Today, for the first time, it started to look like a kitchen again. Put up the remaining wall cabinets and the end angled shelf. Put up the HUGE pantry. I’ll have pictures later with the doors open and show the drawers. We had to take all the drawers out and the doors off of the pantry just to get it to a manageable weight – that sucker is HEAVY! After using muscle to get it into place, we got it plumb and square. The only thing left is the spacer – it’s not quite right, mainly because I’m off about 1/8″ on my end and the wall is off about 1/8″ the other way. That leaves a gap of 1/4″ after the spacer is in place. I’ll have to special cut a spacer for it, I guess. Oh well. With a little luck tomorrow we’ll get the rest of the baseboard cabinets in and then it will be time to get the countertop ordered!! Here’s the progress today:
   

Looks like we got a lot done, but we really didn’t. Got the cabinet above the refrigerator hung; still have to trim it out, but I’ve got to trim all the cabinets along the ceiling out. Then we moved the refrigerator into its final place and hooked up the water line so it can make ice and give us fresh water. Got the base cabinet Lazy Susan in the corner installed – if I got it any more perfectly level and plumb I’d probably have to set cabinets for my living! The toughest part was we had to remove the exterior door to gain the 3/4″ to get the cabinet through the door. Then got the dishwasher, spacer and range in place. We may have to move the range tomorrow in order to get the pantry in place, but we’ll deal with that tomorrow. Here’s the progress:
  

Really not a whole lot to tell again. I got some pre-treated oak shoe mold for around the edges of the floor that will show and put some down where the refridgerator will go tomorrow. I urethaned the second and third coats on the transition boards that will go between the new floor and the carpet. I sanded the area that I was going to texturize. I mixed some joint compound, water, ceiling paint and silica sand and practiced texturizing on a scrap piece of sheet rock. Then I took my mixture and roller-painted it on to the ceiling in the spot I’ve been working on and then took a wallpaper paste brush and made the sandy swirl pattern on the ceiling – it doesn’t look bad at all. Since I’m working during the day, I can only put in about 3 hours or so at night. Here’s the ceiling:
 

Not much to report today. I have to let the grout cure for 72 hours before putting a lot of weight on it, so I really can’t do a whole lot yet. Wednesday, though, watch out! Tonight (after work) I stained and urethaned the carpet bar (it’s oak) tonight. I’ve got two more coats of urethane to put on them before I can put them down. I also cut a few small (1 3/8″ strips) tile pieces to fit into the doorway. And I sanded and re-mudded the ceiling that will be showing. I’ll be sanding and texturizing tomorrow, I hope. No pictures today because there really isn’t anything new to see.

This was kind of a “day of rest”. (Hey! Even God took a day off after creating!) So I didn’t do as much. I primed the ceiling that is going to show and primed some of the wall where there was some discoloration due to water damage. Then, I went to church. After church, Breezomatic and I went to lunch at HyVee and headed to Menards to get a few things I still needed. When we got back I put a coat of joint compound on the primed ceiling so it was pretty close to level with the rest of the ceiling (I’ll have to sand it later) Then I put some ceiling paint where I had slopped some of the joint compound to cover up my mess. I then cut a few tile to get the edges set (I’ll have more cutting to do) Then I grouted the tile KC and I laid yesterday. I used one 9 pound bucket of the grout and it pretty much did the kitchen area. I’m probably going to use two more of the 9 pound buckets to finish the entire floor. Here’s today’s progress in pictures:
    

Lots of ceramic tile went down today. Jim wasn’t here to help – he went to the Iowa – Penn State game. (It was an exciting day to be a Hawkeye fan! Iowa beat Penn State 24-23 on a field goal with less than 5 seconds left!! Penn State was ranked #3 and came in 9-0) Anyway, I got a lot of the ceramic tile laid today with help from KC. I was on my knees (as she wants it to be!) installing the tile and she was unwrapping them from the package and handing them to me. We have all of the kitchen done so tomorrow will be grouting. Here’s the pictorial progress:
   

Got the flooring all done, ready for the tile. Went to Menards and got some grout so the tile can be grouted after its laid. Also picked up some carpet bar to bridge between the living room carpet and the new dining room ceramic tile. I’ll need to finish it yet, but that can be done later. We have also settled on a backsplash wall, I think. I’ll need to double check that with KC before actually buying and installing it. Then we got to put up cabinets! We got the entire east wall done, and the first cabinet up on the south wall. There is an issue where I either need one or two spacers but don’t have them. I’ll need to check with Jeff at Pearl City Wood Products to find out about that. Here’s the pictorial progress:
  

Well, it may not look like much, but here goes. Got the wiring correct and all the GFCI outlets are now working properly. Also, the switches for the light and the dispos-all are oriented properly (Off=Down, On=Up). Spread the sheet rock joint compound (what many call “mud”) over the joints in the new sheet rock. It doesn’t have to be pretty as nearly all of it will be covered by either cabinets, crown mold or some kind of laminate. Replaced the flooring where there was water damage where the sink used to be (and will be again). Added luaun plywood to the areas where the old cabinets were so I don’t have to take out the current linoleum. I will be laying SnapStone tiles and with the luaun in place it is the exact height of the linoleum. The floor should go down very quickly tomorrow IF I get the ceramic tile saw from our friend Kevin. Here’s today’s progress in photos:
     

Doesn’t look like we did much today. We took all the trash down to the Transfer Station, then went to Menards and picked up the sheet rock, drywall compound, OSB, a sheet of 1/4″ luaun plywood, six GFCI duplex outlets, a lighted switch, a regular switch, four dual gang boxes, three dual GFCI cover plates, a dual switch cover plate, some 12/2 wire, some drywall screws and a drywall dimpling bit. After unloading the sheets of plywood and OSB into the garage, we took the sheet rock upstairs. I had my hands full with the wiring – sometimes the wiring in our house astounds me in the way it’s spider-like and stuff that seems to be “just thrown together or thrown in”.

Anyway, we got a lot of the sheet rock up and we got all of the wiring changed over to a simpler style. Now all I need to do is connect the GFCIs in the gang boxes and it will be fine. Of course I’ll test it all to make sure it’s working properly. Here’s today’s progress:
     

Got all of the soffet out. The new cabinets will go all the way up to the ceiling. Got the splash wall out. I’m going to replace that with new drywall and maybe put in a laminate of some kind instead of just painting the drywall. I’m not certain yet, mainly because it’s not my decision! Also removed the rest of the cabinets, the sink and counter tops. Looks like there is water damage to the subfloor so I’ll have to replace it before putting down the ceramic tile.

On a positive note, when I put the old cabinets out by the street there were people who came by and asked if they could take them. I said YES!! That means there’s less for me to haul to the Transfer Station (where we take our junk here in town – we have to pay by the ton for items we drop off) tomorrow. Tonight we loaded up my dad’s pickup with the stuff that wasn’t picked up by others and will drop it off tomorrow at the Transfer Station.

Here’s the picture progress we’ve made:
       

Got a lot done today. We got most of the cabinets removed – all that’s left is the corner Lazy Susan, the sink and the peninsula cabinets. Also, we have yet to remove the countertops for these two. We’ve taken down all the ceramic tile that was the backsplash wall covering. Had to do that in order to change the three duplex outlets (that’s right only three duplex outlets!) to quadplex GFI outlets. I’d also like to move the light switch from the right side of the window to the left adjacent to the dispose-all switch. We will be changing the backspash wall covering to something else – that’s still up in the air as the boss (KC) hasn’t decided what she wants.
      

This week, I have taken a week’s vacation from work – NOT to actually have a nice, laid back time, but to remodel our kitchen. This is a floor up remodel. We will be removing the current flooring and putting down a ceramic tile floor, removing the current countertop and cabinets and putting in new. Also a new sink and faucet as well as doing some reworking of the wiring. I knew all along I was going to take pictures and post the progress. Also, when I say “we” I’ll be talking about Jim (the son of my good friends Bob and Norma) and myself. While KC and Breezomatic will be helping a bit, the bulk of the work will be Jim and I. Here’s the starting state of the kitchen: