Category Archives: TheRemodel

On Wednesday, the Amazing Contractors arrived to finish the kitchen. This was a bit of a relief since I have had the replacement cabinets for ten whole days. They arrived at 9am and were done by 12:30pm with placing the last three cabinets, adding the trim on the top, placing the toe kick stuff, and putting back all the various trims.

Wanna know my favorite feature of the kitchen? The window. I love it from the inside. I love it from the outside. It has the same material as the countertops for the sill. I begin scouting for plants to make a terrarium next week.Here’s a better picture of the countertops. Despite not being EXACTLY what I wanted, I am pleased with the countertops. They feel nice, hide breadcrumbs well, and are pretty close to the look of quartz I was after.

Ah. No more microwave on the countertop. That said – I hate the one we chose. You can’t test microwaves to hear their beeps, see how they pop popcorn, and what the fan sounds like at stores. This is a pity. I am now stuck with this microwave.

Funny story – I am merrily cooking away on something boring like a casserole. Oven on. Stove boiling a couple things. When quite suddenly the fan on the microwave turns on high (trust me, this is loud) and FREAKS me out. Apparently, this is a normal reaction as the words “Remain calm” scroll across the screen of the microwave control panel. Yeah. Least favorite feature, fan turns on when temperature reaches a certain point. You cannot override it – or least we can’t. Enlighten me, if you know.

Biggest surprise, I adore the sink. It sits quite close to the window in my heart. For this design, I was worried I would always regret the sink. However, I find it holds a lot of dirty dishes and since it is so big it is not hard to wash dishes in it and rinse as I wash.

Okay. So this is what the kitchen looks like now from the angle I originally showed you about 70 days ago (not that I am counting). We love it. It suits our family quite nicely. Note the step stool….it is my new best friend.

It has been an insane week with Bubba in camp, soccer stuff, friends visiting, and construction happening. I can’t post finished pictures yet because all of the cabinets are not in and there is unattractive venting showing. That said, the Amazing Contractors took pity on me and came for a day and did all they could. What exactly? Let’s just say most of my boxes are unpacked, this weekend we will eat household favorites of tacos and spaghetti, and I emptied the dishwasher yesterday. Mommy-dom is restored. Phew.

Do you like Tetris? If so, you might have a future in hardwood flooring. As you can see from the top picture the Flooring Guy took out some select pieces from the old hardwood and wove in new pieces to start the process of laying the new flooring into the kitchen. It is literally the random placement of lengths of hardwood all ending pretty even. A little over 100 sq/ft of flooring – three hours. Seemed very fast. We won’t even go into the mathematical calculation *I* did in my head as I wrote them a check for their work. They will be back for the rest of the money the beginning of July when they finish the wood with 4 coats of industrial grade, “green” lacquer. I forgot to ask if it was the same stuff that Tom and Jessie talked about on their blog. All I know is I can be in the house for the process.

So, with texture dry it meant painting.  We weren’t going to pay some one to do that since we are painting experts.  Here I am cheerfully painting.  In case you are wondering, long pole at end of roller much easier than climbing on ladder with little roller.  My mood quickly went down hill after all was primed.  Color matching.  Sounds innocent enough.  Complete and total bitch to do with white paint on ceiling.  3 gallons of various color/sheens later, we think it is pretty darn close.  On a side note, why is the white paint so much more expensive than the dark, rich color paints?

Look, BLUE.  We (*cough*Terry*cough*) were going to just keep going with the red from the living room into the kitchen.  The color doesn’t matter since the kitchen is a lot of cabinets and appliances (this is what I kept telling myself).  Saturday night, we are sitting staring at the ceiling wondering if our ceiling paint is flat or egg shell (do we know how to whoop it up or what?) and Terry says, “Is it lame that I really like the color of the primer?”  Me, sensing weakness, say, “No, don’t you think it should be a little more to the blue side?”  Next morning we go to Home Depot and pick out a shade “more to the blue”.  Looks like the Pacific Ocean.  I love it.

And on the second day there was light.  I know it doesn’t look like much work was done, but the Amazing Contractors put in new outlets, stubbed out the under cabinet lighting, moved outlets, and put in the canned lighting.  See the lovely pink insulation?  Things are being moved around.

Then on the third day my garden window was installed.  *swoon*  I have always wanted one of these.  Herbs. Ivy. Small-fragile-things-children-can’t-touch.  I don’t really know what is going in here, but I have always loved garden windows.

Wait.  The slider went in too!  This is most exciting to Terry.  It is a pretty good door.  See the yellow insulation?  That is where the old slider went to.  I thought I would be sad about how small the new slider is compared the old one, but I am not.  I think with the wood frame that is extra wide makes it look kind of like french doors.  I wanted french doors, but french doors just didn’t seem ideal for a house with small children.   In the end, what REALLY matters is this new slider is not as drafty as the old one and slides beautifully.  The kids can actually open this one.  :)

Day four, plumbing and drywall stuff.  The sink plumbing moved over the the corner, gas moved to the right to accommodate the new stove location, and microwave venting moved to the right as well.  Drywall work done around window and along the bottom of the kitchen.  Very, very impressive.  We’ve done drywall work.  I know how long it took us.  I am still looking for the elves they keep hidden.

So here is the really bad thing about the remodel.  Check out the temporary kitchen – in “mommy’s spinning room.”  I don’t know how people do this whole remodel thing in the winter.  We at least can grill and go outside.  The boys, of course, love it.  Especially when I described it as camping inside our house.

On to the good stuff – drawing on the wall destined for demo.  Good times.  Bubba loved it best.  I think Muskrat was slightly unnerved by the whole thing because I threatened him within two inches of his life one day when he drew on a different wall.