New doors and cabinet destruction

While Herbie was waiting on the guy to help install the sliding glass door, he got busy.  He was going to start taking out the cabinets over the bar.  That's when he discovered they were built in when the house was built.  The fir-down was actually build over the frame of the cabinets.  So he had to tear that out which he hadn't expected to do yet.

Don't you hate when the insultation poors out of the ceiling?

So the sliding glass doors were installed Tuesday afternoon.  Didn't go as expected (imagine that!).  Herbie had to go buy some boards to fill in the edges.  When the door was installed, it wasn't 'finished'.

Still have framing to do, both inside and out. 

Then Herbie installed the new pet door.  What a disaster that has been!  The flap is better because it won't let bugs in as easily BUT the dogs are used to it being easy to push open and this one is heavier.  After working with them and much consideration, Herbie decided to remove the metal piece that had the magnets. That has worked and Sunny has it down.  Josie and Sophie are tentative but getting better.  Misty is a problem since she's mostly blind but we're working with her.

Today, Herbie turned into Mr. Destructo much to the dog's dismay.

The cabinets above the bar are history!  We've talked about this for years.  We can now see the whole room!

Notice the TV is in it's new spot, too!

My next task in moving the rest of the stuff from the lower section of the bar.  Mr. Destructo is ready to roll!

Pantry Done!

The pantry is finished!  Herbie was going to do the floor but realized it needed to flow with the rest of the kitchen so it'll be done after everything else is installed.

It's kind of hard to take pictures of a pantry.  that last picture was one I took yesterday.  We added 2 more shelves today.  Now I can finish cleaning out the cabinets and Herbie can start being the destroyer.

We picked up our new sliding glass door that goes from the kitchen to the cooking deck today.  It's got the blinds between the layers of glass which I'm really thrilled about.  We also have a new doggie door that fits on the end of the sliding door.  We really couldn't remodel the kitchen without putting in new dooors!  The rest of the house will look dated but the kitchen will rock!  Tomorrow, Herbie has a guy coming over to help him install the patio door.  Hopefully we'll have pictures in the next day or 2.

We also picked out our tile for the floor.  We're really excited about it.  We found several that would work fine but this is different and we really like it.  Don't know how well the picture will show it.

Another shout out to A-1 Granite Man in Maumelle.  We found this tile at Emser in Maumelle.  You can't buy from them but they help you pick out tile and give you samples.  Then you can order from someone else.  We are odering from A-1 Granite Man who is doing our counters.  They gave us a GREAT price since we're doing other work with them.  They also gave us a good price on our sinks.

So onward we go.  Tomorrow (Tuesday), Linda and I will meet in Hot Springs to close on Mother's house.  Herbie will be installing our new door.  Then we start destruting the rest of the kitchen!

More Progress

I know!  2 days in a row.  This chandelier was in the breakfast room since we moved in 21 years ago.

We didn't like it then and we haven't grown any fonder of it in 21 years.  After we started remodeling, the table got moved out of the way which left the chandelier in prime position for Herbie to bump his head on it daily (or more often).  Today the problem was solved.  Thanks to a rental house where we replaced a light fixture with a ceiling fan with light fixture, we have removed the chandelier and put in a temporary light fixture.

No more headaches!

I moved a lot of things out of the cabinets and drawers in the bar since that's the next area of distruction.  Problem is that we continue opening said drawers to get things that used to be in there.  So today, we loaded up the chandelier and all the empty drawers and took them to Habitat for Humanity Restore.

No problem opening a drawer expecting something that isn't there.

We're ordering the tile Monday.  Herbie will be putting the shelves in the pantry next week.  We also decided the dining room table needs to cleaned off to make a place for the things we need access to that have no place.  Fun and games!

Pantry is almost finished!

Yes, this is taking forever!  The pantry progress is good.  Sheetrock is floated and painting is almost finished.  Of course, everytime he sands the sheetrock, we have a nice layer of silt everywhere.  Housecleaning is necessary but short-lived.

We got the shelving materials today for the pantry.  I've been cleaning out the cabinets in preparation for destruction of said cabinets.  Very difficult when you have not much room to put stuff.  Pantry is going to be critical for that.  I packed away a lot of stuff that we don't need on hand for now (and probably a lot that needs to leave our house). 

After the pantry is finished, the bar area and overhead cabinets are next.  We'll still have a stove at that point.  Herbie normally cooks on a charcoal grill or charcoal smoker.  We have a gas grill on our downstairs deck that we rarely use.  Since he has finished the deck extention, we're going to move the gas grill upstairs so we can use it when we lose the oven.  Going out to eat  is looking like a good option:)

We also went to the tile place AGAIN but I think we've finally found some tile that will be great.  They had some new ones in and we brought some home to look at.  Looks like we have a winner.  Herbie wants to go ahead and tile the pantry while we have the freezer moved out and before we put the shelves in.  Here we go!

Pantry Work progressing

Herbie has been working on the pantry and has made great progress.  The vent van is installed.  The light is installed. 

All electrical work done.  He also had to finish the access that goes to the cabinet outside the pantry to the TV and Dish Receiver. 

All of that is done and now he's put new sheetrock up in the pantry. No more holes in the walls!

Yes, progress seems slow but you have to consider our working hours are pretty short since we're retired.  And, we have rental property to deal with.  All things considered, we're doing pretty good.