tada!!!

while we were redoing the kitchen last winter we had decided to get a new table and chairs.  I sold the 40's drop leaf that was warped and beginning to loose it's veneer.  We bought a set at the Restore planning to paint it.  AH hated it from the start, yes he was there when we bought it.  We discussed what we both wanted and after much talk decided a long farm house table with turned legs that would sit at least 8 was the best compromise.  I started looking on line and in local stores.  I did find exactly what we wanted until I checked the price tag.  Just under $3000 for the set.  No way was that happening in our house.  Neither one of us are status conscious needing fancy expensive things to make us happy.  We turned to the solution that we reach so often, we would make it ourselves.  I found a guy on E-bay that did turned legs and we bought the rest of the wood at a big box store, total cost for materials $200, that included the stain and finish.  Throughout the summer I kept my eyes open for chairs that would work.  Lucky timing at a half price Goodwill sale yielded 4 chairs, a stop at a grocery store parking lot fund raiser found the last 4.  They were all solid and well made but needed refinished.  That was the only disagreement we had with the whole project. AH is one of the "if it's wood it must stay that way" kind of people.  I think anything but the most valuable antiques are fair game for paint. With a wood floor and some large natural wood antique pieces we did not need any more wood tones in the room.  With a coat of satin spray paint and new seat covers on the padded chairs they look great. Total cost for the chairs including 4 cans of paint $61.  total new dining set cost $261 and about 20 hours of labor.  It was finally finished yesterday and took it's place in our home where it will stay for years to come.  thanks to my wonderful, talented husband for spending the time making just exactly what we wanted.

AH put the top and legs together in the house.  If it needs to go out it will need to be taken apart.

Kerig jig and pocet screws for a strong solid table

We deliberatly made the top preworn to match the rest of the room

kitchen update

I should only need to do these updates for a couple more weeks.  We are getting very close to being done.  all the basics are finished.  The only big projects that are not done are the over the table light, trim around the top of the cabinets,slide out can cabinet, a few slide out baskets and a mini pull out in the corner to hold cookie sheets.  This week AH got the pot rack up along with with the pendant lights.  The pot rack is an old metal wheel that belonged to my Mom.  It had been hanging out in my stash(aka junk pile) for years.  No Mom you can not have it back.  This thing is heavy and required plenty of extra support in the attic so we don't worry about us it falling.  It's so sturdy I think any of the grand kids could swing on it.  AH wanted to make it spin around but I didn't think that was such a good idea.  The pendant lights are from Lowes, I really like the clean lines.  All I need are a few hooks and I can hang up all the pans.  They seem to stay in a jumbled mess in the cabinets.

fab fabrics

I just had to do a little sprucing up in the living room so it looks as good as the new kitchen.  When we were in the big city visiting  my parents, of course Mom and I had to make a trip to Joann's.  I had seen a fabric in a magazine earlier this spring that I thought would be great for new pillows in the living room.  Yea, they had it at 40% off.  At $50 per yard even on sale it was still pricey.  I bought a yard and got three pillows out of it.  I also found the panels of the butterfly and hummer.  The pictures don't do justice to how beautiful the colors are in the fabric.  A little painting and possibly a chair recovered and I'll reveal the new living room look.

I made these panels into two 24" pillows using a cream solid for the backs.

kitchen update

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.

The plywood is to protect the underlayment from anykind of damage until the laminate can be applied

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.

Not everyone can say they have a vacuum, faucet and the kitchen sink in the middle of their living room.

winter wonderland

We have missed most of the snow that has hammered much of the country this year.  Now it's pay back time.  We woke up to a snowy day on Sunday morning.  It really is pretty if you don't have to deal with it.  Unfortunately this is the day AH has to crawl under the house multiple times while redoing the plumbing for the remodel.  Crawling around on his belly under the house is not his favorite thing, when you add 7" of snow on top of the 3 we already have he is not a happy camper.  Chocolate and coffee will see him through.

out the front door.  Diva just looked at me and tried to sneak back inside, it was up to her chin

car is burried

across the street

kitchen update

Well the mess has increased in direct proportion to the progress being made.  The old kitchen cabinet is out and the new one is being put in to place.  Right now there is no water in the house but AH promises he will have the old sink temporarily;y hooked up before dinner tonight.  It amazes me how many times I reach to turn the water on in an hour.  Upper cabinets are filled with dishes and food and a couple of the bottoms are filled with pans and misc.  All of the piles that were in the living room are gone, although some of them just got moved to the bedroom for sorting.  How do we end up with so much stuff we think we need?  Still no progress on the counter top, I think Menards is getting very tired of hearing from us almost every day.

yes that is the kitchen sink in the middle of the floor

cleaning the floor where the old cabinet was, how does it get dirty under a cabinet that doesn't move?

kitchen update

Week 8 has started with little progress.  The biggest hold up seems to be the people that make the counter tops for Menards.  They are SLOW, we still do not have our final approval sheets with exact measurements.  Until we have that we can not get the template and the counters can't be ordered until the template is approved.  To say that I am not happy is a vast understatement.  They will not answer customers direct questions or emails.  Poor customer service at it's most blatant.  At this rate we won't have the kitchen finished until April.
We have made a little progress this week.  The pantry cabinet is now in use and I can start putting dishes in the upper cabinets.  We purchased a hanging microwave/convection oven that AH is beginning to install.  Of course it came with a manual the size of a text book I'll need to figure out.  This project is a very slow learning process.

at least it isn't in the middle of the floor any more

now has doors and is filled with all our packaged food

kitchen update

I bet the readers who check out this blog regularly are about as tired as I am of seeing that title.  Week seven has shown progress but it is the inside and little stuff that doesn't make a big visual impact.  The bigest thing is the counter tops have been ordered, well at least the second set of measurements have been sent in.  We will get a full size template to lay out and make sure everything is an exact fit.  Only after that is approved will the actual tops be started.  We have some funny angles and cuts so we felt this was the best way to go.  We chose a composite heavy duty laminate after checking out all our options.  Most of the other materials including Silestone, marble and quartz were out of our budget, coming in at more than we had planned for the entire remodel.  Granite was lower but so overdone.  We ruled out concrete due to the weight and mess of doing it our self.  With a 112 year old house it didn't seem to be the best choice.  The doors are on almost all the cabinets, the slider baskets for the pantry are installed, cabinet shelves are in and our handles and turn tables have arrived.  AH is working on trying to get all the lower cabinets plumb and level.  Not an easy task in this old house.  I should be able to load the pantry and upper cabinets this week.  After all that is done we will be in a holding pattern until the counters arrive.  The tile back-splash can't be done until after the counters.  We can get the lighting, painting and some of the little details done during the wait.

doors and drawers, yea!!!

pantry sliders this is where most of our packaged food will be stored

sink cabinet, at least it isn't in the middle of the floor

I pick up new wall paper at thrift stores and rummage sales for .50-$1.00  it makes great shelf and drawer liner.  I just toss and replace once a year

junkin finds

Rummage sale season hasn't started yet so i need to get my junkin fix at thrift stores.  There is a lot of junk in these kind of stores so you really have to look deep to find great bargains, especially if you plan to resell some of the finds.  Here was my haul last week.

pretty crystal ugly brass this is an easy fix with a little paint $8 for 2

lead crystal vase 11" high 7" across $3

I had been watch this set of sliver plate for months.  It was priced way too high  to begin with but I waited and it finally came down to $24 for the set.  Missing 1 knife and the salad forks but I probably will make it into jewelry so I don't care.

Two huge 24-26" high galvanized flower buckets on the clearance rack at Menards originally marked $36 each I got the pair for $16.  Imagine them upside down with a tray or pizza pan attached.  They would make some pretty funky out door tables

Always check the clearance rack in stores, you never know what bargains you'll find.

that cost how much??

I knew from the beginning of the kitchen remodel that I wanted slide out baskets in the pantry and all the lower cabinets with turn tables and baskets  on the rest of the shelves where needed.  After much searching and price comparison I decided on the chrome slide outs and drawers and rubber maid turn tables from Home Depot.  They had the best selection and prices.  I never realized how expensive these things are.  Good grief they cost almost as much as the cabinets.  Part of them have arrived, they are supper heavy duty and are going to make my life much easier.  The pain of the price will recede soon.

kitchen update

Week five and we are starting to feel like we are making a little progress.  It isn't easy to live through weeks of the mess of remodeling.  It is especially bad if it is the kitchen and there is no place in town to eat dinner.  We've been managing with crock pot meals, take out when we are in another town and the kindness of a couple of friends bringing us food.
This week the lower cabinets got set, the underside of the cabinets stained, doors on most of the cabinets and we ordered our counter tops, slide outs for all the bottom cabinets and handles.  AH decided the bottoms of each cabinet should be lined with luan so they wouldn't stain.  We also removed all the MDF shelves that could warp or sag and are replacing them with oak plywood shelves.  These things shouldn't fall apart unless they are hit by a tank.  We know the counters are going to take 3 weeks so that will be the last thing in this phase of the remodel.  We will re-sand and re-poly the floors when the weather turns warm and we can have all the windows open.  The fumes from the polyurethane we put on the cabinets last week gave both of us sever headaches and nausea for days.  I have to keep repeating to myself it will be wonderful in the end and worth every second of inconvenience.  I think it's God trying to teach me patience.

the kitties think their new jungle gym is very cool

we still haven't taken the old sink cabinet out and probably won't until a couple of days before the counter top arrives

literally only a butt width between cabinet, stove and microwave

tools, tools and more tools

 

kitchen update

As I am writing this it is February first and we are almost at the end of week four of the remodel.  No decisions yet on the counter top but we are making progress.  New electrical is in, side panels are stained and ready to be installed.  All of the top cabinets are in, the bottom cabinets are set and the concrete board is being installed as I write.  By the end of the day we should have a template ready for making a counter top decision.  We need to make another trip to Menards but it is snowing too hard to do that today.  When we go we will order hardware, get plywood to cut all new shelves, there aren't enough shelves and they are made of MDF which could sag or warp so we are replacing them.  We probably will also pick up the white subway tile we are using for the back splash.  Every time we hit Menards or Home Depot we manage to spend several hundred dollars but we are still on budget, hope that continues.  I've been researching pull outs and storage accessories like spice racks on the doors but I want to wait until every thing is installed before I decide on those.  The next big project is spraying the insides of the cabinets with urethane.  I think it would be fine to just do the bottoms but AH wants to cover every thing. I will have to leave and go shop or hang out with a friend when he does that, it makes me sick   Maybe I'm seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel.

Dusty enjoying a new place to hang out

So much to check out

stuff every where  that green cabinet is holding all out food

from living room to north wall  that empty space will hold open shelves when we are finished

most cabinets in

Yep it still looks like a construction site

kitchen update

Week 3 of the kitchen remodel really didn't happen.  We were gone all weekend(see next post ).  During the week we rerouted some wires, leveled upper cabinets and added a few outlets.  you can never have enough outlets in a kitchen.  I also ran around and spent plenty of time on the phone, getting estimates for a different type of counter top.  AH is still leaning towards concrete but in a 112 year old sagging house I'm very afraid that all the extra weight would leave us with continuing cracks.  So far we have eliminated quartz, soap stone and silestone.  With each running $75-100 per square foot they are just too expensive for our budget, which so far we have stuck pretty close to.  It's a continuing discussion for us and we have to decide soon.  Patience is starting to run a little low.

good by old kitchen

These are picture of my kitchen cabinets as they are today.  We're getting all new cabinets and a new look for our kitchen.  We made these from kits in 1976 when I was huge pregnant with my twins.  The doors are warped and don's stay shut, the paint is peeling, never looks clean and they just don't function well any more.  We are planning dark cabinets, the same maple floor and concrete counters.  The cabinets will bWe have already made 4 trips to the big box store in getting them and  for supplies.  This will be a several week, hopefully not months project and I'll keep you up dated.