Weekend Work

Well it's been a slow pace, but we're making progress!

I'll start out with a "before" pic. Well, it was during Demo and you can see where the old lower cabinets are and the doorway behind it. It actually had a door when we purchased the house that closed onto the family room. I thought wow, I'd love to chat with my family while I'm cooking! Let's knock a hole!


So we did.


And yesterday we did this.

And I did a little of this. Oh yes, that's probably the only picture you'll see, but I did hang my own drywall. I even cut that piece of drywall before I hung it all by myself!

My dad also fixed the main electrical ground behind the sink and installed a new power box for a dishwasher disposal so we were able to install these two new cabinet's.

We now have this much done. There will be one more bottom cabinet directly in front that will hold the range. I know it doesn't look like much now, but I have high hopes! Then we're onto the uppers!!!

Unfortunately when we took the blinds off of the sliding glass door we found this. The contractors who installed the door tried to cut some extra space to slide it in more easily and left a good slanting hole in the frame it is about 3 inches wide at the base. Yah. Not happy. Hopefully we can resolve this issue.

My parents came over today and we measured for blinds, we also got a great deal at Hancock Fabrics on some beautiful curtain material. Regularly almost $20 was on sale for $3 a yard!!!


We closed out the day by ripping up all the old electric blue carpet in the family room to make way for the new stuff that we've picked out but not ordered yet. Yes I know, we're all brawn and no brains at this point. We're just demo happy! I can't wait to start these curtains!!!

Cabinets

Today was a long day. We cut the new header for the opened up doorway going from the kitchen to family room. Then realized we hadn't brought the floor jack to hold the beams in place when we pulled out the existing header, as it's a load bearing wall. So on to the cabinets.

It took us a long time and some disagreement and lots of chalk line and shims, but we finally got this first cabinet into place and Dan screwed it all down. Unfortunately the wall is seriously bowed in the middle and we had to put some 1/2" shims in place to make the counter level.



We then stopped for a small milk break.



Then back to work installing the lazy susan! This was even trickier because this particular cabinet did not have a base, we had to install an X underneath, then shim under the tiny X holding up the giant cabinet on our extremely not square, plumb, or level kitchen floor and walls.


My extremely debonair husband then screwed into place. Check out that eyebrow lift. Hot stuff.



TaDah!




We also got the dishwasher into place exactly where Dan is standing, and drilled holes in the next cabinet for the plumbing to go through. Then we headed off to Red Robin for giant burgers and cocktails. Dan had a couple so I responsibly drove home. I had a chocolate milkshake. Mmmmm.
Then Dan got frisky with the new camera and tried to blind me while I was driving.




It was pouring outside and we decided to go home.
But we'll be back at it tomorrow and hopefully get more than two cabinet's in place.
So here's the thing. These are custom built cabinet's that I helped design for my kitchen. They gave us schematics at the design appointment. We kept them. Then we received our cabinet's and tons of loose bits and pieces in boxes with no instructions. I have to tell you, nothing tests a marriage's limits like throwing a bunch of stained wood at a couple of newlyweds working on their first home and telling them to wing it.
Gosh I'm having a blast!!!!!

Office

You may remember yesterday I posted pictures of our office which was this lovely shade of green.

Then you saw how we primed the room here.

Last night we spent several hours painting the office Sherwin Williams Krypton in Harmony. We also painted the ceiling white and the window trim. The result is so stunning I wish I had done it in my bedroom.

We were so excited we started painting the trim around the closet and the door white also. Then I got really excited and jumped into the shutter inspired doors. This is as far as we got. Re ran out of steam and Geri exclaimed why aren't we using the paint gun for this? Let's just line them up outside and spray them! Well... aren't you the smarty pants? So that's the plan, at least when we have a warmer day that it's not raining. Good old northwest.

As we were working I made a comment on how Geri's door was squeaking and it sounded like someone was whistling outside the window. Well about 5 minutes later her paranoia struck and she yelled at me the paint is dry! Let's hang the curtains! You've got me checking the window now to see if somebody is peeking in!

So we did. And although they could use an iron, they look lovely. and it will look so beautiful once the floors are refinished and there is white toe board in place don't you think?

And back to the kitchen. We decided, between coats, to play with the paint again. The previous owner's left behind dozens of cans of paint. So we cracked a bunch open and one was this beautiful warm mocha color which I LOVE. But I'm hesitant to put that dark of a color in the tiny kitchen with the already very dark cabinets. So we mixed and matched and came up with this rosy latte color. What do you think? We both really liked it and are thinking it may be the one.

I realize all of the comments I got were for the cream color. Let me know what you think about this one! Or am I just running all over the place? I'll have to go back to the antique mall and take pics of the cafe' artwork I'm really dying to put in here. As soon as I'm rich of course. I've always dreamed of creating the perfect french or Tuscan cafe' inspired eat in kitchen. Mommy?

hehehehe

You know what else this means? All of the bedrooms and living room in this wing are painted! Which means.... we are ready to resurface and stain the floors!!! Wohoo! Now if the bathroom could only get under way. Sigh. I have all of the materials, tub, sinks, toilet and seat, faucets, towel bars, cabinet's. Just need countertops and tile and we'll be set. Of course a sub floor and walls would be nice also.

Finally got a good evening to head over to the house and finish up some painting. And yes, I remembered my camera this time!

So without further adieu... my new living room color! Please ignore the miscelaneous boxes and sheets over the window.
Before

After. OMG it's so amazing seeing these pics next to each other! Oh, just seeing I forgot to put the vent back in the ceiling.. ooops! I am also planning on painting the window trim white.

My faithful helper Geri. Can you see the kitchen through the doorway? Isn't it hideous? I'm working on changing that below.

And now, my front door! With newly installed doorknobs! And if you peek through the window to the side you'll see what I can't wait to see every day when I get home. After we move in that is. Gizmo!

I love these doorknobs!!!

Here's what we did today. This lovely office has a view of the park, and was a pretty dark green. It was a lovely color, but not great for a design area. My whole business will be run from this room and I needed something neutral to hold fabric against.

Before

And after priming. This will very soon be painted Sherwin Williams: Krypton, which is a light gray with just a hint of blue. But for now, I'm happy with the white.

I also found an old can of copper spray paint and goofing around tagged the kitchen wall. Haha, what good is DIYing if you can't grafitti your own walls? You can also see to the right where we are opening up the doorway.

And finally. I purchased a warm yellow paint for the kitchen and decided to test it by the brick wall. Well I hate it. So I added some white and put some below the yellow, and I like it better, but then I tried my original paint color I was thinking about and think I may just go with that instead.

Please oh please, write me a comment and tell me what you think! Remember my cabinet's are a dark wood, countertops and tile will be Cream colored. I can't wait to hear your opinion. Oh, and feel free to tell me any other color that you think would be great!

Geri and I spent last evening painting the living room bisquit in Sherwinn Williams Harmony to match the fireplace. We started with painting the ceiling white. Who knew it was so yellowy until we slapped that shiny white paint up. The difference is incredible. That room is so huge, and it looks even bigger now with such a light surface reflecting all of the light from the ginormous picture window.

It took an entire gallon of paint to do the ceiling. We went through two gallons of paint on the walls and it still needs the trimming on top done and another coat on the walls. The old peachy color is still trying to peek through. I forgot my camera when we were working so I'll try to get back and post some before and after pics before the end of the week!

Just for reference, here are the before and after's on the fireplace once more. You can see the color we chose for the walls on the fireplace.

Before

After

Bathtub

We purchased a bathtub! It took several trips and much discussion. But I finally found a tub that had all of the requirements. We wanted the edge to be squareish like our cabinet's and not rounded, I also required a 19" deep instead of the standard 14-15". And here it is!

KOHLER Archer(TM) 5' Bath, White
Model # K-1123-RA-0

My mother and I also purchase 3 new lights for the living room. It currently has no fixtures at all. Like many homes in the Northwest, it is reliant upon floor lights. I am sick of living in dingy apartments without enough lighting. So I decided to put 3 lights in a row, two domes, and one matching hanging light in the center. It's the same thing I am doing in the family room to replace the current mismatched 3 lights. They didn't have the lights in stock so I can't take pictures, but they should be delivered by Wednsday!

Tonight Geri and I are heading back to the house to start painting the living room to match the fireplace. A yummy cream tone!

Doorknobs!

Here I am apologizing to my few readers for the delay in posts, when I know you all understand that the holidays were extremely busy. Hopefully in this new year we can hop into some extreme DIY projects! The first of the year? Doorknobs!

These Doorknobs to be exact.

We purchased them at Lowe's and Hubby installed them today. I believe it's a good start. Tomorrow? Cabinet's!!! Well... hopefully. And a bathtub purchase?