Sunday, February 12, 2012
Day 273 - Progress to Date
Ok, we're almost done. Here are a few pictures of the almost finished
project. Still to do baseboard in the whole house, a few pieces of trim,
replacing one door and installing the window trim.
Day 268 to 272 Tiling
We finally starated tiling Tuesday Feb. 7 (Day 268). The main reason it took so long to get to this step is that it required shutting down and moving out of the kitchen which we have been using since September. Here is the picture of one wall with the tiles on, but no grout. We had the power off as well to move all of the plugs and switches, so our living room lamp got dragged back into the kitchen.
We chose "Daltile Mixx Honey" for the back splash. This is a 5/8" glass and stone mosaic tile that includes the colour of our cabinets, walls and counters. We bought 41 square feet of it and started sticking them on on Tuesday night. We continued on Wednesday night and Thursday morning we managed to finish our original plan. Thursday night we bought 3 more square feet added a little bit more tile including finishing the side wall above all the way to the door. We grouted all day Saturday and we are really happy with the end result.
The grout really changed the look of the tiles making the overall effect darker and giving the glass ones more of a 3-D effect.
In this picture, the grout is complete on the stove all, but not yet on the fridge wall.
We managed to put it all back together for Sunday morning. Now all that's left to do is the caulking between the counters and tiles, the window trim and a few last pieces of toe kick.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Days 253 to 283 - Drywall Repair and Living Room Painting
After Christmas, we finally found some time to finish the drywall repairs in the living room. This included adjusting the height of the newly constructed half wall between the living room and the entry. Garden Girl filled several holes left by the previous renovation in 1981, repaired the drywall surrounding the new pocket door and then spent several days repainting. The raspberry coloured wall in particular needed quick a bit of work since I had damaged it earlier while creating the fridge alcove behind it. It was quite exciting to finally get the art back up on the walls and out of our bedroom where it had been stored since May. Here are some pictures of the final results.
As soon as the painting was done, the tiling could begin the kitchen.
As soon as the painting was done, the tiling could begin the kitchen.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Day 119: New Window - Day 125: Running Water
Friday September 2, 2011
Much earlier in the project, we realized that the horrible replacement window installed by the previous owners had to go. Not only was is leaky, but the previous owners had installed a window designed for 2x6 framing, so it, and all of the other windows in our house, stick in and out of the walls by an inch. Also, the old "new" window was about 2 inches smaller on each side than the original. We knew exactly what we wanted, but we almost called the whole thing off after we were visted by the salesman representing the brand of window we wanted buy. After having to show the sales guy how to read a tape measure and many delays, our window finally arrived on Sept 2nd. The installer did a really good job on the outside, but his assistant was a little slow to figure out how help his boss properly align everything on the inside. Here are some during and after pictures.
They actually had to remove two old windows, since the existing window had been installed inside the original 1960s window frame. The result of this is a much nicer view of Garden Girl's garden
Thursday September 8, 2011
Today our friendly Neighbourhood Plumber connected our sink and dishwasher. The sink came out on day 3, so this will be 122 days without a kitchen sink. (The pile of gravel on the front lawn is part of an unrelated project to try to reduce flooding in our basement, but that's another story)
With the sink reconnected we started to move back in to the kitchen. Still to complete, some of the wood trim, some drywall in the living room, staining and installing the two pocket doors, and choosing and installing backsplash tiles, ceiling lights, and 41 cabinet door handles.
Much earlier in the project, we realized that the horrible replacement window installed by the previous owners had to go. Not only was is leaky, but the previous owners had installed a window designed for 2x6 framing, so it, and all of the other windows in our house, stick in and out of the walls by an inch. Also, the old "new" window was about 2 inches smaller on each side than the original. We knew exactly what we wanted, but we almost called the whole thing off after we were visted by the salesman representing the brand of window we wanted buy. After having to show the sales guy how to read a tape measure and many delays, our window finally arrived on Sept 2nd. The installer did a really good job on the outside, but his assistant was a little slow to figure out how help his boss properly align everything on the inside. Here are some during and after pictures.
Thursday September 8, 2011
Today our friendly Neighbourhood Plumber connected our sink and dishwasher. The sink came out on day 3, so this will be 122 days without a kitchen sink. (The pile of gravel on the front lawn is part of an unrelated project to try to reduce flooding in our basement, but that's another story)
With the sink reconnected we started to move back in to the kitchen. Still to complete, some of the wood trim, some drywall in the living room, staining and installing the two pocket doors, and choosing and installing backsplash tiles, ceiling lights, and 41 cabinet door handles.
Day 105: Counters Measured - Day 116 Counters Installed
(Friday August 19 to Monday August 30, 2011)
Our trip to the Shuswap and the Okanagan was lots of fun, but I ended up coming home early to meet the counter measurer. I had two days by myself and in that time I was able to complete all of the upper trim, the light valences, install the last lower cabinet, the undercounter lighting and also install the other pocket door pocket in the living room. Unfortunately Garden Girl and the kids had both cameras, so no pictures of this step. The sink we had special ordered arrived on the 21st at Rona. I picked it up that afternoon and dropped it off at the counter fabricators the next morning on my way out of town for work for 10 days.
The counters were ready incredibly fast and I arranged to have them installed on Aug. 30, before Garden Girl and the kids got back from their trip. Sadly their vacation had been interrupted by the sudden passing of Garden Girl's grandpa and she had travelled from Vancouver back to Winnipeg for the funeral and then back to Vancouver before flying back to Calgary with the kids. I hoped they would be happily surprised by the counters, which they were.
The counter installers were a really interesting group. Three guys, two Albanians and one Afghan. The boss was a former Albanian land surveyor who said he was too old with too poor English to try to pass the professional exams here. I have never seen anyone so concerned about precision. He kept yelling at his Afghan assistant (who was formerly an accountant in Kabul) "half millimeter to south-east, no, no, no now zero point two mm to north-west" Anyway, I'm really happy with the counters and Garden Girl was really surprised when she got home. Here are the pictures. Counters installed, and the fridge, dishwasher, and microwave back where they belong and the computer once again installed in the kitchen/office corner.
For the microwave shelf, I borrowed an idea I found here which describes another adventure in Adel Medium Brown Ikea kitchen installation from 2008. Except I think I improved on her design by also making a custom shelf out of leftovers from the panel in front of the peninsula. Ironing off the birch coloured melamine from the microwave cabinet was easier than I expected, but ironing on three pieces of coloured trim that is supplied for finishing the edges of the toe-kicks was tricky.
Our trip to the Shuswap and the Okanagan was lots of fun, but I ended up coming home early to meet the counter measurer. I had two days by myself and in that time I was able to complete all of the upper trim, the light valences, install the last lower cabinet, the undercounter lighting and also install the other pocket door pocket in the living room. Unfortunately Garden Girl and the kids had both cameras, so no pictures of this step. The sink we had special ordered arrived on the 21st at Rona. I picked it up that afternoon and dropped it off at the counter fabricators the next morning on my way out of town for work for 10 days.
The counters were ready incredibly fast and I arranged to have them installed on Aug. 30, before Garden Girl and the kids got back from their trip. Sadly their vacation had been interrupted by the sudden passing of Garden Girl's grandpa and she had travelled from Vancouver back to Winnipeg for the funeral and then back to Vancouver before flying back to Calgary with the kids. I hoped they would be happily surprised by the counters, which they were.
The counter installers were a really interesting group. Three guys, two Albanians and one Afghan. The boss was a former Albanian land surveyor who said he was too old with too poor English to try to pass the professional exams here. I have never seen anyone so concerned about precision. He kept yelling at his Afghan assistant (who was formerly an accountant in Kabul) "half millimeter to south-east, no, no, no now zero point two mm to north-west" Anyway, I'm really happy with the counters and Garden Girl was really surprised when she got home. Here are the pictures. Counters installed, and the fridge, dishwasher, and microwave back where they belong and the computer once again installed in the kitchen/office corner.
For the microwave shelf, I borrowed an idea I found here which describes another adventure in Adel Medium Brown Ikea kitchen installation from 2008. Except I think I improved on her design by also making a custom shelf out of leftovers from the panel in front of the peninsula. Ironing off the birch coloured melamine from the microwave cabinet was easier than I expected, but ironing on three pieces of coloured trim that is supplied for finishing the edges of the toe-kicks was tricky.
The counter guys also installed the sink, but the plumbing had to wait for all the epoxy to dry.
Day 88 to Day 99 - Vacation and Confusion
Ok, we went on a three week family vacation to visit Garden Girls grandparents, aunts, and uncles in Kenora and Winnipeg and Handyman's brother and his family in Winnipeg. They live near confusion corner pictured here:
It was really, really nice to not have to do dishes in the basement bathroom for such a long time. Oma's tiny kitchen in Kenora has never looked so good. I even started to like the plastic amber glass windows in her cupboards.
While we were in Kenora, we tried to book our counter installers to have them come measure as soon as we got back. After numerous ignored emails, I phoned them and they had a new answering machine message saying they were in receivership. Thankfully they didn't take any of our money with them.
When we got back it was August and we were only in town for less than two weeks before summer road trip number to heading west. We managed to find a different company to do our counters and paid them, but they weren't available to measure yet. We also installed all of the doors and drawers and alot of the trim, but we were so busy we forgot to take any pictures!
It was really, really nice to not have to do dishes in the basement bathroom for such a long time. Oma's tiny kitchen in Kenora has never looked so good. I even started to like the plastic amber glass windows in her cupboards.
While we were in Kenora, we tried to book our counter installers to have them come measure as soon as we got back. After numerous ignored emails, I phoned them and they had a new answering machine message saying they were in receivership. Thankfully they didn't take any of our money with them.
When we got back it was August and we were only in town for less than two weeks before summer road trip number to heading west. We managed to find a different company to do our counters and paid them, but they weren't available to measure yet. We also installed all of the doors and drawers and alot of the trim, but we were so busy we forgot to take any pictures!
Day 64: More Cabinets
(Saturday July 9, 2011)
Garden Girl's parents were visiting today half way through their annual drive from
Vancouver to Winnipeg and Kenora. They helped assemble the last 5
cabinets. I rented a table saw and also had some fun customizing some of them, especially for the weird wedgeshaped corner. We did a surprising amount of work for what looks like a limited amount of progress. Garden Girl and her mom assembled all of the drawers and we cut all of the large trim pieces. We stopped with I started arguing with my mother-in-law about the best way to cut down the large panel for the back of peninsula and the other one for the side of fridge. Clearly we had both had way too much coffee. Here are some pictures of the progress at the end of the day.
With some major help from my inlaws, the peninsula is now in place, but not bolted down yet.
And my super snazy custom wedge shaped cabinet with the peninsula in the foreground.
I went a little crazy and even cut the shelf to the same angle
Next it's time for doors and drawers, plus a couple more cabinets. The only problem, it's July 9th and we're leaving on a 3 week trip east in one week! We were supposed to have had the counters measured for by then, but I guess that will have to wait until we get back on August 1st!.
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