THE FLOOR'S IN! THE FLOOR'S IN!

The hardwood floor installed!

Today was a big day in our kitchen remodel journey. The flooring was installed today. The flooring guys actually started yesterday, ripping out the old carpet and prepping the floor. Today, they did the hardwood floor. Tomorrow, the carpet in the living room is replaced.

The flooring looks really good, and it seems a lot lighter to the eye that the old brown carpet, even though when you held the two of them up side by side, they seemed close in hue. Something about the reflective quality of the wood, I guess. Really brightens the place up. The new baseboard also looks pretty good, I'm not sure if these pictures will show it off.

Another view.

A peek at the kitchen.

As I said, tomorrow morning we get the front living room carpeted. Next week will be finishing the tile, installing the appliances, and finishing the electrical work. We're almost there!

Not-so-great shot of the hallway.

TILE INSTALL!

 Tile installed form our new backsplash.

 
This week, so far, has been devoted to tile installation. It's been a tumultuous week, too! There have been several small snags in the tile work which have been giving Shelly fits. The first came at the cabinet which replaced the pantry. There was a question as to where to run the ends, and somehow, they ended up going beyond the edges of the upper cabinet. This just looked wrong, so we got the tile guy to remove the edge pieces. Now, however, it looks a little plain, especially since the edges on the opposite wall had the edging!

   The "pantry"; note the lack of edging.

So, these little things are taking their toll, I think we may have scared our tile guy away. Other installations have to wait for the tile to get done, so I hope this doesn't put us too far behind!

Note the edging on the wall next to window.

Floors are supposed to go in Thursday and Friday, then appliances? I'm estimating another week and a half to completion. Can't wait!

Kitchen Update;

SINK OPERATIONAL!!

Just a quick update. Joel brought the plumbing guy in today, and he was able to install the sink and garbage disposal, (although the disposal's electrical is not up yet). We now have a functioning sink, and we will no longer have to wash dishes in the bathtub!! Hurray!

   Another view. 

All Hail Granite Countertops!

The focal point of our much-too-expensive kitchen remodel was installed today! Alex installed our "Typhoon Green" granite counter tops!  I have to say, Shelly was definitely correct in spending the extra bucks for this stuff. It really looks good. And Alex did an excellent job on the fabrication and installation. There are joints that are really well done, almost invisible!

Another view.

The counter formally known as the pantry.

We will have a flurry of activity this week as we have to decide which faucet to install, what under cabinet lights, and what type of overhead lights to go with. Then, there will be a pause while we wait for the tile to arrive and get installed, then a mad dash as the flooring and appliances are installed!! Still a few more weeks to go!

Attic Interlude

The last week saw a lull in the action in our kitchen as various coordinated actions had to come into alignment.  But last weekend, our son Ryan began the task of re-doing our badly deteriorated HVAC plumbing! He gathered a lot of material on our back porch, then began moving it into our attic crawl space.

Ryan at work!

Then he went to work. And let me say, Ryan is one hard sheet metal worker! He attacked this project and really did a first class job. He basically redesigned our entire HVAC venting system. He replaced our cheap, falling-apart box plenums with the awesome hard ducting.  Really good work,and it is certainly nice to have a functioning heating system again!

A last look into our intake during installation, it will be a long time before anybody ever sees this view again!

Cabinets installed!

Today saw a dramatic development in our kitchen project; the cabinets arrived! They were all installed today, and I think they turned out very nicely! The finish is excellent, and they are a good quality product. We even got the self closing drawers!


Here's a couple of quick looks:

These replace the pantry.

The new peninsula.

Part of the wall on the sink side, there is the dishwasher space on the left.

Been a long day, so that's all for now!