Kitchen Reno: Countertops FINALLY!

We've finally got countertops! Yahoo! It only took twice as long as we anticipated - five weeks is a looonnnggg time to be without a sink! Now, we still have to connect the plumbing to the sink, but my favorite resident master plumber is going to tackle that job tomorrow night.

Cam insists on getting in to the picture.

Now that the counters are in, we can install the stove, too. I opened up the microwave and plugged it in (without the cabinet), so at least we'll soon have all the appliances in and working!

The two mis-sized cabinets that had to be re-ordered are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Unfortunately our contractor probably won't be able to get back here until late next week. Bummer! When he can get here he'll install the final two cabinets, floating shelves, crown molding, trim boards and drawer handles and pulls. I can't wait!!!

After that all that's left is the tile backsplash (tiles are ordered) and the floor. We don't have the quote yet on stripping and re-waxing the Spanish tiled floor. Jamey thinks maybe we could attempt it ourselves. I'm lukewarm on that suggestion.

 

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Kitchen Reno: Week of NOTHING

Six weeks in - what's happening this week? A big FAT nothing. Our drywall crew was supposed to show up last week to finish up the remaining chunks. When Jamey called them on Monday, they asked "what we were doing, again?" "Oh, yeah...the kitchen" was their reply when Jamey reminded them. They said they'd get here Monday or Tuesday. On Friday, we called again. No answer and no returns.

It's been over two weeks since the counter top people were here to measure, so we were anticipating a call with install dates for either late this week or early next. Instead, Nicole emailed to say the install date is "slightly delayed" because of the holiday, so the install date is June 6. I'm not sure how a one day holiday throws us off by two weeks. Needless to say I'm disappointed. I scheduled the stove install for Friday of next week, thinking an extra week on the counter top schedule would be sufficient. So...no stove for another two weeks, but more depressing: no sink for another two weeks.

I guess a few things did get accomplished this week. The refrigerator and dishwasher were delivered. I touched up the paint behind the fridge and got it all installed. Jamey's installing the dishwasher today. Oh, and Jamey broke us foot on Tuesday. Stubbed his toe on our kick-@ss ottoman. This thing is solid!

Kitchen Reno: One Month In

We're a month in to the renovation. Yesterday Jamey said he'd like to start eating his oatmeal in a paper bowl. Oatmeal that sits in a bowl without getting rinsed or popped in to a dishwasher quickly forms an almost-cement like quality. In fact, we're thinking of using oatmeal as the adhesive for the tile backsplash. It's harder to get the dried oatmeal out of the bowls than it was to remove the old tiles from the wall!

Here are some updates:

Electrical work is done! I love the hanging lights, I love having lights under the cabinets. Andy also got the outlets installed: four outlets in a strip under each cabinet - rock on!

Counter tops are in the works: we don't have a delivery date, but fingers are crossed for late this week.

Fridge and dishwasher show up on Tuesday. Stove is on order, but won't be here until May 30. This is actually great, because the stove can't get installed until the counter tops are installed. Plus, we have to get a plumber out here to move the gas lines for the stove.

Backsplash tile is on order; no estimated delivery date, yet though. We're working with House of Carpets, and they're great. They're also sending someone over to figure out how we can repair and re-wax the Spanish floor tiles. These tiles are all over the main floor of the house. I love them. Jamey thought maybe the kitchen was a good place to start removing them and replacing with something different (wood? bamboo?, not sure). No way. These babies give the house a lot of it's character and charm.

And....deconstruction again! I started ripping out the closet in the entry (between garage and kitchen). Our plan is to put cubbies there. Each of us will have a specific spot for coats, shoes, book bags and lunch boxes. Right now they get scattered from the back entry all the way through the family room (it seems to be much to inconvenient to actually slide open the existing closet door and toss something in). I've found a plan on Pinterest and our friend Ev is going to be build it in for us. Can't wait!

Kitchen Reno: Master Plumbing

If Jamey ever decides he's done with designing circuits, he's got a life as a plumber! When Jason sawed down the breakfast bar wall to make it counter height, we discovered the plumbing line serving the sink and dishwasher was about 2 inches higher than the new counter top height. Jamey spent the weekend re-routing this line. While it looked like it was going to be a giant pain, it turned out to be one of the smoother jobs we've encountered - especially connected to plumbing! Only two trips to Menards and almost no swearing!

Kitchen Reno: Lists of Do-Overs

Here's a list of everything we've had to "do-over" so far:

1. ordering kitchen cabinets [see previous post: 2 cabinets were six inches too short!]
2. placing electrical runs for under cabinet lights: electrician will be here next week to RE-install since he installed where this is an open shelf
3. vent for range hood: Jamey moved the vent two weekends ago, before dry wall crew came to dry wall the big hole behind the range. Then last week our contractor got a set of revised plans from cabinet people and the measurements for that wall were 9 inches off. Now Jamey has to move the vent pipe nine inches to the left. He's not a happy camper.
4. drywall x2
5. painting. This isn't a complete do-over, but my estimates about where paint would show and would not show were off...in some locations rather drastically. Remembered the side wall under the desk area, but completely forgot the back wall. A small area behind the fridge is unpainted. Shoulda just painted the whole dang thing.

Dishes are Done!

Where is your favorite place to wash dishes? The laundry room? Me, too.

Kitchen Reno: Installs Begin

Today was full of great and not so great news.

Great: cabinets are going in!

Not Great: two of the cabinets are the wrong size and need to be re-ordered. (Actually this one is a wash in the great/not great race for us since the two cabinets sit on top of the counter top and wouldn't get installed until counters were in anyway. The re-order should put them here at about the same time the counters get here.)

Great: dishwasher and sink are out,

Not Great: we found about half a bag of walnuts and other evidence of some type of rodent party behind the dishwasher. I feel bad...this whole time I've been accusing Elway of creating the odor.

Not great: electrician installed electrical lines for under cabinet lights where the open shelving goes. Now he needs to rewire that, and the dry wall crew has to come back and fix dry wall and I have to re-paint that area.

It's just so exciting to see the cabinets going in...I want to start putting things away!

 

 

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Kitchen Reno: Ending Week 2. Lessons Learned

Week two = two times the fun with drywall! We anticipated needing drywall repair behind the stove after the removal of the ceramic tile back splash and anywhere the electrician needed to remove dry wall to string electrical wire. It turns out he removed a few thin strips in the ceiling and some patches on two walls. We removed a large chunk from behind the stove. Not to bad.

Monday: no drywall crew.
Tuesday: no drywall crew.
Tuesday night: Lisa gets cranky and anxious about time. If drywall doesn't get done on Thursday, we can't paint with my parents on Friday & Saturday. I did not want to try to paint the ceilings and 18 foot walls with cabinets installed. Contractor assures us everything will get done, these guys know what they're doing...and then adds "we're not their bread and butter." This does not put me at ease.
Wednesday: drywall crew arrives. Huge mess.
Wednesday night: all the texture the dry wall crew has sprayed onto the ceiling patches has bubbled up and looks like it's about to fall off. Jamey leaves for a fishing trip.
Thursday: drywall crew returns and scraps bubbling texture off ceiling.
Friday: drywall crew returns again, re-sprays ceiling with a new layer of texture.

We were still able to paint on Saturday. We ended up buying a paint sprayer. This was a great purchase: it made painting the ceiling much easier. However, clean up was a b$%#h. Directions indicated the over spray area to be 2-3 feet. That thing shot paint ALL OVER. My mom and I were on our hands and knees brushing tiny little paint splatters off the tile floors for hours. Note to self: the next time we spray paint, make sure everything is hermetically sealed!

Wall paint is done! I can't believe how much I love a bit of color on a wall! The color is "mushroom bisque" and it already makes the whole space feel so much warmer than the "off-white" previously gracing these walls. My parents insisted we paint behind the fridge. My dad thought we should just go ahead and paint everything, but I insisted painting behind the cupboards was a waste of time and paint. Jamey came home late Sunday night from his fishing trip and the first thing he said about the kitchen was "why didn't you just paint the whole thing?" Did I marry a younger version of my father? WTH?

Lessons learned: 1) have a much better understanding with your contractor: find out if your job will be the main job for a crew during the duration of the project, or if it's a "fill-in" type job for his/her company. In hindsight, we've now figured out that we're a fill-in job. The problem with that, is this is not a fill-in job for us. If I could offer any advice to a contractor it would be: treat every job like it's the most important one you've got going on. What was the point of our contractor telling me our job wasn't "the bread and butter for these guys [dry wall guys]"?  I don't know, but the point I got was that I probably should have hired a different contractor.

2) Construction is dirtier than one imagines and clean up takes forever. I've mopped the floors twice now (once with a mop and once on my hands and knees with a rag) and there still seems to be a layer of construction dust settling.

3) When using a paint sprayer tightly cover everything in a half-mile radius.

Kitchen Reno: One Week Down

It's officially been one week (and a day, by the time I'm getting to post) in to our kitchen renovation. Over the weekend, Jamey ordered the exhaust hood and started relocating the duct work. The original kitchen didn't really have a hood, but instead a built in fan with a shelf over it. New plans call for a stainless decorative hood (no cupboards on top).

Today the sheetrock crew comes in and starts repairing. The big mess will get bigger. We left the plastic coverings over everything in the family room. I'm afraid to go home tonight. Elway is lit because he's locked up in the laundry room (the kitchen is his usual day-time hang out spot).

Last night Willa and I made no-bake cookies. They never actually formed balls (we're eating them with spoons), but they're delicious.

Here's what we used:

1 cup oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1 cup coconut
1/3 cup ground flax
3/4 cup mini-chocolate chips

Mixed it all together, dished it into a bowl (like chunky granola) and had it with a glass of milk as our night-time snack. Delicious!

Kitchen Reno Day 5

We have lights! We have a BIG mess. Good bye to the sad, old track lights, hello to five bright recessed lights. I can't believe putting five little holes in the ceiling generated enough drywall dust to coat the entire family room. I'm glad I ran home in the afternoon and at least covered up the couches, ottoman and rug with plastic. Still it looks like someone exploded a powdered sugar bomb in the house.

Jamey brought Cam to the pool after his gymnastics class so we could all watch Willa swim for awhile. When Cam and I got home, the electrical guys were hard at work in the kitchen. Then Willa and Jamey came home. There were ladders in front of the fridge and blocking the doorway back to the pantry. I ended up going out the slider and sneaking back in through the garage to at least get to the pantry. Crackers, yogurt covered pretzels and leftover brownies from a catering job I helped with on Wednesday made up the dinner and night-time snack menu.

 

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Kitchen Reno Day 4

The electrician came last night; our first step in re-construction (instead of DEconstruction).  I didn't realize or know that our job isn't that big, therefor he's doing this job AFTER "real" day jobs. He showed up around 4:30 and worked till 8ish. He'll come back and do the same Thursday and Friday. Our make-shift cooking/eating set up still revolves around the location of the kitchen; so when he's here working, making a dinner in any form is not really possible. I've packed most of the foods/daily dishes into the pantry, the refridgerator is still in it's original location, the sink is still functional in it's original spot and the microwave has moved on to a small table directly outside of the kitchen (along with bowls of fruits and boxes of cups).

Since I didn't actually know this was all going to down as it was until about 4pm yesterday, Willa and I punted on dinner. She had swimming at 6pm, we got home at 4:45 and found Andy working away. So we hung out a bit, catching up on homework, then hit Blimpies on the way to swimming. I'm not sure what J & C did, but we found them hanging out downstairs when we got home.

Tomorrow, the recessed lights will get installed, and the wiring for the hanging pendants and under cabinet lighting will go in. The pendants I ordered arrived yesterday, so hopefully they'll get installed also. "Let there by light!" Lighting was a major problem in this kitchen. Daytime? No problem. Two nice windows to the back yard and a giant skylight. Any other time it's a cave. There were two lights left on an old track-lighting set up, no lights over the peninsula, no lights under the cabinets and one light above the stove.  The new plan includes five recessed lights, lights under the cabinets on both sides, lights above the stove and three hanging 10-inch pendant lamps.

Tonight, in order to be prepared for the rest of the electrical, we'll rip out the rest of the counter under the windows. We'll keep the sink in tact for another week. Whew.

Free Pallet Ottoman

I saw a post for a pallet ottoman on Pinterest this fall that consisted of two pallets stacked together with industrial wheels underneath. That looked do-able. Pallets are all over - usually free. I tucked it into my mental 'projects' bucket and randomly thought about it whenever I'd see pallets lying around.

Then, after the Turkey Trot in mid-November, my friend Larisa was helping me finish my barn-wood table. That project didn't take as long as we thought it would, so we decided to tackle the ottoman project. Her idea included padding though - so....

Project: turn an old piece of crappy-wood pallet into a really cool, padded ottoman.

Step 1:
Find a pallet. We found ours for free at a tile shop. Mine is 34 inchs by 35 inches. ($ = 0)

Step 2:
Shore up the pallet. We moved most of the boards from one side (so it was hollow on the bottom). We then used two of these boards to fill in the sides. We wanted all four sides to be solid (the pallet originally had two sides open). We used some left over luan (a thin plywood) on top. The other boards we trashed. Loosing a few boards made the pallet only slightly less HEAVY. ($ = 0)

Step 3:
Install foam. I used 16x16x5 inch foam squares. These were cheaper than getting the big giant foam cut to the exact size. I attached the foam to the pallet with spray adhesive, but I'm not sure this actually did anything or not. I ended up using three squares of foam; I cut the three squares down to size, and used left over chunks to piecemeal the fourth square area.

I'm not sure the spray adhesive did anything to hold my foam to the base or to each other, but I used it generously, anyway.  ($ = $16/per foam square = $54)

Step 4:
I collected old towels and wrapped the wood base/sides. I wanted to soften the hard edges of the pallet base and wanted padding all the way around. I used staples to attach the towels to the bottom and sides of the pallet. After this, I needed something to "tighten" everything up. I deconstructed an old fleece blanket (you know the kind where two chunks of fleece are tied together at the edges?). A single-yard baby-blanket size was perfect. I took one piece and stapled it underneath one edge, then tightly pulled to the opposite side and stapled it down. I took the second piece, layer it perpendicular to the first, and stapled at both sides. This created a taute finish. ($ = 0)

Step 5:
Upholstery. I bought a yard and one fourth in standard width of upholstery. I did not want to sew any pieces together; my pallet size was almost perfectly proportioned to the width of my upholstery. Almost...is the key word. I did not have enough fabric to get completely all the way under the pallet to staple; on two sides I had to staple at the very bottom edge of the pallet (more photos coming to demonstrate). This was OK, except I needed something to finish or cover the selvege edge which now showed at the base of my ottoman. My initial thought was a leather strip, about the size of a belt, attached with upholstery tacks all the way around. I haunted Michael's craft story, JoAnn's fabric, Hobby Lobby and online retailers looking for this material, which apparently doesn't exist. I bought small samples of several other materials (canvas belt material, quilt bindings, etc) with no satisfactory results. In an effort to help me finally get this bad-boy done, my partner graciously offered up his old belts. Four "vintage" leather belts, complete with buckles (for a touch of whimsy) now finish the pallet. We had to improvise the attachment. The upholstery tacks I had were 7/16th of an inch: much too small to go through a layer of leather, a layer of fleece and a couple of layers of towels. We ended up using wide screws to attach the leather belt. Then we removed the actual tack part of the upholstery tack and I  used Gorilla Glue to attach the decorative tack head to the screws. Worked like a charm, except for the heavy amount of glue on my finger tips (which stayed on for about a week before it finally wore away). ($ = $33 [purchased on sale])

Step 6:
I pre-stained and waxed four wooden furniture legs before attaching them. We had some black landscaping mesh (the stuff you put down to prevent weeds from growing up through your mulch) that we used to finish off the bottom (to essentially hid the mess of layers underneath). This is totally unnecessary; this thing is so heavy no one would EVER lift it up to look underneath. ($ = $6 x 4 legs = $24)

I couldn't have purchased an ottoman for this space for what I've invested in my "free" pallet ottoman. Plus, I never would have gotten this perfect color pattern for my space. We've been using it now for the past five months and it's very sturdy; I have a four year that uses it as a launching pad between couch jumping. It's solid, so it never shifts, or moves and it's easy to care for (I just lift the vacuum up and vacuum the top occasionally).

Kitchen Reno Day 3

The $19.99 single burner hot plate is being put to good use. I bought it at Target, mainly because I couldn't think of a way to prepare oatmeal every morning without a stove. Both Jamey and Cam eat it daily. I buy oatmeal in 25lb bags through the North Linn Food Buying Club, and I didn't want to switch over to instant packets; mainly because I'm sure Cam would get hooked on the sugar!

We've enjoyed our oatmeal for two days, and last night, for the UNO game, we even made popcorn on this little contraption. It's much slower to heat than the gas stove we're used to, but it's doing it's job. Willa has requested ownership of the hotplate after the reno. She has visions of getting electricity in the yet-to-be-completed tree house/fort structure. She thinks after hooking her crib up with electricity, she'll be able to put in a mini-kitchen, so she and Will B. can experiment with snack recipes. I'm sure a mini-fridge request will also be in the works.

Kitchen Reno Day 2

I found myself turning around looking for a non-existent towel hanging on the non-existent oven door handle. Silverware is on the dining room table, food is in the pantry, microwave is in the family room. Craziness.

We had toasted bagels for breakfast, grilled cheeses on the George Foreman for lunch and salad with crock-pot veggie lasagna for dinner. Didn't even miss the stove or oven!

Kitchen Reno Day 1

Deconstruction Day.

The day I've been anticipating and dreading. Today all upper cabinets came out. Good-bye to the double ovens, the cook top and convection oven and the thing most likely to be a trash compactor (complete with trash from former owners). So long to the bright yellow and blue Mexican tiles. 

Before demolition this morning I baked a loaf of banana bread and browned some sausage for crock pot pizza soup; my final farewell to the stove top and oven. 

With the help of JP and Larisa, we knocked out our work in about 4 and a half hours. Not bad, considering it included three trips to Habitat for Humanity Restore in good ol' Rusty but Trusty. 

For the next six weeks (or so) we will rely on a grill, an old displaced microwave, our crock pot and rice cooker. I think we'll head out to look for a hot plate tonight. I can't figure out how we can do with out our daily morning oat meal!

Crock Pot Pizza Soup

2 cans of pizza sauce

3-4 cups of chicken broth

chopped onion & green pepper 

mushrooms (sometimes I saute in EVOO before, sometimes I just throw them in)

Italian sausage, browned

Put everything in to a crock pot. Cook on high 4-5 hours or on low 6-7 hours. To serve, put a handful of croutons in the bottom of a soup bowl, ladle in some soup, top with mozzeralla/parmesan cheese mix. Pizza in a bowl!

 

Good Bye A Avenue

Over Labor Day weekend, 2008, Jamey and I moved into our first home; a lovely little bungalow on A Avenue. We had no idea how much work, sweat and love would go into and come out of that house over the next fourteen years.

From the start, it was Jamey, me and our black cat Izzy. We brought minimal furniture (we didn't even own a real couch!), a vehicle and a bike for each of us, and little more. 

Here's my attempt to inventory what we did and how we grew in this place:

• 17 new windows
• three days with a sledgehammer and jackhammer to remove the big cement slab steps in the front; replaced with a lovely wooden deck. Uncountable hours sitting out there with ice cream, yogurts, snacks, books and beer.
• one layer of old siding ripped off, one layer of new added
• baby dog in 1999
• two layers of new tiles in kitchen
• baby girl in 2003
• kitchen gutted to studs and rebuilt
• bathroom semi-gutted and rebuilt
• one new room in the basement
• sixty gallon fish tank rescued from storage crate...too many fish to count. Seven inch Convict Jack is buried in the back yard
• ten gallon birthday fish tank revealed: one frog and lots of fish...all dead
• two different sandboxes built, one un-built
• baby boy in 2009
• mac-daddy tree house designed and built (it all started when a friend offered a "free" play house for dismantling)
• paint in every room (several rooms had multiple paint jobs!)
• new roof; new roof on garage as our do-it-yourself project 
• countless outside movie nights in the back yard
• four feet of a new chimney
• motorized vehicles that came and went: Lisa's original Grand Am, Toyota pick up, Camry, BMW motorcycle, Izuzu Trooper "bio diesel" project (plus associated motors...), The Prospector, Toyota 4Runner, VW Jetta TDI. 

A lot of living...

I just read a historical-fiction book about Frank Lloyd Wright and Mameh Borthwick's love affair. The descriptions of the home FLW built in Wisconsin for his love are exquisite. The home was their refuge from the world, connected to nature and built with love. I've begun to feel that way about our new space. I love sitting in the family room, with the beautiful view of the trees in the back yard in place...peaceful and quiet. I didn't feel it at first; I think I needed the fall to really let go of A Avenue and embrace HH.