Project 99% Complete

Kitchen is back together and we're cooking!

And in case you forgot what it looked like:

The Night is Darkest Just Before the Dawn

We are moving forward but that just means we've moved a few steps backward also -

*  Tile gets laid in and we discover we don't have enough - missing two sheets!  Really just one sheet of tiles, but since we have to mix the tiles ourselves it means we need two sheets more.

*  The wine refrigerator finally comes.  Not until we come to the realization that the original refrig ordered was never showing up.  We got delay after delay, and so we checked with the manufacturer - electrolux -  it was clear it was not in production at all.  So Ron quickly researched another one and, though it was back ordered, it did get here.  All's well?  Not exactly - It has serious manufacturing defects.  Shelves are crooked, and can not be pulled out to be fixed.

*  Countertop came in - and looks great.  But, a section did need to be taken back to the shop  because it was edged on the wrong side.  That has been solved though.

*  But now we are waiting to see if the stove fits into the slot allocated for it - both in width - which seems to be okay -  and height.  It might need elevator shoes.

Still we're not far from cooking and seeing the light of the dawn!

Progress has Happened

We now have a counter and a window.  Tile to come next, then plumber, electrician, and painter.


And we have our window!  Thanks Matt Stock (http://www.mattstockphoto.com/) for the view! And Ron Pomerantz for the window frame.  

And did I mention that we have a window!

And I had a bit of diversion today when Baylee came to keep me company.  She spent the afternoon and the night.  Home tomorrow to see her sister Briella and Mom.  

Another week. another delay ....

The kitchen work is on slow motion now.  It seemed we had finally gotten to a place of progress - but you know what they say - one step forward, two backward - did I say two -- make that four.

We have reached a point where we are waiting .... waiting .... waiting .... for the counter guy.

Scheduled for Monday, we received an email.  The Fabricator - the craftsman that measures, cuts, and installs the counter - had his saw break.  And so, now we wait for the saw to be fixed.  Maybe this week - and of course that means everyone else that follows - the tiler for the back splash, the plumber, the electrician and the painter - has to be delayed as well.  Will the plumber's plumb  break next?

But there is progress to report.  Not enough to have allowed us to unpack, or to cook the Hanukkah meal that we invited 10 people to ---- but thanks to my mother's kitchen next door still came off perfectly.  Lots of latkes for everyone!

Yeah! Refrigerator back in kitchen and ice maker working.

Microwave installed, oven still missing.

A view toward our sink - window still missing.

And some of the knobs we brought from our trip to South Africa with our good friends Jennifer and Charles Brennan - 

And the kitchen snails forward .....

So the walls, the floor .... and now, the cabinet structures.  Ah ... just 6 weeks after we began the process.   And next week we'll see the counter guy to make a template - who will then come in 7 to 10 days later to install our counter. The first four and a half weeks were a flurry of movement and dust.

Now the dust has settled, figuratively, and we move into the last tasks toward completion and the process has slowed.  Less workmen in and out.  The quietness and the cleanliness is appreciated although we are both ready to get our kitchen back in order,  and move on to what ever next project we decide to take on.  Is there a new bathroom in our future?  Or maybe Granny camp?

And who knows - maybe we'll even put appliances in the kitchen.

I'm beginning to plan for the unpacking of our kitchen boxes.  We will have more space for everything - a goal met successfully  - check -  .... but where should it all go?

Slowly it comes, but once done hopefully will be okay for another thirty years.  That should take us past our sell by date.

A few pics for your pleasure ....

To tile or not to tile

We are in kitchen hiatus - floor is down, new a/c ducts operable, dry walls complete, and first paint coat is down.  But now we are waiting on the cabinets.

A week with no workmen here.

Not to be too relaxed, Ron and Steve (Ron's brother) began the process of creating the perfect mix for tiling the back-splash.  We had settled on two different colors - burnt orange and sea green.  They now needed to be merged into a random pattern acceptable to 'the design committee'.  A quick search and Steve found a tile manufacturer's program for randomizing 1+ color combinations.  And thus brotherly bonding ensued.   Together they set to developing a process for peeling tiles, intermixing per one of five rotating random designs, and re-gluing. Oye, get the Ben Gay and motrin.

 

Now with patterns tested, one of seven boxes merged, Steve back to his life, the very next day Ron went OCD and began peeling tiles off solid sheets, merging and gluing.  By day's end, Ron's TV series backlist was caught up and the remaining tile boxes were drained and repacked with fresh waxed paper separators.

Next on to the faux window pane.

Floors, walls and No soffits - Oh my!

Progress ... step by step.  Floors are in now.  Walls are up and painted Soffits are down in the kitchen meaning ceiling to floor cabinets.

Oh speaking of cabinets  - where, oh where are they?

And did I mention we snuck away for a night with no construction around us.  We enjoyed an invigorating late afternoon swim and walk on the Hollywood Broadwalk, then a relaxing evening at the Riptide Hotel. And of course sunrise.

All part of getting the kitchen installed.

Honey, the kitchen arrived!

It's beginning to look a lot like springtime

I mean it is beginning to look like walls -

We've been a bit busy - picking out stuff - like grout for the tile - oyster (which will match the oyster shells from South Carolina in our recycled glass counter top), the edge for the counters(double pencil) and knobs for the cabinets.

 

And - remembering the two pair of decorative handles we had picked up during our trip to South Africa several years ago, we decided it would only be fitting to afix these to four of the new cabinet doors.  

Also out of the closet are coming two six inch tiles we'd squirreled away after our last sprint-through- annual-sale-day at Motawi Tile Works (www.motawi.com) in Ann Arbor, MI.   These two tiles will be centered on two backsplash panels (glass tiles in burnt orange and sea green described in an earlier episode).  The overall backsplash tile design is nearly formulated, a random pattern of burnt orange in a background of sea green (random placements to be completed by Ron prior to turnover to the tile guy when that step approaches).  

Not to mention the Biscayne Bay sunset view over Miami  photo (www.mattstock.com) that will be placed inside a faux window frame wall inset behind the farmers sink.

Did I mention the rest of our green purchases - bamboo flooring for the kitchen and hallways. Oh how we eagerly await the day we're ready to see this flooring laid down.

So, for today small progress, drywall mud works are in progress.  Hopefully two more days and the dirty works are completed.  Daily dusting and vacuuming should abate by that point.

As week three comes to a close, light begins to appear in the proverbial tunnel.

We've been quiet .... but not the construction

Days have passed since we have posted, but that doesn't mean work has stopped.

I did have an epiphany that I posted in Facebook - Home Renovation is a lot like sausage.  It's probably better not to watch it being made.  

Yet - I still feel the need to document the process, and share it with all of you.

Ron, who missed almost all of the deconstruction, came home and quickly joined in the fun.  He eagerly joins in on any conversation, to be sure to help guide the workman to the correct decision.  I realized that during the day with all the work going on, the house is over filled with testosterone.  It's like being in a middle of a football huddle or a rugby scrum.  There is a dearth of females in trades.

A few updated pictures for your view.  By the way, we are in the constructing phase now.

Apartment Hallway to our Bedroom

Kitchen Constructing .... Looking different?

 And here we are doing the dishes in the guest bathroom next to the coffee pot.

And when my sanity can't take it anymore - I run off to play with my favorite little people:

Baylee and Briella

And the Deconstruction Continues

Were there ever walls here?  Forgot to tell me how much fun this would be.

Just in case it wasn't enough to take down the kitchen - let's pull more down. It had been a drop down ceiling ... 

And let's get down some more ceiling just in case there isn't enough -

Is it Too Late to Change My Mind?

Seems we are past the time where the project can be stopped.  So forward on we go ...

Where did that dishwasher go?

Was there ever an appliance here?

Once our Dining Room - now our Kitchenette