More Appliances

The dishwasher and beverage center came today. The microwave was also installed. I'm really liking this kitchen. This is so much better than what was originally in place. I really like how the addition of the cabinets under the east window brings that window into the kitchen. It gives the illusion that the space is much larger than it was. The stainless appliances look great for now, pre finger-prints). The backsplash pops. I think that Robin intended for the granite to be the focal point and shining star of the kitchen but every time I walk in, it's the backsplash that catches my attention. It's a great eye catching design.

The First Appliance Arrives!

The refrigerator arrived on Friday. The one catch... french doors don't work well when the fridge is in the corner. Alan used the blue tape that you see on the fridge to write a note to me that says that the trip keeps the doors from opening all the way. The problem is actually the wall. It isn't a big problem. The door opens; you just can't swing it open all the way. The trim also blocks the freezer drawer. We can open it, but we have to yank it to the left away from the trim. Alan is going to redo the trim so that we don't have to do that. In the meantime, I'm glad to see something else in the space.

Almost There

The Rumors are True!

Since my last post I asked Wesley to take pictures of the kitchen with his camera phone and send them to me. Here's what the kitchen looks like with counter tops. More to come when I get back to Minneapolis.

Rumor has it...

Rumor has it that the kitchen will be finished by mid week. Actually, it isn't a rumor. I mean, how can rumors get started in a household of only 2 people. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnyway...

The cabinets were installed on Thursday. I didn't see them because I left for the airport to travel shortly before they were delivered. (I'm posting this from a hotel in Fort Washington, PA.) I've been informed of the following:

• The countertops have been installed and look great.
• Boxes of tile for the backsplash have been delivered.
• The trim and molding around all of the cabinets has been completed
• The appliances will be delivered on Monday or Tuesday.

With all of this, the renovation should be completed this week!

Retrospective

The old kitchen.













After demolition.











Almost done.

Hardware

Here are pictures of the hardware for the cabinets.

Still waiting on the counter tops...

Let there be Light!

Today was one of those days. I got home and assumed that nothing had really happened at the house while we were waiting on the counter tops. I'd been home about two hours and upon reentering the kitchen through the mudrrom after letting the dogs out, I noticed that electrical switches had been installed next to the basement door.

To my surprise and delight, the switches were live. The lights in the kitchen are now operational!

Dear Loyal Readers

Hi, sorry I've been away for a while but there were two reasons:
1) There really hasn't been much progress on the kitchen
2) In light of last week's tragedy I felt that posting details on my kitchen remodel seemed a bit trivial in comparisson.

Well, I'm back with several new posts for you to read. Enjoy.

JPE

Natural Stone

Robin sent over pictures of the slab that will be cut for our counter tops. I love the rich waves of color that extend throughout the stone. We anticipate delivery of the countertops this week. There has been a slight delay because we thought that the slabs were on hold; Robin definitely put them on hold. Somehow the supplier "lost" them. So, getting a new slab and measuring for it took a little longer than expected. Nevertheless I'm pleased with the slab that we finally got.









The backsplash will be a tumbled marble; rich in texture, neutral in color. The objective is to let the counter tops serve as the primary point of visual interest in the kitchen. The muted color of the backsplash will allow that to occur. The patter will be as follows:
- Two rows of subway tile separated by,
- One row of 1 inch decorative tile followed by,
- Two rows of square tile,
- Another row of 1 inch decorative tile,
- Two final rows of subway tile.







These are the decorative tiles that will be used. I'm excited about the use of the glass tile (the dark brown tiles) in the arrangement.

Up the Ladder to the Roof

When you live in an older home, you find that there are many things that previous owners/workers did to the hosue that just don't make any sense.

Per a previous post, we installed additional outlets to an upstairs bedroom to lessen the load on one of the circuits in the electrical panel. To do this, they ran the wire for the new outlets through the attic. Upon entering the attic, Alan noticed that light was visibly entering the attic through roof of the house. The flashing for where the sides of the attic and the roof meet had been improperly installed. As a result, no only was light able to come in but so was water. There were several spots in the attic that had clearly been affected by this issue.

I came home today to find that Alan's team have been correcting this issue for us.

Regarding the kitchen... we're on hold until the counter tops get here.

Do you know what prominent R&B group had a hit with the same title as this post?

Little White Flags

Disclaimer: The work you are about to view was not done by my contractor Alan. Alan's work is always of the highest quality.

So, as I shared during my last post the inground sprinkler system was installed. I was told that the process was fairly simple and that while the yard would sustain some damage, it would be minimal. The machinery used to dig the trenches apparently was supposed to fold the turf over and fold it back once the lines were laid. I expected there to be some sort of damage, but in many places it looks as if they just dug up huge sections of the yard. Nevermind that they didn't want to repair the electrical line that they hit (Alan fixed that for me). Nevermind that they sent 6 people over to work on the yard on Friday and it didn't look like a thing had been done.

I went out of town on Friday and when I returned on Sunday I decided that the best way to get this fixed was to do it myself. So, I purchased no less than 25 - 40 lb. bags of topsoil from home depot and did the repair work myself. As my neighbor Don said, the good things it that I've got plenty of the one thing you need to repair a lawn... water.

The little white flags in the pictures below show where the sprinkler heads were installed.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

I don't have the largest yard, but it's just big enough to be a hassle to have to constantly put the sprinklers back in the right position week after week once the lawn people leave. They're offering a great deal on in ground systems right now, so I decided to have one installed. But of course, true to form... something had to go wrong.









Apparently the wire that supplies power to my garage wasn't burried deeply enough. It got hit. Notice the tattered electrical wire in the trench. It'll be fixed tomorrow.