Hard to believe this is the start of the third month of this remodel. Originally we had planned for the whole project to take 8 weeks, so much for plans. Living in the chaos has taught me a few things. Don't tear up your kitchen when it is cold and nasty out, it's better to be able to open the windows to get the noxious fumes and dust out. If you don't think you can afford to pay for the things you aren't good at, redo your budget. Don't change your mind too often. Don't start a big project like this when the major worker already works 10-12 hour days and is on call 24/7. They need to take vacation time and tell work they are out of the country. Plan on take out or eating out lots more than you would like.
After working with the counter top makers for Menards for weeks we came to the conclusion that we were unwilling to trust an off site company to make our tops. The walls are bowed, there are funny angles and nothing is completely level. We are unwilling to pay $5000 to have someone come in and work in the house. After much deliberation AH will be making the counters himself, probably adding at least 4 more weeks to the remodel. We were able to find the same material we had picked out to use and the process of making the tops is not too difficult for some one with his skills. The underlay has been precision cut and is in place. Screwing additional supports and filling in the gaps where the seams are is happening as I write this. Hopefully by the end of the day I will have sliders, baskets and dividers in all the lower cabinets and can start filling them up this week,YEA!!! So far except for a couple of splurges like the convection/microwave oven and higher price handles we are close to budget. Making the counter tops ourselves will save at least $1300. Of course both the kitchen and living room still look like a bomb hit, I'm calling it a new decorating trend, Chaos Cottage, maybe it will catch on.
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| The plywood is to protect the underlayment from anykind of damage until the laminate can be applied |
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| AH has many talents, being organized and neat are not among them. I think he spends almost as much time searching for tools as he does using them. |
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| Not everyone can say they have a vacuum, faucet and the kitchen sink in the middle of their living room. |
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