61. ... Including The Kitchen Sink

I finally finally finally have a kitchen counter!!  It has been so long since I decided how to lay out this kitchen, I was a little worried how it was going to come out.  Yes, there were a million ways to do it, but I had to pick one, right?  I'm not crazy about that barn door of a fridge you walk into from the dining room but the plan is to turn it into a photo display area, we'll see how that goes.

Here is another view, showing the bar top that I built.  I actually made it from the counter top that was removed from my Apopka house when I had corian put in two years ago.  It was an old-style 50's laminate over some heavy duty 3/4" plywood that was too good to toss, so I peeled the laminate off and cut it in half for this project.  It will be tiled at the same time that I do the back splash.

Here's the faucet that I salvaged from the previous sink, installed with the water filter on the tap.  I'm very happy with the kitchen layout, there is a lot more space than I thought there would be.  I still plan to put a rolling island somewhere, for extra space when preparing big meals.

Here's the underside, showing all the supply lines hooked up.  I was amazed that when I turned on the water there wasn't a single drip - usually something needs to be tightened.  This week I have to install the drain and garbage disposal - which I may not be able to do without John's "Big Ass Wrench" but I'm gonna try.  My return to a civilized existence is slow, but progress is being made!

Also this week I worked on the last item before City Inspections:  the siding near the new garage door.  To do it properly I had to remove one row of the existing shingles (shhhhh!).  Underneath you can see the layers of wood where the two floors come together - it's not bad or rotten, just very irregular and lumpy.  My solution was to tuck some tar paper up under there and finish the job at hand - the rest will get done when I do the remainder of the siding on the house.

Here you can see a little of the black tar paper exposed at the top.  The siding I used was some I salvaged from the front porch demo that Steven and I did in August.  It's been scraped, but further stripping will be needed before I paint.  The trim on top of the door is also from the front porch, and once it is all painted, I think it will look great.

Roscoe's latest back yard excavation uncovered the bottom part of one of those wobbly hula girl dolls.  It provided a little entertainment, but obviously it had worn off by the time I took this picture.

This week I will call for inspections, then the agenda priorities shift to preparing for the arrival of my sister on Christmas day.  I want to have the drywall in the house taped and mudded, and I may even get to paint the guest room.  I'd rather get that done before I move furniture in there, so it's a reasonable goal I think!  Things are getting really exciting as a few of the decorative details begin to fall into place.  And there have been other thrilling developments...  The Grandview Project is far from over folks and I'll be sure to keep you posted as always!!

60. Front Porch Window

Sometimes the easiest projects can have a huge impact.  This is the street view from inside the sunroom.  Up til now I had a bunch of salvaged wood stored in here, and I had never cleaned the windows.  But last week I found four awesome tab-top curtain panels for $4.94 and hung them on the $1 Ikea curtain rod I got from the Habitat for Humanity thrift store.  I mean come on - it don't get much better than that.  Add a couple of $5 chairs and a $10 light fixture... and you are singing my song.  Just a taste of how awesomely cool this house is going to be when I get through with it.

I stood back and admired that view for a minute, took a deep breath, and finally began the restoration of the front porch window.  The paint was all chipping, the trim had been removed back when the front wall was done.  The glass was broken.  I had a piece of replacement glass that I had ordered from Dave months ago, but this project kept getting put on the back burner... until now.  This is the window sill, which is representative of the rest of the window's exterior wood.  I used the heat gun, and over the course of two days managed to strip most of it off.  Fortunately the woodwork inside wasn't quite as bad - needed just a little sanding to be ready for primer.

Here's the full view of the window all taken apart.  The bottom part had to be taken out, and re-glazed, but since I did a lot of glazing photos with the kitchen window, I skipped that part.  See those spaces along side the window jamb?  Inside there are the sash weights, which got some new rope.  Unfortunately the pulleys that the rope is supposed to slide over are in rough shape.  One worked ok but the other kept pinching the rope.  It's about $45 per pulley to replace them, so that's just going to have to wait.

This is the inside, where the sash weight rope is knotted and fits into a neat little groove in the side of the window.  After installation was complete, the window went up and down fine, but not as nicely as it would if both pulleys were working.

Here is all the stuff I used to make a new screen for the window (except the screen material).  The white pieces are cut to size with a hack saw or metal jig saw blade.  They fit together using that corner piece.  The black coil you see is called spline, and it's shoved into that groove in the white metal piece using that pizza-cutter looking thing there.  I probably should have gotten a few more pics but it was late...

Here now is the window, all painted and put back together.  An extremely satisfying project, even though it was a marathon and took two whole days.  I love it.

This is the inside view, with some more $4 curtains.  The black things at the top are just unpainted areas left from when I removed those ugly wooden valances - that will all be covered up when I paint the rest of the room.

The really big news is the counter tops are going in this week, and soon thereafter I will have everything in my kitchen including the kitchen sink.  I will also be finishing up the siding by the garage door, which is the last item that needs to be completed before inspections!

59. Countdown to Inspections

Another project this past week took place in the guest bedroom.   Of course my constant companions weren't far - Rufus is usually just beyond the commotion, but Roscoe is always right in the middle of it.  I have to say I rarely feel lonely with these two around.

You may remember that when I had the AC put in, the ductwork had to get into the attic somehow, and the logical place was right alongside the chimney.  Since I'm not going with the "Jeffrey's Tube" (an obscure Star Trek reference for those of you who are scratching your heads right now) motif in this room I decided it needed to be walled up and made to disappear, just like the ducting in the living room.  Here you can see where I've begun the framing for the wall.  I built the wall on the floor and tilted it up into place - I find this the easiest way to do it when I'm working alone.  Mike Holmes would say to put the top plate in place and work down, but hey... I'm just one skinny girl, Mike!

Finished product is what counts, anyway, and upon inspection by those in the know, this passed with flying colors.  When it's all finished and painted, it will be flush with the bump out where the chimney is, and you won't even know it's there.  It's a great place for a dresser and I put some special cross-pieces for hanging something heavy like a mirror.

This picture was taken downstairs in the living room.  It's the AC controls, all taken apart.  When they originally installed it, the chase was not complete, and the wire for this needed to be re-routed now that everything is done.  When I got the thing apart I realized I needed a tiny jeweler's screwdriver for that row of eensy little screws you can see there.  I tried a knife and my fingernail before I came up with this - it's a tool that came with one of my deadbolts that you would use when re-keying.  Worked like a charm.  When I was done I realized I had flipped the wrong breaker and it was never off... lucky it was only low-voltage, and the AC guy said I was also lucky I didn't blow the _________ (I can't remember exactly what he said).

Another big project for the week was to finish the fence along the left side of the house, between me and the Architect.  I left the posts a little high in case I decide to put something decorative there on top.  It's a nice side porch, tiled with slate - might make a nice place for a table and chairs, maybe a couple of lounge chairs.  When you walk out the door on the inside staircase landing, this is what you see.

On the last day I was there, while I was having my coffee, I hung the two upper cabinets.  We didn't have time to do it when Dave was there, but he suggested I put a ledger board underneath to support it, so I could do it myself.  This particular part of the project went surprisingly smooth.  And now I have a place to put dishes!

Here  is Roscoe quietly watching the neighborhood goings-on while I'm hard at work in the kitchen.  Everyone loves looking up and seeing him!  After everything that got done this week I am ready for City inspections on three of my four permits:  Staircase, check!  AC, check!  Fencing, check!  All I have left to do before I call them is finish the siding by the garage door and trim out the window on the front porch.  I'll be starting that this week.  Oh, and I spoke to my neighbor when I got back to Apopka, Juan, who happens to be a contractor that specializes in building exteriors especially stucco. I asked him to give me a price on stucco-ing that block wall of mine in Daytona.  He said he would give me all the materials, and the tools to do it, and since he has a small project he is working on at home... Saturday I get a stucco class!  I am such a weirdo I am actually excited about this.

58. Outside and Inside

I've been at Grandview for a full week as I write this... I'm hoping to find a Starbucks or someplace with wifi so I can do a blog post from here.  I will be home in a few days but I have so much to write about!

If I haven't mentioned it before, in the front yard of the burned-out Misty Shores Apartments there were some beautiful landscape stones – some really large and a lot of little ones.  Every day I thought about sneaking over and scalping a few, despite the “No Tresspassing” and “24 Hour Police Surveillance” signs designed to scare away squatters.  I don't have an arrest record yet and have never spent a minute in jail and I certainly don't want to start now, so I looked the other way.  Then on the way in this week I had a brilliant idea: Ask The Owner.  I called the Realtor and she actually said I could take whatever I wanted, as long as it wasn't holding up something else.

I cut a hole in the chain link fence (see photo above) and proceeded to rescue 50 large landscape rocks and a whole bunch of little ones.  I'm guessing $500 worth of stuff!  And I discovered that a hole in chain link is a lot easier to cut than it is to “sew” back up... not sure what I'm going to do about that.

Work on the landscaping front continues... I added another leg to the retaining wall and a bunch of those lovely stones.  Along with a couple of plants from Home Depot and a bunch of stuff I brought from home, the place is starting to look a little more loved, don't you think?

Right behind that I added the four posts for the fence and gate that will enclose the side yard.  I guess this has been a kind of alley way and cut-through between the two streets, and many times people would walk right through even when I was there!  It takes a while for it to register with the neighborhood “wanderers” that someone actually lives there, and I'm hoping a fence will do the trick.

Here is a view of the back yard, after I got everything kind of cleaned up and laid out the way I want it.  It still needs some plants of course, and it would be nice if Roscoe didn't create a race track around the stair case, but it's a big improvement anyway.  It's hard to adjust to this little bitty yard, and I try to give him a little leeway on this.

When they're not quite in the mood to get their feet dirty, or I'm a little to aggressive with my hosing, this is where the two puppies hang out.  They really love it because it allows them to look out over me and the whole neighborhood... kitties and all!

Here's another view of the back yard, in the afternoon...

And here's the side of the house after I planted the ruellia I brought from home. That stuff eventually takes over, so it's perfect in an area like this where it can't go anyplace. I'll end up moving some of those stones to other places, like when I do the front yard. I want to make the front into a cottage garden, with a path and mounds of flowers everywhere. That will be a good project for next spring.

Let's move inside, shall we?  I finished grouting the tile in all the spots I had to fill in.  Here of course you can see one of the ones that is not exactly a match – it will be under the fridge.  You can see where I have run the icemaker water supply line under the cabinet and out – it will end up tucked underneath the baseboard and you won't even see it. It connects to the line from the fridge when I move it back into place.

I also moved the dishwasher into place, but of course it's not functional until the kitchen sink, garbage disposal, and drain are installed.   This is the underside of the dishwasher, where I've connected the drainline, water supply, and am about to hook up the electrical.  Looks like a mess, but it's really not all that complicated.  When I put it in place I realized that the toe kick is missing (a skinny piece of metal on the front bottom that covers up the guts).  I can't remember if it ever had one, I disconnected this so long ago.  It's $45 to order a new one for this model, so I'll probably make something myself that will do just as good a job.

I cleaned up the dining room “Ace Hardware” in anticipation of the arrival of the most awesome dining room table that I found at a Habitat for Humanity thrift store last weekend.  I won't describe it here, you'll just have to wait for the pics.  I put a couple of shelves in the under-stair closet in the kitchen – that's nice birch plywood that I had salvaged from something years ago, and it's been waiting at my other house for just this kind of thing.  I moved most of the hardware store in here... I call it the “Tomboy's Pantry”.

I also got to do a little electrical this week.  This outlet was just bouncing around loose in the drywall, and needed to be secured.  It was placed vertically, but there was no way to secure the outlet box with the drywall in such bad shape.  I cut the drywall to turn the outlet and put a new box, secured to the adjacent stud (A).  Then I cut out a neat rectangle of drywall and held a piece of lathe behind it, using two screws to secure it in to place as a backing (B) for the replacement drywall patch (C).  I ended up with a lot of these drywall patches this week, so I'm going to mud them later on, all at once.

I cut this hole in the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom, to install an exhaust fan/light that I had also picked up at the Habitat thrift store.  It's helpful when somebody takes a hot shower – in Florida we're all about moisture control.  It's also handy when something stinks but we won't go there.  I learned doing this that I can fit into an 8.5” x 16” hole... yes I had to get up into the ceiling. It was a bit of a challenge figuring out the wiring, since the existing light and the vanity light over the mirror were on the same line and I wanted to change them to separate switches.

Here's the finished installation (sans mud, or as they call it up north "spackle") which doesn't at all reveal the drama that was required to finish this job.  I had to take it down three times because something was loose or not hooked up right.  I stuck to it and got it done though... earned my glass of wine that day for sure.  I think I also earned a massage, but that's not likely to happen any time soon unless I get a volunteer because I'm too cheap to pay for one.

Here's the 3-gang switch box in the bathroom, with all it's guts still hanging out.  I have also added an extra outlet, essential for hair beautification devices.  You can see there's another drywall patch job – there was just one switch there before, and there's another switch on the reverse side of the wall so to put the big box in there it had to be lowered.

And here is La Stove in place, slid right in between the two cabinets that used to be one!!  You can't see it but there's yet another drywall patch job behind there.  Believe it or not, when I moved the thing in, my beautiful little range outlet that I installed months ago was in the exact spot where a box sticks out of the back of the stove and it wouldn't slide all the way in!!!  Talk about aaargh.  I recommend having the appliance on site before placing the outlet, if you ever try anything like this.  Anyhoo, I had to cut out the outlet, move it down six inches, and when I finally got it plugged in the dang thing wouldn't turn on!  I thought maybe the breaker was bad so I bought another and braved the opening of the main breaker box in the basement.   What I found was that one of the wires was loose, and after tightening it up everything was fine. I tell you if I had to hire someone to do all this I would be broke now for sure.

The highlight of my week though was a visit from Dave.  He graciously offered to pick up the dining table that was sitting on my carport at home and bring it to me.  I left it home for two reasons: It was raining the day I drove over, and also I can't move the thing myself!  It's a monster.  We got it moved in together though, and he also climbed up on the roof with me to help do a patch job up there. I think I mentioned in a previous post about the vent pipe that was left in the wall in the laundry room that was leaking.  Fortunately there were some leftover roof shingles in the basement (remember that mess?) so we took care of that this weekend.

Here's the most exciting picture of the finished roof job.  Not bad, huh? It was such a beautiful day to be up on the roof – it was windy and you could see the ocean all choppy out there.  We decided we would watch the air show from up there next year.  I have to say I didn't enjoy the climb down and I was so grateful to have someone who was willing to assist - I wouldn't have tried that alone. 

I snapped this shot facing north – there's that building, still there... no comment, right?  At least I got the rocks out of the yard before they ended up in the land fill.

We wrapped up the day with "Key Class".  This little jewelery box is Dave's key kit – all those little pieces are what goes inside the lock to make your key fit right. Pins and shims, little ball bearings and all the associated tools.  I actually learned how to change a lock!  We re-keyed all the locks in the house to the same key... not sure I could do it without supervision, but it was fun to see how it's done.  And it's awesome to have all the doors on the same key!  Thanks Dave!

I already have more pictures but I'm going to save them for the next post.  Maybe tomorrow!

57. Driveway!

This was supposed to go in the last post about the kitchen - I can't believe I forgot it!  I finally installed the casement window hardware in the kitchen and it works perfectly.  So smooth and beautiful.  I will still need to build screens for it, and finish the trim, but I already consider the hard work on this window "done".  I've also been working on the other kitchen window, so that will be completed window #2.  Only 15 more to go!

Now this is part is also exciting!  There has been a huge mess in the back yard, ever since Don and the boys dug it up when working on the fence.  The idea was for them to continue, and pave the driveway and everything else, but it was costing too much so I decided to go back to the "amy" way of doing things.  I've been looking at the pile of crap for so long, and walking through the sandy dirt driveway that I kept getting stuck in... I had plenty of ideas and now you're going to see what we did!  Behind the truck you can see the pile of dirt and concrete chunks that were the original crumbly retaining wall from 100 years ago.   It was destined for the landfill but I had a better idea.

A week or so ago I asked Steven if he could round up a friend or two that would like to do some manly-type labor for me, whenever they were available.  To my surprise he said the 30th would be fine.  The first order of business was to build a retaining wall to define Yard vs Driveway.  I set the posts in concrete on Wednesday, so they'd have plenty of time to firm up before Saturday when the boys would come.  In the previous picture you can see the 12'  4 x 6 posts in the bed of the truck that would go behind these for the wall.

Saturday came and these are my two helpers, Steven and Brian.  Both great kids, full of energy and a lot of fun to work with!  I had them help me dig out behind the posts, then Brian moved to the driveway project.  He took that pile of concrete, one piece at a time, and threw it over into the driveway.  Then he broke it up into smaller pieces with a sledge hammer.  Steven and I worked on the wall construction.  We put the four 4 x 6's in, secured them with lag screws, and decided that we would go get one more on lunch break.  After lunch we put the last board on, and finished the concrete chunkin' and breakin', and also leveled out the dirt in front of the wall, for what could be a third parking place for something small. (You didn't hear this from me, but the building I said I wasn't going to mention again is still standing in the background there).

I originally had hoped to have enough concrete to have two little strips that I could drive on, but somehow, it all spread out to be a complete, two-car driveway!  I was shocked and ecstatic beyond words.  When I go back I am taking plants, plants plants... I'll put some plumbago and other things behind that lovely wall there.  It's amazing how satisfying it can be turning a total pile of crap into something nice, neat and usable, in just one day.  It would really be nice if that crummy building next door were gone, but I promised not to talk about it until demo day, which I am hoping will be soon!

We finished up about 3:30 and after everyone got a shower I fired up the barbie... I can't remember if I showed you the little grill I got, but here it is on it's improvised grill stand. Dave 'just happened' to show up with a sheet of drywall I needed, and also because I asked him to accompany me to a Halloween party that night. Believe it or not, I cooked awesome ribeye steak, baked potato and broccoli for four on that little baby!  Gotta keep the menfolk happy - and good food is a sure way to do it.  We had a nice dinner after a long, hard day of work.

56. Progress in the Kitchen!

Here it is Monday again, after another great week of  progress at the house.  I know I left you off in the kitchen, so that's where we'll start again.  My goal was to get everything in place so I could get the Corian counter top ordered this week from Home Depot, since it can take up to FOUR WEEKS to be installed.  When I had this done at my other house, it only took two, so I'm hoping that will be the case here as well.  I had to get all the cabinets set and have the stove on site to be ready for the estimator to come out next Tuesday...

I did get the last two cabinets installed (remember the one I cut in half?), which took a little work, and spurred me to begin work on the kitchen floor tile, a big project that I had been dreading.  The tile that is there is a basic 16 x 16 sandy colored ceramic tile - but a few of the tiles had been popped up in order to do work on the walls, and there was a huge area where that funky staircase was, that had no tiles at all.  I already mentioned that I removed the ones under the other cabinets, in order to have enough salvage to fill in the blanks.

In the area where the two cabinets would go, I needed to do some cuts, to avoid pulling up and breaking tiles that would have to be put down again anyway.  I started off with a grinding wheel attached to my cordless drill, which worked fine on the grout but lousy when it came to cutting into the actual tile.  I thought about getting a new, thinner, grinding wheel, but something told me there was a better solution in that mound of tools and materials making my dining room look like an Ace Hardware.  Then I remembered that the diamond blade from my tile saw was a 7" just like the one in the circular saw, so I switched them and there you go!  When set to the right depth, it's the perfect precision tool for cutting tile that's already installed on the floor.  After I started , the sparks began to fly, and I remembered that you have to keep the blade wet when cutting masonry.  So I filled a coke can with water and doused it every few seconds... that and the brown dust from the tile is what makes it look like a murder scene.

I then put the two cabinets in place, with a space for the stove in between.  It took some shimming since none of the walls or floor in this house are level, but I got them just right.  You'll have to wait until next week for a picture of that because I forgot.  I did break down and purchase a new stove from Home Depot - I have been hunting everywhere since this whole thing began, for a decent used slide-in model, but it just wasn't happening and the time had arrived for a decision.  Of course I'll love it - there are some things I can save money on, some things I can't, so I might as well enjoy it!  PS did you know that when you buy a brand new stove it doesn't come with a plug?!  That's what the installers do... and since I was "installing" (sliding it into place) myself, I picked up a plug as well.  Right now it's in the living room, until the tile grout is finished and I can push it in to it's final resting place.

The next step was to remove all the old adhesive in areas where new tile would go.  This picture shows the transition between the kitchen and dining room, where there is laminate wood flooring.  The adhesive is really a pain in the butt to get up.  I started with the grinder again, but quickly realized the amount of dust being produced just wasn't worth it, so I broke out the trusty hammer-and-paint scraper combo and proceeded to chip away.  I used the grinder at the end for the final smooth-out.  Over the next couple of days I cleaned up three large areas and a couple where I had removed one or two broken pieces for replacement.

The adhesive also had to be removed from the backs of the salvaged tiles, and then they were cut to fit.  When all that was done I did a count and I did need a few more.  Home Depot actually had three tiles from a discontinued color that were a near-perfect match (which they gave me) that got me almost through - I had to buy one box that really didn't match to fill in under the stove and dishwasher.  One of them peeks out from the far side of the fridge, but hey - I dare anyone to complain about that!

While I had the tile tools out, I figured I might as well do a little job on the front porch.  The porch tilts slightly away from the house, so any water will flow in that direction.  The only problem is that when it rains, or I hose it off, all the water runs into that black crack you see there... and down INSIDE the foundation of the house.  Not really an ideal situation.  My plan is to seal that up when I do the siding inside the porch wall, but a drain has to be put in before that.  Here you can see where I cut the tiles to fit a little 3" drain cap.  I haven't put the plumbing underneath yet - I'll have to crawl all the way up under the house and put a drain out into the bushes... won't that be fun?!  Wonder what kind of treasures I'll find in there...  by the time I finish this house I don't think there will be one crack or crevice I haven't poked my nose into!

The last kitchen work I'll mention is the plumbing in the sink cabinet.  I put the valves on the hot and cold stub outs that Don had installed before my trip.  Each one needed an additional tee put on - the cold has an extra line to the fridge ice maker (you can see the white tube in the picture).  There is a cap on the part that will eventually be hooked up to the sink cold water.  The hot has an extra line that will go to the dishwasher, which hasn't been installed yet.  Like the stove, it has to wait until I have the tile grouted, which should happen next week.  The yellow wire you see is going to power the garbage disposal when everything is put back together.

Some very exciting stuff got done outside this week as well, but I decided to split this into another post ... I'll probably do that tonight.