Kitchen details

Some of the kitchen details are being installed now. These are glass shelves in a glass-fronted cabinet with sliding doors that will hold dishes. Eventually, there will be lights in the cabinet shining downward.


Ikea makes a lot of clever storage solutions like these pullout baskets. This way things don't get stuck in the dark recesses of the back of the pantry.


Notice the trim on the bottom of the right cabinet. These pieces are designed to be used upright as shown on the bottom of a cabinet and on their side on top of the cabinet (you would see them when looking up from ground).


The drawer fronts and drawers are in place.

Kitchen shaping up!

Today and yesterday a lot of progress was made on the kitchen. It is really shaping up, and I am so happy to report that I LOVE what I see. This shows the appliance area, which will be for using things like the toaster, rice cooker, slow cooker, etc. The microwave will mount under the left cabinet.


Here is a shot of the upper cabinets, and I love how the sliding glass door really breaks things up. Ikea also makes a clever end panel to go around the fridge. It looks built in and more custom! I love the way it looks. In the foreground you can see the peninsula which will hold the cooktop.

The sink will be under the window, which looks out to the front of the house. The tall pantry cabinets are behind me. Next to the sink is a trash compactor, and the cooktop peninsula is on the left.

Our first kitchen cabinet!

Today I spent some very happy time putting things into the first kitchen cabinets that we can use! It may sound like a small thing to be so excited about, but for three months, we have been scrounging through 3-5 paper grocery bags on the floor every time we eat. Where are the nuts? Where are the vitamins? Where is the oatmeal? We've been managing, but it does make meal time a chore. Today I was able to put all the bags and paper goods into cabinets. It feels great! While we are still constrained to just microwave, fridge and paper plates, it will be easier now that I don't have to safari everytime I need to find something.

Here is a shot of my put-away groceries:

Eventually these tall cabinets will have more shelves, drawers, baskets, hanging racks, etc.




I am beginning to see that the fallout from this remodel will probably last years. As we have space available in the kitchen, I am putting things away just to have them put away. It's not that the things I put in these cabinets belong there, it's just that I wanted them off the floor right away. Also, I will put things away in the order I can get them out of the garage. I am picturing that this will go on for a few months, and then one weekend I'll just have to pull everything out of the kitchen and organize it. The same applies to the rest of the house. Also, there is so much paperwork - contracts, bids, information, manuals, etc that all has to be filed. There is also numerous small parts to keep track of and put away. Every new thing we bring (even down to the faucets) comes with various extra small parts.

Trees and some excitement!

Today's big accomplishement was getting the trees trimmed. We have huge, tall ficus trees along the side of the backyard that provide great separation from a two-story apartment building on that side. They were overgrown when we first looked at the house last October, so you can imagine how bad they finally got. Here is a before shot looking back toward the house:


Here is another before shot:


This is a shot showing just how much they took off the top - I think it was at least 15 feet. You can see the vertical branch in the middle about to be cut off.

Here is an "after" shot. Yikes, they are stripped! But they grow really fast, and the tree guy said in 2-3 months we'll have lots of new growth. The bare interior of the trees that got revealed here will fill in, and next time they can be pruned futher. Eventually, we'll have a tight hedge that provides privacy with little bulk. Also, this is a good time to "rip the bandaid" and get them done right. We aren't really using the backyard yet - there's no grass, and no good access from the house. It will be a few months before it is ready to use, so the lack of privacy isn't a big deal right now.


This beer can in a paper bag was in the trees!

The ktichen is really looking great! Some cabinets have started to go in, and I am thrilled with how they look. I designed the entire kitchen myself - layout, colors, materials, etc. so it is really exciting to see that not only does it look great, it flows well too. I was afraid I would get to this point and found I've made a horrible mistake.

Here is the first door to be installed. It is a really cool sliding glass door with frosted glass and an aluminum frame. It will have glass shelves and lighting inside for a "china cabinet" effect.


Here is a bank of tall pantry cabinets. The washer and dryer will be stacked under the high wall cabinet to the left.


The other exciting thing for today is that I ordered the washer and dryer. They will be delivered and installed in two weeks! Yay! It's been so long since I've had a washer and dryer in my house. Years in fact. I've been going to the laundromat lately, and it's really not that bad - people are actually quite polite and I get some time to read. Having my own machines will be so nice though!

One small problem that popped up today was that I realized we ordered a "wall" oven meant to go into a cabinet about shoulder height. Ours is supposed to go under the counter. I was freaking out, thinking we had a real problem. It turns out that the company who manufactures the oven only makes wall oven, and the contractor solved the problem by having me buy one more base cabinet to put the oven in. Not so bad after all! It just meant one more trip to Ikea, but it could have been way worse!

A little progress today

Today we made some progress. Some cabinets were bolted into place. I had scheduled a tree guy at 11 am, but he had a "bee incident" at his prior job so we rescheduled for tomorrow. It's a bit disappointing, but not really a big deal. I found out that we didn't have the mounting bracket kit for the small microwave. I was surprised the salesguy didn't mention this - he knew this was an undercabinet installation and never advised us to order it.

Here is a shot of the upper cabinets in the appliance area. In the background are several tall pantry cabinets.

Chris worked with the electrican to wire the whole house for phone, network, and tv cable. This is really great because we won't need wires running everywhere, and we got to do it while the walls were open anyway during construction. It was convenient that this space in the middle of the house was open. It previously held the flue for the old heater unit which was in the crawl space under the house. We relocated the heater to the attic, and this space was empty. It is a perfect place for the panel that holds all the cables.

More kitchen still

A few more cabinets went up today. Here you can see in the foreground the peninsula that will hold the cooktop.

The upper cabinets of the appliance are in place. The countertop for this 4' section is a piece of marble I got at the salvage yard. It was ripped out of someone's house, and I love the idea of reusing it. I think it will look good because it will be an accent piece that will be different than the other countertops, and it will also be a nice work surface if I ever make pastry or pie crust.

More cabinets and appliance number 1!

A few more cabinets went in today. There was one setback - the top cabinets were not up high enough to clear the fridge, so the mounting hardware had to be raised a few inches. But, at the end of the day we were further ahead. On the lower level are the sink cabinet (below the window) and a corner unit with a half-circle lazy susan. Next to the sink is a trash compactor. We hadn't really considered this until a friend sold me on it, and I am so glad she did! First of all, it eliminates the need for a free standing trashcan. Your trash is neatly tucked away behind the door of the compactor. Second, since it compacts you generate less trash volume and have to empty the trash less often. Third, it is foot activated so you can throw trash away while cooking without having to touch the can. Finally, it is relatively dog proof!

On the floor outlined in blue is a peninsula where the cooktop will be. There was originally a freestanding stove against the back wall, but we decided to relocate the cooktop so I could be more a part of the action while cooking.

Here are the upper cabinets, including a nice deep one over the fridge.

Some progress today

Today a few of the kichen cabinets went in. They are not permanently installed yet - they need to be levelled and plumbed and then bolted into place. It is nice to see progress though!

This is looking into the kitchen from the dining area. The sink will go under the window.

This is looking from the sink area toward the laundry area. The two cabinets on the left are the lower cabinets of the "appliance area," which I invented! It is an area dedicated to small appliances like the slow cooker, rice cooker, toaster, coffee maker, blender, etc. The lower cabinets have large pullout baskets so the appliances are easy to get to, and then they can be used right on the 4' of counter area there. I even put an outlet there for convenience. It will be nice to have an out-of-the-way area for this purpose.

The master bedroom is anything but tranquil! Most of the stuff that was in the kitchen and living room had to be moved here so the rooms could be painted.


Another shot of the master bedroom.

Fun?

As I've told people about the remodel, a frequent comment I get is "That must be fun!" Nobody that has done a major remodel ever says this. Certainly, there have been fun parts but for the most part it is about as far from fun as you can get. The fun parts get more press I think - check out This Old House or HGTV. For example, all they show is the final minutes of picking out tile, it goes up in 30 seconds and looks great. What you don't see is the numerous trips to various tile stores, sitting in traffic, unloading dozens of heavy boxes from your car, moving them throughout the house and garage several times as the project progresses, buying the tools and going back three times to get everything you need, running out of grout and having to drive an hour and a half to get it because the local store is out, setting the same tile 5 times because it won't lay right, having bloody fingertips that look like ground meat etc. The fun part is showing everyone who comes through the tile I laid and how good it looks.

Also, probably more than 90% of my time isn't spent on fun things. It's spent dealing with incompetent sales people who lie or just say anything because they don't know the answer, misrepresent their expertise and try to rip you off. It's spent driving many miles picking up supplies at various stores. It's spent surfing the web trying to get the straight scoop, which is a lot harder than it sounds. On a recent home repair forum, I was researching using hardwood flooring in a kitchen. The posts ranged from "I would never consider using anything but hardwood" to "I would never consider using hardwood." Your time is spent interviewing contractors and checking their credentials, and trying to compare their proposals which are often very different. You spend time managing the schedule of various people working on the house. You spend time trying to keep track of all the stuff you purchased.

Since most of our stuff is stored in the garage, we spend a lot of time looking for things (even though everything is labelled). Everything we do takes many times as long due to the general chaos in the house. There is no place to put anything and not one inch of counter or table space. I find myself longing for just one cabinet to be done in the kitchen so I can at least start putting things away.

So, remodeling is definitely not fun overall. Ask anyone who has done a major remodel, and you will most likely hear stories of stress, fatigue, frustration, depression, etc. Couples who remodel are more likely to split up. But, there is a bright side. It has been extremely satisfying to see my choices be installed. I love most of what I have choosen, and like the rest. The only thing I may want to change so far is paint colors, and that's easy and relatively cheap. I designed the kitchen and bathroom, and they both look great and seem to function well so far. Some day, we will have an incredible house in a location we love. The parts I've done myself fill me with a sense of accomplishment.

I would not advise anyone to undertake a major remodel thinking it will be fun. Financially sound and rewarding, maybe, but fun, no. Someone looking for fun would probably enjoy doing more cosmetic changes on a house.

Two Steps forward, one step back

We got back yesterday evening from a much needed week of vacation. Whew, what a relief to be free of house worries for a whole week. The contractor had an ambitious week planned in our absence, and got most of it done so that was two steps forward. The one step back was that the last day of our trip, Friday, he was supposed to get the kitchen cabinets and appliances in. He didn't get to this, which is not so terrible since it's only a day. But we were very much looking forward to a more complete kitchen, at least where we could put some of our stuff away. We are a little worse off in terms of food preparation since now anything we move into the kitchen has to be out by Monday so he can keep working. It was a bit of a disappointment, but we are still doing pretty good on the schedule.

Here is a shot of the bay window in the dining area. This is the paint color for the kitchen and dining area. So far, I am pretty happy with my paint choices. It was difficult to choose paint with nothing in the room to match to. We had the contractor do the painting because the walls were just trashed. He sanded them, patched them where needed ( a lot of patching), and sprayed a texture on under the paint to mask the imperfections. The result is really nice, much nicer than I could have done. Also, we considered it an investment. Now that the walls have been professionally painted and restored, we can update the paint easily any time we want.

We are leaving the windows in their natural woodtone (finishing with clear shellac). The blue tape is where I have started shellacking. There will also be trim to finish the windows.



Here is the living room colors. The wall color is called Hot Spring Stones, and I think it really describes the color. It is like river rocks. The ceiling is a darker grey. C wanted a darker ceiling for better TV viewing.

Some real progress

I've been gone from my blog for a long time! I've been here at the house, working away, but there just didn't seem to be anything interesting or picture-worthy happening. The progress has been slow, but today we really had something to show.

The concrete is almost gone from the backyard. The last time the contractor had a bobcat it got stuck in the mud (twice!). This bobcat leaked hydraulic fluid and had to be repaired twice! I really think the conrete is haunted or something and it does not want to come out!


The bathroom tile is done. This is at the end of the bathtub. I will put plant (maybe orchids) on the top of this cube and the top opening is a towel cubby (conveniently located next to the bathtub). The lower opening will be drawer to hide toilet brushes and plungers.

This is the other end of the bathtub. The trim (handles, showerhead, tub spout, etc) is all installed, and the niche in the wall is visible at the right. I put some bottles in there to show what it is. I love this idea because it will keep all the shower stuff neatly contained. The shelves are green marble I found for a very cheap price. This picture doesn't do the tile justice - it is a beautiful shade of green (maybe a celadon or sage) and the tiles are glass so they really catch the light.

This is the trash pile in the backyard. It is such an eyesore and has been drawing unwanted feline visitors! The contractor used the bobcat to haul everything into the dumpster and now it looks much better.



This is what the spot containing the trash pile looks like now (the toilet is gone now too):