Progress Update: Week 8

There's not too much to report for this past week.  Our finish carpenter has been on vacation and won't return until the very end of the month, if not Aug 1.  Plus, we are still waiting on countertops, so most of the progress this week has been outside the kitchen.

Let me say it again: when it comes to a major renovation design, compromise is inevitable. Despite thinking you've planned for every detail, at some point Murphy's Law will kick in.  

We had tentatively scheduled our counters to be templated on Jul 19 and installed on Aug 2.  Unfortunately, when International Granite and Stone sent us the template drawings for final approval, the e-mail went straight to the junk folder because we didn't have them saved as a "trusted sender."  So the drawings sat "in the trash" for two full days before I finally called to ask where they were.  Then, we asked for some minor changes, like the corner radius to be minimized, so the revised drawings and invoice took another 1-2 days, pushing us a week ahead.

*Sigh*  This Caesarstone Atlantic Salt countertop, which was featured on the "Teresa & Brian" episode of HGTV's "Love it or List it, Too," will have to tie me over until my own Atlantic Salt countertops are installed...someday.
Photo: Kitchen Tile by Vancouver Tile, Stone & Countertops Creekside Tile Company Ltd.

The one thing I wanted finished this week more than anything else was the laundry closet.  Our contractor had thought we'd have it finished on Friday of Week 7, but first we couldn't get ahold of the plumber.  For a awhile, it was looking like we weren't going to have it by the end of Week 8, either!  Our contractor, bless his heart, moved the washer/dryer back into the house by his lonesome (I still don't know how he lifted it up 2 inches over the threshhold!), but we didn't have the new (i.e. up-to-code) plug for the old washer/dryer or a long enough dryer vent, so we had to leave it in the middle of the hall.  

The contractor said DH was supposed to have bought the plug already, but DH said he was never told.  Desperate for clean laundry, I decided "to hell with them both!" and went to Lowe's to figured it out myself!  I'm especially proud of re-wiring the washer/dryer all by myself -- not so much because it was hard to learn or do, but more so because my own mother would have never done this herself.  

Girl power to the rescue: 10/4 wiring on the Frigidaire washer/dryer unit.

Having hit my head too many times on the low-hanging chandelier in the dining room, my next goal was for the week was to get the dining room table cleared and the pantry moved back into the kitchen.  My main complaint about the previous pantry was the fact that it was 30'' deep with too-tall shelves (not to mentioned lack of lighting).  

DH and I finished the hardware on all the cabinetry this week, too!

New pantry composed of 3-30x36'' wall cabinets (including shallow drawers )-- it holds so much!

Some may complain that that shelves for the new pantry are only 12'' deep, but I love that I can see everything!  Plus, more shelves = more storage.  While slimmer, I've already packed more into these cabinets than was originally held in the old pantry -- and it's still not full!  No more digging through canned goods!  No more parting the sea of the pasta boxes!

Loving the feeling of accomplishment, I moved on to tackle the cleaning closet organizer.  Sadly, upon opening the big Ikea box that contained the organization rack, I saw that it had been smashed and some of the rails were completely bent and broken.  Since the box has been in our back room since June 4, I honestly do not know if got broken before it was delivered or not, so I cannot blame Ikea for this.  Thankfully, the frame wasn't bent out of whack enough to make a difference.  (It installed just fine and works on the glides as intended.)  Only the bottom rack was actually broken.  I jerry-rigged this with a couple of heavy-duty paperclips.  So far, the bottom rack is staying upright and holding weight.  You probably wouldn't know it's got one broken side unless you looked for it.

Sneak-peak of the new cleaning closet: everything is organized and easy to see!

My last real gloat is the waste-bin base cabinet.  I'm super excited about hiding the waste basket from view.  Plus, now it will be located near the sink and prep-space, which is really where I think it needs to be.  In all my previous kitchens, the waste basket was in a corner on the opposite side of the kitchen as the sink/prep space.  I was always walking across the kitchen, dripping slop onto the floor on the way to the trash can.  While I haven't had the chance to test it out yet, I think this is going to be a real boon.  A hidden waste basket seems like such a luxury -- I feel like I'm moving up in the world!

It's the little things that delight me, like the pull-out drawer for the hidden waste basket next to the sink base.

I've been biding the rest of my time scraping and sanding the original trim work which we are going to re-use.

These 90-year-old beauties are going to look brand new when I'm done with them!

The only other project DH and I took on was outside the kitchen: power-washing and repainting the wood deck.  I would like to propose that Florida's nickname be changed from the "Sunshine" state, to the "It-rains-every-day-in-summer-at-2pm" state.  Getting 2 days of straight sunshine (long enough for the deck to dry out in order to be painted) is nearly impossible this time of year  (or any time of year in Florida?)  Of course it would rain not even an hour after we got the deck half-painted!  (Damn you, Weather.com!)  So while we're not done, at least we're making some progress toward that rumored 'Victory BBQ' at the end of this renovation!

DH painting between the boards while I take a break from rolling: we're using Lowe's version of the Rustoleum Restore product for wood decking.