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Cabinets no more

Sunday Vaseline

We're taking the kitchen remodel slowly.

Guy and I spent the past hour trying to run Romex for a new outlet to go behind the refrigerator. Finally we accomplished this with a fish tape, pliers, electrical tape, and gobs of Vaseline.

Here's some photos of the progress and a bonus... the little trinkets we found while ripping the vent soffit down!

Hole cleaned up

Ugh I'm Not a Multi-Tasker!

I have been neglecting everything lately. This blog, Euclid Ev... Everything!

As you know, our last major project was the bathroom. We have finally started in the kitchen. We purchased a sink seriously, almost 3 years ago. We pulled the trigger on a Maytag 24" Jetclean® Plus Dishwasher with Fully Integrated Controls in Black.

This is going to be amazing because we haven't ever had a dishwasher here... and I really, really hate that.

We also (well, Guy, really) got up and hacked out that awful ceiling thing that is supposed to be a vent but has TWO 90 degree bends, and isn't powered at all!

Here it is... pointless.

Simply a grill covering a hole.

It takes up a ton of space.

Get it Guy!!

Yeah power tools!!

Gah wood and metal.

Going...

Going.....!

That's where we left it the other night. We have a bit more wood to remove.

We were thinking of exposing what we thought would be red brick (to the right in the last picture). It's red brick in the basement, but ugly gray blech in the kitchen, so it's staying covered. A little disappointing, but you know.

Also, we found some treasure when we cut open the ceiling! Don't worry, it has a market value of $0... but it's really the first time I've found little items from the past in my ceiling and I love it!

Before & After: Master Bathroom

Trying to show off the house via my blog to extended family over the holidays was kind of a pita because of how spastically I blog, and how randomized my picture placement is, so I'll be doing a before and after for each room we've tackled.

Click for our master bathroom redo!

From the realty listing

2014's Resolution: Kitchen

2014's resolution for me was the kitchen. Instead, we gutted and rehabbed the bathroom. I'm not complaining, because the bathroom was hideously ugly and more importantly - it's DONE and I never have to do it again.

Now that the cold weather has arrived, I'm readying the cutters and sledge hammer for the kitchen. Waiting a year (by accident, really) has given me a chance to think on my old design, and I've come up with another I'm toying with.

Plan A: Counter seating

Plan A: Counter seating

Plan B: Built-in bench with round table

Plan B: Built-in bench with round table

I was really sold on the 2 stool/counter space before but now I'm not so sure.

Ze Bathroom.... She es fee-neshed!

I know, can you believe it? LeBron came back to Cleveland AND we finished the bathroom. Witness!

In all, we ripped up the tile floor and concrete board underlayment, then ripped up 2 layers of old linoleum under that. Took out and replaced the pedestal sink. Removed old shower tile, ripped out green board walls. cut out rotten/damaged studs. Removed old, LOUD, poorly performing exhaust fan. Removed cheap light fixture. Took down toilet paper holder and round towel rack.

Laid down 1/4" concrete board on the floor and 1/2" on the walls. Repaired studs. Tiled floor and walls. Installed floating vanity and sink with LED faucet. Built in two cubbies in the shower. Added pretty light above the mirror. Installed 2 recessed shower lights fresh. Installed built-in toilet paper holder and square hand towel rack. Installed Kohler frameless shower doors with clear glass. Installed QUIET, high performance exhaust fan.

We also swapped out a flat mirror with a GUNNERN mirror cabinet from Ikea.

Typing it out, it does not seem like much, but it was WORK! I won't go into too many deets, I am just glad it is finished, because it looks fantastic! It's clean, modern and we actually increased our space with the cubbies, the medicine cabinet, and the room under the sink.

I just today put the last coats of paint on the shelves that go in the skinny cabinet.

What I learned (aka, what I would do differently):

Score around your tile/area you are going to sledgehammer out, or better yet, saw it out... you'll thank me when you have beautiful, clean edges.

CHECK YOUR PRODUCTS. The shower doors were the second thing we purchased... and they sat for a month, unopened. We went to install and the hardware skin was missing completely! Fast forward a week, the skin shows up in the mail, we're halfway through with the install and Kohler sent us the wrong brackets! This really extended the entire project... so again, check your products!

Oh and of course, here's some photos. I have to hunt my 18-55 lens down, so I can get some nice shots of the entire bathroom.

Gunnern Mirror

Grout is 185 New Taupe

Living without a Master Bath: Day 7

Guy and I are lucky. Not win-the-lottery lucky, but second-shower-on-premises lucky.

Our initial plan (True do-it-yourselfers know that you almost always end up throwing most of your first ideas out the window early on) was to remove the tile and put up new tile. The tiles are tiny and after chipping 893 (about 15 actually) off the walls, GUY (not me...) got the sledgehammer and we knocked the everloving crap out of the walls! Color ME surprised! It ended up being a good thing because under the window there was a tiny bit of mold and a lot of old carpenter ant damage. Even the studs needed repair in a couple areas, and we had to remove and replace some insulation.

Here's some progress photos.

Guy vs. Tile

Agg! Rotted/eaten wood!

Yeah, this piece of wood might as well have been paper

Insulation removed. This will wait till tomorrow.

Cutting out the rotten wood

New insulation and Durock cement board

All walls down, wood & insulation replaced and recessed shelves roughed in.

Pedestal sink all gone!

We had to remove some sanded grout that was on all three sides of the tub, who knew it would be so freaking difficult? We bought Sulfamic Acid Cleaner from the Home Depot to soften it. We saturated it and re-saturated it, then chipped it off. Yikes.

Next up is installing cement board walls then wall tiles. I'd like to get the shower up and running then demo the floor.

The online picture lacks detail

We did end up agreeing on using some mosaic tile. It's called "Silver Tip" and it's also from the Home Depot.

I love the metal bits!!

Kitchen Virtual Makeover

Thank GOD for computers and programs. I can only image how fucking divorced I'd be if I made Guy move things around multiple times to see what I liked in a room.

I found a totes awesome program that lets me move things around. I think I may have come up with a decent and fairly *cheap* way to get a better looking and more functional kitchen. Here's some reminder photos of my small and stupidly designed eat-in kitchen.

Let me tell you, my house layout is all over my neighborhood. BUT... since our house is a corner house, we have that back door, as see above. Other houses have the door on the side of the house, so they can use that space there for a table. If we do that, we block ourselves in and it feels congested and awful.

So conclusion: House builder fail.

Here's our current layout:

On the North side are our only cabinets plus sink and a table we've yet to actually use.

South side is an exit door, oven, a cart with booze and a microwave, fridge and wall that juts out to hide the chimney stack.

What I hate about this configuration:  No flow, at all. Not nearly enough counter space. Double sink (not seen in mockup) is really overkill. No dishwasher. No matter how we position a table it feels "wrong".

Meh.

Here's my proposed layout:

Here's what's good about this: We're reusing ALL the cabinetry. Would eliminate the metal microwave shelf. Would add some shelving, would add a DISHWASHER. Would extend countertop by a mile or so.

As you can see, seating would be built in. A risk? Maybe, but for us, it would really work. The big expense in this entire change would be a dishwasher, stools, and countertop. We already purchased a new sink (smaller and deeper) and paint for the cabinets is fairly cheap.

Our Home Office: The "During" Phase.

Guy and I have been good little worker bees this weekend. We spent most of Friday and Saturday working in the home office. It's really the second bedroom of our little cape cod. We moved in, refinished the floors, threw a rug down, and cobbled together a desk that ran flush against 2 walls in the room. The layout of the desk is fantastic. It gives us a ton of useable space (really, enough for 3 full sized desktop computers, plus random network gadgets, and a printer) but we constructed it out of inexpensive pine. It's been sitting here, albeit serving the purpose it was put together for, looking naked and quite unfinished for a year now.


We liked Benjamin Moore's Davenport Tan pretty early on, and we ended up going with it. With our paint color finally chosen, we put up a new Hunter fan to replace the 10-year-old brass one that was up when we moved in.

The existing color in the office could be described as very light yellow-brown. And it was FILTHY. Even after a hard scrubbing it still looked dingy. Painting was a no-brainer but the desk surface took a little more thinking. The wood is cheap and uneven in spots, plus it's two pieces mended together. I wanted a white surface and one that will hold up to a LOT of use. Paint wasn't really on my list.

Here's some "before" shots of the office. I don't have a lot because it was so ugly it brought shame upon my entire family.

So retro, so grimey

What kind of Aunt makes their niece clean their house? *ME ME I DO*

The picture from the real estate listing. Notice the carpet.

Eek! I barely remember the wall-to-wall carpet in this place! And the photo from the real estate listing makes it look not-quite-filthy. For reference, that corner is the same one my niecey is standing in holding her broom. Yeah.

Now, we aren't quite finished with the office, but I have some nice in-progress shots, the walls are painted and the desk surface down, and I'm very excited because now all we have to do is some detail work!

Benjamin Moore Davenport Tan in a small office

Coat number 1

Desk grommets! I love these!

How did I do my pretty white desk? Come back and I'll tell ya!

Like I said, just details now, and I hope to have the grand unveiling before the month is out. One or two more trips to the Home Depot ought to do the trick.

I have a few tricks I'm employing to keep things neat, and I plan to share how I did it here pretty soon. 

I almost forgot, Marley was wonderful, she really held it together during us emptying everything out of the office, the vacuum and drill running, etc.

Just kidding!

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