllll within my rights as a customer and US citizen, not to mention the single most decent thing I can think to do to protect others from her wretched work ethic, lack of common sense, and irresponsible business practices. So, I will repeat: Please carefully consider all other options and read my entire blog before hiring Ionita “Marcella” Rutherford (DBA L.A.W. Construction) for your home renovation project. Many thanks to Google for spreading the word!