While we wait...

The counter tops are scheduled to be installed on Nov 8 so the kitchen will remain mostly un-usable until that point, but while we wait there is plenty to do. This weekend we worked on building something to raise our washer and dryer.

Our old laundry room did have a platform, but it was 24 inches tall and once the machines were on it, I couldn't really see the spot for the detergent without standing on tip toes... So after inspecting underneath it to make sure there wasn't a reason it was that tall, we took it down during the kitchen demo.

We came up with plans for what we wanted out of our laundry/mudroom and new dimensions for a platform for the w/d. We hope to not only raise the machines, but build doors to enclose them and add a ton of storage and function to this laundry/mud room.

Here are some of the pics we drew inspiration from:

Since the kitchen is our main entrance to the house, we want one side of the laundry room to function as a mud room to store coats, hats, gloves, shoes, etc. We plan on meshing the elements of these photos together... but more on down the road as it's not something we needed to get done right away.

The more pertinent inspiration pictures:

The w/d are all raised up in these photos with a ton of storage surrounding them. We knew we wanted to get at least the platform built before we brought them in from the porch. So that's what we worked on with our first Saturday off since football season started:

The new platform is about 15-16 inches tall and will have storage underneath it. These are some in progress shots. I forgot to take a picture of the "finished" product before we brought the w/d back in, but here's what it looks like all together:

We plan to put doors over the opening for some concealed storage and build cabinets for above and open shelving next to it. All of this can wait for now at least. We're just happy to be able to use our own w/d now! Although, we did get an error code when we plugged in our dryer today... we'll try again after it re-acclimates to warmer temperatures and hope that solves the issue... cross your fingers the kitchen/laundry remodel didn't just get more expensive...

One of our other minor projects today included pushing the fridge into it's permanent home. This project was a huge success!!!

The fridge looks so cozy now :)

We've also been trying to finish the lighting situation but this project has not been as successful. We have different can lights in the ceiling (some old ones, some new ones, and one weird one that got added after the ceiling was put up as mentioned in a previous post) so we are having a hard time finding the covers that work with all of the different types. I think we should just use "mis-matched" covers as you can barely tell a difference, Mike on the other hand KNOWS they are different and won't be happy until they match. So the hunt continues. We are also struggling to find LED lights that fit, but I think we may have found a winner. Pictures to come, hopefully later this week once things are finalized. Until then, enjoy the in progress shot of the kitchen...

**For those curious, pictures not of our house are courtesy of pinterest.com
 

Just a quickie

No time for much info, but thought I'd share some pictures after day 2 of the cabinet install. As with any old home, the house isn't square/level so the installers had to adjust some things- hopefully the tiler can "hide" those things when he installs the back-splash! So without further ado:

Shelves that need to be put into place, some of the crown-molding, and one last upper that requires some electrical re-work before we can install it... apparently our electrician "messed-up" :)

Here's a good view of the bin pulls CENTERED on the drawer fronts

Our Island

Here you may be able to tell that light box is too close to where the fridge/cabinet is and the crown molding will cover 7/8 of the light. Now we have to figure out how to move it 5 inches out! Any tips??

Here's where the installers had to make some "adjustments"- see if you can tell...

One last view from the hallway :)

Starting to look good, but still plenty left to do!! Happy Friday everyone :)

Progress!

The last time you heard from me, I was whining about the delay in getting the floors finished. Well it seems as though it did NOT delay anything!! Cabinets got delivered yesterday and installation started today:

The view from the hallway

And form another angle

The range corner

A lazy susan to help us stay organized

The uppers waiting to be installed tomorrow!

Now we have to decide where to put our hardware on our drawers:

The same distance from the top on each drawer

or

Centered on each drawer

We are leaning towards centered on each drawer, but definitely go back and forth. If you read this tonight and have an opinion on why one way is better than the other, leave a comment! We could use some input on this decision...

On tomorrow's agenda: the cabinets finish getting installed, the hardware gets installed, and the counter tops get measured! There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

The never-ending (tile) story

The plan for this week was to make progress and lots of it, however, after some mis-communications with the tiler we are having problems getting the floor completely finished! This means there is a delay in the cabinet install, appliance delivery, and counter-top measuring!

The tiler came as planned and got (most) of the tile laid last week:

However there was some confusion on the island border so he was supposed to come in and fix that/finish laying the remainder of the tile and grout on Monday. He apparently got tied up at another job and was supposed to come today (Tuesday). Again got tied up (or so he says) and was not able to make it AGAIN! This means that the cabinets, which were supposed to be delivered tomorrow for install Thursday and Friday will have to get pushed back... the appliances which were supposed to be delivered on Thursday will have to be pushed back to next week Tuesday (the store only delivers on Tues and Thurs to our area) ... and the counter tops certainly won't be measured for this week. What a bummer! I sure hope the tile guy gets here tomorrow.

The good news over the past week is that we do LOVE the way the tile looks in the space and are super happy with our choice in design and color!

These delays also gave us time to finish painting. We had to buy some stain blocking primer and apply 2 coats before we were successful in covering up our ink problem. But we did get it covered and painted so that's one thing to check off our list.

Hopefully I'll be back later this week with pictures of a finished floor and maybe even the cabinets too!

Tough Mudder

No, this post isn't about the Mud Run in Madison, but it was a marathon of sorts this last week and there was a lot of muddin'. All of the drywall was patched (by us the other weekend) and mudded (mostly by someone else last week)! It was actually quite nice to come home from work each day last week and see some progress being made on the kitchen.

Despite bringing in some hired help, the work was not light for us. We spent many late nights working on our angled "range wall" and our recessed box for decoration behind the range. As well as priming the newly patched drywall, priming and painting the ceiling, and picking out a paint color.

Here's a sneak peak at the paint job that's been going on too:

It's hard to see, but the color on the left is the old color, the middle color is the new color, and the white on the right is the primer (yes, I know very minimal change!)

For those of you haven't seen our laundry room before (it's connected to the kitchen so it's under construction also), the yellow is the old color but we are painting it the same color as the kitchen to unify the spaces.

So, I am happy to report the painting is (mostly) complete. We are having some issues with ink bleeding through the paint!! It is quite frustrating. Any tips on how to get rid of that? We painted 3 coats of paint over it, but it still showed through. So we re-primed the area and it showed through even more! I guess that's the last time WE write on the wall! I'll keep you updated if/when we come up with a solution.

In other news, the tile got delivered TODAY! and he is coming to start laying the tile tomorrow. We are so excited to put the appliances (fridge, washer, and dryer) back in the room so we can stop living like this:

(please pardon our dust)

Missing the sink >>> missing the slate

The mudder/taper has been here all week patching up the drywall (yes we finished patching all the holes Monday- it only cost one trip to the ER!) and we're crossing our fingers he'll finish things up before the weekend so we can get our paint on! Since I have no major updates to share yet (we're tackling the vent work for our range hood tonight), I thought I'd share some of our most recent purchases for the kitchen:

We spent quite a bit of time discussing what type of sink we wanted (right now I think we'd take just about anything compared to the one we've been using to wash all of our dishes!). Initially I had high hopes for a farmhouse sink, but after some research on cost (both the sink and the base cabinet) that got ruled out. We both knew we wanted an undermount sink at that point for a more seamless look but couldn't decide whether we wanted a single or double basin sink. Our old sink was a double basin sink, but I wasn't so sure it was necessary and thought we might get "more" out of a single basin. Mike wanted a double-basin sink and since he's the primary dish-washer his vote ultimately won out. So we went with this nifty sink from Overstock:

 It got delivered a week or two ago and although we kept it in the box to minimize damage in our "construction zone," we did take a sneak peek. We both love it and are glad with the decision we made! Our plumber also took a peak and thought we'd made a good decision as well. We can't wait to have this installed (or anything installed in the kitchen for that matter!)

We also spent about a half a day meeting with our kitchen guy choosing tile. We toyed with the idea of extending the hardwood floors thru the kitchen, but worried that with that being our main entrance to the house they'd get ruined quick. So we scratched that off the list. We thought a bit about cork as we'd heard some good things about it but worried it would like funny next to similarly toned wood floors. So that got scratched off the list too. In the end we settled on tile floor and knew we did not want a natural stone like the slate we had removed- like that narrowed things down! Ha! Thank goodness for our kitchen guy to help us figure things out because there are so many options when it comes to ceramic or porcelain tile it could be a nightmare to sift through. After a few specifications (darkish, but not too dark- our kitchen doesn't get a lot of light!, and large square or rectangle shape, and of course a budget x), he narrowed it down quite a bit. In the end we picked this tile from Daltile:

It's called Misty Rain. We love the blend of light and dark colors and know it will hide a lot of dirt AND Puppy hair which was our main goal. We're looking forward to having it laid in the next 7-10 days! We opted to go on a diagonal pattern and plan to have a border around the island to give a bit more interest. Because there's a bit more going on with the pattern than the simple square straight lines, we are going to pay to have it installed. Since the simple pattern took the better part of a 3-day weekend to prep and lay the tile, our sanity, backs, and time line are better off with this being contracted out! :) Looking forward to hopefully having pics of some more progress soon!


p.s. If you're curious about the ER comment - Mike had a close encounter with some drywall (it fell in his eye)! It resulted in a corneal abrasion and the need for antibiotic eye ointment. Ultimately a relatively common injury and nothing to be too worried about, but there was some bleeding in his eye (not bloodshot) that totally freaked me out! Good thing everything is ok and no vision lost!

It's electric!

Mike and I (mostly Mike) have been working endlessly to get the major electrical work accomplished over the last couple of weeks. I can finally say it's officially over!

Our first step was making the decision to take down the ceiling. With the addition of more upper cabinets and the rearranging of the range and fridge, we had to adjust the location of our can lights. We also wanted to add a few more lights over the island, add electrical for under cabinet lighting, relocate the in-ceiling speakers, and provide electrical (etc) for a new wall mounted TV.  It's no surprise then that all these electrical switches took us quite some time and having the ceiling outta there certainly (or at least I hope) made things a bit easier.

We learned a few fun facts about the electrical code in the process, too- you need to have an outlet within 2 feet of the sinks edge and you need an outlet at counter height every 4 feet along the counter.  I definitely think we have more outlets than we'd ever use but the code is there for a reason, right?!? Thanks again to Josh who helped get the electrical stuff moving (and for leaving some of his tools behind- they definitely came in handy!)

In Belleville, the inspector is only here on Thursday so last week we were working until 9pm every night trying to finish. This included a late night run to Menards for some last minute supplies. The supplies ended up being unnecessary but the trip also allowed us to pick up some take-out for dinner which was definitely necessary!

Despite a slight panic at 7am Thursday morning (the inspector was coming at 8am) when Mike realized we didn't finish dealing with the range vent, WE PASSED the inspection! It apparently wasn't much of a detailed inspection. It was all over in a matter of minutes! Who knew?!?

We have since re-drywalled the ceiling with my dad's help (thanks dad) and had the plumber come and relocate our gas line. It almost looks like a kitchen room again- except for the holes in the wall that need patching and the fact that we're still walking on the sub-floor.  That will all change in the next week or two. This week we have the tile guy (yep, we decided we will only tile in spaces smaller than the entryway) coming this week to lay the cement backer board. Our tile should be here by Friday so he'll lay the tile early next week. The cabinet guy is going to come and re-do the angled range wall that we failed to build correctly on Wednesday. And our drywall "Mudder and Taper" will come as soon as we finish patching the holes in the wall- so now we work late on that.... the fun never ends around here!

With all this action coming up, we had to get our washer, dryer, dishwasher, and fridge located OUT of the kitchen. Yesterday, Eric (Mike's brother), came over to move the appliances. Our fridge is now hanging out in the hallway, right at the edge of the kitchen (I can barely squeeze past it to get from either side and Mike has to go outside and walk around to get to the other side of the fridge). Our washer and dryer and dishwasher are out on the porch with a tarp covering them. Here's hoping everything survives!

This weekend has been mostly unproductive (The Badgers beat on Nebraska in the Big Ten opener this Saturday! Go Bucky!), but I hope to have a few small updates early this week.