Paint Colors Chosen

It's been a couple of days since my last post and not much has happened since. We have decided to go a whole new direction in the wall color. Since we purposely chose light cabinets, a light counter top and are having cam lights and under cabinet lighting installed I thought we could go with darker wall colors. We've decided on the blue to far right and the brick brown next to it. The blue isn't as true as it originally was since I tried to do a "dry brush" technique on it. I'm so not the crafty type.

We did find a table and chairs this weekend and they're sitting in the garage waiting for the final reveal. It's a round pedestal with a faux stone top. The picture is a lot darker than it is in person. We found the table at Bar Stools and Dinettes (http://www.barstoolsanddinettes.com/) I only found one pedestal table on-line I really liked but couldn't justify spending $900 on a kitchen table. It was gorgeous, it was bamboo, but just way to much money for a table that didn't even include chairs. Also, the more I thought about Milo and his need to free all imprisoned water the more I worried about a wood table. He's already managed to ruin one table so I figured why give him another chance. The new table is much smaller than we've had but I think it'll really make the room look bigger.

We still have to measure and order the cushions for the kitchen. I was thinking about a plaid but now that we've got the new chairs to go with the table, I think I'll try to find a fabric that matches. I'm definitely going to have someone make these cushions. My crafting skills are severely lacking and I want this to look good.

Well that's it for now, I'll update again when the vent is installed.

New Walls and a Banquette

Greetings all,

After a week of creative blockading the kitchen from the four legged demons we once again have walls and no worries that the cats will sneak into the storage room. While I'm thrilled with the walls, the cats are not so happy. It was becoming a real challenge to keep the cats from pulling on the cardboard. The other real advantage to the wall is the insulation. Fortunately, we didn't have to many really cold days when we had no walls but it still was a bit chilly going down there when there weren't any.

Our vent hood was delivered (that's the Kitchen Aid box) and it looks like it's going to be installed on Monday so that'll be nice. Looks like the HVAC guy had to run new duct work. I guess when they installed the old stove they removed it since it was a down draft system. I don't have any pictures of what the vent hood will look like but from what I've understands it's a clean look and not one that will stand out and be the centerpiece of the kitchen.

All the plumbing will be done once the cabinets are installed. Seems more difficult to me but hey, what do I know about plumbing.

The banquette was delivered and it looks great. In my mind I thought it was bigger but it's just right. Now comes the fun of trying to find cushions. Of course, we'll have to have them made. I'm leaning toward a canvas like material, something the kitties can't destroy and will be easily cleaned. I'm also thinking maybe a plaid but that's still up for negotiation. I'm thinking we'll need to install some sort of hinge that will allow the banquette lids to stay open on their own. Milo has already discovered the fun of sitting on the banquette and looking out over the back yard. I know he's going to be asking for something similar in the dining room soon.

I also need to make a decision how I want the banquette painted? Should I go with the upper wall color or the lower wall color? Or should I have the frame one color and the inside of the frame another. Well, that's a decision for another day.

Slow and steady goes the job

We heard yesterday the plumber will be here next week to do his thing and later in the week they'll be installing the sheet rock.

I can't wait for the sheet rock to go up, currently we've got cardboard stapled covering the opening to the storage room and we've got three cats trying their best to get around the cardboard. The other night one of the boys (Maddox) came strolling into the kitchen as Mark & I were reviewing the work that had been done and he came in through what we had thought was blocked. I'm sorry I didn't have my camera with me for that because he looked like he knew he was busted (which of course he was). These three guys must spend all night working on getting the barriers down so they can get in there.

We'll post more pictures once the plumbing and sheet rock are done.

Let there be light...

Today the Eastpointe Electric (eastpointeelectric@msn.com) arrived and they're handling all the electric on this job for us and I can't say enough good things about them. Mark had the opportunity to work from home today so was able to go over the placement of the cam lighting with Bill. Unfortunately, they had already started making the holes in the ceiling before Mark could them them know where the placement of the cams needed to be. Bill and his crew just rolled with the punches and didn't even raise an eyebrow. They did save the pieces of the ceiling they cut out so it'll make the patching easier. When I got home tonight it was so nice to see those lights. This is going to be such a nice work area when it's all done. They're moving a number of the plugs and switches so we'll have plenty of outlets for the counters.

Mark & I agree, our countertops aren't going to get cluttered with appliances, you need an appliance, pull it out, use it, wash it, put it away. The coffeemaker (Keurig) and a toaster are the only two items I want on the counters. I might add the lazy susan with the olive oils back but then again, maybe not.

They also got all the "popcorn" off the ceiling in the bath and breezeway. Those ceilings look so good without that stuff on there. After this work is done in the breezeway, I'm seriously going to have to think about repainting it, which means repainting the stairs, which means repainting the bonus room. Ok, so maybe I better rethink this repainting thing.

Of course two of the cats had to check out what's been going on since they've been locked out of the area all day. Milo is just a bit to social and we were afraid he might manage to get out. Mark being the wise one, grabbed the folding screen and put it in front of one of the doorways that was covered by plastic thus eliminating Milo's entrance. We did decide tonight we'll have to close the door to the bonus room locking the cats out of the kitchen area. They're just stubborn enough to try to move the cardboard and get out to the storage area.

Good News Today and The Demolition Continues

Heard from John, our guide through this remodel that the flooring turned out better than we hoped. We thought the original vinyl flooring was still there and because of the age we were afraid it might contain asbestos so we had all these plans to seal it and make it safe. However, during the demolition yesterday the guys couldn't find the old flooring so it looks like we dodged that bullet. And my concern that the leak under the sink had damaged the subflooring doesn't seem to have been the case either. The new subflooring is down and is kinda neat looking.

Today the guys removed the old shower from the laundry room and capped off the plumbing as well as removed the flooring. I did tell you that we were replacing the flooring with the same pattern as the kitchen right? It made no sense to have the shower there, it's not like it's next to the garage and you could walk right in if you were filthy, you still have to come up the stairs to get to it. Anyway, it was a waste of space in our opinion and we could really use the closet space. After the sheet rock is up and the walls painted we'll have someone like California Closets come in and set up the area so it'll make the most efficient use of the space. Also freeing up this space gives us a better place for the kitty litter.

Speaking of the boys, they've been really upset with all this noise and activity. Though I understand Milo went strolling through the kitchen today while the crew was working. I figured the brat would get brave enough to head on down. They're all aware that the cats are here and aren't to go out so hopefully they'll keep an eye out for them. The crew put down plastic to protect the carpeting upstairs while they did the demolition of the shower, well of course, the boys thought this was a new cat toy and they've been trying to lift it off the carpet. Good thing these guys are so cute and loving.

Tomorrow the electrician comes and does his thing. He'll be doing the wiring for the stove, lights and the under cabinet lighting. It'll be so nice to good lighting in the kitchen. While the ceiling fan we had provided decent lighting it wasn't great.

Unfortunately, Mark lost his ceiling fan in the kitchen with the remodel, we just didn't find any that really fit in with the new style. I joked that we'll get a floor model that he could move around with him, but in thinking more about it, it's not such a bad idea.

Demolition Day Arrives

It was a crunch time last night trying to get everything out of the kitchen, I honestly thought it wouldn't take that long, boy was I wrong. It took some serious team work to get this done and by the end I was major cranky and sore. Mark & Pat really made the difference in getting this done.

While waiting for the demolition to begin, I had to take some last pictures of the kitchen....and now for your viewing enjoyment.....

The big day has finally arrived, our kitchen is being dragged into 21st century, no more disco balls and polyester suits. The 70's kitchen is finally laid to rest (can't you just hear the Bee Gee's singing in there?).

The crew showed up with sledgehammers and attitude. Well, not really, the demolition crew was very nice, polite and friendly. They even put up with me wanting to take pictures. The day started out with a lot of anticipation. About 8:30 the crew showed up with the one dumpster, two demo crew, foreman , electrician. We are now the proud renters of a lovely dumpster and port-a-john.

It took the crew about 40 minutes to tape up the rooms with plastic to limit the amount of dust that spread through the house (of course, Milo our bull managed to make it through every piece of plastic to show he could). It didn't take them long to get rid of the cabinets, I'm guessing the hard part was getting rid of the sheet rock.

Mark managed to work from home most of the day so that allowed for him to give me updates throughout the day. We did have to put up some unused boxes on the walls because of some of the holes that were left, didn't want the needle brothers (what you don't know who the needle brothers are???) wandering out to the storage room. We also had to cover a couple vent hole so they couldn't get down to the crawlspace. While they might think it's the greatest adventure, I would not be so amused.

Tomorrow they start on the laundry room, Pat bless her, got everything out of that room with the exception of the kitty litter so we took care of that tonight. So hopefully by the time we get home from work tomorrow, the shower will be gone and there will be sheet rock in it's place.

Thursday, the electrician arrives to do the wiring. He got a chuckle at some of the existing wiring especially the light switch that controlled the microwave. So tomorrow night we have some work to do in the garage to make his job easier. We have to remove a bunch of boxes and holiday decorations (and no I'm not putting anything up this year) from the shelves so he can run the wiring for the kitchen.

Getting closer to starting

Well, it's been a few days since I've updated this blog and mostly because all I'm doing is packing. What scares me is everything I've been taking out of these cabinets is going in to the new ones. Here I though I was going to be throwing out all this stuff and actually we haven't gotten rid of much.

Not much new happening with the project. Today, we met with the general contractor and the head carpenter and went over everything one more time. We did manage to choose where the dumpster and the port-a-john are going so I feel we accomplished something. We found out the kitchen walls will be taken down to the studs so it'll be easier to run the wiring and plumbing which I'm sure the cats are so going to enjoy checking out. We'll hear next week probably when they are actually starting the demolition.

The time line for the new cabinets installation is the beginning of January. As I understand it, the designer will be over about a week before the cabinets are installed to mark on the floor exactly where the cabinets are going so there won't be any confusion.

Let the fun begin.

Well, it's been a week since the last posting and only a few things have changed. We've met with the general contractor and signed the "contract". We'll have a meeting next week with the general contractor and the head carpenter to go over logistics. Where to put the dumpster and more importantly where to put the port-a-john. It'll be about two months of no kitchen but it's so going to be worth the wait.

We've spent most of the Thanksgiving weekend boxing up the kitchen. Who would have thought we could accumulate so much crap. We found cookie sheets from Syracuse. Why, I don't know, but they're were in the cupboards. The only ones that had any fun with this packing was the cats. For every cabinet that was emptied it was a new place to explore and shut a door on your brother cat. That's right, you don't know about our cats.

Let me digress for a couple, we have three gray cats, they're siblings and identical. Milo, the brave but not so smart one, is the most curious and friendly. He's our bull in the china shop. Then there's Manny, Mr. Sweet Tooth, he's the chicken. He also is a major sweet freak. His claim to fame is he likes to close doors and these cabinets have been a major joy to him as he closes his brothers in the cabinets. Finally there's Maddox. He's a sweet demon. Remember Shrek 2's Puss-n-Boots? The big sweet eyes, that Maddox. He'll give you that sweet look, just after he's been into mischief He's the smart one of the group, urging Milo into one mess after another.

Anyway, back to the kitchen. We've managed to clear most of one wall, and a few drawers. Though we did have to break down and hit the U-Haul store for boxes. Some of the fun of the packing (did I say fun????) has been trying to determine what we'll need while the remodel is going on and what can be sealed up in the boxes.

I'll be posting some pictures of the before the remodel as soon as the packing is done.

Down the Drain

It boggles the mind. Who knew there were so many ugly faucets out there? So far, picking out faucets has been the hardest part of preparing for this remodel. We also found some nice faucets, but nothing that really hit our fancy. Of course, we had to make it hard on ourselves by choosing antiqued copper for our cabinet hardware. Really limits our options for plumbing hardware.

We've ordered some cheap faucets that seem nice. We got 3 (kitchen sink, prep sink and bonus room) for less than the price of one faucet at the fancy plumbing places. Our builder tells us that this brand is very low end and we shouldn't expect to get more than 5 years out of them. I figure that gives us enough time to find some nice faucets that we really like.

--Mark

In the beginning

DJ’s Entry: Back in August 2007 Mark & I got serious about remodeling the kitchen. I called a friend who has a degree in interior design because I knew this wasn’t where my talents would shine. Her expertise wasn’t with kitchens, but she brought a co-worker from Stock Building Supplies that specialized in kitchen designs and between us we came up with an initial design that had potential.

In September was the Southern Ideal Home Show where we knew we could see Blue Ribbon Residential Construction (http://www.blue-ribbon-construction.com/). John Sperath, President has done a number of projects in the past for us, including remodeling the main bath, adding an upstairs deck and the Cadillac of storage buildings in the back. His work has always been outstanding.

Anyway, back to the beginning of this project. We had a short chat with John at the home show and discussed what we wanted and John made a note to contact us in a week or so to go forward. He also gave us a list of preferred vendors so we could start looking at flooring, tiling and cabinets. Now, not being one to want to sit around, I started dragging Mark around to look at tiling, cabinets, and flooring. I’ve read numerous horror stories about remodels and I wanted this to go as smoothly as possible. So, I figured easiest way was to pick everything out first. I found an awesome backsplash tile that I wanted to use in the kitchen (http://www.lindapaul.com/tile_murals/Pepper_Pail_backsplash_tile.htm) I just knew it would be perfect. So with a copy of this picture, we went in search of cabinets and flooring that would work with this backsplash. As much as I loved this backsplash I quickly realized that it could cause problems in the future. While I love the chili pepper theme, the next owner might not. We visited the cabinet supplier, the plumbing, the tile and the flooring suppliers that John recommended. And in the course of a couple of weeks managed to pick out cabinets, flooring, tiling but alas, no plumbing.

John suggested we meet with Shauna McDonald at Kitchen & Bath Galleries (http://www.kandbgalleries.com/index2.htm). Since John has worked with Shauna In the past, we decided to follow his direction. Shauna was terrific, we were pretty set on getting oak cabinets because we like the look of the grain, but after explaining that oak has been over used and is actually being ripped out of kitchens now she directed us to the hickory. What a pretty grain and color. We quickly chose the hickory cabinet with a honey finish. It’s a very plain style which is just what we were looking for. We had chosen the countertop, and hardware on an earlier visit to the showroom so we gave that information to Shauna.

After a couple more weeks, we met with John to further discuss our project and to let him know we were adding another job (ah yes, the while they’re here syndrome). Not only are they going to rip apart the kitchen to the bare bones, they’re replacing the counter in the bonus room and removing the shower from the laundry room.

In the last week, we’ve had the final design meetings with both Shauna and John. So now, we’re just about ready to get this show on the road. We’ve a tentative start date for the kitchen demolition for 11/27/07. So two guess as to what we’re doing over Thanksgiving.