Thursday, February 23, 2017

KITCHEN REMODEL PART 2, PHASE 2...CABINETS & LIGHTS...

I guess you could say this is a quick little mini post as I just wanted to share a peek at the new lights we put over the sink area. They are the  Urban Renewal Rustic Iron mini pendant by Feiss. I think they probably hang down just a little too low but we really only had a couple of choices in length...either too short or too long.  I liked the longer look better so that's what we went with.

























While we are on the subject of lighting, I haven't decided whether or not I want to replace the original light hanging in the center of the room with something else or if I want to keep what's there.  The hubs and his sister seem to think I should get something new but I am kind of partial to the original fixture and may just try to find a way to bling it up a little.  Not sure yet.  What do you think I should do? Get something new or keep what's there?

In other news, you may have noticed that we finished installing the rest of the base cabinets the other night. We haven't put the doors on because of plumbing work that needs to be done for the sink.  The stove will be installed tonight, and the Silestone Quartz guys will be here in the morning to measure for countertops.  Yay!!!!

We still cabinets to install on the refrigerator side of the room and we will be picking up the new fridge Saturday.  I think I can safely say we will be wrapping this project up in the next couple of weeks.  I can't wait!!

Well, like I said a short mini post, but that's pretty much it for today.

I will be sure to keep you updated.

Ciao,


Tuesday, February 21, 2017

KITCHEN REMODEL PART 2...

So the phase of taking out the wall and doing the floors is done.....THANK GOD!!!!  Phase two is now underway.  We had a long weekend so we got some things done...not as much as I was hoping...but quite a bit nonetheless.

Friday was spent trimming out the entry way, ripping, staining and hanging luan plywood on the accent wall, and then installing window trim.  There was a LOT of measuring, marking, cutting and nailing going on Friday.  While I believe a master carpenter could have gotten this done a lot faster, this was an all day job for the hubs and I.






We took a break on Saturday from any carpentry work because we had to make a trip to Home Depot to pick up our appliances.  The orders got messed up and they couldn't deliver them to the house. Figures, right?  I guess that worked out to be a good thing because I decided not to take the refrigerator I had ordered.  I didn't realize it would stick out from the wall nearly 40 inches....WAY TOO BIG...so I decided to go ahead and order a counter depth fridge instead.  The hubs was kind of miffed and said we should just take the one I had ordered while it was there...BUT...I figured it's better to go through the extra wait time and frustration now then to be unhappy and miserable with a fridge that juts out into the room too far.  We are only doing this once so I want to make sure I am happy with the end result.

We are working on a deadline to get the cabinets installed as we already ordered the countertops and the company needs to come out and take measurements; so, Sunday we started placing and installing the wall cabinets. They were pretty easy to hang, level and screw in.  We were lucky to have studs pretty much where we needed them.





Once those were up the hubs decided that we should install the microwave before we placed any of the base cabinets.  I agreed, so we unpacked the microwave, read the installation instructions and hung the bracket.  That part was pretty easy but then we needed to put the charcoal filter into the microwave. Things went downhill from there.  We couldn't get the little door off to insert the filter.  It took over an hour for us to pry it off and we were afraid of breaking it.  There would be nothing worse than taring up a brand new (expensive) microwave.  We finally broke the door loose and installed the filter but then had trouble getting the little door back on right.  That took another 1/2 hour.  I'm telling you we were both about to pull our hair out.  I can't understand why the company didn't just install the filter when they were assembling the dumb microwave in the first place.  Go figure.  It's like they decided to purposefully make it hard on the consumer.

Next we had to tape the paper template to the underside of the cabinet to drill the holes to hang the microwave.  It was nearly impossible to get that X@#X$% piece of paper to stick to the underside of the cabinet right...so let's just say that my patience was wearing quite thin and I probably mumbled...or perhaps screamed...a few vulgarities and then had to repent.  Ooops!!!  Again, I can't understand why the company didn't make the template where you could simply lay it inside the cabinet and drill down to make the needed holes. It would make more sense that way!!  These companies make everything so difficult!!!!  Anyway, altogether it took about 4 hours just to hang the stupid microwave.  After that we put up our tools and called it a day!









Yesterday we installed some of the base cabinets.  It was another long and problem laden day...that included a really funny incident with the shut off valve on the cold water pipe coming open and spraying the hubs in the face...and wetting half the kitchen down. Hehehe!! Besides that, we did manage to get the peninsula cabinets installed and the open shelves hung.
















We will be tackling the rest of the base cabinets tonight and will hopefully be ready to call the countertop installers by the end of the week. 

I promise to keep you updated!!! 

Ciao,


Friday, February 10, 2017

KITCHEN REMODEL...THIS WEEKS PROGRESS...

Well things certainly seem to be moving slow but we have made a WEE LITTLE progress this week. The wall opening we created has been drywalled, taped, mudded, sanded and painted.









I am not a professional drywaller but I think I did a pretty good job.  Most of the surround will be covered in trim anyway, so no one will notice the imperfections in my work on that.  I did make sure the exposed areas were nice and tidy.  ;)

I did not install any trim like I was planning because I have pretty much decided it was best to do all that last.  We need to get the cabinets and counters in place before the one side of the opening can be finished, so it was just best to wait on all the trim work.

Some GREAT news is that all the carpenter glue came off the hardwood floors we uncovered.  We used super hot water and a buffer with sanding screen...That's it, no chemicals and no scraping or scrubbing.  I couldn't believe it!!!  It worked like a charm and now we are ready to give it all a final sand and then we will stain and seal it.  I am SUPER THRILLED this all worked as I really did not want to use laminate.















The windows we ordered came in the other day and we got them installed this week.  I am SUPER, SUPER EXCITED about these.  They are double hung windows, which mean both the top and bottom windows tilt in for cleaning. I can't express enough how happy that makes me.  Cleaning our 78 year old windows....running in and out of the house and climbing up and down the latter...and spending  A WHOLE DAY cleaning windows is a serious drag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  These will make that job SOOOO much easier!





AND THE BIGGEST NEWS this week....our new cabinets arrived yesterday....YAAAAYYY.











We purchased the Hampton Bay prefinished white shaker style cabinets from Home Depot. They are GORGEOUS.  I wish I had a better picture to show you but we have not unpacked any of them yet.

I only wish we were ready to install them but, we still have lots to do.  The main thing holding us up is getting the floors finished.  We will be working on that over the weekend and hopefully we will be ready to install the cabinets by next weekend.  We shall see!

Anyway, I will be sure to keep you updated.

Ciao,



Friday, February 3, 2017

KITCHEN REMODEL PROGRESS...IT ALWAYS GETS WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER...

"I think gutting my kitchen and doing a complete remodel is going to be sooooo much fun", said nobody ever!!

Okay, so I knew when we embarked on this project that it was going to be long and tedious.  What I didn't know is that I would be sick the whole time.  The dust from taking down the wall between the dining room and kitchen has caused me to have a permanent sinus headache.  I have had a non stop headache for nearly three weeks now.  Not even kidding.  I even missed a day of work over it. Seriously!!  I keep telling myself that it will all be worth it in the end.  Just seeing the openness of that space has made a huge difference in this house already and I can't wait to see how it all comes together from here.

Since having this headache, it has seemed very difficult to get motivated in getting stuff done but we are moving forward if ever so slowly.  I have drywalled and patched the new opening and will be painting and trimming it out soon.  Yay.  Perhaps the dust will finally settle down once that is done.  I hope!!!





We took the cabinets out earlier this week, with the exception of the one the vent hood is attached to.  It will go bye, bye soon and you may have noticed the refrigerator has been moved into the dining room. That's always a nice look, right?





We also ripped out the old flooring because the tiles were popping up and because we noticed there were hardwoods under the backer board.  I was super, super excited about that.  I figured we could just refinish the hardwoods and save $400.00 to boot by returning the new flooring we purchased. Plus, the floors would have one continuous flow throughout which is what I really wanted....BUT...there's always a BUT, isn't there?  We discovered that the backer board under the tile had not only been nailed down with eighteen billion, three hundred million nails, but it had been glued down as well.






Yep, construction adhesive all over the hardwoods...and I do mean ALL OVER...the whole floor is coated with it...SO...I'm not sure the hardwoods can be refinished....BUMMER....we are going to give it a try though.  Can anyone say....MORE DUST!!!!  Oh my aching head!!  Maybe we should just go ahead and use the new flooring we purchased.

Whatever we do, it better be quick because I just got word the new cabinets will be arriving in 5 days and the new appliances in 12.  I guess we better kick it into high gear and get moving on this thing!!

No doubt, this kitchen is at its worst right now, but then again with any of these types of projects, it always gets worse before it gets better.





We are at the part now where its going to start getting better....YAY!!!....ummm, because it literally can't get any worse.  Hahaha.

See you next week with another update.

Ciao,




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