Day 13 February 27

While I would have preferred for Beth and Aubrey to stay longer, there comes an end to a good thing and a baby and wife need to reconnect with Daddy. We got to spend the morning together, Beth and I being diligent to work out with one another, while still allowing for some last minute snuggling with my precious niece. Beth’s send off was a little unplanned when her battery completely died. That is the battery fluid was all corroded around the terminals, something we realized a jump couldn’t bring back to life. Beth made a trip to the auto part store to pick up a battery while I removed the dead one. She returned with a battery which I installed while she gave Aubrey one last feeding before the trip home. And when I say I installed, it was more like me doing what I thought was right, but making a couple of calls to David to confirm, considering my lack of confidence in my auto skills. In the end her car started and Beth and I were saying see ya later for a second time. I was so thankful for my sister taking the time to visit her twin and for an aunt to spend some time with her niece. Thanks again Beth and I’ll see you in a month :o)

The rest of my day consisted of baking and decorating, with this being my last baking class where we were to bake and design a cake. Considering my sister’s visit during this time, I didn’t put in the time to create or design something amazing or quality of my liking, but I did manage to whip up something to practice some more techniques on. So bask in the glory of my monochromatic teal cake! 

When I returned home David was in the process of completing the added plumbing for the cold water line, and by the end of the night the water was back on and no leaks were to be found!! Have I said how impressed I am with my man? He constantly amazes me :o)

Day 12 February 26

Now today we actually did no work to the remodel. David worked from home due to some procedure demands, while Beth, Aubrey and I hung out, ran errands, crafted, baked, and snuggled loads with the precious little bean. I couldn’t be more proud of Aubrey’s impressive fart capacity. It’s amazing how much power can come from such a tiny cutie patutie! So instead of loading pictures of the remodel, I figured you could enjoy and maybe experience what I got to the past two days :o)

Day 11 February 25

Today was an exciting day because my sister and her precious baby girl, Aubrey, came to visit!!!! I haven’t seen them since Aubrey was born, a little over a month ago, so I had   lot of catching up to do with the little peanut :o) Considering David and I were expecting Beth’s visit, we figured we wouldn’t get much done on the remodel so as to spend most of the time with the two of them, which is pretty much what happened. I didn’t do anything in the kitchen, I mean what girl could with a little one month old in their home that loves to cuddle. David on the other hand did do a little tinkering when he got home. He thought it necessary to design a shut-off valve for the outside, which he originally build behind where the sink will go. However after all his work and it completed, he realized he goofed because he forgot about the refrigerator which fell in the line after the shut off valve. He was not pleased with this realization, but it was simple fix and he moved it the mudroom, after the refrigerator line splits off. I’d say he’s kickin’ butt for a first time plumber!

Day 10 February 24

While it was Sunday and David wasn’t working, we got less done than anticipated due to our church attendance and a trip to Lowe’s for necessary supplies for the day’s tasks. With the wall built, lights mounted, and plumbing planned, our next task was initiating rerouting of plumbing. With David’s plans from the previous day, we began our pipe cleanse. Again, ‘we’ looking like David doing most of the cutting and soldering and me holding an occasional pipe from falling to the floor or hitting a wall.

There was a slight set back when David cut a pipe in the wrong spot, but it was quickly fixed after two runs to our local hardware store (failure to pick up the right piece the first time led to the second trip). The positive piece to all the excess plumbing was that instead of cutting all the lines, David was able to heat most of the joints and remove the pieces to use for the additional lines being installed. By the end of the night, all the plumbing we wouldn’t be using was removed or capped, and the left over pipe was ready to be used for the next day’s designs.

Day 9 February 23

It’s Saturday so bring on the work! We had a majority of the wall dividing the mudroom and kitchen completed minus the end cap. As most of the projects we do on our own, it didn’t quite go as would have liked the first time through. Because of the design of the wall it made it difficult to make it straight, without any bowing. The first time it was put together I stepped back and had to say something, it just wasn’t straight. I was hesitant to say something because I realized the steps backward we were taking, as well as me not really knowing the exact way to fix it, but I didn’t want to regret not saying anything in the end. So after some bickering back and forth about our dilemma, we agreed to fix our problem, or at least to try. We did what we thought would work, and in the end while it may not be exactly straight, it is an improvement from the original. 

After spending more time on the wall than we would have liked, we were ready to move on to something different. We went ahead and attached the light fixtures for the recessed lighting. We put them where I originally had marked out, and then came another moment of considerable time unexpected. As we were walking around the room, assessing their spots, sliding here and sliding there, I came to a realization. I realized how easy and enjoyable demo was compared to projects that require making decisions. As I stood there contemplating if that light was in the perfect spot, I wrestled with the idea about whether this really mattered, whether I was being too critical and perfectionist. As I debated in my head, I came to the conclusion that this is a decision that requires considerable forethought and details, but by the time it’s completed we will live with and enjoy what we designed as a couple. I also figured that anything we do will be better than what we had originally. We came to a decision, agreed, and said that’s that.

While it can be easy to be indecisive or prolong a decision because I feel it may not be the best one, it sure does feel good to finalize a decision and move on. So after setting the lighting, David got onto planning the plumbing. There was excess plumbing from previous designs of the kitchen/mudroom which was going to be removed, as well as additional plumbing being put in to supply the kitchen sink and refrigerator. We marked hot and cold lines and by the end of the evening David had a plan for the rerouting, as well as a list of supplies to pick up at the hardware store. While David was plumbing planning, I installed most of the electrical boxes, leaving a few spots open for boxes that we needed to get at the store. 

Day 8 February 22

Well, our Sabbath continued for a second day. I did some outlining on the floor to map out our counter tops to help with future projects, and that was about it. David and I attend a small group every Friday night so it was another night of work on hold.

Day 7 February 21

Today was our designated rest day. It wasn't really planned but ended up being greatly needed, more for David’s sanity dealing with work. Every Thursday night I have training to be a Stephan Minister with our church. This particular night David met up with some guys from work to have a “business meeting” at BW3’s. Let’s just say while they may not have been “doing” work, they sure were talking about work… if ya know what I mean ;o) Considering the projects David has been working on it was a much needed break to let off some steam with guys going through similar situations. So while I was off training and David was off drinking beer, our kitchen remodel was left untouched for the night. But don’t worry, we are rarin’ to go for tomorrow! Since I had no pics for today, I'll leave you with some fun cartoons :o)

Day 6 February 20

I had talked earlier about contacting an HVAC guy to come out and check extending our duct work and last night Paul from Quality Homenergy in Zelienople gave us a visit. David originally thought, as to be expected, that he would get some professional advice, assess and plan the job, and then do it himself. However, after walking though the house with Paul and picking his brain, he soon realized the greater extent of the job and his lack of knowledge for the system. Paul was going to write up a plan and estimate and then meet with us again to go over his ideas. We have another guy coming on Friday so we can do some comparisons. It’s a decision we have yet to finalize so as for now it’s simply an idea that we will see where it leads.

So after Paul left, David continued with this:

And I went and did that -----> 

For Christmas David got me 4 baking classes through Michael’s that I have been going to every Wednesday in February. We’re learning how to design with fondant, gum paste, royal icing and butter cream. That was my third class and I have only one left. I’d say my work for the night was much prettier and colorful than David’s :o)

Day 5 February 19

Short day. Not too much for me to do during the day. After David came home and we ate dinner, we tackled part of the wall again. I cut some more ceiling drywall to fit the stud while David attached some anchor supports. We attached the ceiling stud and then I rummaged through our 2x4s to find some decent ones for the vertical supports. We measured, marked, cut and David screwed them in. We still have the angled side wall as well as the modified supports on the other side. We decided to recess the wall behind the frig so our normal size frig is flush with the counter tops, however that takes a little fitness with designing stud supports. Luckily David’s on that job :o)

I don’t think I realized until tonight how much more you can accomplish with a full weekend and not having any work in between. I know David really enjoys doing this stuff but after a full day of work straining his brain there comes a point when you just can’t think straight. I think I’ve picked up on his tell already… he become quieter, starts repeating things and starts to get a glazed glossiness look about himself. At that point I turn off the lights and say “Shops closed! Let’s go to bed”.

Day 4 February 18

I didn't really realize it until I had the day to myself today to clean but things can sure turn into a dump when you’re in the process of home improvements. The kitchen area was an obvious war zone, but it had managed to spread its wrath into the front of the house and continued into the family room. Shit everywhere! Man did it feel good to snap my fingers and order put into place. HA! That will be the day. But really it wasn't all that difficult, just put papers in their place and put all the items for the kitchen in one designated spot instead of every corner in the house. Before I knew it we had our clean family room back and a solid walking path upstairs, downstairs and to both entries. I love a clean space :o)

I scheduled an appointment for an HVCA guy to come out to check out some of our ducting. As it is now, we only have centralized air and heat into the newest addition of the family room. The rest of our house is heated by base boards, and no AC to those areas during the summer, with the exception of our room upstairs which we use a window unit. David figured with a lot of the ceiling being open and exposed during this renovation, what better time to extend the duct work to the rest of the house. Before taking on that task, he wanted a second opinion as to his idea and if it is realistic and feasible in the end.

David swung by Home Depot on his way home from work and came back with bags full of goodies. David took the night to plan out the placement of the wall dividing the mudroom from the kitchen. Most of the night was designated to planning but we did manage to nail in one of the base boards. David was a little hesitant at first to nail into the cement. The tool he was using to attach the board required actual small bullets and since neither of us had ever used it before we weren't sure what to expect. All in all with a good whack of the hammer and some ear plugs it was secure in no time. Funny side note, some school math actually came into play tonight! To get a 90 degree angle for a straight wall you measure 3 ft down, 4 feet across, and 5 feet along the diagonal... Pythagorean Theory! Who would have thunk.

On a side/random note, when minimizing to one utensil for each of us since we are hand washing our dishes in our utility sink in the basement, I realized the awesomeness of the crock pot today. This sounds really stupid but I seriously thought this while eating dinner tonight. I cooked chicken in the crock pot and as I was using my one utensil, the fork, to easily cut it into pieces I thought, “this is great that I can cut up my chicken with my fork because then I don’t need a knife which is another utensil I will need to clean”. Oh how the little things in life bring me such joy :o) This was another one of those little things I received in the afternoon from David (side note, David had been feeling a little under the weather the whole last week):

Day 3 February 17

Well, when does anyone ever complete EVERYTHING on their list? This may just be the theme of this kitchen remodel. While we didn’t get everything completed as planned, I’d still call it a successful work day.

The momentum seriously slowed down today. With practically all the demo completed the last two days, this morning concluded the demo after we removed the ceiling drywall in the kitchen. Since the pieces came off in large chucks, we didn’t really need the wheel barrel, instead I just carried piles straight to the designated burn pile.

 After cleaning up that mess, it was refrigerator time. HA! Man can you talk about a bitch of a job. I would like to say that David and I did exceptionally well not biting each other’s heads off during this operation (believe me, it was taking all I could, and I’m sure David as well, to filter what we were thinking in our heads). I loaded the contents of the frig into two bins and took them to downstairs (that’s when not having much in the frig is a good thing). After taking off the doors to allow clearance of the basement opening, we strapped it onto a dolly we borrowed from our neighbors, and down we attempted. We got to the middle landing and that’s where it didn’t go quite as planned. We didn’t have the space to get to the landing and then make the 90 degree turn, so we “Assessed the Situation” and did as followed. David pulled it back to the top, removed the dolly, and then we man handled it to the landing. After both of us getting squished in the process, we managed to get it turned, leaving us with some space to load her onto the dolly again. I know, by now my brother is sadly disappointed in our ridiculous effort to move an appliance. Believe me Danny, I was wishing you and your muscles were here about then :o) We strapped her back in and safely plopped her in the basement. We’ve agreed that the refrigerator has found its permanent home, at least while we’re still living here.

I stayed in the basement and cleaned the refrigerator while David was continuing on removing electrical. I finished putting the last touches on our foe kitchen, and joined David. At this point it really got slow as we played seek-and-find electrical sources. My favorite quote of the day came from David, “So instead of me electrocuting myself every time, could you get the voltage meter in the garage?” I had a little chuckle walking to the garage as I pondered why he wasn’t using it from the beginning. The rest of the day was filled with me flipping breakers on and off and David confirming or denying power. Yah, let’s just say I was a little bored at that point and got to sweeping again. I’m getting really good at sweeping :o)

David goes back to work tomorrow so not much will get done during the day since I was not gifted with his DIY/engineer brain to plan all the electrical and plumbing. I plan on being able to get small odd jobs done during the day and pick up some speed when David comes home in the evenings. Here’s to a solid weekend of gettin’ stuff done!

-Cleanse complete

Day 2 February 16

Today I found my calling, I have been summoned to dismantle walls with a sledge hammer and my bare hands! At the completion of today’s projects we now have no walls in our kitchen, including any 2x4s (which by the way I recently learned in fact do not measure to be 2 inches by 4 inches, but instead 1.5 by 3.5. Now that’s just seems dumb to me).

 

Day two was another successful demo day with lots of drywall dust coating David’s and my hair to the point it felt as if we both shampooed with chalk dust. I was in charge of taking down the drywall while David worked on unscrewing outlets and all the other electrical stuff. After I managed to fill any leftover work space with drywall scraps, David came through and whacked away at the studs. At this point my cleanup mode kicked in. I grabbed the wheel barrel, moved the truck to the front, and started the cleanup of drywall. Looking back, I probably should have loaded the wheel barrel as I was tearing down the walls. Eh, tomato, tomaaaato. Two truck loads and many wheel barrels later the house was clear of any remnant of drywall scraps. Now we have a large pile in the back ready to BURN! At least we have learned from our first experience of burning outside… dry weather, heavy winds, very dry pine… not the best combination for safety but perfect for 30 foot flames tempting to burn down the woods in back.

Aaaaaany who, I returned inside to David cursing about the previous dumbass owners ability to not do things to code, hidden junction boxes in the ceiling, and miles of wiring with no apparent purpose. I just nodded and agreed. At least one of us seems to know what we’re doing :o) Since we are hoping to reuse some of  the 2x4s to build our walls, I sorted through the miscellaneous stacks and made a pile inside of the decent pieces and dumped the rest onto the burn pile out back. Next, David needed a better look into the mudroom ceiling so I started the task of removing the wood paneling. With the help of my trusty putty knife it went incredibly smooth.  

That was a wrap for day two. On our way to church I forced David to make a list of things we’re planning on doing tomorrow. I feel lists help with productivity and efficiency, but it also helps when David is working on something that I can’t help out with, so I’ll just resort to my list of odd jobs that I can do solo. Then I don’t feel like a bump on a log just standing there waiting to lend him a hand in the event he needs one. As for tomorrow’s to do list, it is tentatively as follows:

-move refrigerator to basement (borrow dolly from neighbor or recruit neighbor’s muscles)

-build frame for divider wall and peninsula

-remove electrical wiring (David wants to start with a clean slate considering the jumble of wires that we have now)

-trip to Home Depot for supplies

-remove kitchen ceiling drywall (debated not doing this but in the end it makes it easier to route wiring and assess current plumbing situation)

A small find between the studs :o)

Day 1 Operation Commence

After months of planning and endless internet and home improvement store searches, the day finally came! It started like any other kitchen planning day with some electrical and wall planning, and then the next thing I know we have a complete kitchen set up in our basement and cabinets are flying off the wall!

Today was David’s Friday off which finally gave us some time to work together to plan out electrical routing. We walked through our imaginary kitchen flipping on imaginary lights switches and plugging in imaginary outlets. Yes, we still believe we are both sane enough to continue with this DIY project :o) After routing electrical wiring, we had to design the wall where cabinets will be hung as well as building a recessed space for our refrigerator to slide back into. David had marked his territory in the family room sprawled in kitchen design papers, a legal pad, calculator, and his engineering brain running full speed ahead! 

After about 30 minutes of David scribbling frantically away on his yellow lined paper in handwriting only legible with a microscope and me sitting there acting like I could offer some form of help but failing miserably, I decided to be a little more productive. Let Operation Kitchen Cleanout begin! With no rhymm or reason other than it fit, I stuffed items from our cabinets into boxes and began taking them downstairs where we had designated as our make-shift kitchen through this project. David finished his calculations and joined the cleanout. He ended up being a better box filler, so while he crammed kitchen items into boxes, suitcases and laundry baskets (engineers always find a way) I stayed in the basement and started unloading. Once the basement transformation was complete after getting the appliances down, then the real fun started. (Actually the refrigerator was left upstairs because with no dolly or another burly man to help, I didn’t feel confident in my strength to get it down the stairs and corner in one piece.)

These were taken once we got the frig down

With puddy knives and a crowbar, the trim was the first to go. Then with David and his Christmas drill, the cabinets came next. That was interesting considering the multiple screw types we came upon, as well as a cabinet almost falling on me after it was unscrewed from its partner support. Then there was David questioning my manly muscles as I huffed and puffed helping him get the cabinets to the garage. Let’s just say these man muscles fatigue quickly, and I have no hint of rock climbing muscle hands as my grip became practically non existence. But I rallied and continued on! Next was the laminate floor which was easy peasy to remove. And then came the ceramic tile…slightly different than laminate, HA! With David swinging his sledge hammer like a mad man and me sweeping up the dusty mess behind him, that project was all wrapped up in less than an hour!

With the sledge hammer in his hand and his eagerness to do some real damage, David plowed into one of the 4 walls that are coming down. After sweeping up the ceramic tile destruction, I was on full flege clean-up-shit mode! Let’s just say David could have removed all flooring, trim and cabinets and kept them in our small work space and thought nothing of it. Me, on the other hand, likes to have space to move without stepping over cabinets, stacks of tile or avoiding the countless nails sticking out of trim lying on the ground. So while David removed walls, I removed nails in trim. This let me stack trim without it getting scratched up by the nails and would help clean up the space.

For our first day on our DIY kitchen remodel, I’d say we kicked some serious ass! It’s a weird feeling looking at our kitchen completly gutted considering until now it’s only been a figment of our imagination. While it’s odd, it’s incredibly exciting and I can’t wait to tear into some walls tomorrow!

-Demo Delight