Half Bath Functional

The Christmas tree is up (pictures to follow in subsequent post when decorating is finished).

We have been out and about with lots of activities. One of which is the war against the beavers that have dammed up the over-flow for the pond/lake that we live on. It caused the level to rise approxiamtely 14" which put the base of about 8 of our big trees in water. After going and getting permits from the state and local police as well as getting permission to go on several peoples property I believe that we have a plan and the beaver will soon no longer reside in the city.

'Yahoo', (a cry of joy not the search engine) we have the 1/2 bath functional. This negates the need to walk approximately 75' from the new kitchen just in case nature calls.

Sandy found the mirror somewhere and it looks as though it is a perfect match to the small vanity we found at Lowes early one Saturday on our way to the Flea Market to buy fresh produce (that really doesn't sound good does it; flea market/fresh produce).
The room is quite small but the vanity allows for some storage and, even though a fantastic value, we think looks quite stunning.

A view as you open the door to the room. Drywall mud is a patch of screw holes where the toilet paper holder was wrongly located

The working end of this area.

Note the drywall mud on the back wall. This was done one Sunday evening when I was tiling and busted the water supply pipe that came out of the wall as the water spewed all over everywhere. Hans was running through the house yelling for Sandy to call the plumber and finally getting the water to the house shut off

The door which was installed yesterday, Sunday a.m. The trim that is shown came with the door but will be ripped off and replaced once the rest of the 'better' trim is purchased and prepped.

Functional by Thanksgiving, check that box

Last night Buzz and Ginny came over and Buzz hooked up our cooktop to the natural gas line that was run prior. I also powered up the dishwasher and ice maker. The kichen, except for the garbage disposal, is all working. There is still a lot to do but nothing that can't get done by Christmas.......................

Crown moulding up and new counter stools
Another pic of the type of stool, adjustable from 24" to 30" and will swivel

Faucet, spritzer and sink in island.

Icemaker wil new ice

There are 3 built in maple cutting boards. If anyone knows what to stain these with we would love to know.

Things, of importance, I didn't show you in last blog

The frig installed to make it look kinda built-in
TV to go on the top half of this cabinet, cd's and dvd's in slots below. Electronic in lower left (home theater, am/fm digital radio that I got almost a year ago when a reward points program transpired which I was just several points away from having enough for the TV (another story/another time). Bottom right cabinet is for books or whatever.

China cabinet with two drawers at the bottom was installed.


Here are all of the pieces of maple crown molding stained and varnished, ready to install at the top of the cabinets.

Vacation winds down / some appliances installed

The heat pump for the addition was commissioned this week and the new programmable thermostat and heat/air grills installed. It is nice to walk the entire length of the house (approximately 80') and not notice any temperature variation.

Wiring has been finished to the breaker box and all prior electric work has been finished (there is no more extension cord powering the frig in the garage !!)

We ran into a small issue for the floor in the new laundry and half bath area which is going to mean a change order (good thing that we are our own general contractor or this may have been an expensive one.) Bottom line is that we will be ripping out the floor in that area and replacing the old 1/2" sub-floor with new 3/4" plywood to give us a more substantial base for the 18" tile we will be laying.

The oven tower is installed and powered up as is the new frig. Sandy and I installed the oven ourselves on Friday p.m. using 4 empty tile adhesive buckets along with equal amounts of brute strength and awkwardness.

You may notice (from older posts) that the oven and frig cleaned up pretty good from sitting around waiting for this day.

The opening below the ovens is for a drawer to house oven type broiler pans, etc. The cabinet on the bottom and to the right of the ovens is for cookie racks, cake pans, etc.

The bottom oven is convectional, middle is a convection with a temperature probe if you wish to use it and the top is a microwave/convection combination oven.

Tile goes down / more progress made

This week I was on vacation and needed to get our rental in the country ready for the new renters b4 working on the kitchen project. Carpet was demoed from 2nd full bath and replaced with linoleum, carpet was cleaned, all new blinds installed, new front porch light installed and yard was cleaned up and mowed.

Gas plumbers came and installed gas lines for the cooktop, grill (on the deck) and downstairs fireplace. They where here all day Thursday. Their company called on Friday and said it would be $125 more than they quoted. Not happy about that but will deal with that when the invoice comes.

This is the saw that saved the day and weekend. Cuts tiles like butter...

Saw is sitting out on the deck. This is somewhat messy so will need to power wash when complete on this tile job.
Had to get the tile aligned around the island so that there wasn't a BIG issue..
Tile cut (by the gr8 saw) around the island

Most tile is in place in front of the island and cut for supply heat ducts. We are also now ready for the HVAC man to come and crank up the new heat pump for this room.
New tiles are 18" x 18" (2.25 sq. ft. each). Laid about 120 tiles so far this weekend. Will finish tiling kitchen tomorrow with all of the little ones that need to be sawn.
Most tile also on working side of island.
More behind the island

Happy B'day Eleri / More progress / Starting to smell a kitchen soon

Oven tower with most of the doors and panels installed
Starting to come together

Showing the front of the island cabinet doors under new countertop
Another picture of the same
A view from the fireplace towards the cooktop and frig area
Cooktop is in place but not hooked up to gas or electric
Switches for disposal and lights under front of countertop as well as 3 convenience outlets

Countertops on and pushing forward

Busy week again. Granite has arrived and was installed. Measuring twice / cutting once the standard operating procedure.

Again, international workers, did not speak English, spoke Mandrin (sp?) based on what the young lady said that was driving then here and picking them up. (Of course neither did Sandy's nail technician that did her pedicure tonight)

Cutting the sink after the granite was installed and leveled and seamed

Working to seam the two pieces that formed the island

Kitchen with all kinds of things drying with stain and varnish on them

Cabinets going up and in

The following pictures show all the cabinets that have been delivered installed.

Cabinets on either side of the fireplace still need to be built.
Nice shot showing the back half of the kitchen including the wine rack

This pic illustrates the amount of space between the island and back wall of cabinets. The idea here was to have enough room for 3 or 4 people to work comfortably when having holidays or large gatherings at the house.


The Brants installing the cabinets they made.

Thanksgiving the stretch goal......

The screen doors for the window wall came in and we installed them. They come in handy now as we are staining and varnishing.
Staining is done on what we have had delivered. There are 15 more drawers to come as well as 50 or so cabinet doors. Also still need several cabinets.
Good shot showing the front of the island. Drawer fronts are on top as well as on top of the other cabinets. Base cabinets along back wall will be installed tomorrow. Countertops will be measured on Friday afternoon. Sandy and I went to the warehouse yesterday and got some ideas of what granite is available and we are looking forward to getting those in.
This blurry photo is Sandy and Donna fishing on the pond this past weekend. They caught and released 20 or more.

Cabinets start being installed

Base cabinets were preliminarily 'dry fit' today to make sure they would fit the space. Grills were installed in the toe kicks for the HVAC systems return air.

This 'kinda' shows the rear wall / island and oven tower cabinets


Jeff and his dad (the Brandt's) mounting the frig and pantry cabinets

The rear wall with frig temporarily placed

Kickin butt and kickin back on vacation the last two weeks

The project is starting to show some progress. We were blessed with a long weekend at the beach (THANKS JIM AND BONNIE FOR THE USE OF YOUR GR8 PLACE) with all of the children and grandchildren (Leslie, Jeff with Koty and Tyler from Monroe, NC; Megan with Eleri from Albuquerque, NM (sorry you had to work Sam you missed a gr8 time) as well as Lauren and Eli with Vinny and Jaxon from Columbia, SC (soon to be from Boulder, CO.)) We will put some pics on the next post

We are shooting for Thanksgiving to be all done with the upstairs. Yes, I said the upstairs. As projects tend to grow and take on a larger scope so has this one. Starting as just a new kitchen has now expanded into a new half bath, moving the laundry, new doors throughout upstairs, new hardwood flooring, new on-demand water heater, new trim throughout upstairs, new paint in most of the upsatirs, etc, etc, etc.

Don't get me wrong, we can do it. I am married to the best woman in the world and she loves to assist, it makes the project go so much faster when everyone is on the same page. I am so lucky and priveledged

Drywall has been taped, primed and ceiling/walls painted. 1/4 of the cabinets came on Saturday 7/26 (yesterday). What you see is the oven cabinet that will house the double oven with microwave/convection oven abobe making it a three built-in oven cabinet.
Drawer units, refrigerator unit (upside down) and 9' corner pantry cabinet.
This shows the spice/seasoning rack that will be on each side of the cooktop housing all of the spices, vinegars, ect. We are playing with stain on the sides of the cabinets to determine what color they will be.
This is the base of the built in china cabinet that will sit on the left of the fireplace.
Looking hard you can see the six 4" can lights that are on the outside ceiling, there are six more on the other side of the ceiling and three pendent lights that will gp over the island.

This shows some of the cabinets that are on the side of the triple oven cainet. This cabinet goes around the chimney of the downstairs fireplace.