Kitchen To-Do's (sigh again)

OK, one more post for today. I guess I'm trying to catch up since I haven't posted in a while. Here are some pictures of the progress (albeit slow progress, in my opinion... Oh well, Gary doesn't read this anyway) of the kitchen.

What's left to do? Well, here's the list. And remember, this WILL, I repeat, WILL be done before I go back to work.

1. Finish painting (second coat, trim work)
2. Complete cabinet doors (install glass. First re-purchase glass that we, OK, I broke yesterday. "Someone" put the glass on top of the refrigerator where I was painting with a long extension pole at such time my elbow came down on the glass, which fell to the floor and broke... The glass was too thin anyway, cut by a seemingly inexperienced Lowe's employee who took 20 minutes of his precious time to cut. Anyway, I'm going to purchase new glass today, but not from Lowe's).
3. Decorating (My Favorite Part!!! Moving all my decorations back into the kitchen that have been littering my dining room for about 6 weeks or so).

What To Expect During a Remodel

Since I am in my reflective mode, I thought I would share some intellectual thoughts with those of you who have never had a remodeling job done by a contractor who may be planning on this type of venture in the future. Here are some things to expect:

1. People in and out of your house (all day)... unannounced, early, before you really want to be dressed, have your teeth brushed, before you wipe the sleep boogers out of your eyes, right before you realize your child decided to sleep only in her underwear and she has thrown the covers off, etc.
2. Dust
3. Dust
4. Dust
5. And finally... did I say dust?

OK, that was easy.

Sense of Accomplishment

Summer vacation is quickly winding down... it has gone by way too fast. However, I can look back and see that we got an awful lot accomplished. In fact, it's really amazing at what we've been able to do in such a short time. Here's a short list of the rooms that we completed this summer:

• Upstairs Bathroom
• Master Bedroom
• Walk-in Closet
• Guest Room

Still in progress: Kitchen (sigh...)

Rooms to Complete (besides the kitchen, which WILL, I repeat, WILL be complete before I go back to work):

• Parlor (Decorative painting technique with multiple beiges)
• Dining Room (Color wash over current color... the paint color just looks too flat to me)
• Stairway and Landing (Paint... probably a neutral beige color... definitely NO decorative painting technique)
• Downstairs Bathroom (Caulk cracks in beadboard, paint walls, replace light fixture, and install new flooring, and, oh yeah, paint ceiling)
• Utility Room (paint... no big hurry on this one)

OK, so now I know how I'll be spending my Labor Day weekend, Thanksgiving Break, and Christmas Break, and most likely, every weekend in between.

I REALLY need a vacation, no I mean a real one... away from this house! (I'm still smiling, though...)

Disarray in the Kitchen

As from the pictures, you can see that our kitchen is in total disarray. I have taken all the cabinet doors off (by myself... I am becoming an expert at using the drill) and primed the doors, along with the cabinets. My plan today is to put two coats of my chosen "Corn Silk" paint and then the fun part... lightly brushing on the antiquing glaze. (One of the pictures shows the finished product on the island).

Wish List

Just to let you know... Our wish list has been updated. Take a look!

Not Gilligan's, But Gary's Island

Today we (well, mainly Gary) are redoing our kitchen island. The island that was there is acting more or less as a shell. Gary is covering it with bead board and moving the cabinet doors to the longer side of the island. My main contribution will be painting it when it is done.

Guest Room... Another Check!!!

Until now, I have never shopped the "oops" section of the paint department. However, when we were looking for a paint color for the guest bedroom, 2 cans of this Ralph Lauren dark olive green paint caught my eye. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I paired it with burgundy accessories (from our previous master bedroom at the last house), and I think it looks great. We finally have a guest room/sewing room/sitting room/soon to be office (when we move the computer and desk upstairs from its current location in the dining room).

Now I Consider It Done!

Now that we have our plantation blinds installed and the new curtains hung (lovingly sewn by me!), I consider the new bathroom completely done.

Master Walk-In Closet... Check!

Although we are still in the process of moving our clothes, shoes, accessories, etc. into our new walk-in closet, the closet itself is pretty much done! I know one thing... I have too many clothes!!!

Now that our clothes are out of the middle of the guestroom (previously piled high to the ceiling!), we can actually walk in the guest room, and who knows, someday soon, we may even be able to use it as... hmm... maybe a guest room (instead of a large closet/junk room).

These pictures are during and after.

Red, White, But No Blue

Today, we (actually just I) began to paint the brick wall in the kitchen red. I say "just I" because Gary only agreed to keep the brick wall if I painted it. It's going to be more than I bargained for as my roller doesn't reach the mortar, just the brick. That means I have to use a brush to paint the mortar. And that's not the worst of it. The portion of the brick wall that is original... well, the mortar has turned to sand, so when I try to paint it, sand comes off on my brush. We will probably have to re-grout it in those areas.

I started off trying to paint the kitchen ceiling white, but with such high ceilings, it proved too much for my barely 5'2" stature. So, Gary took over, and completed the task perfectly. Hurray! It took just one coat!

The other priority has been the walk-in closet. Gary is putting the finishing touches to the wall as he had to patch up the holes left from the old bathroom cabinet being torn out and the hole made for the pocket door. He will be sanding it one more time before we paint it.

Master Bedroom... Check!

Hurray!!! We finished painting and decorating the master bedroom this weekend. I used a faux stone painting technique by tearing up newspapers and applying to the wall when the glaze was still wet. The colors are rust and gold. I finally feel like the house is becoming our home.

Bathroom During and After

Bathroom Before and After

I thought it would be fun to see some before and after pictures of the bathroom. It's so awesome to see progress.

What Do You Do With a Parlor?

I've never had a parlor before, so I've struggled a bit with what kind of room I want it to be. It serves as the entryway to our home, and it also serves as a home for the baby grand piano that was given to me by by uncle. So far, our parlor has been a place to store things that haven't yet found a home. However, since the vanity and bathroom shelf have been moved upstairs to their new home in the bathroom, I decided to work in the parlor today. I'm still considering reds and browns for the room, but right now other rooms are taking a priority.

Now For Our Work to Begin...

Here are some pictures of the completed kitchen tile. Our new focus, now that the bathroom is finished, is to concentrate our efforts on the cabinets, lighting, and walls in the kitchen.

We Have a New Bathroom!!!

OK... It is against my nature to show off a room that is almost completely finished, but not quite. However, it is also against my nature to have to wait to share it with you. So... here it is!!!

We have a working sink, shower, and toilet. The unfinished part of the room would include the plantation blinds (ordered from Home Depot) and the curtains, which I have not sewn up yet. It is absolutely my dream bathroom! My plan for this morning is to start "moving in."

Comments Please

Just a note on comments...Your comments are welcome. Family, friends, acquaintances, fellow remodelers/renovators, etc. just click on where it says "comments" at the bottom of each blog. We would love to hear your feedback on how we're doing with the house.

One More Day?!!!

I learned today that tomorrow is supposed to be the last day for the contractors!!! As you can imagine, I am ecstatic! But first, here is an update on what's been going on this week:

1. Kitchen -- Tile is completely done and grouted.
2. Bathroom -- Shower and floor time is completely done and grouted. The vanity is in place. The toilet is somewhat in place as it is still in the box.
   

So... Here's what remains for the bathroom:

• Install recessed light over shower
• Install vanity light
• Hang mirror
• Final plumbing hook-up -- so that we can actually use our shower, sink, and toilet
• Trim on top of shower
• Put bathroom cabinet in place (It has been sitting in the parlor for about a month now)

The rest is up to me/us! We have blinds ordered, and I have all the fabric I need to sew curtains. Of course, you'd have to be able to actually get to the sewing machine to do that, and I can't until our walk-in closet is done because most of our clothes are piled a mile high in the guest room, which, as you can guess, is where the sewing machine is. Of course, you can bet that I will start to decorate it before the contractors pull out of the drive-way. This is the part I've been waiting for! I have been hoarding my bathroom furnishings for the past three months in one small little corner of the (you gessed it...) guest room.

Pictures of the kitchen and bathroom to come soon...

Bathroom Shower Tile

Today should've been the last day to put the tile in the bathroom prior to grouting; however, we have run out of tile... again. I purchased two more boxes this morning at Home Depot, but now I've got to get one more box. And, man, are those boxes of tiles heavy!

The tile in the kitchen is, I'd say, about two-thirds done. They had to move the refrigerator to tile under it.

I am SO READY to have the house back to ourselves. And to have a place to eat. And to have an upstairs bathroom. And to have a master bedroom closet. And to have a guest room that you can walk in. And to have a dust-free house. Need I go on? We are ready to get this thing done, at least be able to move onto the parts of the house that we are fixing up. But, I still have my sanity, at least for another day or two!

Color Washing

This weekend, Gary and I painted the new bathroom. This was my first attempt to try a new faux painting technique. I chose "color washing." Gary wasn't convinced he was going to like it at first, but it looked really nice after it dried. I'm going to use a dark brown as an accent color in the room, and I've already purchased material to make the curtains. We can't wait until our new bathroom is complete!!!