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!!