Feels Like Home

yardwork

house
Originally uploaded by ElizabethLB

We went ahead and had the front yard landscaped. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the money given the economy, but T really was bugged by the dirt and weeds. And given the slope, it was hard to fix that without really doing the whole thing.

It looks nice now, and should be fabulous in the spring when the perennials come up.

More photos on flickr.

Conservation and savings

We've been in this house for a bit more than a year now, so now we're able to do same month year-to-year comparisons of our energy use.  We've been steadily working on making the house more energy efficient, so I've been curious to see what the impacts are.  We've replaced the windows, one of the toilets, clothes washer, dryer, boiler, fridge, dishwasher, and stove.  Basically, the only things left to do are the hot water heater and the air conditioner...

So, the envelope please...

• Electricity -- Dominion Virginia Power has a handy-dandy button on its site that generates various comparisons for you once you've logged in.  It shows how much you paid in a given month compared to the previous month and the same month the year before, and divides the change out among different temperatures, different number of days in the billing cycle, change in prices, and "customer-controlled use."  So, we paid $71.20 in May 2008, down from $95.02 a year previously.  And the rates went up in that period, so they claim that customer-controlled use saved us $27.28.  So, a decent percentage savings, but not that impressive in absolute dollar amounts.  Even with the forthcoming 18% rate hike, it's going to take us a long time before the improvements pay for themselves.  (Obviously, the energy savings were not the primary reasons we made these changes, so we're not upset by this.)
• Gas -- Washington Gas doesn't offer this kind of comparison, so I have to sort of eyeball things.  We used 13.2 therms last month, versus 63 therms a year ago.  That's because it took us a while last year to figure out how much energy our old boiler was using keeping water hot even when it wasn't sending any into the baseboard heaters.  Once we figured out that we needed to shut the boiler off in the summer, it dropped down to 32 therms. (The remainder is for the clothes dryer and water heater, both of which are gas-powered.  Our new stove is also gas powered, but you'd have to work really hard to spend more than a few dollars that way...)  The more impressive comparison is February to March, when our use dropped from 258 therms to 151 when we installed the new boiler.  That improvement clearly is cost-effective, since our February bill was close to $400.*
• Water -- We get billed quarterly for water, and haven't paid more than $100 per quarter.  While the washer and dishwasher use less water than the old ones, I don't expect it to make a noticeable difference on our bills.  We put in a low-flow showerhead but I'm guessing that it impacts the gas bill more than the water bill.

Dominion is making a big deal out of their new conservation plan, but I'm pretty skeptical.  Based on my results, my guess is that just showing people how much their energy use costs won't significantly affect usage unless they also adopt variable rate pricing, where electricity costs a lot more during peak usage times. (Dominion does not appear to be doing that, since their demo says you'd be entering the rates from your bill.)  I think this is mostly an attempt to convince politicians to give them approval for the transmission lines and coal-burning plant they want to build.

* When I see stories like this one about people with $400 monthly electric bills, I have to assume that they have electric heat, and very poor insulation.  I'm not sure I could run up a $400 electric bill in this house even if I ran the air conditioning with the windows open.

Cross-posted to my main blog.

Done (for real)

Breakfast bar
Originally uploaded by ElizabethLB

The table top for the breakfast bar arrived on Friday and we got it installed without too much trouble. We're pleased with how it looks, and it's so much easier to serve the boys breakfast without having to run back and forth to the table a million times.

The table top is butcher block, and the legs are from Ikea. There are only two legs -- the back is attached to the wall.

Bar stools (high, medium, low)

We're going to put a counter under the window in the "breakfast area" part of the kitchen and so we've been looking at bar stools.  I've been keeping an eye on the Craigslist options, but mostly they've convinced me that there's an awful lot of truly ugly bar stools out there.  There are also a lot more people selling bar stools in dark woods than in light ones, and I think we need light ones to go with our kitchen.

Some googling led me to these chairs at cooking.com:

I think they're lovely, but no way am I paying $628 each for barstools.

At the low-end is the Ikea Franklin chair:

But, I'm nervous about a folding chair, since the boys will be using them and they've been known to rock, climb, etc.  And they're just not as nice.

So, we've decided to go with an intermediate option, the Kyoto barstool from Design Within Reach:

(but in natural birch -- they don't have an image of it on their site)

I like it a lot, but I have a feeling that if I hadn't seen the $600 chair first, I'd be thinking that $139 was too much to pay for a chair.  But by comparison, it seems like a bargain.

Finished! (well almost)

Finished kitchen
Originally uploaded by ElizabethLB

Here's the kitchen with everything in place and the walls painted.  We still need to order and install a table to go under the window in the breakfast nook, but the main project is done.

(We went with Behr's Mystical Sea for the walls.)

More pictures over at Flickr.

so close

From the breakfast nook
Originally uploaded by ElizabethLB

The floor is in now, and we're *this* close to being done. We're just waiting for them to put in the cabinet hardware and clean up so we can start unpacking our stuff.

almost done

  stove side 
  Originally uploaded by ElizabethLB

The countertops were installed last Friday, and the tile* went on the wall yesterday and was grouted today.  We've got a working sink, stove, and dishwasher.  Hopefully the floor will go in this week.

*Right after they told us that the tile was on back order and wouldn't be delivered until next month, they delivered it.  Don't ask me. 

More photos are in the flickr set.  We're taking suggestions for what color to paint the walls that aren't covered by the backsplash.

Status report

They were able to move the lights over, without moving the cabinets.  They put drywall plugs in the holes, but still need to patch them up.  The microwave has been installed and is working, and the other appliances are in the kitchen, but not yet hooked up.  (It still beats having them sitting in our dining room.)  The electricians installed all the undercabinet lights and plug strips.

So, here's what still needs to be done:

• Hardware installed on cabinets

• Countertops installed (including sink)

• Pendant lights installed

• Display shelf cut down to fit behind pendants and installed.

• Dimmer installed for overhead lights

• Ceiling patched where they had to move the lights

• Dishwasher connected (water line and power)

• Stove connected (gas line and power)

• Fridge connected (water line and power)

• Flooring installed (because we're doing sheet flooring, they said it
  should be after everything else)

• Backsplash tile installed (the tile was backordered, so this won't
  happen until next month)

good news, bad news

  uh oh 
  Originally uploaded by ElizabethLB

The good news is that the cabinets are in, and they look terrific.  The bad news is that it's clear that they messed up the placement of the recessed lights -- one of them is partially behind a cabinet.   I think they're going to have to move the cabinets again in order to fix it.

More pictures at flickr again.

moving along

  everything's gone 
  Originally uploaded by ElizabethLB

The contractors have been busy all week fixing the walls and ceiling from the holes left from installing the lights (and from the various lights and vents that are going away).  They were even here both days over the weekend.  The cabinets were delivered today, and they'll be installing them starting tomorrow.  Supposedly they'll be ready for the countertop fabricators to come and take measurements on Friday.

More pictures in the kitchen renovation set at flickr.