The first one's always a throw-away :(

We had a great meeting with the new team last night: Eddie, Machell and Sandra met with Rita and me at Kitchen Studio. It was a very productive session.

In software, we usually say that the first one's a throw away. Unfortunately, Rita and I forgot about this. After nearly 6 months of design we realized there were some major things we wanted to change. All things considered, the team responded really well to this. Eddie is working on the changes now: the stairs going down are being moved, some walls are being reconfigured and some of the extension over the garage is being trimmed to save money.

Welcome Sandra McCauley

We've decided to add Sandra McCauley to the team (http://www.sandramccauley.com/). Sandra is an Interior Designer and we feel that she's the person we need to tie the house/project together.

Too good to be true :(

The "easy" pass through the Architectural Review turned out to be too good to be true. Someone in the neighborhood has raised a concern which triggered the AR into a public hearing (currently scheduled for January 2). I have a feeling I know who the neighbor is.

Grrrrrr

Story poles are up!

Woo hoo! The first physical work in our remodel happened today. The required "story poles" went up.



   

Nice! Architectural Review Board news

Eddie called today and said that the Monterey Architectural Review Board can process the plans "administratively" which means that we don't need a public hearing. Nice! I was dreading that.

The "storey poles" go up next week.

Design Blueprints

Cool - we have our first blueprints, the "design" plans:

HOA seems OK with the design

The HOA President said that he'd put the HOA stamp on the design. Great news! Eddie will submit the design to the city. Next step: getting on the calendar for a public hearing. Hopefully, we'll be on for the first Wednesday in November.

Final Design Drawings

We got the final design drawings from Eddie yesterday. Next steps: pass them to our Home Owners Association and then the city.

Eddie needs more time :(

Dang! Eddie's still not done. He's a one man shop and is very busy at the moment.

Frustrating >(

Secured the last of the financing

It's hard to express how much of a productivity enhancer the Internet is. I've done all the research and communications for the loans on the web (actually, I've done almost everything on the web). The various financing we're doing has all been completed via email and web forms. I've never met the person who's handling the loans - I've never even talked to him on the phone. The only physical contact has been with appraisers and notaries. Even with them, we've met at coffee shops or our house.

So, the money's here. Now, we need to finish the design. Hopefully, by next week Eddie will be done and we can start the process of getting city approval.

The Saga Begins

In June of this year, Rita and I decided to remodel our house. The considerations leading up to this could fill many posts (maybe I'll get to them someday). We proceeded in the following steps:

• Searched on the Internet for all Architects in Monterey that had a website.
• After talking to most of them it quickly became clear that our project was too small for most of them (which was a surprise to us).
• We narrowed down to 3 Architects that we thought we could work with.
• We spent 4 weekends driving around town looking at projects done by the Architects and checking references.
• After long consideration, we chose Eddie Hurt.
• After Eddie, we then went through a similar process to choose a Kitchen/Bath designer. We chose Kitchen Studio of Monterey.
  

The Story of Our Remodel

My wife and I are in the process of remodeling our house. I plan on blogging about it. So, here's the first post!