Saturday, February 16th, 2008
After weeks of two old kitchen cabinets sitting on the front porch, I decided today would be a good time to store them behind the house, under the porch. This is where I keep any wood I want to burn, dry. Tim and I haven’t had a fire in a few weeks, so I felt one coming up.
As I began carrying one of the cabinets to the back of the house, I started to think. I thought, “Hey, what’s stopping me from setting up these two cabinets in this basement? You know, the one right next to me.” I put the cabinet on the ground and walked in the basement. I noticed some stuff on the floor that would look really great on top of a cabinet. I haven’t yet put any of the old kitchen floor cabinets in the basement, so this might be fun (I thought).
I moved that stuff out of the way and brought both cabinets downstairs. I screwed them together and leveled them out with leftover shims. Once they were perfectly level, I screwed them to the wall I made last year.
Then, I brought the counter top downstairs and mounted that right on top of both cabinets. I felt like the guy who installed the kitchen. Once I was done, I couldn’t believe that I had just installed these two old kitchen cabinets level and solid. I sometimes impress myself.
Here, take a look…
Now, I have three extra drawers and a fairly large counter top to put my stuff on.
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Thursday, January 24th, 2008
The installer finished up here at about 7PM. He worked his butt off today. I was second guessing that it would take two days to install a kitchen, but I was wrong. All the trim work took a long time. The majority of the time was taken up hanging the crown moulding, installing the knobs and handles and the cutting and nailing on the kick plates. I hate that kind of work and he was very good at it. He made all my improvements look kind of amateur…wait, I am an amateur. That makes me feel better.
There is still some work that I need to do myself, like hang a piece of wood right above the refrigerator, hang the crown moulding around the ceiling, hook up the plumbing for the sink and a bunch of other little things.
I am going to show you three photos of half of the kitchen. I moved all the junk to the other side, so when that’s all cleaned up, I will take some more pictures of the rest of the kitchen. We feel so much better actually having counter space and (almost) a sink back. When the dishwasher gets here, I am going to feel like I live in a palace.
I moved the refrigerator back into its spot. I found some stainless steel cleaner and it worked wonders on both the refrigerator and the oven. The space right above the refrigerator is where I need to put the piece of board. I want it to be snug.
I really like the way the corner cabinet goes to the ceiling and the way the moulding hugs all the cabinets. It makes that corner a focal point.
Me (again) amazed that someone can cut moulding so nicely.
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Thursday, January 24th, 2008
I felt that it was my duty to bring you a few more photos of the kitchen installation. It is my duty and my honor.
The second day of the installation is full of detail and trim work. The installer has been out there cutting small strips of wood for filler and hanging the crown moulding on the cabinets. We also put on the counter top this afternoon. There are a bunch more little things that need to get done, they just take up a lot of time.
Here are some photos…
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Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008
The installer arrived this morning at about 8:30. I was very pleased to greet him in the driveway holding the plans in my hand. I felt like a puppy looking out the window.
It is extremely nice to see this thing being put together. There are already some things that I would’ve had trouble with, but he seems to be banging away in there like it’s nobody’s business.
Here are a few photos that I snuck. He is installing the base cabinets first, and then I guess the wall cabinets. I just hope he gets the majority of it done today with just the trim to complete for tomorrow.
These two photos below were taken at about noon. The majority of base cabinets are installed and he is now working on the wall cabinets.
Ok, these next photos below were taken at about 3PM. Most of the base cabinets are installed and the wall cabinets are almost done. There are a few hiccups that he had to fix up, but nothing huge.
I took these photos below at about 5PM, right after the skilled installer left. Man, he measured a lot of stuff and did a better job than I would’ve. Anyway, here they are…
The counter top for that small base cabinet directly above is too long. I think they forgot about that one being more shallow than the rest. I guess we have to get a new one of them. Tomorrow, he is coming back to do the crown moulding, the kick plates and all the spacer wood. Then, we will put the counter top on and cut the hole for the sink. After that, he is done and I will do the plumbing for the sink and purchase and install the dishwasher.
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Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008
Well, the living room is full of kitchen cabinets. What a mess…I didn’t think there were going to be so many. It’s quite the pile.
The guys showed up at about 10:30 this morning. Being my usual self, I jumped out there and helped them bring all the stuff in. I basically brought in all the upper cabinets, while they brought in the lower stuff, along with the long counter top. This isn’t because they were stronger than me. It’s because I let them. I could’ve done it, but I didn’t want to, ok?
Here are some photos of the large pile…
The installer is coming tomorrow, so all this should be looking pretty good by tomorrow evening. He is scheduled for two days, but with me helping, I am not sure that’s going to happen. I will post more photos of the kitchen installation tomorrow.
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Monday, January 21st, 2008
I just received a phone call from the kitchen place informing me that the kitchen cabinets will be delivered to the house tomorrow morning. This caught me a bit by surprise, because I thought they were coming on Wednesday morning, with the installation guys. I thought they would be brought in one at a time, so I wouldn’t have to worry about making room for them.
Well, that’s not the case. She told me the delivery and installation people are two different entities. Sooooo, I guess this means I will have to make some serious storage space in the living room for all this stuff. Oh, you bet I will take pictures…oh you just wait.
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Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008
Yeah…in like three weeks.
As I was leaning over into the bathtub yesterday washing some dishes, I started to wonder when the kitchen was going to arrive. Yes, as the time passes, I wonder that more and more.
Well, today I decided to give the kitchen place a call to ask what kind of time frame we are looking at. Now, I am well aware that the kitchen place orders the cabinets and their hands are pretty much tied after that. I can only imagine all the people who call them asking when their cabinets are going to get there. I wouldn’t want to be a kitchen design place having to field those calls. I imagine that people can get pretty frustrated. In all fairness, they did tell us about four weeks would pass and to add another week because of the holidays.
Anyway, I called today and talked to the dude. He told me that the cabinets should be here the week of the 14th. That kind of took me by surprise. He told me that they had installation scheduled for Wednesday, the 23rd and that it would take two days. Man, that kind of sucks. That’s like a whole nother month.
I suppose I can just put it out of my mind and continue washing dishes in the bathtub. Tonight is a good night to order pizza and salad anyway.
Mad peace to you and your relatives and big props to your home gentlemen and gentleladies.
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Wednesday, December 19th, 2007
In an unexpected surprise, the tile guy was able to come over a few weeks early to install the kitchen floor. I greeted him with open arms. Anything we can get done early, the better.
He came over around 9:30 this morning. He called beforehand to see if I minded using 1/2 inch cement board instead of 1/4 inch. I didn’t mind, because the thicker stuff is stronger. The lumber place he goes to was out of the 1/4 inch board. The 1/2 inch board created more of a step, but the floor moulding will take care of that.
Here are some photos for you…
This is the before picture I took this morning, completely empty and fully swept.
This is us putting down the cement board on top of the thinset mortar. I say “us” because I helped him bring it into the house, lay it down and nail it into place. Yes, I got to use the power nailer. I am now somewhat of a legend around here. It was quite fun. I like the nail gun.
This is just a fancy view of the previous shot. Feel free to print this out for your scrap book.
This is all the cement board down and nailed in. I did all the nailing after the second piece. Yes, I did that.
This is the partial installation of the tile. The two doorways weren’t exactly square, so he had to do some fancy work. This is where the project would’ve turned into a mess if I was doing it alone.
This is the finished tile install, minus the grout. He is coming by tomorrow to do the grout.
The tile seems a bit lighter than I remember, but I think it will work out nicely with the cabinet color.
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Thursday, December 13th, 2007
When I mention anything about redoing the kitchen to any man, almost instantly, the response is, “You are going to put the cabinets in the basement, right?” I’m like, “Yeah, I already have a few down there, but I am going to put a few more.” I can hear it in their voices…they want to say, “It doesn’t matter how many old kitchen cabinets you already have in the basement, there is always room for more.” It’s a pretty funny scene.
This go round, I put the old bathroom cabinet and two kitchen cabinets in the basement. I just came back up from hanging the two kitchen ones. These cabinets were in great shape and will help out with storage down there. I am not a big fan of floor cabinets, because the floor is dirt. They would be pretty wobbly. The hanging ones are good for my needs.
Now, these might not look to great to the average eye, but any person who is looking at them who has a sense for basements, these look pretty damn good.
Also, I wanted to show you my two girder beams I put up over the summer. The primary function of these is to take out any flex that might be in the floor. They were installed under the parts of the house we intended to install tile, meaning the bathroom and the kitchen. The span from the foundation walls to the primary girder beam is about 15′, so these cut that in half. The girders are made from three 2″x10″s, sandwiched together fastened by screws. Glue and screws would’ve been ideal, but this will do. They are being held up by heavy duty 38,000lb temporary lally columns about every 7′ or 8′. The package didn’t say anything about them being temporary, but it’s common knowledge. They really aren’t temporary though and I would say that each one of them isn’t holding any more than a few hundred pounds. The footings are concrete poured into 8″ sonotubes a few feet deep. The main girder footings are 2′x2′x12″.
They work very well and do a great job of taking any flex out of the floor.
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Saturday, December 8th, 2007
I set a goal for myself today…to finish the kitchen. That didn’t happen. It almost did. All I have to do now is to sand the joint compound, reapply and then sand again. Then, I paint…and all done for me. Well, I still have to do some prep work for the floor, but that’s fun.
I have amassed some tips for drywalling. These are from my brother, Jeff and my neighbor, Tim. There are only three…
1. Mark the ceiling and floor where the studs are. This will help when it comes time to screw.
2. Hang the drywall vertically. This will help not have “mounds,” since you will be butting the beveled edges together.
3. Start in the middle of the wall. This helps the cut edges stay in the corners.
See, that helped me in my drywalling endeavor, and I have never even done this stuff before. I am a little proud of myself for kicking ass today.
So, do you remember those before photos? Well, I have some “in the middle photos” for you now.
This was today after Paul came over to pick up the cabinets. I had to single-handedly unhook the sink piping and cut apart the wood underneath. That was a real pain. Then, I had to cut the counter top and unscrew them (from being screwed together). Then, I had to unscrew them from the floor. I am not sure why they screwed to the floor. Did these people think the cabinets where going somewhere? Maybe that’s the norm. Anyway, I finally got everything away from the wall so I could work. I finished taking down all the sheetrock and was ready to put it back up.
For the rest of the afternoon, I hung sheetrock and taped. I really like taping and am glad I got the five gallon bucket of joint compound. I fly through the stuff and it’s nice not to have to worry about running out.
So as I said above, all I have to do is finish up the walls and paint. Then, prep the floor for the tile guy and my job is done. All Laura and I have to do at that point is to wait for the kitchen guys to show up with the cabinets (in a very messy house).
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