Saturday, February 14, 2009

kitchen remodel - day seven

Can't believe we've been at this for a full week now! Today was the first day of the payoff! I must admit that when we hit day three and I saw no cabinets, fresh electrical boxes, wires hanging everywhere, most of the walls just gone, some of the ceiling exposed, cardboard and dust on the floor, and a room that certainly didn't look like a kitchen and barely looked like a ROOM, I started to freak out a little... like, what had we done or, more accurately, what had we gotten ourselves into?!?!? It's a little nerve-racking to see that nearly blank slate and think what's it gonna take to get this back to looking like the inside of a lived-in house and what more will it take beyond that to make it look like a freakin' kitchen again! Well, come Saturday... we started to turn the corner today (or, a better analogy, we started climbing up out of the valley!). Megan's brother, Dylan, came over to lend his hand to our work and cabinets went up and appliances came in from the cold and I think I saw more cardboard today than I've seen in my entire life! I'm thinking about creating a hamster habi-trail (anybody else remember those) for Tyler out of the cardboard we have laying around! Anyhow, you came here for pics... So, here's the work throughout the day:















And, here's how we ended day seven (I'll take a picture of the garage where all the cardboard is tomorrow morning!):









Friday, February 13, 2009

kitchen remodel - day six

Today was a big day... We spun our wheels a little during the morning waiting for the electrical inspector (that is, an inspector who inspects electrical work rather than an inspector who lights up with electricity!) to show up and give us a thumbs-up so that we could start hanging sheetrock and get ready for the cabinet delivery. But, once the inspector showed up (11:45ish for an 11:00 appointment) and spent 2 1/2 minutes inspecting (thanks for making us wait!), we finally got the thumbs-up and got to work. Then, the cabinets were delivered a little after noon, so we had the delivery guys put all but one of them in the kitchen and then we worked the rest of the day with a kitchen full of cabinets... so, that's why the pictures look like they do.

First, a shot of the stack o' cabinets:



After the delivery, work goes on:







Here's how the dining room looked midday (not much has changed since Wednesday!):



Here's a sample shot of one of the cabinets out of the box:



And, the kitchen at the end of day six:







The dining room at the end of day six:



The garage at the end of day six:

Thursday, February 12, 2009

kitchen remodel - day five

Today, the electricians continued their work, so Megan and I went tile and granite shopping... we think we settled on a backsplash, but more on that later (because it's not yet settled). We spent a long time with the samples of the granite, the cabinet, and the backsplash tile (as well as the paint chips) trying to get a final concept of the full picture. Of course, I am terrible at visualizing, so I just sat back and listened as Megan worked through it all. Anyhow, only a couple pictures from today because I wasn't actually around to take many more than this...

So, here's how the kitchen looked at the end of day five:



And, here's the finished baseboards in the guest bath (where, if I failed to mention it in a previous post, we did decide to keep the marble.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

kitchen remodel - day four

Today was devoted in most ways to the electricians. More drywall came down to make room for the electricians to rewire, well, everything. Hugh worked a lot on the baseboards while I was running around making decisions, paying the bills and doing some of the simple grunt work. Also, Habitat For Humanity's "ReStore" came to pick up the old cabinets today, so the garage is emptier but our hearts are fuller (too cheesy?). Fewer pics today - only because so much of the work of was, how to say it?... invisible? Kinda.

So, here's where we started:



Here's a pic of the electricians and Hugh at work (I'm taking the picture, NOT slacking!):



The walls of the kitchen throughout the day:





Here's where we ended up in the kitchen:





And, here's the beautiful job Hugh did with the baseboards (which do still need to have the nail holes filled and a final coat of paint, but, whatever, they look fabulous as is!):


Tuesday, February 10, 2009

kitchen remodel - day three

Continuing work on the kitchen... third day. The flooring continues to go in to all three rooms and the drywall in the kitchen continues to come down - more and more each day! And... the garage continues to fill up. So, here are the pics.

Flooring in the living room (covered mostly by cardboard to protect the new floor from "the elements"):



Flooring in the dining room (here, you really get to see the floor - although it's covered with dust here):



Pics of the kitchen taken around midday. All the cabinets have been removed and much of the drywall is gone as electricians, plumbers, flooring people and, of course, WE work on:













Here's how the kitchen looked at the end of day three:





Here's how the dining room looked at the end of day three:



Here's how the back porch looked at the end of day three:



Here's how the living room and dining room transition looked at the end of day three:

r.i.p. captain

Megan's dad passed away around 3pm today. He had learned in mid-December that he had pancreatic cancer and nearly passed away over the holidays. He rallied and was eventually able to come home two weeks ago. He was very happy to be home and seemed to be very strong. We were starting to believe he’d surpass the 1-2 months that doctors estimated he had left and possibly stick around beyond May when his next grandchild is due to arrive. But yesterday he took a sudden turn for the worse and Megan and her brother Dylan sat with him nearly all day today. He was a great man who will be greatly missed.

Monday, February 9, 2009

kitchen remodel - day two

The job goes on. Today, the flooring installers came in (albeit a bit late and un-preparedly staple-less) and started laying the hardwood in the living room. All the furniture is packed into the dining... once the living room is finished, we'll transfer the furniture there and the floor will go in to the dining room. We have decided to keep the marble tile in the foyer, so less work for the flooring guys. Meanwhile, walls and soffits and lots and lots of drywall come down in the kitchen. We've contracted an electrician, who will start on Wednesday and we've scheduled plumbing estimates for early tomorrow. So, pics... first, the flooring progress (as of 4pm):





And, the kitchen progress (as of 4pm):





And, the kitchen progress at the end of day two: