Sidetracked

Well, the weather got warm and we got sidetracked.  Herbie has been working on rebuilding the cooking deck which is off the kitchen.  He needed concrete poured but it got too cold.  So we had warm weather last week and he happened on someone to help do the concrete.  So last Friday, concrete got poured (along with our security system getting updated and my piano getting tuned).  Then Herbie was able to finish building his 'square' for the deck.

 In addition, we are preparing for a garage sale March 4 & 5.  We have a bunch of furniture in the garage that a renter left so we've been cleaning out cabinets and closets preparing.  Hopefully, we'll get rid of a bunch of stuff and make a little money to help with all this remodeling stuff.

We're committed!

We paid the down payment on the granite yesterday.  That was scary.  They actually want to pin you down to a date!  We're going with A-1 Granite Man in Maumelle.  They were not the lowest but they were next and we like their operation better.  We've had the granite picked out at the warehouse and they are holding it for us but they will only do that for a few weeks.  Once we make the down-payment, the fabricator (A-1 Granite Man) purchases our granite so it's safe.  They will transport it to their warehouse when we get close to being ready for it. 

Today we spent some time an TEC Electric talking about lighting.  There is so much to think about there.  I'm totally confused.  Herbie will just have to figure it out and find an electrician.  We have to have another 220 outlet since we're having 2 ovens and I think we have to have more circuits.  I'm totally out of my element on this.

The kitchen floor removal continued today.  Herbie figured out a better way to remove it that is easier and quicker.  That's good since it really needs to go.  He has more to tear out and then he'll be ready to start building the pantry.  He also spent time yesterday at the hardware stores looking at doors.  We realize that after we get a new kitchen, the doors and windows will look awful so that will have to be next.  He also removed the horrible vertical blinds from the sliding door in the breakfast room.  I was very glad to see them go.  We never close them and they don't work well.  Whoever created those things had a bad idea.

Onward we go!

odds and ends

I really appreciate all of our friends who have commented on what we are doing and are looking forward to our progress.  It is a journey for sure and we're glad to be sharing with everyone.  Herbie has indeed done a lot of research so if this helps anyone else, we're glad.

Our original thought was to do this in sections so we wouldn't lose the total kitchen all at once.  Since we're doing a lot of the work ourselves, it will take longer so this part is important.  At this point the breakfast room is being dismantled and holding a lot of stuff.  We are now eating on TV trays in the living room since our kitchen and dining tables are otherwise occupied.  Herbie plans on building the pantry first.  Then, clearing the other corner in the breakfast room for the cabinets to be installed.  We split up the cabinets into 2 orders.  We've already ordered the 'baking' center cabinets, cabinet for the small refrigerator and all the trim.  That will be here in about 4 weeks and Kitchen & Bath Ideas will hold them for us.  We should have the garage sale done by then and get the garage cleaned out and have a place to keep things (other than the dining room which is filling up).  Once we get that all installed, we will have cabinets and the pantry to move things to.  That will be when the rest of the destruction will begin.  I'm considering taking the dogs and moving the 'the resort' for this period.  I guess we could move downstairs, we have a microwave, grill and frig down there.  We'll just have to see. when we get there.

So now Herbie is looking at the holes in the wall and thinking about the electricity that needs to be run and then blowing in insulation before patching everything up. 

The microwave came yesterday so we have another appliance stored.  The cook top and the surround for the microwave have been ordered.  I think we still have the convection oven to be ordered.  Herbie has all the appliances selected after much research.  Now he browses websites frequently to find the best prices.  When he sees a really good price on one he is looking for , he orders it.  Our dining room continues to fill up.  I'm just trying to keep things away from the piano.

Isn't destruction fun?

I think Herbie is having a big time.  He got the bookshelves and cabinets in the breakfast room torn out.

 Then he decided to tear out the old linoleum floor. Lucky me got to help. He's using a heat gun to melt the glue that was holding the floor down so I get to man the heat gun while he pulls up the floor

I think this is going to take a while.

The dogs don't know what to think.  If Herbie's working and I'm in the office, I get all the dogs with me.  When I'm in there helping, everyone steers clear except Sunny and he is totally clueless.  A blond dog, what can I say.

Then Herbie figures out that we have no insulation behind the wall.  So here we go:

I'm not totally clear on why we had to cut holes in the wall but who am I to question.  We now know that there is no insulation back there so we'll have to add some although with a garage on the other side of the wall, I'm not clear on why.

The journey continues!

Pictures of the proposed new kitchen

We had a professional design done by Kitchen & Bath Ideas on Cantrell in Little Rock.  We will get our money back when we buy our cabinets from them.  They gave us a bundle of pictures and layouts and detailed plans with detailed measurements.  It was definitely worth it.  So, I'm going to show you some pictures of what of new kitchen will look like.  Of course, the paint, back splash, counter tops, and floor are just ideas in the pictures.  But this is the layout with the cabinets we selected.

This is the view from the door to the entry way.  The island is in the middle.  We will have an overhang on the island so we can sit and eat at the island.  Sliding glass doors to the right.  The pantry is on the other side of the island to the right. In front of the pantry is a cabinet holding our small refrigerator/ice-maker and the TV will go above it. Next to the pantry is the microwave and oven.  Next to that is the door to the garage.  To the left of this view is the cabinet where the sink and refrigerator is.  To the right is the desk.

This is from the other side of the island, from the corner where the pantry would be behind you.  The island has the cooktop and a second oven it it with a bar sink in it.  You can see the refrigerator which is the only thing staying where it is currently located.  Next to the refrigerator is cabinets with the sink and a window above it and the dishwasher next to that.  The door you see is to the entry way which the previous picture was 'taken' from.  Between the door to the entry way and the door to the dining room is a desk area with bookshelves above it for cook books.  To the left of the dining room door is a corner that we call the baking center.  That's where we have appliance garages and the mixer stand.  The mixer stand fits inside the counter and has a lift the raises the mixer up to use it.  Mother had one of this custom built in her house in Gurdon in 1963.

This is an overhead view of the whole kitchen.

If you go back and look at the original kitchen pictures, you'll see there is nothing similar except the door and windows.

The tear out

Herbie began the process of tearing out the shelves in the breakfast room.  Simple as that sounds, he first had to empty the shelves that have been accumulating stuff for 20 years.  He did an awesome job of cleaning and packing.  We separated the things to keep and the garage sale items and marked prices on the garage sale stuff.  We're planning a garage sale for the 1st weekend in March.  We've had a bunch of stuff in our garage since we had a renter move out and leave a lot of furniture.  We've been planning a garage sale for way too long so it finally became necessary to empty the garage and get rid of a lot of stuff.  Buy the way, Herbie is definitely doing most of the work on the kitchen.  I'm not slouching but somebody has to wash cloths, clean the house, keep bills paid....and did I mention I'm in charge of the 50th birthday party at our church.  So, Herbie gets the prize for keeping the kitchen project going.

We're doing this in a couple of phases.  Since we're doing a lot ourselves, it will take longer than hiring someone so we want to keep the kitchen as functional as possible for as long as we can.  So, the breakfast room will be dismantled first.  The side where the shelves and cabinets are will be part of the the Pantry closet.  The other corner has removable furniture which we just have to clean out and move (just 'have to' is pretty funny).  

Empty Shelves

Tearing out the shelves

Tearing out the countertop

 

Wednesday will probably be tear out the cabinets day.

Now, where did all the stuff in these shelves and cabinets go since the garage is already full?  Well, the dining room, of course. 

You may also notice in the first picture some items wrapped in plastic.  That's one of the ovens and the vent hood.  Herbie shops the internet every day for the appliances we want and when he finds a really good price, he orders it.  We also have a microwave and cook top on order.  Who know where we'll put them. Well, I shouldn't say that because look at all that floor space! 

We also ordered the first section of cabinets today.  This is reality!

paint choices

We've actually been looking at things for several months (more like years:)).  Herbie drags me to various stores to look at appliances, tile, cabinets....you name it.  He's much more of a shopper than I am and he knows my limits.  Our latest choice which has been extremely difficult is paint color.  We can't get a sample of our granite counter tops yet.  That has made the paint choosing difficult.  We had a sample of a similar granite so we tried to pick out paint with that.  It turned out in a green shade which is totally not acceptable.   When I was at the granite giveaway last week, I realized our granite selection has sections that are on the green scale but for the most part, blue and gray are the color pallets.  I'm totally out of my comfort zone here.  So far, we're got about 10 paint samples and we have a spot in the breakfast room that gets a new coat every time we bring a sample home.

We joined Consumer Reports recently since we would be buying so many things.  We were very interested in the paint that has the primer included.  It is more expensive but after talking to several professionals, we decided it was worth it.  The top choices of a painter friend of ours costs $55 a gallon.  We checked Consumer Reports and found Valspar (Lowe's brand) that has primer included is less that $35 a gallon as a Best Buy.  So we ventured to Lowe's and checked out there colors.  We selected various samples and headed to the granite place to compare.  We selected 3 and got paint samples to try out.  Herbie painted some boards with our new samples and today we headed to the granite warehouse to check out the colors.  We have a winner!  We finally settled on paint which is really one of the first things that has to be done.

This is a picture of our granite with a board with the colors we were looking at.  Hard to see but we've decided on the darker color (top one) for the walls and the middle right lighter color for the trim.  It actually is more gray than blue but the color in the granite brings out the blue.  I love it!

Big relief having made this decision.  I really hate all this shopping.  I'd like to twitch my nose and have the kitchen of my dreams installed:)