Running water is good

We now have a functioning kitchen sink - faucet, water, the whole works. WOW. I forgot how convenient it is to have running water in the kitchen sink. Actually, having a kitchen sink is pretty grand, too. :-)

Still have electrical work to do to get the outlets all working. Dan's doing that as I type this. Once that is done, we can move the coffee pot back where it belongs - on the kitchen counter. There's just something wrong with having a coffee pot in the bathroom.

The lights are in over the sink (see pix). By end of today I should be able to turn them on/off. They look great, and throw a lot of light. (Dan demo'd them yesterday.)

Backsplash Beauty

The back splash went up yesterday. We LOVE LOVE LOVE how it looks. The colors are darker and richer than the sample we had. To us, the sample and the real stuff is so different, that someone else might have complained about the look of the finished back splash. But we just keep walking in there, admiring it. Today, the grout goes up (on?), which will make it look even better.

Dan tells us there is a good chance we'll have a working sink & faucet by EOD. That will be a giant leap forward. However, the stove will most likely remain in the middle of the floor, since the painters are coming tomorrow. I can deal with another day of no stove. Working around the 'no stove' situation is easier than working around the 'no counter tops & no working sink' problems.

pix 1 - remember these samples way back when? See the tile sample - don't you think it looks different from the real thing?
pix 2 - the stove/sink wall
pix 3 - the area to the right of the fridge, where the 2nd microwave goes.

There Be CounterTops

Progress, progress. The crown molding is in and so are the counter tops. Looking really good! The one picture makes the counter top look like it's 10 feet long, doesn't it?

The microwave has been moved up; the new doors for the cabinet above it are on order.

Tomorrow, the back splash tile goes in.

Unfortunately, the stove is back in the middle of the kitchen, alongside the old corner cabinet. But that will go back tomorrow, too.

By Friday, we may have running water in the kitchen again!!!!!

*whine* We want our house back

Well, it's the start of week 6 without a kitchen. The end is in sight, but it's seeming like we'll never get there. (Halfway to the wall...)

I did not post on Friday, because Dan wasn't here that day - so nothing changed. We took the opportunity (of his being gone) to rip out the innards of the front closet, paint, and install Elfa shelving & closet pole. Looks so much better, and the option of adding more shelves (easily) is always there with Elfa. BTW, the 'WE' in that statement is, of course, 99% Bob. I provided company & opinions on placement of the shelves when asked.

We took some pix of our Dishwashing area in the basement. Since we have the dishwasher back, we only have to wash stuff down there every 2-3 days. Most items can go into the DW, but some - pots & pans, sharp knives, wine glasses - must be done by hand.

I did start re-loading the pantry. I'm glad I took "before" pix, because I certainly do NOT remember where stuff goes. Dan says we can start reloading the cabinets, but I don't want to do that yet. First, if I need to get at something while he's working in the kitchen, it could be difficult. Second, until the counter tops are installed (TOMORROW!!!!!), I just don't want my dishes in the cabinets.

Found a problem over the weekend. We took advantage of the cooler weather to open up the house. Well, opening the kitchen windows proved to be quite difficult. Investigation revealed that when the new casing was installed, the nails? brads? staples? went through the wood, and are sticking out into the window track. Brute force got the window open, and then closed again that night. We don't want to do that again until Dan checks things out. That won't happen until tomorrow (hopefully), because Dan is out sick today. I hope he feels better real soon, for various reasons.

Some of which are quite selfish. :-)

Homestretch

We're in the homestretch now. The trim work is going up. Lots of detail, and the kind of thing you probably don't notice. But it all adds to the beauty of the room.

The trim in the entry way is done, except for staining the wood strip at the edge of the tile leading to the family room. The coat closet doors are back up, and compared to the new pantry doors - they look AWFUL.

Pantry doors are up, minus handles. We have the handles but after discussion with Dan, we decided we want knobs on those doors, instead of handles. Knobs are easier to work with on bi-fold doors. Luckily, we know a place we can buy them that is fairly close to our house.

Counter tops are going in next Tuesday (7/28). Once the back splash is up, the sink can be hooked up, too. Hopefully all of that will be done by Friday (7/31).

Pix 1 = YAY. We have a handle!
Pix 2 = Molding above the cabinets on the fridge wall
Pix 3 = Divider cabinet now has all of the trim work (on the bottom)
Pix 4 = New pantry doors

Window casing, bench, other trim

Lots of work yesterday (Monday 7/20), most of which was spent on the bay window in the kitchen. The old bench, with an original stain that was almost black, has been replaced. The new stain, when completed, will match the cabinets. The new window casing is also in, and first coat of stain applied. Bob and I are thrilled with the way Dan has put up the new casing. It looks great! (See pix 1)

Kiki is most confused and unhappy over what Dan has done to her favorite spot in the house: the bay window. Since wet stain and cats are not a good combo, he put up a 'wall' of stuff to keep her out. (Pix 2) She kept going into the kitchen last night, sitting and staring at the 'wall' - and complaining loudly. Probably was thinkg, "Stupid humans. Move this stuff out of my way!"

The plastic wall between the kitchen and dining room has come down as well. (pix 3) That will save me miles of walking, I'm sure, as I prepare dinner. Now that I have a working stove, I cook there. But since I have no countertops, prep is still done in the dining room. Now it's a quick few steps from stove to prep area. With the plastic wall up, I had to go around through the living room.

Today, more staining. Maybe switch out the cabinet above the microwave? It's a little awkward cooking there with the microwave so low. Dan had thought he'd have time to move it yesterday, but EOD came before he got it done.

Happiness is...

A WORKING STOVE, MICROWAVE AND DISHWASHER. :-)

Don't they look lovely in their new home? No counter tops yet, but all three appliances were hooked up and are now working. YAY.

Lots of work done on Friday, most of which dealt with electrical so things don't look much different.

Next week the trim work goes in, so the pix will be more interesting.

Gonna move the microwave

(Hi Dan - did you find us this time?)

Dan moved the stove against the wall for me this morning. I got out a big pot, and pretended to cook, stir, etc. on the back burner. The microwave is definitely too low. I kept banging the lid on the underside of the microwave. So either Thursday or Friday of this week, Dan will take out the 15" cabinet and install the 12" cabinet that's in the garage now. Susan will order new doors.

The pictures really show that the two appliances are different colors, don't they? The microwave is much older than the stove. We were not able to get the same color when we got the stove, but came pretty close - we thought. The difference is not so glaring in real life - at least not to us.

Templater is here right now. He measured for the counter tops using some pretty sophisticated equipment involving lasers. He's out in his truck at the moment, creating the plastic templates. He'll fit them to the cabinets before leaving, to be certain the template is correctly sized. Then we wait - hopefully not very long - for the counter tops to arrive. Could be a week, more likely two weeks. [update: they fit perfectly. Susan signed off on them - literally, she took a pen and signed each piece. Everyone left, and the house is quiet.]

We're at day 25 since construction began, and we're ready for it to be finished. Getting the family room back in order helped a lot. Getting the appliances hooked up will help, too. And that is scheduled to happen this week.

Appliances are all in the kitchen

Appliances are all in the kitchen as of EOD on Monday. See pix 1. I didn't say they were 'installed' - just that they were in the kitchen. Even if they're not all in their proper home & hooked up yet, at least the fridge is working, and out of the family room, so we have our space back. Makes it a bit more of a walk to get to the 'refreshments', tho. :-)

The cabinet where the iron railing used to be - which I'm going to call the 'divider cabinet' from now on because TCWTIRUTB is just too long to type - is installed. There's still blue tape around the bottom, so I'm not sure what that means. There's only one shelf, and there should be two. But it looks great from both the kitchen & the family room. Hopefully, the rest of the electric and wiring can be finished SOON so we can move the phone/answering machine to its new home.

Love the look of the new cabinets. The new light fixture is wonderful. You can see it in pix 1.

Might have a problem - I called Susan to let her know, and we'll discuss more tomorrow when she's here. (The templaters are coming to measure for the countertops, and Susan wants to be here for that.) . The microwave is much, much lower than it was before. There will only be 3 inches of clearance between the bottom of the microwave and the top of the stove 'control panel back'. There won't be as much clearance between the burners and the microwave as before. Question is, will there be enough that I can have a tall pot on the stove, and be able to lift the lid, stir, etc. Bob & I don't care for the way it looks either, but as mentioned before - we're reserving final judgement until the pieces are all together. I'm hoping Dan can move the stove into the opening tomorrow so I can see how it looks/works. He doesn't have to hook it up - just put it there.

If it turns out we can't use the current configuration, we already have a cabinet in the garage that is 3" shorter. I think that would leave an acceptable amount of clearance. The cabinet in there was delivered in error - wrong size. It may turn out to be the 'right' size. Of course, I don't know how much trouble it will be to switch out the two cabinets. Won't Dan be thrilled. He's pretty easy going - at least here. He might go home and complain to his sweetie but he's always calm and pleasant here.

What is wrong with picture 1

So, look over the first picture - what is wrong? I'll tell you at the end of today's post. It's not the 'stand alone' base cabinet. That's just waiting to be installed. It's something else.

More cabinets are up (see pix 1 - stove wall. Pix 2 - fridge wall). They expect to finish up Monday. The templaters will be here Wednesday to measure for the counter tops. Then we wait. If we're lucky, it'll be a week before they are delivered. If we're not lucky - could be 2-3 weeks. We don't know yet if Dan will be here working on odds and ends while we wait, or if he'll just wait and wrap it all up the same week the counter tops come in. We'll find out on Monday.

We still don't know for certain, since we have not unpacked it yet, but Susan tells us that the 2nd shelf for the cabinet going where the old railing used to be, is packed in with the top for that cabinet. Dan can bore the holes to make both shelves adjustable - so that problem is not a problem anymore.

The blotchy sink panel may not be a problem either. Dan said to reserve judgement until the cabinet was installed in its new home to see how it looks. And it seems to look OK. Final decision will be made once the counter tops are installed.

Did you see the problem? We didn't until we got an email from Susan explaining that the corner base cabinet is the wrong size - the left side as you're looking at it is 3" too short. (Manufacturer error) It should line up with the cabinet above it. We immediately called Kitchen Studio for a more detailed explanation, since we did not understand how the templaters could measure for counter tops when the cabinet was the wrong size. We talked to Deb, who was most helpful. She assures us this will not be an issue for the templaters. She says it's the corner measurement and the way the wall is, that concerns them. Dan will tell them it needs to be 3" longer on that side, and they will be able to adjust. We're a bit nervous, but these folks do this for a living and they know more than we do abut the process. The correct base cabinet should be delivered in time for the counter top installation, so this problem should not cause a delay.

Progress

Cabinets are all unpacked, and some are up on the walls. Today, more cabinets go up, and maybe the new light fixture in the kitchen. You can see the lovely 'light fixture' we've been using in the picture of the corner cabinets. It may be ugly, but we were thrilled when that single light bulb was hung up there. Light! The new fixture will hang down a bit, and holds 3 up-to-100-watt bulbs. Lots of light!

So far, only 2 minor problems have surfaced. First, the cabinet between the kitchen/family room is supposed to have 2 adjustable shelves, and there's only one - and it's not adjustable. Second, the front panel on the cabinet where the sink is going has a blotchy, dirty looking finish. Dan asks that we wait for all the cabinets to be in, to see how they all look together. If we still don't like the look of that panel, it can easily be replaced. The picture doesn't do a good job of showing how bad the panel looks. BTW, there will be handles on the doors & drawers (not knobs) - they just have not been installed yet.

Cabinets are HERE

The new cabinets were delivered today. Bob says it took about an hour to get it all unloaded and into the kitchen area. Dan will be here tomorrow, 8am, to begin installation! I am so ready for this project to be done.

Status update

We had our weekly status meeting with Susan on Thursday (7/2/09). For the most part it went smoothly. We did let her know about our problems with the painter. She was surprised that he failed to paint the walls after she told him to do it. Susan said 'Try not to worry. It'll all be made right". So I'm trying not to worry. I just don't like the idea of that painter coming back and painting walls/ceiling with the new floor in, even though the floor will be covered. That guy is just plain MESSY. Plus, he'll have to sand again in some large areas before painting - and the plastic walls are gone.

We asked Susan to recommend a cleaning crew to come in and clean once the work is done. She offered to pay for the cleaning, but Bob and I just don't feel right about that. If she can recommend a reliable company that will do a thorough job, that's good enough for me. We've tried finding people on our own in the past, using Angie's List, and have not had good luck.

The amount of dust that the painter generated continues to amaze us. If he had taken the time to vacuum up the dust, we believe most of it would have been kept within the kitchen area, since the plastic walls were still up. However, when Jim (floor installer) had to sweep up the mess the painter left, that really stirred things up. (The painter might not have come out looking so bad if we had not been working with Dan first - he is as neat as the painter is messy. Bet Dan would have vacuumed up all that dust...)

The house will be all mine Monday-Tuesday. Bob will be at work, and the workmen will be somewhere else. Cabinets are being delivered on Wednesday so that will be a Big Day for us. Hoping all goes well, and we have cabinets installed by the end of the week. No countertops or appliances, but at least the cabinets will be in.

what is a stair nose

Just in case you are wondering, here' s a couple of pictures of a "stair nose" (stairnose?)

One is a view looking from the family room into the kitchen. The pantry is on the left. The strip of wood on the edge of the tile is the 'stair nose'. In the old kitchen, it was a piece of grooved metal, with screws holding it in place. Pretty ugly, and impossible to clean. The wood will be stained to co-ordinate with the new cabinets.

The other picture is a close up, showing how the wood wraps around the edge of the step to the kitchen.

The reason the wood does not extend to the wall on the right is because a low cabinet will be installed there. I do not know why the trim was not placed all the way over so the surface was level for the cabinet to sit on. Another question for the contractor.

Floor is done

The floor in the kitchen and the entryway is DONE. Today went very quickly. Jim was finished by lunch time. We love the look and the feel of the tile. Kiki had to be encouraged, but now she freely walks on the new floor. She does not like the wood stairnose trim, though. She will not walk on it.

In the 1st picture, Kiki is standing near the doorway into the living room/entry way. If you look past her, you can see where the kitchen table went. To her right is the water line for the fridge (ice maker). In the 2nd picture, she is in the kitchen. Behind her is the family room, but it's too dark to see much.

Floor prep done - 2/3 plastic walls are down

Yesterday, the new underlayment went down. The installer (Jim) had to work several hours pounding down old staples, scraping off drywall compound blobs, etc. Then cutting the wood, and stapling it down.

The dust level in the house has increased to an incredible level. Jim cut the new underlayment in the garage, so we wondered why the HUGE increase in the dust? Even the basement floor is a dusty mess. I wish now we had covered the furniture in the living room. I just had to dust off some of the furniture in the living room and family room. Vacuumed the carpets in a half-hearted manner just to clear out the middle. The stairs are filthy. We're going to have the carpets and stairs cleaned when this is all over.

The plastic between the family room/kitchen and between the kitchen/entry way came down last night. It is a joy to walk on a nice new, smooth floor and to cut through the kitchen.

Pix 1 = incredible dust level. And if the wooden furniture looks like this, you know that the couches, chairs, lampshades, carpets, and even the walls, are also covered - just not as visible; Pix 2 = Kiki is checking out the new 'floor' and she is very hesitant to step on it; Pix 3 = sample of what the tile will look like on the floor. It's not glued down yet, just put there as an illustration.