Well thank you all for being so patient! I had a couple of trips out of town this month, and now all that is overwith. I won't have to go anywhere again until February, when my niece is getting married in Tucson. The blog should be very entertaining for the next couple of months, but it looks like I will be posting only once a week. I went to Grandview on Monday and just got back Saturday! It's positively addictive, how much I am getting done, and I would have probably stayed but I feel sorry for the dogs not having their big yard at home to run around in.
While I was gone, Don and his crew descended on the place and actually got the kitchen drywall finished!! It's such a tedious, messy job. I have installed drywall and finished it myself, and would do a small job in a heartbeat, but this is the kind of thing you definitely want to contract out. Just the ceiling alone is a two- or three-man job. Doesn't it look awesome?
Above is the view from the dining room, and here is the view from the back door. If you page back a few episodes and see what the kitchen looked like before, the transformation is astounding. There is still a lot to do, but a huge chunk of work is behind me and I can now plug away on the smaller, fun stuff.
The next order of business is to fix the floor - this picture shows it all done. There was a section where there was no tile or backer board, where that funny staircase was originally. I bought one sheet of Hardie Board, which is a concrete backer board that you always want to put down over plywood to assure that your tile has good adhesion. It comes in different widths, but I chose 1/2" to match what was already there. I also purchased a special blade for the circular saw for $20 to make the TWO cuts I needed. There are special screws to use with it but since I already had tapcons (concrete screws) in the right size I used those. It's also a good idea to put a little liquid nails on the back, just to keep everything from wiggling around. You can set cabinets on top of tile, but my plan is to set them at the level of the backer board, so I won't need as many tiles to fill in the open areas. I popped up the tiles that were under the cabinets originally, and will reuse those - I'll need to purchase a few more that won't match exactly, but I'll use the odd ones under the fridge, stove and dishwasher.
Next order of business is to disassemble the existing sink and counter. I have debated for a long time whether to reuse the cabinets that came with the house. They're just standard-issue Lowe's cabinets, but when I priced even the cheap ones, I decided to use what I have. I am going to paint them and add some hardware - you'll hardly recognize them when I'm done.
This is what I call the "guts" of the sink. The drain and supply lines have been cut, but I'm going to keep them assembled to the sink until I have the new sink in place so I know where everything goes. There is a line from the cold that goes to the refrigerator ice maker, and a line from the hot that goes to the dishwasher. That black thing is the garbage disposal.
The sink cabinet looked pretty good from the outside, but the inside bottom was a little icky from water damage over the years. Most kitchen sink cabinets look like this after a while, so you can use my idea to freshen up yours if you like. This is one of those nice easy jobs I usually do after I clean up for the day and get my glass of wine. I measured and purchased enough 1' x 1' sticky floor tiles to cover the bottom. They cut so easily with a razor knife - just score and snap. They come in all sorts of jazzy colors, but I like this because it will look nice and clean. Cut out for the drain hole and voila! All the ickiness is out of sight. The back of the cabinet had come loose so I also added a couple of 2" boards for stability.
Here you can see the sink cabinet, and another 2' cabinet in place along the wall. When setting cabinets, it's always important to get them plumb (straight up and down), level (straight horizontally) and square. Lots of shims and tweaking, and they're damn near perfect. I'll put a couple of support boards on the right side by where the dishwasher will go, and I'll be all ready to order a counter top! I decided to use Corian, since I love the one I got at my house. It will cost about $1000 (including the area by the stove) but they install it and it's done.
Here is another salvage project, that will save me about $250. I need two 18" cabinets on either side of the stove, which would have cost $122 each at Lowes. The one I had was a two-drawer 36" base cabinet. Hmmm. Time to slice and dice! Here you can see the half of the cabinet, and the piece of plywood I cut to make a new side. The one in the background is already done. I used a few little blocks of wood for nailers, and a bead of wood glue to lock it all up nicely. I nailed it together with my little brad nailer.
I also got a little work done outside this week - the weather has been so nice. I think when I go back I may... *gulp* take some plants with me!! Here you can see I have closed up all the places where puppies and children can get their heads caught in the stairs (I know, one piece is missing at the bottom), so it should pass inspection. I have been told I also need a handrail, since the one that you see here is too big for stumbling people to grab onto. I already have the brackets in place, but I still need an eleven foot piece of something grabbable. You can also see the inside of the gate over there on the left...
Here is the outside of the gate, not bad. It's down a little at the top because of the step that's there, I didn't want to buy a piece of 6' fence and cut it down - I don't care, it's my house and I like the way it looks. Keeps the dogs in and the riff raff out, although the neighborhood cats still manage - nothing but a biosphere would keep them out. You can also see in this picture where the right-hand garage door came out, and the "man door" (OK, all you feminists go ahead and write to the construction department, because I didn't make that up) is now installed. That big piece of plywood is going to have beautiful siding next week and the door will be trimmed out as well.
For my parting shot this week, you can see where I put those Adirondack chairs I got for $5 each so many months ago. This is such a great place to have a cup of coffee - or for my smoking friends to have their smoke breaks. It is also Roscoe's favorite place to people-watch. The railing is just the right height to rest that blockhead of his for optimal viewing of the sidewalk traffic.
Next week: Finish setting cabinets, tile the kitchen floor, order the counter top, and I'm sure lots more!
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