No more counting!! Babaam!

Ok, so it's not COMPLETELY finished, but now that we have a functional kitchen (not in the basement), I'm calling it a "renovation success"! Because of that, and blogging for 100 days, I'm about blogged out at this point. So since I'm sick of writing about the progress, I'll just show some before and after pictures (I mean, come on, that's what you all really pay attention to anyways).

It looks stark white in pictures but there are small,
dark specs all over to give a little texture.

David's plumbing job to give optimal space under the cabinet.

Yes, we still need to finish staining and installing some quarter round, crown molding, tilt out mechanism and handles for sink panel, frame out second skylight, complete odds and ends in the mudroom, touch up nicks with mud and paint, purchase area rungs, and probably a few more things. When it's written down it feels like there's still a lot to do, but now that my back is feeling relief from not leaning down to the sink basin to clean dishes, all is a-ok :o) AND, can I just say how spoiled we feel now that we have a dishwasher!! I spend so much less time cleaning up after us and get to enjoy having a clutter-free sink a majority of the time! And it's been entertaining to watch David head to the sink and say, "Oh hey! Look at that (as he puts his dirty dishes in the dishwasher)! Clean! Babaam!" We're livin' large :o)

It's definitely been one hell of journey, but glory to God for the work that he has done in David and me through out it all. If you want to test your patience, kindness and love for your spouse, commit to a 3 month renovation where you do 90% of the work yourselves. While we still have far to go, we learned how to better communicate our needs with each other through kind and respectful words. Through the countless prayers I lifted to God during this journey, he equipped me with patience, sensitivity, wisdom, endurance, peace and a blanket of His unconditional love at my darkest times. You learn things about yourself you aren't proud of or wish anyone to see, but through that awareness change can begin. I'm not sure if I could have done this project with anyone else but my patient and encouraging husband. Those days that I was upset over delayed glue or countertops or something stupid (I'm sure there were many of those), he was there to kindly bring me back to reality and how menial these moments would be in the end. This project was a huge gift and opportunity that not everyone gets, and everyday I'm enjoying that I'm enjoying the fruits of our labor, I pray that I continually thank God for his blessings. Thank you to everyone who offered advice, guidance, suggestions, and even a helping hand (Ben yours was huge!!). We look forward to sharing a meal with you all soon :o)

A little mood lighting :o)

Day 95 May 20

They kept us sitting in suspense all day, but by 10:30 we had countertops!!!! And yes, it was 10:30 at night. They came at 6 but because of a few hiccups I think it took them longer than they would have liked. We were also surprised that they made quite a few cuts right here on the spot. We figured because of all the measurements the woman took when she templated it that it would all be cut and just need to be slapped in. Not a problem though, it just made for a long night for those two men, but we think it looks gorgeous!! I just can’t believe how much countertop space there is! The past 3 months, and even in our old kitchen, I was probably working with 10 sq/ft of space, now I think there’s over 50!! I feel like laying on it because I could fit! Haha! No more mixing and cutting on the dryer anymore :o)

There was a time when we did get a little nervous when our bar top was not matching up. It dipped in the middle and our brackets flared down. Good thing David was there because he busted out his sander and shaved part of the end off. It still didn’t meet up flush but they made it seemed like it would work with some glue and enough drying time. Now I just need to find some bar stools!

So the countertop was obliviously the exciting part of the day, but I didn’t manage to get some other stuff done during the day. We had purchased a sprinkler yesterday so I watered the garden to get a deep soak in. I transplanted a few plants that were getting too much sun, and moved some hostas to a small corner where our shed is that I would always for get to cut, so landscape it is :o) I also came to the conclusion again that the stain was not right, so back to the store I will go. Fingers crossed that third time is a charm! I also started the process of cleaning at the fireplace. The cleaning process will take at least this whole week considering every nook and cranny or surface needs wiped down from all the construction dust. All in all a good/exciting/productive day!! Since we don’t have the sink or the range hooked up yet, I’ll leave you with a small portion of the countertop that is complete.

Day 94 May 19

I’ll start today’s post by sharing a comment by David. He was looking over my shoulder tonight while I was writing the blog and he said “Oh no… we can NOT get to 100 days!” Haha! I’m not sure what it is about 100 but he seems determined as ever to cross the finish line prior to 100 days. I just grinned and said, “Don’t get your hopes up” :o) Actually, David’s parents are coming into town this weekend which will be 100 days so I am hoping it all to be wrapped up by then. I know we’ll have touch ups here and there but I won’t count those. Once the sink, dishwasher, range and frig are working, I’m movin’ in!

Our morning went a little differently than planned. We intended on going to church, but instead we were in a hardware store until 1 o’clock! When we came home and looked at the clock we couldn’t believe it. It actually made sense because we had quite a few things to pick up, and when the first store didn’t have what we needed it led us to the other. All in all I think we got just about everything we needed, and the things we didn’t won’t hold us back from moving forward. When we were back I got to staining the trim with the new color we picked out and it’s looking promising. It still seems too light/yellow, but I’m hoping with the second/third coat it matches. This whole matching stains reminds me of my paint swatch debacles…fails!

While I was staining, David was working on connecting the water to the frig for our ice maker. In the hardware store he had picked up material for two possible solutions (we’ve learned it’s easier to return things than it is to have to go back in the middle of the project), and luckily one worked. After all that jazz, we secured the one frig panel into place and pushed the frig back where it will be staying for good. Yah buddy! About that time I was putting in a recessed outlet for the microwave cubbie so it has the capacity to sit further back. First attempt it was all put together but I forgot one thing. The outlet supplies the under cabinet lights, which are controlled by a switch, and then the microwave which will always be on. So to do that you need to break the copper between the two black wires. My bad. Not a big deal though, I just unscrewed, tore piece, put back together, and Vwalla! With that ready the microwave went in! The only appliance left to install is the range, eeeekkk!

Day 93 May 18

Today was our townships annual waste drop off day in our so we took advantage of it this morning to get rid of some trash. We dumped our paint and glue buckets, an old rusted out burn barrel, and some other odd metal objects. Cleanse, cleanse, cleanse :o)

Just as I predicted, after putting on a second coat of the stain it’s not going to match. We’ll just add it to the list of things to get at the store. While I stained and watered the gardens, David finished up the small detail trim pieces. After the trim he went onto setting the toe kicks in place. Badda bing, badda boom, and he’s done! I could really tell David was enjoying his third day off of work to get at his long list of things still left to get done. Once he wrapped up the toe kicks, I helped him lay out the floor around the brick hearth. After some trial and error, we realized it worked best to template the curve out on a piece of paper and trace it onto the wood to be cut. It was definitely a more tedious process than David ever likes, so we managed to get one board done and then he was shot for the day. I templated two more pieces but we agreed to put those on hold to cut, finish work for the night, and grab some dinner. 

Day 92 May 17

LOAD…OF…HORSE…S#*^! Well that’s what I was thinking at 9 o’clock this morning when Continental Countertops called to inform us that our material didn’t arrive on the truck. I mean really! Where’s the accountability and confirmation system to make sure shit gets put on the truck?! Ohhhhhh, gasp!

Ok, rant over, we’re done with it, let us do what we do best and wait a little longer. So after the disappointing phone call, what better thing to do than plant a garden! And yes, we did run out of space. That was practically a given when you consider we were working to include 400+ tomato plants in the design. Hahaha! It always makes me laugh when I think about what we were trying to do. The whole process went relatively smoothly which was nice. We started with our plot behind the garage and was able to fit maybe 70% of what we had. We decided to leave out the asparagus and pumpkin, we planted maybe half of our peas and carrots, and probably got about 100 tomato plants in the ground. So after we recognized our lack of space we brainstormed where to put what we still wanted to plant, which were some more tomato plants, watermelon, and beans. David came up with the idea to create our new landscape out of vegetables! I think because I never considered it in my head prior, I initially had a hard time agreeing with that idea. But after considering our other options, which were none, it seemed only appropriate. We’re both really curious to see if anything grows. I think it’s the first time gardener doubts. We still had more tomato plants left, so I threw a few in pots and tossed the rest.

The remains

I moved onto staining the trim, which after putting on the first coat seems way too light. I know more coats will darken it up, but I don’t think there’s any chance this particular stain will reach the color to match the existing trim. I’ll put another coat on tomorrow and assess its potential then. While I stained, David continued with getting the rest of the trim done. That was about all the progress for the day since we wrapped up a little early and then left for small group.

Day 91 May 16

One more day and we’ll have our countertop!! Eeeeeekkk!! The day before the big event I had an extra helper around the house :o) David was “sick”, which meant shit got done up in her’. Actually he really was feeling like crap the day before because of his allergies so he figured he’d take the day to rest. But like always David doesn’t really rest when there is stuff to catch up on. He was a bit of a walking zombie but at least he was a zombie that was cuttin’ trim :o). He probably got to installing 70% of the trim, leaving some of the more detailed cuts for later. We also had received our brackets for the bar top yesterday so David cut out sections for the plates to fit in and screwed them it place.

While David was slaving away, I was planning the garden! I had waited long enough and now with the soil tilled up it was go time. After referencing each vegetable in a garden book, I planned out the plot and am keeping my fingers crossed that it all fits. While I’m trying to be optimistic, I think reality’s going to bite us in the bum tomorrow and we’re going to be left with quite a few seeds unplanted.

On my way to training I swung into the hardware store and picked up all our ¼ round for the trim, along with the stain. While I was gone, David added a few more finishing touches. He installed the last ceiling vent in the mudroom, as well as the wall vents in the foyer. 

Day 90 May 15

3 MONTH MARK!!

Let the cleaning begin! Today I, yes that’s right, just ME, hauled all those stones we used to put weight on the high spots of the floor, back outside. David was pretty impressed when he came home to see them all outside. He figures they each have to weigh at least 75 pounds. I’ll just round up and say they each weighed 100!! Either way, that task definitely made for a good legs and butt workout :o) After they all made their way outside, I swept and wiped down the boards. Since we’re both new to wood/engineered floors, I wanted to check out the safest way to clean them. After some reading it looks like a mixture of vinegar and hot water is the recommendation. I couldn’t clean it at that point since we didn’t have a mop, but I did pick one up in the evening so cleaning will commence tomorrow! That was all the progress for the day because David and I enjoyed a Pirates game in the evening with his work buddies :o) 

Day 89 May 14

Oh it’s getting exciting around here!! Considering I’m easily excitable, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. It’s not done yet but it’s starting to look it when we put some finishing touches up. During the day I mainly did things around the house, but I did get to planting my wild flower seeds. As usual, when David bought the flowers he got a little excited and purchased 5 pounds of seeds. After I had mixed some of the seeds with sand and spread them in the area David had tilled, there were still 2 more pounds left! Not a big deal, I’m sure we can find more spots to rake up the soil and spread the glory.

When David came home we got to working on the mudroom ceiling again. Just as we predicted, we’re about two boards short, but it’s looking good so far :o) Then we started laying out trim to assess what we could use and where we may need some more. Not all the existing trim would work because at least three walls had baseboard heaters on them so the trim was chopped up. But this was the part where I started to get excited! I couldn’t believe how such a simple thing like trim around the floor could make the room look so polished off, but it did! After we laid out everything, it looks like we won’t need any more trim for the baseboards. We actually do have three walls that are too long for any piece, but we figured we’ll piece together two boards for those walls and see how it turns out. In the end if we don’t like how it looks, we can always come back later and switch it out with the proper length. Everything is laid out but we’re waiting to install the boards until we can get our hands on a finish nailer. David has his stapler/nailer we used for the mudroom ceiling, but I’m not a fan of how much it nicks up the wood. I’m sure investing in a finish nailer would be well worth it and definitely come in handy for future projects.

David then went to work on the trim around our skylight windows in the kitchen. The previous stuff was poorly designed with the corners coming together at a 90 degree angle instead of 45. So to improve the aesthetics of it, David was adamant to do it right. He made some cuts and by that time it was well past dark so he called it a night. 

Day 88 May 13

I don’t think I’ve updated the blog on our countertop update…it’s coming Friday!! CAN… NOT…WAIT!!! I have feelings of pure exhilaration, also followed by extreme nervousness. This whole renovation has opened my eyes to how easy it is for something to go wrong, and I’m just hoping Friday won’t be one of those days. We’re praying for it to be one of the rare moments with things smoothly fall into place. I’m sure we have had those moments, but now as I rack my brain nothing’s coming to mind ;o/

During the day I was able to help David out by getting the piece to fix the tractor that has been sitting in the lawn the past 3 weeks. I think I was as excited as he was for the part :o) When he came home he went straight to work and got that bad boy back down the hill and into the garage where it belongs! After dinner we tackled one more project and installed the dinette light! IT’s pretty, but man was it a bitch to install. Because of the design of the cables and cords, it just made for a difficult process to get it leveled and all lines taut. It sure does make you look at products differently and if their beauty is worth the purchase considering the potential head ache installation and maintenance may cause. Have I mentioned how much we are learning by being homeowners and DIYer’s? ;o)

Day 87 May 12

Lesson of the day: Use items sparingly and leave nothing behind.

It was a victory and defeat kind of day. After church, Ben returned to finish help us lay the rest of the floor. It worked out great with the three of us, David designated to spread the glue, Ben was good at measuring and cutting to length, and I was setting the boards in place and wiping off glue. We knew with the last pale of glue it was going to be close, but we were all trying to be positive, thinking that maybe that would will the glue to go all the way. Well it didn’t, and we cried. The worst part is that we have the smallest spot left! I think back to the other 2 pales we used and how we didn’t scrape them down, and how we didn’t really thin out the glue when we laid it. Doing those small things could have taken us all the way. But oh well. It sounds dramatic, but we’re over it and just plan on picking up a smaller bit of glue to finish the job. The delay will also give us time to map out the space around the brick hearth that will need to be cut out with a miter saw. The upside is that the hardest and most laborious part is complete! Practically all the wood is laid and it looks beautiful! Happy homeowners :o)

Day 86 May 11

This project has definitely shed light on what poor estimators David and I are. The lesson learned here is buy more than you think you need and you can always return it :o) This lesson came about when we mixed our last bag of leveler, poured it out, and observed the small area it was covering. Boo-hoo! That was us crying.

After we soaked in our stupidity, we headed out to pick up a tiller! Yes, this has nothing to do with the kitchen renovation, but as this blog has continued for almost 3 months, it’s inevitable to include the other facets of life that take up our days. The tiller was to finally tackle space to put our garden! If you haven’t already realized, our garden should be the size of a house considering the 400+ tomato plants we started growing. I’m totally ok with killing some/a lot of them off, but David is all for “the more the better!” so alive they have stayed. So after we got the tiller, I dropped David off at home to start tearing up the grass (what he does best), while I left to pick up some more leveler. We split it up since the tiller was rented and we were only trying to pay for a half day.

 

We decided on 3 more bags of leveler, thinking it SHOULD be plenty. Teaser alert…don’t worry, it was :o) I complete my errand and returned to David tromping in dirt (it had rained most of the previous day so the ground was a little wet, but still doable). He cleared a space behind the garage where we had designated the garden. When he finished the garden patch, he then moved to our back wooded area. Last year for my birthday David got me a ton of wild flower seeds. They recommended tilling up the soil before planting, so now was our time. I showed David the spots and he went to work. After he finished up that spot, he then moved to the east side of the house where I had marked out an area to extend our landscape. Yes, it might have been excessive to create that much more landscape, but since we had the tiller we figured we’d get to all the areas we were at least considering tearing up. He was able to take out a good chunk of the grass, but we’ll have to go in by hand to remove the stuff closest to the house. The tiller was a huge help but it did stall out quite a bit. David thought it was because of our thick grass. In the future it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to kill the grass before you till it up. But considering this part was a bit of a last minute decision, we worked with what we had.

Since we finished our tilling work, we sprayed and scraped it clean, then returned it back to the shop. Once we got back home we got to work on leveling the floor again. We ended up with plenty of material, dumping maybe a quarter of the stuff in the woods. I failed to get any pictures of this process, but a few good shots would have been David stepping in the wet floors twice. I’ve concluded he’s not a very balanced person. We also used a long piece of trim that worked great for us to slide it across a large patch. Continuing to learn.

Even though it was only the early evening, that concluded out work for the day. We both cleaned up and then headed to a BBQ put on by one of David’s coworker. It was a good stopping point though because David was feeling pretty beat up after working that tiller all morning. It’s a short rest considering we’re planning of laying the rest of the floor tomorrow!!

Day 78-85 May 3-10

It’s been a long stint from the blog world, but here’s a quick synopsis as to our last week:

-Traveled back to Columbus

-Celebrated Rick’s (father-in-law) birthday

-Hung out with nieces and nephews

-Enjoyed time with family

-David went to bachelor party

-I took David to airport to train in Houston for a week :o(

-I stayed in Cbus a couple more days to soak up a bit more time with family

-Returned to our house on the hill

-Finished painting loft and rearranged furniture to make for more walking room (I also started dusting/cleaning which got me really excited when everything started to sparkle!)

-Finished painting ceiling in dinette and attached vent

-Connected power chord to range

-Made cookies for mother’s day and mailed them out

-Weeded; bought some landscape plants and planted them; made a hanging pot arrangement; worked to keep tomato plants alive

-Picked up David at the airport

-Met up with some friends for dinner

Feeewwww! It’s been a lot and I’ve definitely been keeping busy even without David

home, but we’re hoping to get back to the kitchen projects on Sunday when we finish

laying the floor! 

Day 77 May 2

No work done today. This weekend we’re going back home so I packed and went to training while David relaxed for the evening. We’ll be gone for the weekend, then David leaves for Houston on Sunday for training for the whole week, so I’m anticipating a pause in progress. I’m sure I’ll be able to do little things here and there but as far as finishing the floor, that one will have to wait until he gets back. 

Day 76 May 1

Are we in Pittsburgh or have we moved over night to Tennessee or Arizona?? This has made three beautiful days in a row! And after checking out the weather forecast it doesn’t plan to change any time soon!! So while I did get work done today, I also soaked up some sun and finished the book I had started a couple of days ago. As far as the productive things I accomplished today, I got all the plants outside and watered them. It takes a little longer to move them in and out now considering we have quadrupled our containers that we started with. But it’s worth it since they are already showing some better signs of life with their new housing situation.

I then primed the loft wall, not knowing if the prime color will match the existing walls or if the white color is a ceiling paint. I’ll just have to wait until it dries and go from there. Then there was another reading break…I was determined to finish this book since I have another I want to read after it, and the mystery was going a bit slow for me. It’s kind of this bad habit I have of looking ahead to find out what happens. David hates when I do it. But instead of looking ahead I just read at lighting pace to get there quickly. After I read a good chunk, I got to cutting the ceiling panels for the mudroom. We decided to keep them partially because I like the warmth they bring, as well as it was one less thing to mud, sand and paint :o) So paneling it is! David and I agreed we could work on that tonight, so to speed along the process I could get the panels measured and cut during the day. It was a pretty easy task, I just hoped it went that smoothly when we went to install them.

When David came home he tinkered with the tractor a little, and then with his remaining energy for the night we started installing the paneling. It did go relatively smooth with the planks measured correctly to length, but then there was the nail gun jamming up every 5 nails or so. It was only $15 so what can you expect. That took some time and energy to manage, as well as cutting out larger holes for the light fixtures and the one new vent. Once we got to the second light, which was about halfway, we called it a night. With the addiction of the wood cabinets and floors, it’s one woody room. But I love it :o)

Day 75 April 30

After the weekend’s partial floor installation, we were intending to level and finish the rest of the flooring in the foyer by the end of the week. But the more David thought about it, the less he felt like we would have the time to do it with him working and not getting back until the evening. We would want to get it all down at once, so that would mean killing ourselves until probably midnight one of these nights to finish it. Our countertops won’t even come in for a couple more weeks, so after some careful consideration, we agreed to forego finishing the floor until the following weekend after David gets back from a work week in Houston.

So with that news, all my days work was gone! No, not really. During the second consecutive beautiful day (we all could get used to these days) I brought the table saw, horses and table top outside. I then moved other stuff around to clear the floor so I could clean it and start evaluating its levelness. I marked a few spots and had David confirm when he got home. He was noticing some larger dips and brought a long piece of trim to confirm. With that came a spontaneous solution that I think will work great! I’m tempted to take credit for it but it was David’s brilliant idea. We decided we’ll fill in where the dip is and then with each of us on one side, slide the trim along to make it level with the high parts. And it isn’t a problem ruining a piece of trim because we have some extra from a door divider we removed. Perfect!

I also got to sanding the loft wall one last time and feel it’s ready for paint tomorrow! I definitely will not miss the day when we are finished with mudding and sanding. Well that’s probably not the most realistic with our ideas for other areas of the house, but I’d be happy with at least a break for bit.

Day 74 April 29

The new week has brought be-a-utiful weather and I am livin it up!! I ran to the lumber and supply store to order one more pale of glue which should come in Wednesday, cleaned up the trash we left from the weekend’s work, and then repotted!

Our new home brought out the gardener in both David and me, however that inner gardener was a little naive overzealous. This manifested in us planting probably 400 tomato plants! Hahaha! I know, what were we thinking?!?!?! Obviously we weren’t because if we would have known the amount and effort it was going to take we would have scaled it down tenfold. But instead, we planted them all and David being the guy would doesn’t like to throw anything away has insisted on us keeping them all and seeing how they do. Sooooo, we had put all the seeds in two small containers (cardboard lids from cabinet boxes) and they were doing really well initially. Then about a week ago they weren’t growing and starting to lose their color. After investigating their roots, it was obvious they were large and starting to run into their neighbor, stealing its nutrients. So my task for the day was to build some containers out of our floor boxes, line them with trash bags, fill them with soil, then move the plants over where they’ll have more space. Considering how many we had, it took quite a few boxes. But in the end I think it turned out pretty good and we’ll see how they are looking in a few days!