Sh#$$er's Full!

If you've seen Christmas Vacation, you know what I mean.  If not, go watch it now.  Not much going on this week, so this won't have any pictures or big flashy updates.  Since things were ahead of schedule, and I chose to do most of the painting, this week was in a holding pattern until the floor people were available.   If you know me very well, you know I'm getting a bit of living/dining room fever.  Hurry up and wait are not terms in my vocabulary.  I might have to tap into my Christmas "remodel survival kit" that James gave me, choosing between Patron, Advil or spa...   Seems like the majority of the project currently rides squarely on the shoulders of the flooring and countertop sub's.  The granite we selected comes in quite large pieces, so if you are in need of some Black Pearl granite, we can make a deal.  Progress seems to wait for those two key elements.  Weeks 7 & 8 will be crazy.

I mentioned earlier that we had a lovely porta potty/honey bucket (insert your personal favorite) in the driveway for the workers.  It was for the workers of our remodel, but frankly, it has become quite popular with all workers.  UPS, FedEx, USPS...  seems that anyone who drives around delivering things for a living has somehow discovered (there must be an app for that) that if they need to relieve themselves, stop by our place and unload.  When the company came to clean it, they had to wait for the UPS guy to finish his business!  Our mailman stops by hours before he actually delivers on our street.  It could provide hours of amusement to just watch the trucks come and go.  We talked about installing a coin slot to offset the cost of the remodel, but we're too cheap to spring for that.  Casey (our project supervisor) said if you did, they'd just tip it over, and our driveway slopes towards the house, so no. 

Gotta go...

Bucket List

We wrapped up week five by baking cookies on the Traeger- cross one more thing off the Bucket List!  They are pretty tasty, no smoke at all.  It took a couple batches to get the timing down.  Saved some dough for later baking.

Week five was somewhat non-eventful since the cabinets were installed early.   The ovens weren't installed since the electrician didn't install the plugs yet.  Templates were made for the countertops, they will arrive in a couple weeks.  This coming week should be trim painted and installed.  Painting will be done by the professionals on that one.  The floors will be sanded, stained and sealed.  I'm thinking weeks 7&8 are going to be CRAZY!

Cooking adventures for the week besides the cookies; we found this great slow cooker recipe for Tinga (thank you Tammy).  It's cooking as I make this update and smells incredible.  It called for roasted peppers, so I pulled out the electric burner, cranked it to high and a few minutes later, we had roasted peppers.  The rice cooker/slow cooker was also responsible for yummy baked potatoes for last night's dinner.  I just washed up a couple russet's, poked a few holes and cooked them for a couple hours. We had our second restaurant meal of the remodel.   Here's a link to the meal log: 
http://talesofaremodel.blogspot.com/2012/01/meal-log.html

Three more weeks...

Range Top Is In

Apparently they had to get the range to out of it's box and place it in it's future home on the island to create the template for the countertop.  I'm pretty sure that the shims and extra chunks of wood holding it up will not be there when permanently installed.  It's a cruel trick so close and yet so far away...  I hear MC Hammer saying "can't touch this"

Appliances are in!

The garage that is, the car is not...  Plumbing fixtures appeared yesterday, just in time for the templates to be made for the counter tops tomorrow.  We are still on schedule.

Halfway Home

The end of week four- the official halfway mark.  We haven't killed each other or anyone else yet!  Things are going pretty well, in main part due to all the months of planning, picking the right contractor, and we're fortunate enough not to have to live in the actual space that's being worked on.  Having the cabinets in is a bit deceiving, it seems like we should be moving back in sooner than we will be.  We were in there talking over espresso this morning, and for a fleeting second I thought I'd put my cup in the kitchen sink.  Luckily it was only a thought cuz there is no sink...

Home cooking continues, no eating out last week.  We've decided to try and use the Traeger (pellet grill) as an oven- we may have to bake cookies just to say we did.  This week we roasted vegetables in it- they were delicious, just a little hint of smoke.  Keeping to one pot per meal has been working out pretty well.  I got a couple slow cooker ideas this weekend, so the rice cooker/steamer/slow cooker may be getting even more of a workout.  Here's a link to the meal log:   http://talesofaremodel.blogspot.com/2012/01/meal-log.html

Upcoming this week, templates will be made for the countertops.  We spent the better part of the weekend with our faux island top to finalize the exact placement of the island and size of the countertop.  Most of our appliances will be delivered this week- and possibly some might even be installed.

Change is Good

Things have changed dramatically in the last 24 hours.  The cabinets were suppose to be delivered today and installed on Monday and Tuesday.  Surprise- the installers came along with the cabinets.  They are in!!!  All we can say is "wow, we have good taste"!  The bubbly tonight will celebrate the halfway point on the calendar, and now our beautiful cabinets.  Tons more work to come, but it's coming together.  Here's a link to the before: http://talesofaremodel.blogspot.com/2012/01/final-weekend.html

Simple Update- no pictures

We're in the middle of week four.  I made a command decision that Friday night should entail a bit of bubbly to celebrate the halfway mark on the scheduled remodel!  The floors are going in this week, cabinets next week.  The flooring is really going far in joining the look of the kitchen and family rooms and making the space look larger.  My vision is coming to life!  I managed to get the ceiling finished with primer and paint.  Took the evening off from painting to enjoy a relaxing Valentines Day.  Put the final coat of "Serious Grey" in the powder room tonight.  Think I'll wait till the weekend to finish the walls in the kitchen.  You'll all have to wait to see if the kitchen walls end up the same vibrant color as the family room or the crisper color of the kitchen ceiling.  Stay tuned!

Busy Weekend

What a day.  It started innocent enough, I opted to do some of the painting.  The 8 week schedule doesn't have painting until week 6, but since the floors aren't in yet, I thought I'd save myself some drop cloths and get busy painting.  I had to wait until Sunday for the texture to cure/dry.  Roller in hand at 6:30am, I spent the better part of the day priming and painting.  I am exhausted and realize why I only painted the kitchen ceiling once since moving in!  The walls will have to wait.  I am glad I skipped my gym workout this morning...  James was great morale support, he ran out and bought more primer and then caught me in the act.

Normally after painting for two days (Friday and Sunday), my hands would be stiff and sore from the paint brush.  On a whim, I bought one of those new short handle brushes that are suppose to be comfortable, Highly recommend, and if you are reading this and need a spokesperson, for a price, I'm your woman.  

Be sure to check out the updated Meal Log below; here's a link  http://talesofaremodel.blogspot.com/2012/01/meal-log.html.  We had fun this past week experimenting with alternate cooking methods to some long time favorites.  We even ate off real plates one night!

Floors are in...

The wood for the floors arrived today.  It gets to spend the weekend "acclimating" before getting installed next week.  The drywall and texture is complete.  We are pleased with how the pot lights turned out, plenty of light for a grey day.  The texture is "curing" until Sunday when I can begin painting.  In a feeble attempt to keep costs down, I signed up for painting the walls, I'll gladly pay to have someone do the trim work!  I just finished taping off the trim.  Tomorrow I'll cover the green, and Sunday complete as much as I can.  Painting isn't officially on the schedule for a few more weeks, but I thought I'd get a head start before I have to worry about covering floors, cabinets, etc.

Drywall Day

We passed the plumbing inspection (new connection that runs under the house for fridge) and electrical (new run for the wall ovens).  The new drywall is up and all mudded in.  Most of the signs of the old kitchen are gone.  You'd never know where there had been a pantry before. It's starting to come together visually.   It was a late night for the drywall guys, and a late dinner for the home cooked meal we were invited for.  Tomorrow is texture.

Weekly Reflection

The kitchen is a challenging room to do without.  As you can tell from the first temporary kitchen photo, I'd tried to create a space to cook in for eight weeks.  I set things up initially, and then on a weekly basis, look at what's working and what's not, then adjust.  Some of you will appreciate PDCA and hansei in action, have to keep practicing my skills.  The remaining appliances have been moved around, and my shoe rack has now become pantry shelves!  The rice cooker has been the handiest appliance, between making rice and steaming fish.  Still looking for some slow cooker recipes that catch my interest to add yet another task to the handy rice cooker.  The induction burner has been a real workhorse too- they really can boil water in 90 seconds.  It works best with the cast iron wok, so we're thinking of more dishes that we (I) can use the wok for.  The Meal Log has been updated with the meals from the past week, don't forget to scroll down to check it out; here's a link  http://talesofaremodel.blogspot.com/2012/01/meal-log.html.  We are still tracking to the schedule posted on the fridge.  Next week is drywall...

Pot Lights and More

Thought I would channel my inner Canadian for the title of this post.  It has been an extremely busy week for me at work (not home until after 7pm... someone has to pay for all this), so I have not had much time to oversee "my remodel", much less post about it.  So I am sorry for the lack of updates, and even more sorry and appreciative for all that James has had to suffer this week.  This week saw the plumbing and electrical put into place.  Not much to show there.  The water line for the refrigerator runs under the floor.  We are now proud owners of a brand new 3/4" gas line dedicated to the new cook top.  Not very sexy looking, but one fine day (cue the Chiffons), we'll be cooking with gas on the jet engine range top.  The cans (pot lights) are in place to compliment the placement of the cabinets, wall ovens and island cooktop.  Or at least the tape measure says they are in the right place.  Regardless, we are very happy with the amount of light.  Looks good- yes?  Dish washing continues in the laundry room.  Trying to cook meals that entail no more than one pot per night to keep the James from revolting.  Next week is dry wall.   Six weeks more to go...