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!
Monday, May 27, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
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!
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!
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Kitchen Reno: Master Plumbing
Friday, May 10, 2013
Kitchen Reno: Lists of Do-Overs
Here's a list of everything we've had to "do-over" so far:
- ordering kitchen cabinets [see previous post: 2 cabinets were six inches too short!]
- 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
- 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.
- drywall x2
- 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.
Monday, May 6, 2013
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!
Posted with BlogsyKitchen 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.
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!
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.
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