Day 18

Sorry, no post last night as the range was being difficult. Well, we're pretty much done. All that's left is the backsplash and trim. Posts will be sporadic from now on...

30.25 inches....please!

Installing the new gas range today, was more complicated then it needed to be. Hello manufacturers - please don't have your trim pieces actually make the width of the range 30inches! Holy crap Batman. Next time I need to not screw up on the counter edging - which impeded the 30 inche opening by a smidge - which my handsomely smart husband had to file off - and leave the opening for the range to be 30.25 inches for some leeway. Oh and buy a range where the flexible hose really does hide into a cut out so the stove can actually get somewhat close to the wall.

Nevermind. Next time I'm going to go with the cooktop and double wall ovens. Then the third time I'm going with the commercial range with griddle (and still have wall ovens). Do I try the dishwashing drawers the second go round or the third?

Yup, irritating the husband by already thinking ahead when we haven't even finished this remodel. But he still loves me :)

On a flooring note, we saw cork tiles for the first time today - in a real life setting. Out in the boonies of Portland we went for breakfast. Tried a new bakery/coffee place Baker and Spice. Good coffee, good pastries, but way to loud and crowded. *lol* Though my daughter nailed it - 'They must make a lot of money Mom, there aren't any chairs left.' A few doors down was a baking supply store - cork flooring. Really cool. Floating floor, now Thinset, no grouting, no dang hardibacker. Hmm, maybe something we can try to update the flooring in the bathrooms.

Day 17

Counters are in. Look at that cut around the sink...that was real fun. I'd go on some more but I'm tired. Tommorow appliance come back in.

Day 16

Lower cabinets are in, cabinet underlayment is in.

Day 15

The upper cabinets are in! The lowers are all in place, ready to be mounted, which should go pretty quick. Installing the new microwave was fun as well. Tommorow we'll finish the lowers, pick up some underlayment and get ready for the counter.

Day 14

Didn't do too much today as we were waiting on tile. Cut the custom top and sides for the above the fridge cabinet (they didn't have a 24" deep cabinet so I customized a 12" model). That was fun with it being 97 degrees in the garage.

We grouted this evening. Took about 2 hours...but it took longer to clean out the lines (Lindsey did that, the hard part.)

Tommorow, the cabinets (yay!)

Next time....Marmoleum.

Yup. Tile. Yup, next time I am sticking with my gut and going with Marmoleum. Sheesh. It was a day. A day I don't want to repeat....ever.

Thankfully the kids all played together rather well. And there was only one movie. Never would I have thought that almost ignoring my kids for an unsually long time would they have gotten along so well. Really. Odd, and they went to bed almost 3 hrs late on top of it all.

Now if only I could find some lotion that is not scented. Would love to soak my hands in some warm oil...maybe I could gain some moisture back that the dang thinset sucks out. :P

Day 13

Today we tiled. It sucked. Took about 12 hours to do 140 square feet. I'm beat. But at least grouting should go quicker. We'll do that tommorow afternoon, else we're taking it easy.

Hey - going to the gym is good for remodeling...

Oh how do I hate hardibacker board - the number of screws per board is just killer on drill bits, hands, wristis, shoulders etc. *snort* The first remodel we did - years ago, I was a complete wimp - drove in 3 screws poorly and batted my eyelashes at my love and said there was no way I could do such a good job as he. He finished the whole floor. This time - with the help of my new favorite power tool - impact driver- I did like 4 whole sheets. Woohoo. But now I have a largish blister on my index finger from the whole shebang.

Thank you dear neigbhor for watching my children so that I could be partner in crime for getting dusty, grouchy and sore while getting a floor ready to tile. Thank you dear neighbor who is married to a finish carpenter who willingly lends us his pneumatic nailer. We only had like 200 nails left over from the remodel in the other part of the house...but hey it was 200 fastners we didn't have to man handle into the backer board, osb, and joists.

And why doesn't Starbucks deliver? Can't they deliver spirits too?

Tomorrow we conquer the tile installation. How many movies will my children agree to sit through before they fights start? :P

The weather should be nice tomorrow to let the doors/windows open. But it is supposed to spike to 107 for Tuesday. Don't know about you , but I'm planning to sit near the AC, with my feet up, a cold beverage and a large supply of Otter Pops. Please honey, lets not plan anything overly taxing for that day.....please? And please old as me AC, please continue to do your job well, we love you, and have no plans to replace you, so please, please weather this heat wave as you have all the ones in the past...with great coolness.

Day 12 - Will it ever end

Tile underlayment is all in...and I didn't have a single bad cut. First time ever. Cutting 1/2" HardiBacker is a PITA.

Valspar Sucks

So we used Lowe's house brand for the first time, and I'm not impressed. It has taken 3 coats so far to get the paint to stick because of adhesion issues. And that'd be fine for painting semi-gloss on top of semi-gloss, but this was directly to primer. We'll stick with Behr or Sherman Williams next time.

Counter Tile

Here's some pictures of the 24" Tile we're using for the countertop (it's actually 23.75"...rats.) It's Silestone, and we bought it from e-counters.com.

Day 11 - Keepin' it Teal

Ceiling is painted and first coat of wall paint is on (about to put on second). Yeah, it's pretty teal. We'll see how it works out. Mounted the new light box light and put the Alzak rings on the can lights (though one was dented and will have to go back.) Otherwise the day was taken up with a trip from hell to Lowes to pick up the tile, thinset, plywood and backerboard for the floor, which is tommorow's project. Then we ran in to Portland to pick up our Schluter order. The counter edges are really thick...oh well. Oh, then we had dinner at Kenny and Zukes...yum.

Day 10 - Drywall 0, Us 1

Finally, we are victorious over the drywall. In our last kitchen remodel, removal of the soffit resulted in a really bad seam. This time around I think we nailed it...you can't really see where the soffit was anymore. Sorry for the poor pictures, but the stadium lights are taped over for painting. This is with the texture (Coarse orange peel...didn't thin the mix enough for the micro peel that the wife likes) and a coat of primer. Tommorow is paint time, and I'll tear up the entry way floor and make a dump run. Then off to buy underlayment and maybe some tile.

What color to paint like 8 feet?

There is not going to be a lot of wall space in the newly updated kitchen. But I want something that stands out, but not in a weird way. Something that still appeals to the general public. With a somewhat wide tile back splash of white subway tiles, there will only be a bit of wall by the window, and then maybe a third of two walls in the opposite corner of the kitchen to paint. White tiled back splash, neutral counter, and warm almost mahogany colored cabinets - I was stuck, color wise.

So we took a trip to go return items....yup a whole $18 was returned...but it all counts. (Just need to returned 2 WHOLE sheets of drywall - sorry honey, thought we would need 3 sheets for sure.) As well as stand at walls of paint chips and pick colors. Oh wait, that is me and 3 kids in one of those floats of a cart- standing in the whole paint chip aisle. I think I was able to grab 2 chip cards to their one Mickey Mouse chip card....sort of worked. (We had a shopping bag full of chip cards by the time our trip ended - and they weren't all mickey mouse colors. Phew.)

Christopher hauled in a huge kitchen tile to set out - hey did you know that 24x23 tiles - aren't 24x24 when they are coming from overseas? They are 23.75x23.75. Metric system, schmetric system. Out came our sample cabinet door. On went the new stadium lights. And I was a deer in headlights.

Good to know that there are 4 colors I pick out every time we need a paint color- over and over again, have we painted anything with those colors - nope- but every time. (Maybe the dining room will get a coat from one of those 4 colors). I narrowed it down to oh, 30 colors. Christopher narrowed it down to something close to 15. The kids - R just wants 'dar bu', M and N - they wanted the same color. *lol* So we went with the shade below theirs - hey its our room not theirs *wink*. Bermuda - hmm...how to describe you...other than the name invokes thoughts of a real vacation. Teal, blue, turquoise deep water....someday I will see that in the wild. *grin*

Day 9

Put the top coat on and did a Lowe's & Home Depot Trip. Shooting for texture tommorow and hopefully a primer coat. We're painting the kitchen a lovely shade of Bermuda.

Day 8

Slow day, the drywall mud hasn't finished drying yet (had to put a lot on to taper with the existing finish). So I just patched up the siding on the front of the house from putting the new window in so we don't look so ghetto.

Day 7

Drywall, our favorite thing to do. Taping coat is done, hopefully it'll all dry up tommorow and we can put the 2nd coat on. Need to patch the siding by the window too.

Day 6

No new pics today. Spent most of the day finishing up the two three way circuits and the last few outlets. Everything is happy now. Unfortunately no drywall today...an unplanned trip to Target ate up the end of the day.

As it turns out the six 75 watt Halogen lights are a bit brighter than the old flourescents...go figure.

"Here Russ, small knot..."

Day 5

Can lights are up (minus one), wiring is ready to go. Notice the awesome redneck wiring job for testing. Drywall tommorow (boo!)

Day 4

Put the new window in (4 x 4 ft instead of 5 x 4, to make room for a bigger cabinet) and did most of the wiring. Tommorow the can lights and maybe some drywall.

Schedule...what schedule?

Hmm....We have been working on the window since 10am this morning. I don't think we are going to get to the drywall today. The kids are at our neighbor's house - but there is only so much abuse you want to alot to your friends. (Just kidding, our kids are good kids, and our neighbor is awesome.)

Good news, the microwave is in at the big box store. And our Silestone tiles were delivered 2 days early. And I think we have found *cough* inexpensive tile to put in the kitchen and entry. Priorities, its all about priorities.

Day 3

Slow day today. Spent the morning figuring out the wiring plan, then we pulled up the subfloor. Picked up the can lights and did a Lowes trip from hell this evening to pick up drywall and electrical. Shooting to get the new oven/microwave circuit in tommorow and hopefully get the drywall in where the soffit was.