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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.

Sorry for the delay

We're still here, working hard, I promise!! I have misplaced the camera though. While you all wait with baited breath for new pictures of our messy basement, go check out lil sister's new blog:

http://www.cavaliermakeover.blogspot.com/

Snow Day

After the warmest and driest CO winter ever, its now snowing nearly every other day. I think the explanation for this is El Nino, or some other crazy Spanish weather phenomenon.

Look What's Finished

Yeah, not the whole project.. sorry if I got your hopes up! Instead, its only our incredibly complicated two-sided-entry no-visible-screw-holes peninsula, complete with two fake doors. Next up: Wall cabinets and the challenges that come along with crown molding, under cabinet lighting, etc etc etc...