Kitchen Renovation - week 9

Well, we just finished week 9 of our kitchen renovation, and since it was a holiday week, we all got a day "off" on Thursday - and we tried to make the best of it and spent the morning at the VP Parade and the evening watching the fireworks downtown, under the arch.   From the start of the project, my target end date has always been the 4th of July.  Well, we are close to complete, but due to the unforeseen issues and a few delays, we are not quite there.

The light fixtures are now up and the final electrical inspection was completed on Friday morning.  I am loving the dining room fixture and the pendants over the peninsula/bar.  Also, all the lights are working and we have dimmers everywhere.  That is fun, because we have about 20 more lights than we did before, and that's not counting the under cabinet lights that make the backspash tile look awesome.

Oh! I almost forgot, now all of the appliances now work.  The first meal I made was frozen pizza, which isn't really cooking, but since we didn't have all the kitchen stuff unpacked yet and I'm not a big cook anyway, it counts for me.  I must admit that I am a little intimidated by the new convection oven and convection microwave -- they have so many more features than my 1970s, bare bones, oven and range I have been using for the past 13 years.  I have yet to bake or actually use any of the convection features, but M is already looking up recipes and trying to decide what to bake first.

The storage pod was dropped back off in the driveway on Tues and will be picked back up empty tomorrow - so this means all our furniture and kitchenware is back in the house or garage.  This was no small feat.  I have a drastically different cabinet layout now, with a lot more drawers, so figuring out where to put things was interesting.  I have a feeling there will be some re-arranging in my future - of both the stuff in the cabinets and the furniture.  Honestly, the furniture will likely be a work in progress for a few months as we learn the best way to use the space now.

We still have a lot of finishing touches, a couple walls need another coat of paint and we don't have any covers on the floor vents, and among other things - we still need the glass for the last two cabinet doors.  I've kept a running list for the contractor as we used the space this weekend so I'm sure he'll be thrilled when he gets here in the morning, hehehe.  I think we're all ready to be done!

Kitchen Renovation - week 8

Early in the week all the painting got completed, except for final touch ups.  The trim is up on the cabinets.  Most of the backsplash tile went in.  The girls and I had to make an emergency run to the tile store in the rain on Saturday to get edge tile so that all the supplies would be here for them to start -- so far it's looking good.

The plumber and electrician were here this week -- the sink, and garbage disposal now works.  The ice-maker and water dispenser in the fridge now works.  The range now has gas going to it, but no electrical - so it's not yet fully functional. The can-lights in the ceiling work... it is a lot brighter than we are used to.

Hopefully they will get through the finishing touches this next week and we can call it done.  The furniture comes back from storage on Tues -- and we're all ready to set the rooms back up and get all these extra people out of our house :)

Kitchen Renovation - week 7

This last week was exciting... it started with the new tile at the front door.  It turned out great, and it's nice not to walk in directly to the hardwood with wet shoes.

The fridge is now in and cold, but the water isn't yet hooked up to the ice-maker -- I'm impatiently waiting for that, I'm dying to be able to get a glass of ice-water at bedtime.  That was followed up with some inspections, lots of trim work and more painting, including the "Caribbean Cove" blue accent wall.  M picked out the color and it's going to make quite a statement.

Then on Thursday was my favorite -- the countertops, sink and range went in!  None of the electrical, gas or water are hooked up, but it really seems like it might actually all be finished someday soon. :)

I wonder if we'll actually have working appliances by the end of next week...

Kitchen renovation - weeks 5 and 6

I'm a little behind posting because I got busy with work and some volunteer work I'm doing.

Week 5 was fun.  It started with the installation of all the drywall.

The flooring was also accomplished that week -- I was a little worried when the contractor sent me a badly shot photo, but all in all it turned out quite nice.  I'm working with a contractor, but surprisingly the flooring sub-contractor turned out to be a neighbor from a couple houses down.  I like that we are supporting the local small businesses.

and Saturday the drywall was sanded and the first coats of paint went up.  I was expecting a huge mess when they sanded it, and it was a mess, but one guy sanded while another vacuumed -- so it wasn't so bad.

On week 6 was all about base coats of paint, installation of the cabinets and prepping for the appliances to go in.

Kitchen Renovation - 4 weeks in

Even though this last week was shortened by the holiday, the crew made a lot of progress.

On Tuesday and Wednesday the electrical and plumbing work was completed and inspections took place.  This even included wired in smoke detectors in our bedrooms that were required by the city.  Gotta love all the permits and rules.  Next came the completion of the removal of the old hardwood from the living room, this was hauled away by a guy who reuses it.  Then on Thursday the temporary wall and the huge beam went up.  

All of these things were great, but really Friday was my favorite.  The old walls were completely removed.  I can finally see what it's going to look like and I'm sooo excited.  

We seem to have crossed over to the actual "build" stage... I feel like all we've seen is demo up until now.  The guys worked on Saturday and we now have sub-floor and the start of dry-wall, we're ready to get this place back up and running!