Milestones

We are getting there! Not quite time to roll the credits but we really are making progress.. Well we were anyway. One milestone that is majorly in the way is - my LAST week of school. And the requisite LAST projects. Regarding the cabinet project though, we have finished the following things:

The LAST cabinet box
The LAST face frame - in fact we have even drilled the LAST pockethole
The LAST shelf built

Okay that's all I can think of for now but I'm still excited about it. :)

Business as usual...

I'm "working from home" today, sitting at the new desk area in the kitchen, which I love. There a great view of the backyard - snow coming down right now! Close proximity to the food. The optical mouse even works on the granite. No need for a mouse pad. What more could you ask for?
There's some new trim for the above window being stained in the garage as we speak. Odds and ends like that are about all we've done for the past few days. With the floor done and the appliances in their forever homes, there's no more sense of urgency here. I guess we are also anticipating the door making process which is sure to be slow and tedious.

Here's close-up view of the backsplash. As soon as that trim is installed, we're putting it up around the desk area too.
The slate floor is done as well. True to form we sold the extra 100 sq ft of slate to a nice family from Boulder for $100. That's a little less than we paid for it but I did sort through every single box and select the nicest tiles so... I think they deserved the discount. Grouting that stuff was no fun, let me tell you, and I'm not 100% sure that the grout/mortar wasn't a contributor to my mysterious allergic reaction. I do love the results, but seriously, for the time and energy and buckets of water it took to get that stuff clean, I don't know if I would do it again.

Over the hump

Despite lack of blog posts to serve as proof, work on the house has been progressing at the speed of light!! Ok, not that fast. BUT, I will get my appliances back and in their rightful positions, not the living room, THIS WEEK. Maybe even tonight. This is huge folks.

The biggest hurdle we jumped was the slate floor. We spent one entire weekend, all day both days, putting down the slate that I bought off Craigslist, hmm, over a year ago. It has sat there peacefully in the laundry room ever since. This was tough work... joint pain, back pain, muscle pain, you name it. In fact it took several days for us to recover, but we were determined to be done by Sunday night. Here's a shot of me right at the end of the process. (p.s. You can even see evidence of a mysterious allergic reaction that had moved up to my face by the end of the ordeal. So yes, monday morning was spent getting a benedryl shot and steroid pack.)


Allergy or not, I enjoy the tiling process. You get to work with mud. And, its all about appearances, rather than small details like if your grout lines are absolutely perfect. That doesn't really matter. You are going for the overall affect here people. August hates it for the same reasons. Thus, for once, I got to play the role of worker and August got to be the assistant.


Since then we have grouted the kitchen area only, because the grouting ain't so fun. But, in order to speed that appliance install, we did get it done where it counts. The latest effort is the backsplash. I found some glass tiles in a hurry and because we are tile experts now, we bought them Sunday, installed them Monday, and grouted them Tuesday. Tonight, Wednesday, we will clean them off one more time and then install the range in front and never take it out again.

Obviously meant to be

Many congratulations to Bethany and Keith!

As you can see they make a great team. And yes, we make everyone who comes to our house earn their keep.

Demo Fever

Demo fever is something that August and I both suffer from on occasions like... this past Wednesday night. For some reason it just seemed like tearing up the carpet in the hallway was more appropriate than continuing to work on the kitchen. So that's what we did... No more carpet staircase either.

What we found was a mixed bag - the hallway looks pretty great. Just like the living room / dining room, that red oak is some tough stuff. The staircase is in worse shape. Its made of pine... Who's bright idea was that? I don't know if the picture below really shows how banged up they are. I mean its not *terrible* but it is the first thing you see when you come in the front door... so.... I don't think replacing the treads will be a big deal. There are only 11 of them in the entire house.

A Quick Post About Milk

Well, our two-week break on house work is now over. August's hunting trip came and went. I went home and back. And we had two dear friends in town all last week.

I wanted to share one cool thing about living in Longmont - The Longmont Dairy Farm. In fact we have a lot of dairies and other cattle operations here in CO. I'm sure of this because the price of milk and steak at grocery store is usually quite low. Milk is typically $1.58/gallon. Can you believe it? But, the cool thing about the Longmont Dairy Farm is that they deliver... Fresh milk to your doorstep... On Tuesdays... In glass bottles... How cool is that?!

With the minimum order of 3 bottles (we get 2 bottles of white and 1 bottle of chocolate), plus a small delivery charge, our monthly bill was ~$35. This is approximately seven times what I would normally spend on milk in a month. And its about the maximum amount of milk we can possibly drink. I think I'm getting a little sick of milk trying to drink it all. However, we figured it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So, we'll probably keep it up for another month or so, and then allot that $30 elsewhere.

Our new shower..

What do you think of it?? It CHANGES COLORS, just like a mood ring.



The science nerd in me says its a cool idea but at $150/sq ft, my inner economist is saying no.

Progress

It was a bit of a saga but the countertops in the main part of the kitchen are installed, grouted, everything. The drama? Turns out that its hard to be precise and perfect when you are working with a substance called "mud". Used to having everything right down to the 1/64th of an inch, tiling was a little out of our comfort zone. Some of the grout lines were larger than they should be, some of the junctions weren't quite lined up, some of the tiles are slightly lower than some of the other tiles. However, the nice black grout went in and it fairly well smoothed everything out. And even August thinks that everything looks okay now.

And as of last night, even the sink is installed. hallelujah! The desk area (i.e. kitchen annex) is also *almost* done. Should be done by Friday. What in the world will we do with our 3.5 day weekend?? I'm sure will think of something. Shelving is high on my priority list.

The desk area...

And a random shot of me, to prove that I do occasionally do some work myself.

A Glimpse

Here's a little peek into what life's like around our house, pretty much any day of the week.



Our clever intent was to score the underside of this particular piece of hardiebacker and then just pop that sink cutout right out.. It didn't work out that way. We did of course get it out eventually, but it took lots of tearing, bending, etc etc etc.

We have granite!

It was a big weekend. We finally got the granite tiles for the countertop. The final decision was for "butterfly green" - green with some gray in it. This one wasn't exactly listed on the website, so we didn't even know it was an option until we got to the store. I love it though, its gonna look great with the slate floors. Its better than any of the other colors we considered... Unfortunately no pictures of it are really turning out, but you get the idea...

Guess what else came on Saturday - a giant arrangement of chocolate-dipped fruits... A fabulous birthday gift from August's mom & sister. What you can't tell in this picture is that I had already eaten the back side of the arrangement. mmm mmm...

The Fridge Cabinet

We have officially cleared the biggest cabinet installation hurdle of all - {ominous music} the 24" deep over-fridge cabinet. Why so challenging? Well, being very conscious of our limited kitchen space, I only left a half inch of spare un-utilized wall in the design. Second, this cabinet is giant - it had to be hung from the ceiling as well as the wall. Third, perfection is key here. Everything needs to be square, plumb, level, lined up, etc etc, or else the fridge may not fit at all....

There were some tense moments for sure but its all done now. Of course we won't be test fitting the fridge so fingers crossed... I'm sure it will be fine...

The picture above is August's bracing just before cabinet installation. If a 400-lb gorilla ever wants to move in up there, he will be a-okay. (Can you see the duck sticking its tongue out at you? I was quite amused...)

Of course, it ended up being a tight fit and we actually had to grind off some of the screw heads. And slick it up with bar soap. And give it a few good whacks. The finished product looks pretty great though.

Countertop coming up

I know this has to be like the fourth time I've posted about countertop options. But seriously folks, the time for decision making is NOW. We've changed our minds again, though only slightly. Still thinking granite tile, but not the $$$ Benissimo stuff i mentioned earlier. Why? I found a rather interesting Russian guy selling something similar out of a warehouse in Denver. A little sketchy, yes it is. However the savings will be approx. $500. Another nice thing is he carries larger tiles, like 18"x21". So we will have less seams. less seams = more like a slab.

Here's a shot of someone else's work:
And the colors we're considering... At this point it could go any way, leaning towards blue pearl as the cheapest possible option. The above counter is deep blue pearl. That's a lot different from regular blue pearl, according to the Russian.

--------------Uba tuba------------- Blue pearl---------------- Rusty sand-----

Fine Fine Fein

Check this tool out!! We thought this thing looked perfect for remodeling. Could've been really helpful on that wood-floor demolition we did..



I like how the video insinuates that the tool was able to single-handedly remodel entire rooms. Too bad it has a hefty price tag - $400!

So look what we bought instead. Harbor Freight - only $32 with a coupon that i vandalized right out of a public library magazine. (Felony or Misdemeanor?) And it works too. We used it to cut a hole for an outlet in the back of an already installed cabinet.

No excuses

That's right, I can't think of any really good excuse for my lack of blogging lately. The kitchen is coming along fabulously. The pics I'm about to show you are from.. hmm.. two weeks ago?? Here's an updated kitchen to-do list:

• Sink - done!
• Microwave - done!
• Range - done!
• Refrigerator panels - halfway
• Install peninsula, sink base, lower cabinets
  
• Install pantry and desk cabinets
• Build shelves
• Crown moulding
• Tile countertop, backsplash
• Floor moulding
• Slate floor
• Build glass-front cabinets / bookshelves

A Little Help from the Fam

We have had three visitors for the past few days so we've lots of sightseeing and a little kitchen work as well. Hanging the giant three-cabinets-in-one thing was something August and I definitely couldn't do by ourselves. But, its done now!














We also did the ultimate Colorado tourist attraction: Pike's Peak. (Our first fourteener!! ha ha ha). At 14,110 feet, the weather was alternating between snowy and sunny, and the temp was in the 30's. Cold!! The whole visit was a blast though, and we very sorry to see them go.

The Deer

Just thought I would make a note of this.

I met one of our neighbors for the first time on Saturday. She had the nerve to make a comment about the lack of concrete deer in the front yard and wondering what type of "taste" we had.

Neighbors can be so hilarious sometimes. Seriously, as if we're the ones with bad taste.

Yes, we realized that the previous owner left them there for us. We even knew that she had purchased one of them especially for us. We realized all this and it didn't stop us from selling them all to that other nice old lady for $80 on craigslist.

Some issues we don't have

Enjoyed these - luckily they aren't from our house!!

Wiring mess

Ran out of conduit?

Dip can junction box

Invasion

Moths are everywhere!! At first I was afraid that they were living in the pile of construction debris in the back yard. But we've now realized its not just us, its the entire state. On the upside, Abby loves them. She loves them more than spiders. A little disgusting but I guess its protein right?

Sheetrock and Painting

Well, it feels great to be putting things together again rather than taking them apart. The sheetrock is up and finished and we're on to painting. Our sheetrock mud and tape jobs generally turned out a lot better than we had expected. Some of our joints are less noticeable than the original ones! Glad to be done with it though, sheetrock work is no fun.

We're Back!

Back from Europe, ready to get this kitchen deal wrapped up. Stay tuned!

A Trip to the Airport

Why get anywhere early when you can instead be late?? (Our family motto)

Mission for the day: make it to the Denver airport to catch a 4:55 flight to Orlando. So we made plans to skip the bus hassle and drive ourselves, take the toll road, park in the cheap $5 lot, and be at the airport 1.5 hours early. We decided that August would get home from work at 2:30pm. Then we would leave immediately. In his head we were leaving the hacienda at 2:50 - error #1: that's pushing it really. Its a good 40 minute drive to the airport plus we would have to park and take the shuttle.

So we left at 2:55. error #2: we left the credit cards on the copy/printer at home, where we had very responsibly made copies in case of pickpocketing in Spain. We got the copies but not the originals. This we realized about 7 minutes down the road. We did turn around, somewhat unaware of how close we were cutting it. So now we're running even later but we do have methods of payment.

No problems with traffic or toll road. The 90 degree heat combined with the lack of air conditioning in the truck combined with the sick feeling that we were about to get in trouble made for a less than enjoyable ride. Thank goodness for the new "Vehicle Tag" toll system where you don't have to stop.

We get to the parking lot and are on the shuttle bus by 3:47. (Error #3: Why didn't we just cough up the extra $4 per day and park where we could walk to the terminal?) At this point we are expecting to be yelled at by the ticket agent about the 45 minute cutoff for checked baggage. We got around that once before though.

Now for an aaaagonizing shuttle bus ordeal. Wait wait wait. The driver (with bad toupee) was obviously paid by the hour and not by the load because he then drove 3 mph and waited leisurely at each bus stop. Everyone including us is having a heart attack. We are spitting distance from the airport. I wanted to grab our luggage and haul off across the field, but I knew we would get taken out by snipers if we tried that.

The Denver airport has two sides, so the bus of course went to the wrong one first. We got off anyway, as you can easily run from one side to the other. This run reminds me how I should really be getting more exercise. We round the corner and there is the Southwest check-in line, 2 miles long. Up to this point I had totally forgotten about the check-in line. I haven't checked luggage since they started charging. Southwest doesn't charge though, and so naturally everyone still checks luggage. Its 4:09. PANIC!

Good idea #1: I ran around the back side of the line and frantically asked a very kind check-in agent who was leaving for break what to do. She told me a couple of times, very sweetly, that everyone has to wait. Seriously, we are going to miss this flight and chaos will ensue. August won't get over it for the entire trip. Then she says "oh, you could try the SkyCap out at the curb. The line is probably shorter."

EXCELLENT idea #2: If you are ever in a pinch, use the Skycap. There were only seven people in line. I think it was 4:12 or so by this time. Panic again here, but these people look manageable. This brings us to Good Idea #3: With a line this short, put on your best panicky face (didn't have to fake that one) and start working your way up. Each person VERY kindly agreed to let us go in front of them. Including the lady in the #2 spot who's flight was only 25 minutes after hours.

Lady in the #1 position is of course checking 3 bags, 2 of which are giant cylinders. One was 5 feet tall. August suggested that they contained stacked hat boxes and from the looks of the lady, I believe it. She gave the agent lots of instruction on how to carry them as he hurled them onto the conveyor belt. This all takes uhm forever of course.

Finally at the Skycap check in. The guy merely takes are luggage, slaps late-check-in tags on them, and hands us boarding passes. No lecture at all. I had money out to give him (bribe him) but I think I put it back in my pocket in the confusion. Oops. I yell thank you to all the lovely people who let us jump them in line. I should have given them all money.

From this point on, we ran everywhere. The security line was doable, as usual. Props to the Denver TSA. We did of course pick the slowest line where the checker lady was asking everybody about their day etc etc etc. But we made it through security by 4:22. We arrived at our gate hearts racing. We still have "lake check-in / not really official / see the gate agent" boarding passes. Of course no one is even boarding yet. The plane hadn't even unloaded from its previous flight yet. Now I feel a little bad for busting in front of those nice people in line. We maybe could've made it without the grovelling, but I don't think our blood pressure had any room to rise further without rupturing soemthing.

Rest assured we will be back at the airport tomorrow with PLENTY of time to spare. 2.5 hrs. maybe.

Its Been A Year! (?!?!?)

Its been just over a year since we closed on our dear seventies house. I can hardly believe it. Time flies when you're having fun, or at least when you are incredibly busy as we are this month and next.

Kitchen update: Subfloor is done. Wiring is done. Sheetrock is partially done. Need to finish that and add backerboard to the floor and we will be "GO" for cabinet installation. I'm still pushing to get that done before July 4th. We'll see. I know that seems like a long time from now but we will both be gone from now till June 10th (in SPAIN, and Orlando...). I will be gone the next weekend. August will be gone the weekend after that. And that's all the weekends there are in June. AAAH! Can't think like that... not right now...

So, in honor of our one year anniversary of home ownership, I thought I would post this little update on the yard - the one thing that really didn't need "updating" from the previous owner. Instead, it just needed to be kept alive. There have been trials and triumphs along the way, as you can see in this slideshow.

Brought to you by...

Work continues - we are wiring now, but it will still be a small miracle if we get everything back together before we leave for Spain next week. So the new deadline is July 4th. We have visitors coming (yay!) and I think having an operable kitchen sink would be kind of nice by then.. ha ha ha...

So now for a couple of endorsements.

#1 is a Christmas gift which was purchased at a thrift store and we are really using it for info on sheetrock, subfloors, tiling, etc etc etc. Tons of pictures and information. If you ever see one at a thrift store, BUY IT. Its worth the $2. RD.com has a fair amount of the same information available online for free.


#2 is a fabulous tool called an impact driver. If you ever need to screw anything serious together such as a deck or a subfloor, if you ever had a problem stripping screw heads out, you need one of these! It will run a screw straight through a 2x4 if you let it. We were loaned one from a friend and purchased our very own just a few days later. It is an amazing piece of drilling technology.

No Floor

Kitchen renovation is underway. We are currently adding additional bracing to the joists wherever we can. We should be done with all that by tonight. Next stop is sheet rock and electrical. Less than three weeks to our "deadline" where we intend to have all cabinets and appliances back in their proper places. AAAAH!

Musical Chairs

Do you like those little puzzles where you slide the tiles around to make a picture? That's our house these days. The living room furniture is now in the spare bedroom. The dining room is in the living room, right next to the major kitchen appliances. Cabinets are filling the dining room. What's in the kitchen? Almost nothing!! In fact, the kitchen floor is now in the garage. It was a busy weekend.

Still looks normal?..............................Pan out a bit!

Everyone should have a couch in their kitchen.

At Last...

Found the camera, school finally wrapped up for the semester, healed from recent sickness (not swine flu...) --> time to update the blog!

We've been working feverishly, semi-feverishly anyway, as we really can see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. There's much to show off but I will try to keep it interesting.

First, ALL the baltic birch boxes are DONE. ALL the face-frames that are needed for now are also done. In other words, there is no cabinet construction left to do before we start the demolition process. Break out the crow bars!!

Now I will show you the process behind our mammoth pantry cabinet which we just finished last night. This thing is a "hoss" (sp?). It will, like, quadruple, the available storage space in our kitchen. We had to build it in three separate boxes:

With one big fat face-frame:
No you get the idea. Note that we had to assemble it in the living room because the basement ceiling is only 7.5 ft high. When I say this thing is floor-to-ceiling, I am not kidding around.
Final box installed, there were some tense moments leading up to this photo.

Here the cabinet is upside-down, getting some additional screws.
Final touch: feet! All the floor cabinets have these now. They are each independently adjustable and this will help keep the countertop level while the floor rolls up and down wildly.