Day 16 - Appliances and we finally have a dining table and chairs

Yay! No more card table in the living room- we have a table and chairs to sit at now. It is amazing how much you can appreciate small things, especially when you have to go without for awhile. I have a photo of the table and chairs but the one I took of the appliances won't move over to my photo stream today and I don't feel like messing with it. I feel like my house is conspiring against me and things are breaking down all around me, including my computer/ internet abilities. I don't know what happened. Anyway…the dining set:

It is nice that the table leaves fit so perfectly in the cupboard right by the table. We picked the cupboard size before we picked the table. Our old table leaf would not have fit. I probably won't have a lot of posts between now and next week when it will all (hopefully) be finished. I am to the point where I think it would be fun to do "the big reveal" where I post before and after photos. I may post here and there, but I really do need to get caught up on the rest of my life. This kitchen has kind of taken over everything I do.

Day 13, 14, 15- now it is down to details

I haven't posted for the past few days for two reasons. Reason #1 is because I have been crazy busy trying to live normal life AND unpack many boxes and figure out where those things will go in my new kitchen. It is harder than I thought. Some things are the same, but for the most part, the cupboards are different. They are different heights and widths and are placed differently so I have to rethink where I want things. Reason #2 is because I have a lovely cold that is making me rather tired and miserable. Plus, it was just a busy weekend. Now that the cabinets are installed, Tim just has to work on the little details- outlet covers, putting framing around the pantry door, touching up scrapes on the floor and walls from installation, and so forth. For now, I will post some photos of the fun little details that I love in the new kitchen. Cabinet handles: (The dark island has brushed nickel, the hickory has these)

Custom drawer dividers for silverware and other utensils:

Pull-outs on the lower cabinets:

Built in magnet board:

Crown moulding and trim:

And better organization (cookie sheet dividers - my old one was the width of a single one of those spaces) And a full circle lazy susan that doesn't slide down like my old one did.

I need to take more photos now that it has been cleaned up and the details are more in place. I also will post about my pantry that I LOVE! Tomorrow the appliances come, and so do the table, chairs, and barstools. We are so close!!!

Day 12 - Cabinets!!!

Today was so fun for me. As they were installing the cabinets, I just kept walking in and staring at them. And touching them. And looking at the intricate patterns of grain in the wood. This whole thing just seems so surreal to me. I walk in there and say, "is this really in my house?" I love this kitchen so much and it isn't done yet. Here are some shots from today. I think I need to get my real camera out (not my phone) and take better photos. These make my island look black, and it is really a beautiful dark brown color. And, it makes the hickory look very striped, but is isn't as striped as these photos make it out to be. But, the kids were very excited to go around opening and closing the drawers and doors, and they show up in a few of these photos.

Tomorrow they will finish the installation (the pantry, plus little details like the crown moulding and the shelves, some handles, etc) and Tim will do some finish work - putting in baseboards, putting in my door to my pantry, and touching up paint here and there. The countertop guy came out and measured and said he will have those ready in a week to ten days. Until then, we just wait. And, I can get some of the mess out of my living room. Right now we are living like this: (The entertainment center goes back tomorrow, I hope, the couch is currently our pantry (it is more organized than it looks) and that should go into the real pantry tomorrow too. The card table will still be there until we have a surface to eat on that is in our kitchen. It is messy and crazy, but I really have no complaints. It has gone very well. :) Especially if you consider that this is only the seventh work day for this kitchen.

Day 11 - floor is finished

There isn't much to say, except that the floor is done and the cabinets come tomorrow. I got to go to the cabinet shop and see some of them all ready to go. So exciting!! Here are a few shots of the floor now that it is done:

I also got my laundry room back and have a door on it again. I only had to go 2 1/2 days without a washer and dryer. No complaints here.

Day 10 - Oh how I love my new floor

Is that selfish or prideful for me to say? I don't know. I just love this wood. I was hoping it might be half as pretty as it really turned out to be, so it was a happy find for me. (You just never know when you base things off of a few samples). Today they laid at least 2/3 of the floor. Tomorrow they will finish the rest so we can be ready for cabinets on Thursday. Laying floor is noisy, by the way. I was here most of the day too, so I think my ears are ringing. The pictures just don't do it justice - it really is one of those things you have to see to really appreciate the colors. But, I guess this will do for now.

As for how it has been without a kitchen - really, it hasn't been too bad. I have only been without a kitchen for about 5-6 days, really, because we were gone for Fall Break. We eat on a card table in the living room, surrounded by bins of everything that was in the pantry, and an extra couch and entertainment center. It is tight. We cook in the garage, or downstairs (M has her room back now, which opened up some space down there). Tonight a very kind neighbor is bringing dinner. Other nights we eat out or cook something simple. It hasn't been bad. In two days I will have cabinets, so some of my stuff can go back - the pantry and upper cabinets. In another week +, I will have a counter top and sink, and in about 2 weeks from now, I will have my appliances. It really is moving along quite quickly. And, I can't complain. I has been quite fun to watch the kitchen evolve.

Day 9 - prep for the floor, and other random things

Today was another one of those days where the photos don't really show what was done. Tim and Mark only worked half a day. They tore out the laundry room and they put in some kind of filler that levels the floor (looks kind of like cement)They also tore out the laundry room door (it had to be taken out for the floor anyway).

They did other prep in the room, more painting (they painted my horrible door to the garage - it looks so nice now!), and did more electrical things. Again, photos don't really show the progress very well. They also switched out our canned lighting and put LED lights in instead - they are supposed to last 25 years, instead of a couple of months like my other bulbs were doing. Let's hope… I am tired of changing out lightbulbs. New lights:

Here is what the room looks like now:

Day 8 - paint and more paint

Today was paint day. The walls are prepped, sanded, mudded, sanded, textured, primed, and now painted. I also got to meet with our cabinet guy - Rick - from Chateau cabinets. He is awesome! They started building the cabinets today (I thought they had been built, but they actually had another person with the same last name whose cabinets were finished a few weeks ago). I mentioned in here that we decided to tear out the pantry and rebuild. We called Rick to see if he had any ideas for us. Well, Rick had a great idea for the pantry and I love it. It is so much better than anything I could have come up with. It is going to make the storage much more efficient, with adjustable shelves, a few drawers, and two lazy Susans. (Why are they called that anyway - it really is a strange name if you think about it). And the great thing is that, because our cabinets are starting production today, they can just throw the pantry shelves in too, and have those ready and installed along with everything else next Thursday. Here are some shots of what the kitchen looks like mid-day today (Later, I may not have time to post, but I don't think it will look much different from this - just more coats of paint.)

As for what is next, Tim will take a few days off for Fall Break. He will be back on Monday, ready to get going on the floor. I can't wait to see how it looks in there. I think the wood is going to go very well with the blue.

Day 7 electrical and my new favorite wall in the house

Today was a big day, but you can't see that from any photos I might take. Much of what was done today was in the walls and floors- electrical stuff and such. We got all of the wiring lined up properly for outlets, appliances, etc. And then, I was surprised by the fact that they painted my accent wall. It is my favorite wall - I love the blue. It makes me happy. This is the only wall that will be this dark - the rest are a lighter grey-blue color. But, it looks great so far. This gets more and more exciting each day.

Tomorrow is more wall prep and paint, including painting M's ceiling so she can get her room back. We should have cabinets in on Thursday next week. So exciting!

Day 6 - The Big Tear Out

Wow - what a day this was! Tim came at 8am and started the tear out immediately. He had another guy, Mark, working with him and they really went to town. After about an hour, the room looked like this:

They had already cleared out all of the cabinets, appliances, and countertops and were starting on the floor. Then after another couple of hours or so, it looked like this:

They had torn up the floor and taken out the soffets - no easy task because they were made of wood, not sheetrock, and they had to saw them out. It was raining insulation from our attic and it got very dusty. Around 1:00 or so, they left to get sheetrock, and the room looked like this - totally stripped down and swept out (he is so good about cleaning up as he goes!)

When the neighbors saw our monster dumpster in the driveway, they thought there was no way that we would fill it all. Well, guess what -

Filled to the brim! And tomorrow they will come and pick up the dumpster and I can get it off my hands! By the end of the day today they had made some electrical repairs, put in the sheetrock where the soffets were, cleaned out the whole area, carpet and all, and had mudded the first layer on the sheetrock. I was really amazed at how much they got done today. Tim had said that it might take 2-3 days just to tear out, but instead it took a few hours, and he already started patching up.

We also decided to just rip out the pantry shelves (which were in horrible shape) and rebuild those too. So, here we are at the end of a big crazy day. I realized today how much time I usually spend in my kitchen/family room. I just felt very displaced - not sure where to "set up shop" like I am used to doing. I think maybe this will have one very nice benefit- I may just have to banish myself to my craft room and sew and do some art. I was going to today but so many things kept coming up, so maybe tomorrow? This has been exciting though and when I walk into the torn out room, I feel like I have stepped into a whole new house. Tomorrow Tim will do more patching and do some painting - I think - especially on M's room, so we can get her moved back in. On another good note - none of the subfloor was damaged, despite our fears of what was hiding under the warped floor boards. It looks like it will be another big day tomorrow. I will try to get photos again (I really don't want to be in the way, so i just sneak photos when I can. :)

All cleared out and ready to go...

It took some work, a little sweat, and a few tears, but the kitchen is packed up and everything that is removable without tools is out of the kitchen. Tomorrow Tim comes bright and early and starts the tear out process. And, I think I MAY have figured out my colors. We will see...

Remodel - days 3, 4, and 5

These three days have pretty much been the same thing each day. M has a ceiling again, and it has just been Tim coming and putting in the drywall and then mudding and sanding and mudding and sanding and texturing, etc. Pretty boring.

Monday we are going to tear out, so I am packing up the kitchen. In the mean time, my walls look like this:

And my table and counters look like this:

And my brain looks like this:

I thought I had a color picked out. Then, I painted a sample on my wall. Despite the fact that is was a very grey blue, and even on the plate I used for rolling out the paint, it was grey blue, when I put it on my wall, it was a very bright blue, and rather baby blueish. So, I got more samples. Too light. I got the next sample. Too dark. Sigh. I have a pile of sample cards that range from light grey to dark blue, to various shades of green/grey/blue and I just sit and stare at them, completely stumped. Despite my artistic background, this color thing with painting rooms and coordinating them is just really not my forte! So, I will keep trying until I find what I like. And, in the mean time, I will pack more boxes.