Kitchen Remodel: Phase Four

Phase Four:  Cabinet Installation

July 28th & 29th

So, we lucked out with this part of the kitchen remodel!  In the beginning, when we were only talking about remodeling the kitchen, Todd and I discussed installing the cabinets ourselves to save money.  We knew it wouldn't be fun, but we just didn't want to spend a fortune on having the cabinets installed.  We did, however, pay for our kitchen to be measured to make sure our design would actually fit in the space we had.  When the guy who did the measurements came out to measure, he told us he would be willing to install our kitchen on the side for 50% of the quoted installation price.  We couldn't pass up the offer to have our cabinets professionally installed for 50% of the price.  It was just too good to be true.  The guy could probably be fired for offering, but we weren't going to tell on him!   So, when Saturday, Jul 28th rolled around it was finally time to start seeing our kitchen design take shape!

The refrigerator area

The sink area

The stove/range area

The right side of our kitchen.

 And that was it for day #1 of installation.  We were excited to see our kitchen starting to look like an actual kitchen once again!

On Sunday, there was even more excitement as the molding and cabinet doors were added!

We were starting to fall in love!

The next phase was one we were all looking forward to after being without a range and refrigerator for 16 days!

Kitchen Remodel: Phase Three

Phase Three:  Electrical, Plumbing and Patching

July 23rd-27th

Three days after the final coat of polyurethane on the floors, it was time for the next step in this whole process: Electric.  

With our new floors protected, the Electrician did his job over two days.  He added a switch for the light over the sink, an outlet for the new above-the-range microwave we would be adding, a new outlet for the new placement of the dishwasher, an outlet above the counter top located beside the refrigerator, and a new outlet for the new counter top to the right of the range.  We also decided to take advantage of having the upper walls open in the kitchen and run some electrical to the back of the house so we could add some lights back there.  Having light in the back yard was something we had wished for since we started spending time out there, but never imagined it would be possible since there was absolutely no electric back there at all. 

You can see some of the electrical work done here.

 After the electrician was finished with his work, the plumber came in to make his repairs.  When we disconnected the sink, we found that the vent pipe to the sink drain was rusted through and disconnected.  The drain pipe was also too high.  The combination of those two things left us with a kitchen sink that did not drain properly.  The plumber cut off the bad part of the pipe, lowered the drain pipe and also capped off our hot and cold water pipes so the sink cabinet could be placed over them easily.

 The plumber also moved the gas pipe for the stove back toward the wall so we could slide our range in a little further and added a shut-off valve, something we previously didn't have, but definitely should have!

After all of that work was complete, it was time for Todd to start another part of his job:  Fixing all those open holes in the kitchen walls.  Most of the holes would  be covered with cabinets, so Todd did a lot of dry wall without the mudding part.  We also put insulation where we could get it.  There is no insulation in ANY of our walls!  :(

Cutting some insulation for the holes.

Then the painting began.  Todd's favorite part!  ;-)

He painted what he could, but some of the new drywall needed more time to dry first.

So, that was about as far as we got with the painting before the next phase of the kitchen remodel would begin!

Kitchen Remodel: Phase Two

Floors
July 16th-20th

We have original hardwood floors through our home (lucky).  Most are covered with carpet (unlucky).  The floors were all covered with carpet when we moved in.  We replaced all the carpets except for in the dining room.  We left that exposed (as well as one bedroom).  It was VERY hard to re-cover the floors with carpet, but they weren't in good condition and we weren't going to spend the $$ refinishing the entire house, so we covered the areas we live in most:  Two bedrooms, hallway, stairs and living room. The dining room floor wasn't in the best condition, but we lived with them.

Our dining room hardwood floor. This picture actually makes them look better than they really were.

When we decided to do the kitchen remodel, I really hoped that there would be hardwood under the linoleum in the kitchen, and also hoped it would be in good enough condition to refinish it.  I really wanted a flow from the dining room to the kitchen.  Our house is too small to chop it up with various different flooring.  We lucked out, and the floors in the kitchen turned out to be hardwood, and in good enough condition to refinish!  Now we just had to live through not being able to use half of our house for a week!

Day one:  The floors were sanded

This is the kitchen floor after it was sanded!

Do you remember what they looked like before?

Linolium

Asbestos tile

Hardwood, but looking rather yuck!

Quite an improvement, huh?  We were so happy!

Then they were stained!

Kitchen

Dining room

 So, sanding occurred one day, staining another, and then it took three more days for the coats of polyurethane, and the floors were finally complete!  The girls and I fled to Cleveland, OH to live with my parents for the week.  The thought of dealing with two kiddos while only being able to live in half the house wasn't appealing.  Instead we had a good time with Meme and Papa while poor Todd had to stay home and make sure all the work was getting completed in a satisfactory manner!

And here they are...stained and sealed!
 

We are really, really happy with the final product!  So excited about the way the floors turned out!  Wish I had a picture of the kitchen floor to put here, but we promptly covered that with Ram Board to protect it from the contractors that would be in and out in the next few weeks.

Stay tuned for Kitchen Remodel:  Phase Three!

A Good Listener

We have a spot right next to our front door where the shoes accumulate.  When we come in, I tell the girls to take off their shoes and put them where they belong.   They rarely end up in the right spot, so when I tell Reagan to go put hers by the door this is where she puts them:

Right BY the door...

 Little Miss Literal puts them exactly where I tell her to put them, doesn't she?  She's such a good listener...

Except when it comes to me telling her not to touch the roll of toilet paper, which oftentimes looks like this because I have to hand-roll it back onto the roll.

:)

Welcoming Baby Caleb

Bert, Trish and Charli's baby Caleb arrived on July 17!  We were so happy to hear that he arrived happy & healthy!

See this smirk on Todd's face?  He's gloating because he got to go meet Caleb in the hospital right after he was born.  The rest of us had fled to Cleveland for phase two of the kitchen remodel. 

 The rest of us finally got to meet Caleb yesterday!  He is ADORABLE!!!!

Jocelyn wanted to feed him!

See?  A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!

Proud Mama!

Congratulations Bert, Trish & Charli!  You did good!  We look forward to watching him grow...hopefully the girls won't be too hard on him!  ;-)

Kitchen Remodel: Phase One

Demo 

D-day was July 14th:  Kitchen demo day.  Note my lack of exclamation points.  I was NOT excited for the kitchen project to start.  Why?  Because I'm not a big fan of disorganization and chaos.  I wasn't looking forward to living without a kitchen.  I'm not a fan of cleaning up all the after-construction mess!  But am I excited to have a brand new sparkling kitchen that matches on both sides?  YES!  So I guess I have to deal with all the stuff that comes with it, huh?  

The morning started with removing the appliances.  In case you need to remember what our kitchen looked like before, you can see it here and here.  Good bye refrigerator, I'll be visiting you in the garage.  Good bye stove, I'll see you in a few weeks.  Good bye dishwasher, your help is no longer necessary.  We will be using disposable dishes for the next few weeks.  To the cabinets and linoleum:  Adios!  I will not miss you at all!  

 

 

 

Yep, that's my Dad.  Here to help!  :)

Cleaning up the cabinet and bulkhead debris

My Dad looking cool in the giant safety goggles

Todd looks just as cool!

Next to go:  Linoleum...

...and Plywood

"You mean we still have one more layer to go?"

Asbestos tiles gone.  That's hard wood under there!!!  :)

And that's the kitchen going bye-bye!

 
And after phase one there's always a  phase two...stay tuned!