blogburrell

The Spirit Of Bob and Florence

2009-11-15T16:40:00.001-08:00

This past summer, we had the sad occasion to attend the estate sale for Sherri's Uncle Bob and Aunt Florence. I always find estate sales an odd mixture of joy (you get to see relatives you may not have seen for a while) and sad (watching the pride of a person's hobbies and interests sold off).

This one was special in so many ways:
In the age of e-bay, watching a skilled auctioneer work his craft was a treat in and of itself.

So many of the people at the auction knew Bob and Florence, and we knew much of the good stuff was going to people who would truly appreciate it.

And what I am pretty sure was the last mass gathering of Bob and Florence's children and grandchildren in Des Moines. I'm sure they will still gather, but I doubt that they will feel drawn to that city as a group ever again.

But before I get too maudlin, let me hit on what to me is the Spirit Of Bob and Florence: the basement of that house. Wow. How can I even describe it? Old beer ads, player piano, several old jukeboxes, shelf after shelf (antiques themselves) filled with holiday dishes, glassware, animated holiday gizmos, cute little "Don't squat with your spurs on" signs, and a John Wayne clock that swayed it's hips as a pendulum. Had to be seen to be believed- Sherri tells me there was once a pool table, but I don't believe it- there wasn't room for a pool cue in that place it was so packed. I still remember the first time Sherri took me down to see them- she was so proud to show her "serious boyfriend" off to her closest Aunt and Uncle, and vice versa. She tried to prep me, but when I went into that basement for the first time, I was speechless! And totally hooked. I wanted to live there. In that basement.

So when the auction came up, and with my recent foray into the world of home brewing and a rec room in our house with no personality but lots of potential- the mission was clear: We needed to bring the Spirit Of Bob and Florence to our house. And thanks to a cooperative wife and a pretty aggressive budget: I think we have. It's a pale imitation of what I saw all those years in the Fox basement, but I think the essence is there: have fun, enjoy family and friends, and don't be afraid to get just plain silly.

Tell me what you think:

Inauration Celebration

2009-01-30T12:01:00.001-08:00

Different topic today- the wife and I went to DC last week to witness the inauguration of President Obama.

Biggest. Crowd. Ever.

I'll leave the recap to the pundits, but here's what I saw:

Yes, we made it to the Mall, and yes it was crowded- but check out he guy on the lower right in the Obama stocking cap. That was the prevailing mood- and it was infectious. People were not pleased at the abysmal crowd control from the DC police- but the mood was too upbeat to wreck.

It was a good day.

Lots of of Posts

2008-11-19T22:28:00.000-08:00

So if you're starting here- DON'T!

I posted a bunch tonight, so go to this post and work your way up.

Seriously- why are you still here? GET GOING!

OK- fine. One picture to tide you over, but then you really need to leave.

There- now scram!

Bonus Art Post

2008-11-19T22:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a shot of the Art we got for the Big Blank Wall.

More paintings by the artist can be seen at France Extraordinaire.

Nice woman over in Crocus Hill- she sells paintings out of her house as a sideline- Sherri spotted these hanging in The Barbary Fig on Grand Ave with price tags on them, and decided that these would be perfect.

Here's why I'm a bad person- I realized that blue would be a good accent color in this room when I saw the blue painter's tape we used to mask off the trim, and realized it looked pretty good. So I suggested it to Sherri. And here we are- because 3M's marketing department was really good at their job.

Perspective

2008-11-19T21:46:00.000-08:00

Let me start this post with a comment on perspective: in a project like this- it's easy to lose. You get caught up in the moment-to-moment drama, and forget to step back and look at the Big Picture. So before this post launches in to minutiae (which it will) I want to make the Big Picture perfectly clear: We Love Our New Kitchen. The layout is great- the look is really working for us, and the overall quality is right in the zone.

But (you knew this was coming) there are some nits to pick. To be fair, one is more than a nit- and I'll start with that.

The Island has the wrong sink. It just doesn't work. And it's not what we asked for. Plain and simple- the contractor screwed up. No other way to put it: we sent him the exact part number for the sink we wanted, and that's not what got installed. To make matters worse- it has physical incompatibilites with the faucet. To wit:

What some of you may notice (And I'm sure Blendergirl spotted this right off) is that the water is too close to the front of the sink. Any attempt to stick your hands, or a vegetable or anything else under that stream is a sure way to get wet shoes. And you notice how the top is granite? And how the faucet has already been drilled too? Yeah- that's a problem. The real bummer is that the sink we asked for is round, and while this sink is 10x12, and the one we wanted is 12" diameter- the current sink has a 14" diagonal. So the hole is too large. Problem.

What to do, what to do? Well, the yard has another slab from the same lot- but that's really a pain for everyone including us. And while we want the problem fixed, we aren't out to sink the contractor either. (ha ha)

Plus our designer has lobbied hard that the sink we wanted would still be too small for that faucet. Sherri didn't want to go bigger because she was concerned (obsessed?) with not losing counter space on the island. But after seeing everything in real life- she agreed that another couple or inches was just fine. So in the end, we found another rectangular sink that will fit the faucet better, be just big enough that we can re-cut the exisiting slab and still get plenty of workspace.

So some time next week or the week after, the island top will be removed, carted away, re-cut and re-installed. They are trying to do it in one day. I'm taking an awful risk- this had better work.

...And That's Pretty Much It

2008-11-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

Here it is! The Long-Awaited Almost Done Kitchen!

I say almost done because there is still the trim, and an issue with the sink (more later) and... well, that's really it. Enjoy- we sure are.

Ta-Da!

Now We're Cooking With Gas!

2008-11-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

I was such a nice boy before I got to the Big City. I was raised by my mother in Iowa to cook on nice smooth-top electric burners. Easy to clean, no open flames to singe your hair (it involves a bunsen burner in high school biology- another time), and only proper flat-bottomed cookware. Like nice boys should.

But then I left home, went to college and ended up in an apartment with a crazy landlady, a guy who collected guns living in the basement, and most shocking of all- a gas stove! I was nervous at first- what if the pilot light went out? What if I blew up the apartment- that deposit money was all I had! But after only melting one plastic bowl on the hot spot over the pilot light- I began to make peace with the stove. I soon learned to love the instant response- the total control that came from actually seeing how much heat I had on- and most of all, I reveled in my ability to use cast iron skillets! I even got hold of my great-grandmother's cast iron chicken pan! 80 years of seasoning were mine! All Mine!

Eventually we left the old apartment, and moved to our first house. But this house came with - A Full-Sized Gas Stove! Now I could feed my obsession like never before. Electronic ignition, so no more pilot lights. A full 30 inches of space- I could use more than one pan at a time! It was a heavenly addiction- and I reveled in it.

But eventually this house could not contain us. We had to move on. And our next house came with a terrible price- an electric cooktop. Installed by my parents during their tenure in the house, it was a return to the smoothtop range of my youth. And truth be told- it was a fine example of the form: responsive, efficient, and easy to clean. But I could never be satisfied. Having succumbed to the lure of the blue flame, I could not again be happy with the simple red ring as I once was. Ever did it torment me! Too slow to heat, too slow to cool. Always either too hot or not hot enough- the constant rise and fall of the elements within drove me to distraction. I longed to pull my beloved cast iron from it's hiding place- still retained as a promise to myself that this trek in the wilderness would some day end!

So, uh, yeah- we put in a new cooktop. It's gas, and works really well. Pretty too- although Sherri thinks it looks like a herd of giant spiders on the counter. Here's a picture:

Hello, Old Friend

2008-11-19T20:52:00.000-08:00

So remember when the Oven Door had a bit of a rough patch, and went to pieces faster than Leroy Brown?

Well- He's Baaaack! And doesn't he look handsome? Now- We Bake!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

2008-11-16T15:56:00.000-08:00

an ACTUAL KITCHEN! Everywhere we turn!

These pictures are a bit old, but pretty much sum up the situation with one exception- the cooktop has been installed. More on that in another post.

For now- this is pretty much what it will look like from this point on.

Notice that we now have the cool pendant lights installed over the island. oooooooo.

There are a few things which require annotation:

Orange Post-Its: no, we are NOT considering painting the cabinets: those are notes for the contractor of issues we have noticed. Most are simple hinge adjustments or problems with the drawer handles. They should be cleared up soon.

Trim: the big missing thing is trim around the windows/baseboards and that sort of thing. Again- in process.

Island: we have a problem on the island. The small veg sink is NOT the one we ordered- it's much smaller, so the faucet does not direct the water stream to the correct place. This is a real problem, and will necessitate re-cutting of the sink opening. This should be on tap soon.

So at this point with the exception of the oven (doors are waiting on parts) we have a fully functional kitchen! We even managed to pull off an Indian dinner for our friends Dave and Phoebe on Saturday night. That was so cool.

More pictures as we go forward, but we should be done with dramatic changes at this point.

Maybe.

Jumpin' BackSplash

2008-10-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

They have delivered and installed the granite backsplash! Things are happening now- the floor is done, the countertops are in, the backsplash is up, and we might even have a working kitchen by the weekend.

Supposedly we get plumbing and electrical today/tomorrow, and some finish trim. We are sooooo close!

Dain Bramage

2008-10-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

Love the smell of varnish in the morning! And afternoon, and evening, and all night...

The floor has been sanded and coated- twice! No pictures yet since it's still drying, but I sure wish you could smell it... since that would mean it's at your house and I wouldn't smell it anymore. Wow- that stuff is ugly nasty and can't be good for a person. We had the crock-pot going yesterday and the house smelled like someone built an Italian restaurant on top of a toxic waste dump. So we ate out.

We actually had bedroom windows open last night (it got down to the 20's) to get rid of the smell, along with lots of scented candles and those odor-genie things. The multi-pronged approach seems to be helping, but I'll be glad when this part is over.

Wednesday is Backsplash Day! Huzzah!

Garfunkle

2008-10-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

So you may have noticed we have a very large yellow wall with nothing going on. We certainly have.

In the interest of both using the space and stepping up our Suburban elite-wannabe mall cred, we have purchased actual original artwork- from France!

We spotted these paintings at Barbary Fig on Grand Ave, with "for sale" signs on them. We are going to add one more slightly larger piece, but these are the two we have for now. The local dealer is a woman who works out of her house, and she purchased these while in Provence from the artist. I'll try to get more info on the dude, and maybe a link- but for now this is what I have.

Dance! Dance! CounterRevolution!

2008-10-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

Yes- the Counter has arrived! And it's really really nice. For those keeping notes, the pattern is Angola Blue. Enjoy the view- we sure are.

Note: the thing on the island is a colander. Long story for another day. And the orange post-its are on locations where for whatever reason the hardware is not installed- some is missing (order screwup) and others were damaged or mis-drilled during installation.

Objects on the calendar...

2008-10-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

May be further away than the appear.

No changes since the last photos, but some schedule updates: Due to some QA issues with one of the cabinets, we are a little behind. One of the cabinets is warped, so it has to go (it's under warranty, and this is expensive- so FIX IT!). Unfortunately this puts us behind a bit while they get it built. We are now about a week behind- the exact order of things seems to be a little foggy- I'm having trouble getting the GC to commit, but then again I do that too- sometimes it doesn't matter what order certain things happen in, so you just go with the flow.

The likely next steps are: cabinet fixes and hardware on the 21st, countertop the 22nd, plumbing the 23rd/24th, backsplash the 29th, electrical the 29th/30th, trim and flooring either during the lull or after the electrical- TBD on that.

Like I said- a little fuzzy, but we're getting closer.

Heck's Kitchen

2008-10-08T16:17:00.000-07:00

Things are pretty quiet- the countertop has been measured, so aside from a few fixes (cupboard door issues, that sort of thing) we are in a holding pattern until it's delivered. Pretty boring and frankly a little frustrating- no progress.

So instead I thought I would turn the camera on some of the byproducts of this project- the "how are you managing to keep living through all of this" kind of stuff.

Today, it's a focus on the Substitute Kitchen- aka The Entire House. I realized the other day that we now have the largest and worst-designed kitchen we will ever have. It essentially takes up most of the main floor, plus some of the outside.

Here's how it goes:

The Pantry:
The Oven:

The Cookware:

Cold Storage:

The Kitchen Sink:

And of course, The Stove:

Finally- the single most important piece of equipment for surviving this whole adventure:

The Chef

The Shape Of Things To Come

2008-10-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

The exact shape of the island top on the bar side was something we had left to the last minute, just because we didn't really have to pick something-it wasn't going to be attached to anything but some korbels underneath, so we had pretty much a free hand.

Well, it's the last minute! The countertops are being measured on Monday, so we had to get this figured out this weekend or else!

Here you see our design, rendered in corrugated cardboard. It will look just like this- except it will be granite. And black. And the floor will be finished. And it will be shiny.

My God- It's Full Of Cabinets!

2008-09-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

Apologies to Arthur C Clarke- but that's pretty much how I felt when I was this.

The pictures tend to exaggerate the variation in color on the cabinets (which are hickory), but this is very exciting!

Now I just have to visualize the countertops (black with hints of blue).

Starting At The Bottom

2008-09-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Floor is (mostly) in!

The guy tells me he has about an hour's worth of work left, but it's going in very easily. The subfloor is really solid so it's not causing him any grief.

Yay.

I Can See Clearly Now

2008-09-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

The Paint is ON!

Whew! 2 days and 4 coats later, we have achieved paint!

Well, the ceiling only took 2 coats, but the rest took 4.

A few musings about paint: One Coat Coverage is a BIG FAT LIE!

I already knew this, but this job really helped confirm it. We tinted the primer, we bought the good paint at Hirschfields, we got the right rollers and I very carefully did that "W" thing with the roller. But that green was not going down without a fight. 2 coats of tinted Bullseye primer, and 2 coats of the actual paint later, we finally beat it into submission.

For the record- we only painted the parts that will show after the cabinets are in, so that's why there is still green showing in some spots. Also, the soffit and the one face of the island are a more orange color, so they are supposed to look different than the walls- it's not your monitor.

Tomorrow morning, the floor arrives! I'm going to try and post something every night this week, as it should look noticibly different pretty much every night.

On a side note- those disposable paper paint buckets make excellent popcorn tubs. Just remember you can't use them for both- it's one or the other.

All In All...

2008-09-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

WOW- just wow.

Quick detour from painting to catch up on another part of the job.

The mason finished the window on Thursday and did a FANTASTIC job.

We didn't need much, but the asthetics of that part of the project had an importance that's hard to overstate. It was so critical to Sherri that this not look like a patch job that she was ready to cancel the whole thing based on that issue alone.

Fortunately, John (our GC) scoured local brickyards and found the Perfect Brick.

And here you see the result. Wife approved and ready for action.

Primed and ready

2008-09-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

First coat of primer down! We're going to re-coat the spots where the green paint is showing through, but that's not too much of it. Plus of course we don't have to re-coat where the cabinets will be. I just wanted primer over all the plaster to seal in any dust.

Yes, it's yellow. We had the primer on the walls tinted to help improve our paint coverage. It will be easier to cover the primer with regular paint if we aren't going over white primer. I also think it gives the finished product a richer color, but that's just me.

We should get this thing wrapped up by Sunday night!

Rollers- Ho!

2008-09-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

Drywall is done! Time to paint!

Moving Right Along

2008-09-25T13:46:00.001-07:00

The last few days have been great! The drywaller was able to start a day early, the mason is bricking up the window opening as I type this, and the pendant lights for the island arrived! I'm starting to believe that painting WILL get done this weekend, so more photos to come as that occurs.

Next week will be fast and furious. By the end of the week we should have flooring and most of the cabinets in! I'll try to keep up.

Turning The Corner. AKA Windows On Our World

2008-09-21T17:13:00.000-07:00

Wow. Every project has milestones- points where you know you have moved from one leg of the journey to another. So it is with this project- we have left the arena of DEstruction and moved on to the CONstruction.

The holes in the wall are all made. The plumbing, electrical and HVAC rough-ins are done. The framing for the island support wall is in.

Big Step on Friday- the new window was installed! Our interval with OSB over the big hole in the wall was mercifully short, and we can see out again. As you can tell by the pictures, it's set to mimic the big windows on the front of the house. Sherri has stained the woodwork, and we should get at least one coat of polyurethane on before the drywaller starts on Wed. to keep dust out of the grain.

Not much action for the next couple of days, then we go into a marathon stretch of drywall, paint, flooring and cabinets. 3 weeks of breakneck progress (I hope).

Oddly enough, we are on schedule for completion on time- if not exactly on budget.

Know When To Say When

2008-09-16T16:52:00.001-07:00

As some of you may know, we had great hopes to save some cash by doing a bit of the work ourselves. And while that worked out OK in the demolition phase, its just not going to go as well from here on out.

We already bailed on installing the floor ourselves, and the drywall was the latest casualty: there's too much to do and not enough time to do it! So we bit the bullet and had our GC bid that out. It's kind of a bummer, but the stress would have done us in.

Which puts us in an odd spot- and one we've only recently come to recognize: we aren't in control. Not in the way we're used to. Most of the time, every tiny little decision- where does the outlet go, how should I route that pipe, should I screw that in or nail it- no matter how small, we made them. Now- someone else is making them. I am not telling the electrician which circuit to use, Sherri is not deciding between lightweight joint compound and regular. We feel a bit disconnected from the project.

The up side is that I come home from work and discover wonderful things have happened- like the recessed lights have been installed, or the window was removed. Things like that. And that's nice.

Takes a bit of getting used to though.

It's Just Rock, People!

2008-09-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

I have a new least favorite activity: shopping for granite countertops.

Yes, I know they're pretty and shiny. I know that it's like wandering through nature's art gallery.

I don't care- it sucks. And I'll tell you why: the human element.

Let me walk you through How To Pick Your Granite in 20 easy steps:

Step One: Wander around every home improvement store you can find looking at all the solid-surface, quartz- fail to get excited and decide you want granite.

Step Two: Tell your General Contractor so he can get the allowance in the budget.

Step Three: Wander around every home improvement and tile store you can find, discover that everyone carries the same 10 types of granite- none of which get you that excited. But it's an improvement.

Step Four: call your GC to find out where you can go to look at actual slabs you might want.

Step Five: Your GC calls you back with a list of the tile stores you just looked at. Clarify the question.

Step Six: Your GC calls and tells you to go to the fabricator your cabinet company uses- you need to set up an appointment.

Step Seven: take off from work in the middle of the day- drive to the fabricator (40 miles) where they tell you "we have about 10 standard types we carry in stock". They look awfully familiar.

Step Eight: Fabricator gives you names of 4 suppliers where you can go look at actual slabs of types that the stores don't carry. Finally!

Step nine: go to first supplier (20 mile drive): discover they have hundreds of slabs in a poorly-lit warehouse.

Step ten: Find 4 slabs you like- Give list to salesperson

Step Eleven: Salesperson tells you that your 4 options are a) all damaged and unusable, b) on backorder for at least 2 months, c) only one of that kind left, and you need 3.

Step Twelve: count to ten. Twice.

Step Thirteen: Go home angry. 25 mile drive.

Step Fourteen: Find another supplier on the list who is open until 8. Drive 20 miles to that one.

Step Fifteen: Find well-lit showroom with full slabs from each available lot (you don't want to mix lots!), each of which is clearly marked if there are 5 or fewer slabs in stock.

Step Sixteen: Finally enjoy the beauty of the stone, knowing that if you find one you want- you will know if you can get it immediatly.

Step Seventeen: kill 90 minutes just looking

Step Eighteen: Find The One

Step Ninteen: realize that you have no clue how much this will cost you because: the supplier sends their price to the fabricator, who sends their price to the cabinet people, who send their price to the GC, who tells you how much it actually costs.

Step Twenty: Decide you just don't care at this point because you're fed up- sign the forms and go to dinner. We'll deal with it tomorrow.

Much happening now on the jobsite, but I haven't had my home PC up in days (electrical work), but photos coming this weekend!

What's the buzz?

2008-09-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

We had a busy weekend pulling staples from the floor (much less rewarding than mussles from a shell by the way), but it's not a real photogenic activity, so no new pictures today.

Also took down the ceiling in part of the basement. Why, you may ask? Because the plumber, electrician and HVAC people will need to access the underside of the kitchen, and this will make it a lot easier. My mantra here is: easier for them = cheaper for me! That went better than I thought it would. 40 years of dust isn't as much as I was afraid it would be.

Besides, the ceiling in the basement has some issues anyway so this is the opportunity to address that.

Angst of the moment: went sink shopping over the weekend and discovered that the sink we wanted required a 36" cabinet, but we only have a 33". Much consternation and heated debate followed with discussions about moving cabinets, sink specifications, etc. This morning our GC reassured us that we have more room than we think and it will all be fine. I have put him on the case using an example sink to find one that will work and meet our needs. Problem averted, at least for now.

Also did some granite shopping. Found what we think is the Right Answer, but we want to hit a yard first. Trying to set up an appointment through our cabinet guy for this week or next.

This morning, our electrician came in- so we had a very productive discussion about outlet/switch placement and such. Amazing how much you turn out to care about these things! I like him- he seems pretty easy to work with, and is willing to tell you what he thinks while making it clear it's your decision and he'll do what you say.

Eve of Destruction

2008-09-01T19:01:00.001-07:00

As part of the New Plan- a portion of the soffet around the ceiling had to go. This was a decision that was a long time coming, and one we re-visited as recently as yesterday- but in the end- destruction won. And today was the day.

Thanks to judicious use of a circular saw and a reciprocating saw, not to mention respirators and enough safety gear to qualify for a haz-mat team, the deed is done. In these pictures it looks all nice and clean, but believe me- it was 6 hours of dust, noise and flying chunks of plaster. We're going to leave it as is for now- I figure the electrician is likely to cut through anything we put up, so why bother. We'll cover it all up in a couple of weeks when they've wired it all nice and purty.

By the way- reciprocating saws totally rock! They can do more damage in less time than anything short of High Explosives! I can't belive I waited this long to get one!

Oven Down!

2008-09-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

First casualty: the door to the oven came off on one side while we were removing it. That was OK- I just slapped some tape on there to keep it steady while we slid it out. Of course, then I forgot about it, and sometime overnight the tape gave out, the door dropped, and this is the result.

As annoying (and expensive) as this is, if it's the worst thing that happens, I'll be pretty happy.

Dude- Where's my Kitchen?

2008-09-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

Post Options

Thanks to the Interwebs (tm) and some dude named Craig who keeps lists, I found a wonderful family to adopt our old cabinets and countertops. Casey and Lisa are doing a bang-up job restoring their old home, and were very excited to get our gently used stuff. I'm just glad it's not going into a landfill: there was plenty of life in that old cabinetry- we just couldn't see it in our new setup.

Casey brought down a huge flatbed, and with help from my friends Nick and Perry,we got it all out on Saturday with a minimum of fuss. It's good to have friends.

Here we go

2008-08-28T08:03:00.001-07:00

Got the word from the contractor- electrical and plumbing are set to start Sept 8! That means I have a heck of a lot of demolition to get through in the next week and a half! Glad to have a 3-day weekend in there!

And this means that more pictures will be forthcoming as soon as something actually changes. Busy busy!

A Lull

2008-08-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

Not much happening for the next few days- I have a line on someone from my craigslist add who is interested in the cabinets and countertops- I really don't want to see them in a landfill, but Re-Use center never returned my calls. If it pans out, we won't be fully removing them for a week, but there will be plenty to do besides that. Still need to move all the appliances (double oven will be a pain), take down the basement ceiling (more on that later) and pull up the vinyl flooring. Plenty to do- just less dramatic.

First Blood

2008-08-25T06:56:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot- the ritual blood sacrifice to Thor, God of Thunder and Home Improvement (why else would he carry a hammer?) has been made- I managed to pinch the palm of my hand between a hammer and a prybar. No pictures- I'm sparing you that- but There Was Blood, even if it was just a little. Hopefully my sacrifice will not go unrewarded.

And so it begins

2008-08-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

Not with a bang, or even a whimper. No- it begins with the grinding sound of an electric screwdriver. Then the bang- when I pry off the Corian (tm) backsplash.

Cupboard doors are off, the dead microwave/range hood is gone (shorted out 2 months ago- didn't bother to fix it since it wasn't in the plan for the new kitchen), and Sherri and I spent much of Sunday sorting things into "store", "use" and "lose" piles.

Good news- the vinyl floor is only edge-glued! We won't have to scrape glue off ALL the plywood subfloor. Possible bad news- will may have to remove the plywood sub-floor to leave proper clearance under the doors for the new wood floor. What does it look like under that on the main subfloor- or is that it? Won't really know until the first cabinets come out (hopefully tomorrow night) so we can get a look at all the layers.

On the plus side- I finally got to justify that reciprocating saw! Picked it up tonight. Got a new, very destructive power tool; It's a good day.

The Calm Before

2008-08-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of how the kitchen looked before anything started. Note the clean lines, structural integrity, and of course- the actually functional kitchen. Why are we doing this again?

Kitchen Project Kickoff

2008-08-24T17:08:00.001-07:00

Yes, we are certifiable. After a year and a half of thinking, and 3 months of detailed plannin,g- Tom and Sherri are actually starting the Great Kitchen Makeover. I'll be periodically posting updates and images here as we go through the project to help keep friends and family up to date on just how ugly this is, and of course how wonderful it will become. I'm an optimist.