A view of the house from the 2nd floor!

I have to take back my words! The work is almost done...just a matter of a couple days more.

However, we had some major issues with the painting stuff this time. They had to re-paint the kitchen thrice...God knows why they did not understand what we wanted in the first go :(

Still not a 100% sure how the exterior (portico) area will look after its done. keeping my fingers and toes crossed!

Not much progress in the last few days...the flooring guys are dragging their feet :(

The painters arrived today to start the scraping job. Am targetting round about the 20th for the whole thing to be over. If it happens any time before that, I will be *hugely* surprised!

Day 2 .. went to Jigani to pick up the granite for the living/dining and bathrooms. Good that we did not wait for the weekend. Can hopefully pick up new glasses on Saturday!

Hopefully by next weekend all the civil work should be over and then the painters move in. It will be a long and ardous wait for the painters to finish! - if going by their past performance is any indicator :)

Phase II - renovating portions of the Ground Floor - has begun today. Started with removing the flooring of the living/dining room. Have not seen the pogress yet -- am still at office. Will take a look later tonight.

Still settling in on the first floor. Have noticed a few issues -- they should get resolved while the renovation happens.

End of Phase 1...We moved in on 5th after the house warming on 4th May 2003. It went off well...95% of the people we had invited made it ... despite it being a very very busy day - on account of akshaya tadige.

Shifted the stuff from 251 in roughly 1.5 hours ... it was very very hectic. I dropped off by 9-ish in the night (on 5th May).

Shubz cleared up most of the stuff. Got some carpentary work and electrical work completed y'day.By this weekend, things should get streamlined...hopefully!

Finally...we are there! Its now just a matter of attending to the minor things...all the major stuff is done and tested! We got the shades for the show lights fixed last evening. They are looking very pretty!

The floor has been thoroughly scrubbed. Its now looking like granite! ;) The kitchen slab also has been scrubbed clean and is sparkling.

Looking forward to the festivities to begin. Akka arrives t'rrow morning.They - alongwith Sujata and kids are going to stay in the new house and do the beta testing!!!

Looking back, its been a *huge* learning experience!!! Will probably sit down and jot all the points down for future reference. Apart from other things, its been a huge sacrifice by all the elders in bearing with us and sasha :)...Hats off to them.

Its touch and go now. Just a few more days to go.Completed 2nd round of shopping for show lights. The couple lights that are pending are the drop light from the skylight and the one near the devara mantapa.

Coloring completed. Hob and Chimney fixed.

Major jobs remaining

01. Painting/polishing and fixture fittings of the doors
02. Installation onf the 2nd meter
03. Fixing of the DB in the ground floor
04. Patching up the area where the old meter was
05. Plastering and painting of the compound near the small gate
06. Painting of the kitchen area bricks
07. 2nd floor railing to be re-inforced + other minor grill-related work
08. Sliding windows in the work area

The aqua guard and refrigerator will be fixed on 2nd. Thankfully, t'rrow (1st May) is a holiday.

Need to start calling up invitees from this evening...

The truckers strike called off y'day.Things should hopefully move faster now.Windows for most of the frames fixed. They are looking good :) The glass bricks in Sasha's/Mummy's room is looking very nice too!

Just a few days away from D-Day.

No civil work happened in the last 2 days.Only painting activity going ahead full steam. I am really not sure if we will have the house in a ready-to-move state by 5th May :(

Bought the electrical fittings on Saturday. It was such a pain walking on BVK Iyengar Road under the scorching afternoon sun.We assume we got a good deal...only time will tell!

Last morning, we completed the road-cutting job to lay the additional electrical cables from the pole.It was quite a testing time. Laying of tiles on the external staircase began late last morning.

One of the walls of the dining room given one coat of Ivory Coast paint shade. Its looking cool.The windows are all ready for the carpenters to take over.This week should see the windows fixed and the first coat of internal paint completed.

Just 10-12 days to go before D-Day! Its been a long journey

Quick update : Finalized the external staircase flooring and got it delivered this evening. Roadblock cleared! The chipwud guy came, he saw and he went!!! Nothing has changed since the last 2 days on that front! Am quite amused :)

Looks like we have hit a minor road block regarding the flooring for the external staircase. Will go out this afternoon and scour some shops for interesting material.Except for painting, nothing else happened yesterday. All seem to have taken a day off!

Today, the masons will come to complete the external portion of the skylight.Keeping fingers crossed.

More activity on the kitchen front.Grill fixed on the sky light.The pipe that was running across the skylight was moved out of sight and fixed alongside the skylight - rather than across.Bought the replacement wash basin for the master bathroom.Its a normal pedastal kind of wash basin...just functional - no frills.

Painters and carpentars are on the job..I somehow cannot understand their pattern of work...they seem to be doing the same thing over and over!

Looking forward to the completion and moving in.

Dates for the function fixed at 4-May. External walls are being painted. Carpentars working full steam to get the kitchen and wardrobes completed. Glass for the windows fixed and kept ready for the painters to finish their job.Plumbing work expected to resume from t'rrow. Made a list of all the pending items (civil/plumbing/carpentary/painting/electrical) last evening. Hope to get most of them out of the way by the last week of the month.

Will have to start buying the electrical fittings this week.

Planning to shift on 5th and 6th May.

Been a long time since I posted anything. Wardrobes and lofts completely fixed.Kitchen done 50%. Doors and windows being readied for painting. External painting will begin t'rrow. All grills expected to arrive today (some of it was supposed to come last Monday!!!). 99% of the granite work completed.

Mummy, Sujata and kids arriving day after.Looking forward.

Apparently the wardrobe and kitchen units have arrived. About 100 pcs in all. Electrical work at the compound completed (almost!). Painters at the job in full swing. Plumbing 80% completed.

No progress on the staircase grill :(

Brought the kitchen tiles. Hope the guy who fixes it will do a good job of it. Keeping fingers crossed.

Plumbers doing a better job than expected! 50% of the sanitary fittings fixed. Its added a new dimension to the whole house. Had been to select the glass for the windows. Have asked Ravi to show us how the window will look after putting a couple of shortlisted glasses. One is dark in color while the other is white and translucent.

The granite folks are getting ready to fix the granite to the staircase. Waiting for the grill guy to come and fix the railings.

Wardrobe should come in t'rrow (Wednesday) evening.

Its almost like a lull after the storm. Civil work 99% completed. The painters are applying primer to the exteriors. Sump completely sealed. The grill guy should be coming in today to take measurements for the compound grill and the grill door on the second floor.

Sanitary fittings and the plumbers should arrive today. Expecting a lot of fireworks ;) ... keeping in mind the previous experience we had with the plumbers when they drew the lines.

Work area completed.

Wardrobes did not come over the weekend. Probably will come today.

Sanitary fittings finalized. Solar fixed. Painting work commenced on the outside. Grill for Sasha's room window fixed. Tiles below the kitchen slab along the wall fixed. Tiling complete in the common bathroom. Wardrobe should be coming in - in a day or two.

Today have to place order for the kitchen tiles - above the kitchen slab.

The kitchen slabs should get fixed today.

Slab for the workarea platform will come today.

All in all - hectic activity...

Lots of activity happening and the momentum is only going to increase - moving forward. Got the glass bricks for Sasha's room. The flooring is complete - except in the work area and the staircase. Plaster of Paris has been put on the flooring in the rest of the house.

Plastering of the portico going on in full swing. The sump is ready except for the covering. The inverse U-shape on top of the big window is complete. Hopefully, we should be able to finalize on the sanitary fittings by Tomorrow evening. The solar might be fixed today. Have to give them a call and check with them.

More work on the sump. Some minor civil work done. Need some more granite - considering the wastage etc. Inching towards completion :)

Finally, the big window was placed on Sunday evening. Incidentally, we were not there since we had gone to attend Shubha's (Kummi's daughter's) vara pooje! The sump is complete and its just a matter of giving the connections :)

After the shelling we gave to the electrician on Saturday, he seems to have realized his folly and has replaced the larger-than-necessary switch plates.

Skirting work completed (95% ie!!)

All the small (pinji) work completed. We have shortlisted the paint for the interiors -- it's called Ivory Coast. Is a very sober color. Lets see how it will finally look on the walls :)

The sump area has been dug up (H=8 Ft, L=8 ft, W=5ft). More work on the bay window/bathroom window and the main entrance. Today the big window will definitely be put up. Necessary support activity for this was underway last evening. 21st March is definitely out of the question.

Living room flooring commenced. The initial course for the seating in the living has been done so that the flooring can go on un-hindered. Plastering and finishing touches to the bay window of the gym room completed. Electrical plates have arrived with the necessary cutting. Finalized the grill for the internal staircase. Gave the measurements for Sasha's room window.

Kitchen/Dining/2 bedrooms and gym room flooring complete - except for the skirting. Bathroom flooring yet to start.Will be visiting the grill-guy today to finalize the staircase grill. Its long overdue.The sump might be dug today.The big window 'might' be placed today. Keeping fingers crossed. Electrical switches finalized. The boards will be prepared in a day or two and this week should see the electrical work 3/4th completed.

Maddi work completed. Parapet wall completed. One side plastering (on the inside) completed. Kitchen layout complete. Master bathroom flooring waterproofing and levelling completed.

Due to the delay in the kitchen civil work, thge flooring has got delayed and hence we are anticipating an overall delay in completion of the other stuff. Mar 21 looks a distant possiblity. Now looking at Mid April.

Maddi work 50% completed. Since we did not like the way the walls were built for the kitchen cabinets (hardly any storage space), we have asked for demolishing it totally and re-building it. Should be done this week. Granite work in the dining/kitchen/living will start this week.

Its getting really hectic. Second consignment of granite has come in. The three rooms are almost completely covered with granite (except for the borders). Support for the U-shaped kitchen platform completed. There was quite a bit of noise generated while cutting the bricks - it went on till around midnight.Feeling very embarrassed.

Hopefully, glass bricks for sasha's room will arrive today. So will the grill for that window.

Tonnes of work ahead. Hope I don't have a nervous breakdown!

Wiring Completed! Tiles in both the bathrooms fixed. Granite slabs being laid in the 2nd floor room. Two rows have been laid - they would have done more if only the window frame had been moved out on Saturday. The floor in the two bedrooms has been chipped .. the debris need to be put out. Placed the order for the kitchen and the bedroom wardrobes.

Hopefully, this week will see some hectic activity on all fronts.

Master Bathroom wall tiles laid 3/4ths. I have not yet seen it but apparently its looking nice :).

3/4th of the wiring complete. The floor is being made ready for laying the granite tiles. T'rrow should probably see the first few granite tiles being laid.Electrical wiring should get over by this evening.