Tuesday

 

We met with the kitchen designer and contractor this morning and signed our contract for our kitchen renovation. The owner gave us a tour of his shop and we got to see how the cabinets are made. It was quite interesting. They use lots of computerized equipment. It was impressive. We got to show our tile samples to the designer. She liked the direction we were going. Of all our current samples, she liked the dark blue picket above. We agreed that the grout would need to be gray to keep it from popping too much; the gray would look more like the lead used in stain glass. She didn't think the style was too gothic or formal for our look. She did say that the pickets could be larger. I showed her on my phone the new tile samples on order. She said to feel free to drop by and show her when they arrive. 

We asked how many projects they had going on currently. She said, twelve, split between two designers. Two are in the last stages. It was helpful for us to know that information. I can't imagine keeping all those details straight in my head and dealing with all the anxious feelings and drama of construction. She is so relaxed and entertaining with her stories that you'd think we were her only clients. We're averaging about 3 hours every time we meet with her. 

Afterwards, we reviewed the contract and made a few small changes. We wrote a check for the deposit, and that gets us on their production calendar. We looked over some options for the  range vent. It's unclear if there is enough room in the wall cavity to do what we want to do. He says he'll come by when it gets closer to demolition and do some poking around in the walls to see what exactly we will have to work with when they remove the wall between the kitchen and the living room. The picture above is a vent that is recessed in the ceiling. There is a huge light in the center, but around the perimeter are the vents. It looks cool, but I don't think the fan apparatus will fit in the cavity, even though there is enough room for the part that shows. Also, I think it will be too far away from the cooking surface. It's supposed to be no more than 3 feet; ours will be 5 feet. John and I are both okay without a vent fan. They would install LED lights in the ceiling instead. There's also the option of a bathroom fan.

The bird of paradise is putting out fresh blooms now that it has room to breathe.

For dinner, we took the golf cart to Azteca Huarache for Taco Tuesday. We each got three chicken tacos for $7, a great price and free chips! Our total was under $20 including tip. It was the perfect evening meal. 

We headed back to Stirling Park in the golf cart with Toby for an evening walk.

I filled out a survey sent to us from the city on enhancing the golf cart experience in the city, including opening up new areas. We'd like to be able to cross Alt. 19 to get to the Causeway Plaza, the Causeway Trail and Publix. Of course, crossing Alt. 19 is a problem because of congestion, safety and it's a state road. There is currently only one crossing, and it's downtown. Main Street could also use more crossings to get to restaurants we like, but it's also a state road and very congested, and six lanes wide in those areas. Not conducive for golf carts, but they asked, right?