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The Renovation
Renovation Conundrum: Should You Provide Refreshments for People Working on Your House?
Posted on Jun 23, 2008 5:39:01 PM  |  By KristinVanOgtrop

This past weekend we had a team of about eight men working outside of our house from early morning until late in the afternoon. (Like many guys in my experience who work outside, they showed up unannounced, and with a very loud machine. In this instance it was 7:13 a.m. on Saturday and my husband and I were awakened by what sounded like a chainsaw beneath our bedroom window. “What’s that!?!?!” my husband snarled, to which I replied, “I don’t know, but I think it’s in our backyard.” As it turns out, it was not underneath our bedroom window but...

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The Renovation
3 Months After the Renovation: All Cake, No Icing
Posted on Mar 12, 2008 10:46:41 AM  |  By KristinVanOgtrop

As some of you know, we spent a good portion of 2007 (and a good portion of our money) on a kitchen renovation. The result was nothing short of transcendent, and we moved back into the space in December. Already we've hosted family and friends, cooked meals both easy and complicated, and haven't broken anything yet. We haven't even stained the marble counters that both the contractor and kitchen designer advised me and my messy family in no uncertain terms not to get. Then again, it's only been three months, and a person can only drink so much red wine...

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The Renovation
19 Questions I Want to Ask, But Won't
Posted on Oct 29, 2007 1:08:18 PM  |  By KristinVanOgtrop

Questions you want to ask the person who repeatedly — and boy do I mean repeatedly — keeps screwing up during your kitchen renovation: 1. Was it something I said? 2. Am I too nice? 3. Am I not nice enough? 4. Are you a misogynist? 5. Do I remind you of someone you hated as a child? 6. Do I talk too fast? 7. Are you just not as smart as you look? 8. Is your tape measure all-metric? That would explain quite a bit. 9. Are you on medications that make it difficult to focus? 10. Are you...

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The Renovation
10 Kitchen Renovation Realities That You’ll Never See in Any Contract
Posted on Oct 15, 2007 11:37:19 AM  |  By KristinVanOgtrop

Our kitchen renovation is drawing to a close, or at least I think it is. Suddenly everything is happening really fast (staining floors, countertops and appliances arriving, etc.) which feels sort of like a horse speeding up once the barn is in sight. I can’t say enough good things about our contractor Rick, and he and his team have made the entire experience tolerable: more like a cavity filling than a root canal. Over the course of the renovation we’ve had to sign a few contracts and write about 3,000 checks. But there are a few items that didn’t appear...

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The Renovation
Topic of the Day: Knob and Tube Wiring
Posted on Sep 14, 2007 1:00:00 PM  |  By KristinVanOgtrop

I live in an old house and have recently discovered that it is filled with knob and tube wiring. I don’t really know what knob and tube wiring is, except to know that when you open up your kitchen ceiling you see these little white ceramic disks that under normal circumstances would look quaint and interesting if everyone you know hadn’t told you that they could basically kill you at any moment. (Here are some more pix of my renovation.) The downsides of knob and tube: it’s dangerous and makes your mother-in-law swear she will not sleep again until you...

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