Just got my costs for the countertops. The two pieces of soapstone with a very large custom bullnose was $300 for materials and $600 for fabrication and install (which wasn’t easy). Bathroom countertop for a fancy quartz that looks like limestone was $225 for material and $500 for fabrication, install and two sink cutouts.
Sinks were $45 each at my wholesaler
I have photos of powder room and new countertops but too tired to load them tonight
I’m wondering how realistic it would be for someone to sod the entrance area, or at least part of it, given the drought? It would look so nice…
Unrealistic. Way too much water and ongoing attention would be needed to establish and maintain new sod. (We had enough trouble doing it even in Illinois.) Not to mention cb intentially designed a highly desireable and low maintenance drought friendly yard. Lush green lawns are not expected in this area.
Lol, we are in Seattle, and whenever we look at a house with lush green lawns, my first thought is “this grass needs to go.”
cb, I’m amazed at the reasonable cost for those counters and sinks!! I’m in the middle of completing a bathroom renovation and was amazed at the unreasonable cost of our counters and sinks!!
I am very lucky to have a long standing relationship with my granite guy. I call him my ‘granite guy’ but I haven’t put in actual granite countertops for awhile because they don’t match the style of what I’m doing. As I’ve said before, the way to get really good savings is to find a prefab place where the countertops come in countertop size with the bullnose/edge already pre fabricated onto the piece. This is a huge savings in labor cost. There are places here where there are literally 100 choices of granite, marble, limestone or quartz in prefab. A single length of 96" only costs $300 average.
The main cost is in the labor. The fabricator has to come out to your house, measure up the countertops and create a template, then go to the material place and pick up the huge pieces, go to his shop and cut the pieces to the template. Then they have to haul out to your house and fit it. Inevitably there are still cuts and polishing that have to be onsite and then the final install. It’s a lot of labor cost.
When I can I save both of us a bunch of time by doing my own measurements (when I feel it is safe to do so and there aren’t some crazy cuts required) and go straight to his shop. I will walk around the back of his shop and look through all the remnants left over from the high price jobs he does. He will have entire slabs (not prefab stuff) in back that are gorgeous. In this case I picked out soapstone and another full slab that was not prefab stuff. But it’s a win win for both of us because he wants to get rid of this stuff in back and he doesn’t have to drive all over picking up materials and measuring.
Believe me, a full slab of thick soapstone cannot be had for $300 at any granite yard.
The best part is that when I am in an absolute rush, as I was for this master bath, I will run to his yard holding a piece of cabinet and some tile and walk through and make a decision in 10 minutes and he will bust his butt to have the counter fabricated and out to my project by the next day. They did a measurement and template when they were out installing the soapstone. So I paid $500 for the fabrication in his shop, delivery and about 2 hours of cutting/polishing/installation onsite x 2 guys.
You have to be a contractor to get what CB is paying. If you hire a contractor you will be paying what “the consumer” is paying. I paid about $600, labor only, for the installation of cabinet, granite countertop and all the hookups to my “granite” guy. I have all the material delivered on site. Unfortunately, my granite guy was shot to death by gun in a fight over a woman.
Not allowed to install green lawns. The City actually pays people to take out their lawns and replace with drought tolerant. A drought tolerant landscape is a big selling point here. We still haven’t finished setting our sprinkler heads and installing the timer for all the piping we have in the front yard.
I notice in all the flip shows, including Flip or Flop in Southern California, that they just roll in a bunch of sod but I’m not sure if they ever install the irrigation system required to keep that lawn going???
I’m not a contractor, but I think it is that I have been doing business with the fabricator for many years, including a lot of jobs during the recession years which they still remember and appreciate
I loaded a bunch more photos to the Flickr group with descriptions. A couple of design dilemnas going on still. Mostly, all of a sudden after the master bath countertop got installed I HATE the coloring of the grey cabinets. But I have been talked out of pulling them apart and trying to paint them a different shade of grey. It’s not as bad as the photos depict, but still I am embarassed on how the grey is a little ‘off’ in the room
As far as I know we do not have any showings today so I am going to try and resist cleaning all the floors again for the 100th time because the guys are going to be tramping through the house to get some things done upstairs. We did have a showing scheduled for 9:15am this morning but that was cancelled. The couple came through yesterday and spent a lot of time but decided that the bedroom setup was not good for their young children. The bedroom setup is kind of strange where there are 2 bedrooms sharing the jack/jill bath but one of those bedrooms has the glass exterior door which is the only access (from house) to the backyard. Our back yard access is one of the key drawbacks to this house I think.
What we need to accomplish today:
We have started the back fences and they are about 1/2 done and 2 guys are working on finishing them today
We HAVE TO GET garage stair handrail installed today. I know my carpenter is going to turn this into a major project but I keep telling him that this handrail does not have to be a masterpiece, just functional.
We have several areas that need to get drywall patch/sanded/painted by end of the day, most noticeably the big hole in the master toilet area. But we also need to finish up the basement bathroom and one of the exterior closets that just had the drywall installed, but never mudded, sanded and painted.
Need to haul off as much stuff from basement as possible
Need to fix dumbwaiter (I have a specialist coming this morning)
And, we need to finish the fancy trim in the master bath to install the sconces. This trim needs to be carefully cut, puttied, sanded and painted. We have special paint that matches the cabinetry
We are up to 643 views and 23 saves on Zillow!!!
As a comparison, the house listed on Liggett in 92106 only has had 49 views since listing months ago!!
I really feel that spending the big bucks for that gorgeous staging in the living room has made the world of difference with our photos. For example, we had an Interior Designer (not an agent or buyer) actually come to the Caravan just to see the interior design. I know that she was drawn by the photos
cb, everything looks terrific. I know that the pix don’t show the colors exactly, but the master bath cabinets and countertop look great to me. Love the soapstone counter on the top deck next to the dumbwaiter. You’ll get everything that needs to be taken care of done before Sunday. Your guys love you and will work hard because you take such good care of them.
This is the home stretch. Soon you’ll be rolling in profit!!
I looked at the new Flickr pictures. The detail in the sconces that you described as “horrible little Grandma edging” actually goes with the detail on the oval mirror. I think it looks fine!
What will the new fences look like?
Is there more finishing or cabinets to be built under the long soapstone counter next to the dumb waiter on the balcony/deck?
ETA: I see now that the wood braces under the soapstone counter are temporary.
Stunning!
On the top deck I was going to install wine frig and a set of drawers but then started thinking…“what if they don’t drink wine? Why would they want to go all the way up to the top deck to get a bottle of wine for dinner? What kind of cabinets can I put in here that will withstand the elements outside? Do they have to be custom built?” and on and on.
I just gave up and set the counter a little high so they can shove something in there later. I do have a weatherproof outlet set under the counter and above the counter for whatever the buyer wants to install
The new fences will just be standard fencing but have the same dark stain as the wood railings on the back balcony to match the house
Love that soapstone counter! The sconce shades look charming in the photos. I like the diamond-shaped pleating.