Day 17 - Everyone comes home (for the first time)

Today was the final push to get everything looking as good as possible and move as much back in as possible.  My parents helped finish painting, moving everything back in and a ton of cleaning.  We ending up unpacking about 35 boxes and filling about 4 large contractor bags full of packing paper from all the dishes.  Also thanks to my dad for all the pictures.

After a long weekend of helping me, my parents and I have the place looking pretty good for everyone coming home.

doors and drawers in for the most part, still have trim to finish, kick plate to install etc.  Also the cook-top and the dishwasher are not installed yet.

North wall, notice the magnets on the new white board wall.

TV and speakers in, not hooked up yet, but in place.

north wall from the back hall way. the keys are in the new place hanging on the wall by the back entrance.

Everyone pulling up from the airport

getting out of the car before we all went in together

first impressions

I think that she likes it

Everyone's is home! at least for the night.

Day 16 - Electrical done and more

Today started with my parents coming to help, the Electrician coming to finish up and a cleaning crew to help get everything but the kitchen clean and ready for the family to come home tomorrow.  My parents worked really hard on painting and got a ton done up stairs and downstairs.  I put two more coats on the white board wall and started trimming the cabinets.  I also worked on the final Refrigerator install as well as the wine refrigerator install.

Example of after the cleaning crew came through ... you would not want to have seen the before picture of dust and drywall everywhere.

My parents did a great job painting!

Notice the crown molding, 3 fingers light rail and some door pulls are installed.

Wine refrigerator in! this took some time because the opening needed to go from 23 inches to 24 to be able to fit.  the biggest problem was the screws that I need to take out to rip down a piece were completely stripped so I need the saws-all to get it out.

The refrigerator is off its wheels and the final molding is in around and it is being used and making ice 

close up of the door pulls and the light rail.

Day 15 - Back on the floors

Waking up to open the windows and let the final air out of the place before everyone started to come over. Today the Electrician was here, the granite people measured again, abt dropped off my appliances and towards the end of the day my parents arrived to help!

I would like to say this went in easy, but weighing serval hundred pounds and having to rebuild the cabinet from having an opening of 25x38 to 28x50 took a few hours to say the least, but it is in and working (well at least the clock is working, I have not fully tested yet)

Hooked up the water and the electric to the new frig

After my parents made a trip to abt to get me the 24 inch case and return the 30 inch that somehow was on my order, the microwave is also in and the clock is working.

My father, Jack, is here for the weekend to help and started in on painting, but needed a paint suit to keep his clothes clean.

New color for the walls, not sure if you can tell, but it is a darker brown and looks great, thanks to Aunt Laura for the paint color!

At the end of the day I have most of the upper cabinet doors back on and the under cabinet lights are one, the lights on the hood and the lights in the glass cabinets are on.  Now it still needs trim and door pulls, but starting to look good.

Day 14 - Finish the floor

Today the guys did some fine sanding and finishing on the floors and put three coats of polyurethane down.  Tomorrow is going to be a big day, I have all the remaining appliances coming, the electrician and my contractor coming to try and finish out the kitchen. Then later in the day, or the next day after the floors are dry I will cover them and do the finish coat of paint and start loading everything back in!

After the 2nd coat they "buffed" the floors and you can see how much poly actually comes off at that time.

Same area after they vacuumed up all the dust.

Just a bit ago after 3rd and final coat was put down, you can see it is still wet.

Day 13 - "sand the floor"

Today was mainly about sanding and applying the stain and then tomorrow will be 3 coats of polyurethane and then Friday I will be allowed back in the house :)

Sander takes 220, so he went right to the power panel to "tap" off the main.

Stairs sanded and all new risers since the riser wood is 1/4 think plywood they had to add new sheets to be able to stain.

ceiling downstairs after the "mud" has been applies (3 coats)

same stairs with stain

floor in the front area

Best picture I could get from front door, without walking on the floor.

Day 12 - Plumbing, Gas and close in downstrairs .... check!

Today I made one trip to Menard's one to Home Depot and about 7 to Tenenbaum's, but all in all it was a good day.  We were trying to get ready for Sanding the floors tomorrow.  The granite measurement was also today, but they really wanted to see the cook-top in place to get the measurement correct, so I went to abt tonight and picked it up.

Hung the rest of the pieces that we did not do yesterday.  Still some pieces to hang after the floor is finished like light rail, crown molding and toe kick.

Gas is in the cabinet and waiting for the cook-top.

Plumbing from behind the cabinet, hot, cold, vent and drain.

view from inside the sink cabinet hot and cold with their shut offs and the two traps, one for sink and one for the dishwasher.

Drywall going up downstairs now that all the plumbing and gas hook ups are finished.

Working cleaning and moving everything off the floors for tomorrow.

Day 11 - Hang the cabinets .... check!

Today was all about getting the cabinets out of their cardboard boxes and putting them in their place.  I think that we used close to 100 screws and 5 boxes of shims.  We took all the doors off and removed the drawers because when the floor guys sand the floor it will be less to clean.  We also have not installed the crown molding, light rail or the toe kicks yet for the same reason.  Tomorrow, finish a few items on the cabinets, move everything out of the first floor, finish gas, plumbing and get ready to close in the holes downstairs.

view from the front door.  the 3 organizing cubbie holes are not above the desk yet, that is one item left to do tomorrow.

view of the south wall, not the top cabinets (except the middle and end) are all finished inside as well, because they are going to have glass doors.

View of the north wall, this will have refrigerator in the big open slot in the middle and wine frig in the open spot on the floor in the middle and a microwave in the cabinet above that.

We were able to turn the end of the wall which has that 45 degree wall into a fake cabinet with doors and we will use it for a broom closet more than likely.

View back at the sink, the dishwasher will go on the far left, but we have not finished that space yet.

Remember last week Thursday, when all you could see was boxes, well then are broken down and some have been put in the trash.  At least you can see the windows again.

Day 10 - Father's Day "Let the fun begin!"

Today I went to Home Depot yet again first thing and got some LED lights for the can light fixtures and some other supplies for hanging my cabinets.  I then spent the rest of the morning before lunch framing the window and caulking it.  Jen and Sean and the girls stopped by as well, thanks for the card Kate and beer Sean and Jen.  Then my parents were here for a little Father's Day at Southport lanes. Thanks for driving all the way from Michigan just for lunch!  Then I gave the ceiling one more coat and put on two coats of the white board (I think it needs 3 so time to order more paint.)  Then I started organizing the cabinets for tomorrows install and decided to get started :)

Window framed and caulked, needs a little more primer and paint.

The "white board" after two coats, I think it is going to need at least one more.

A sample of what the doors are going to look like.  I took this one off the 36 inch cabinet that is the center of the south wall and directly over the cook top.

The first three cabinets are up!!!! The middle one still needs a 1 inch hole for the hood (electrical) and believe it or not after all those trips to Home Depot and Tenenbaums I do not have a 1" drill bit.  Also in the directions it says to cut out an 8" hole in the cabinet for the duct, but after trying to see if the fit was correct, I realized I really need more like a 8 1/4 inch hole.  So tomorrow I need a drill bit and make the hole in the bottom of the cabinet a little bigger.

Hood, almost ready to be installed. Will be wiped down once in place :)

Day 9 - Priming and Painting and Painting

Today was mainly about priming and painting as well as some other odds and ends.  The walls were sanded and primed and then two coats of paint on ceilings and wall where it is needed.  In the pictures below you will see that only some of the walls are covered in paint because the rest is going to be cabinets.  No Home Depot today, but I was at Tenenbaum Hardware at least 4 times!

After the walls and ceilings were sanded and primed.

Seems almost like deja vu all over again?

New paint color do you like it?  Actually the grey primer, which looks black to me is a magnetic material that I am going to cover with white board (dry erase board) so we can have a giant wall to write and hang things on.