Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

From our house to yours, wishing you all a blessed and prosperous 2013!

Garden Window

She Says:

In all the places we've lived, I've never had a window over the kitchen sink.  I know, so sad.  I've always wanted a place to grow an herb garden, arrange pretty colored glass bottles, and the like.  So HoneyDo ordered garden window for me to replace this one:

Now, after the sliding glass door install, this was a cinch.  The new window is a bit bigger all the way around than the existing one, and not in exactly the same place.  So we tore off some more siding, "repaired" the existing hole with plywood,

 measured and cut the correct sized hole,

installed the new header,

wrapped that part of the house with weather proof HardieWrap,

and cut the final hole through the wrap.  We made the cut in an X shape and then wrapped the pieces around the inside of the window and applied the flashing, making it all nice and water tight.

Then we acted silly for a bit.

Okay, back to work. 

HoneyDo came up with a great idea- we took some old tie down straps and screwed them to the stud and then to the window just in case the window tried to tip out while we were shimming and leveling it.

Once it was right where we wanted it, we screwed it into place, and voila!

 A lovely garden window, just for me!

He says:

A garden window is a really nice addition, and although it is more expensive then a regular window, it installs the same way.  After we finish the exterior siding, we will install a pair of braces that came with the window for extra support.  

Sliding Glass Door Install

She Says:

Once we got the walls down to the studs, we were ready to tackle our scariest job to date: the new door.  

Here is the before shot:

We're going to build a deck onto the back of the house, and so we decided to replace these windows with a sliding glass door.  The idea is to let more light into the kitchen as well as making the deck a more accessible living space.

I'm not going to admit that we got in over our heads on this one, because we installed it without a hitch.  But in hindsight, we definitely should have had another dude help us out with this one.  HoneyDo did most of the exterior work- pulling off the siding, removing the existing windows, and cutting the hole to the correct size.  Then we built and installed the header, which was very large and very heavy.  We put flashing around the entire opening,and were ready for the door.  

We'd had Lowe's deliver the door, and we'd even conned the delivery guys to bring it in the house, up the rickety door ramp, and into the Laundry Room, where it had been sitting for several days.  But now it was up to us to move it into position.  And it was up to me to hold it in position while HoneyDo screwed it in place.  

This door was HEAVY.  Like 300 pounds at least.  To complicate matters, there's a 3 foot drop from the floor of the kitchen to the ground, so if we were to drop it, it would be destroyed.  And we had custom ordered it and spent way more than we had originally budgeted, and we certainly couldn't afford to replace this one if we did drop it.  So no pressure here.

You can always tell how heart-in-the-throat a particular project was by the lack of photos.  There are *none* during the door installation.  It wasn't until after it was safely and completely installed that we stopped to take a photo:

But isn't it wonderful!  The built in shades between the glass work fabulously, too.

And here's a shot from outside.  Please make note of the 3 foot drop.  Whew.

He says:

The door is pretty awesome.  It's a Pella brand with all the options, so it was pricey, but after living with it for a while, it's totally worth it.  It is on the North side of the house, so it takes the brunt of winter storms and it doesn't leak or do anything scary.  It's heavy and feels like a bank vault door.  Love it.

Silent Night

Silent Night, 

Holy Night,

All is calm, all is bright.

Round yon Virgin Mother and Child.

Holy Infant so tender and mild.

Sleep in heavenly peace,

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Merry Christmas, from our house to yours.

We Now Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Construction...

She Says:

I was bound and determined to have a Christmas tree this year, regardless of the state of the house remodel... 

and sure enough, the tree made its appearance, just in time!

Kitchen Demo

She Says:

And so the Kitchen demo starts.  

Before...

Those upper cabinets came down waaaaay to easy.  (Shudders)

Bottom cabinets and soffits come out.  Why is everything splattered with soy sauce?

Tile and final lower cabinets gone.

Room with a view of the Laundry...

And just for the sympathy vote, here are some shots of our "working kitchen" as we progress... a fridge, a microwave and a card table... what else do we really need?

Kitchen Beginnings

She Says:

Okay.  This next room is a biggie... the kitchen.  Just like the bath, we are completely gutting this one.  But there is sooooo much more to do.  Here's what we started with:

This is the breakfast nook... currently the only dining area in the house.

 And here's the kitchen.  It's like a cave in there.  And just as scary.

This is one of the lovely holes in the floor that made buying this house so darn affordable!  As I've mentioned before, I think every single piece of plumbing in this house leaked at one time or another, creating soggy subfloors, riddled with holes.  This one is courtesy of the kitchen sink.  Not to be outdone, the dishwasher (which I dare not even open) sports a certain sponginess in the floor as well... it's only a matter of time before somebody falls right through it.

Here's our To Do list:

• Pine board ceiling
• Hardwood flooring
• Garden window
• Sliding glass door
• Cabinetry
• All new appliances
• Granite countertops
• Eat in island
• Wine and coffee bar
• Can and pendant lighting
• All new wiring
• All new plumbing

That's all.  Not much to do.  In the immortal words of The Money Pit, it should take about 2 weeks...

He says:

A kitchen has a lot of...things...going on in it.  Lots of very demanding dimensions with no room for error.  Lots of wiring, plumbing, gadgets.  This is going to be very complicated.  Sure, two weeks sounds about right!

Bath: Done

She Says:

Just to remind you how far we've come in this room:

And here we are now:

I remodeled this wall mount shelf- painted it, added the back board and hooks.  It gives us extra storage on top, and room for more towels than a traditional towel rack.

I searched high and low for this shower caddy- I wanted a stainless steel one so that it wouldn't rust.  Finally found this OXO Good Grips model at Bed, Bath and Beyond.  It was more than I wanted to spend, but I don't want rust stains running down my nice new tile, plus I had my 20% off coupon to ease the pain a bit.

HoneyDo installed this fanastic light and fan switch- the light switch has an auto night light, and the fan has a timer with choices of 5 to 60 minutes.

 The only decor I used in here is a glass jar filled with seashells from a trip to Florida.

The vanity is an Allen & Roth from Lowe's that we snagged at 40% off!

We're so happy with the way it turned out!

Finishing Touches

She Says:

Once the tile was in, grouted, and sealed, we installed the new toilet and vanity:

As you can see, even though there's still some painting left to do, we moved right in and made ourselves at home.  You'd understand if you could see the other bathroom.  It's scary in there.

Oh, and I have to give a shout out to this new toilet.  I have never had an opinion about toilets, one way or the other.  But this thing is awesome.  Like most everything else, we got it from Lowe's, and it's called... wait for it... the Clean Cadet.

I know.

But it promises to stay cleaner, longer, because of its "Powerwash" feature and "Everclean" surface.  And I must admit, this toilet needs very little scrubbing.  It just always seems to be sparkling clean!  It also has a very streamlined design on the outside, so there's just not as many places to collect dust.  I never thought I'd say these words, but I love this toilet.

Moving on...

We painted the trim Ultra White by Valspar, and the walls and ceiling Woodsmoke by Eddie Bauer Home:

And next time, we'll show you the finished product!