April 2011--month in review

We got more serious about tearing things apart this month.  But the progress has been slow--who would have thought it would take P three weekends to rough in the waste plumbing lines for our new utility room?  Not us!

Guest Bedroom

• hang pictures
• reupholster antique chair
• install closet doors
• fix hinge-bound door so it will actually close

Office

• make and hang curtains
• reupholster footstool
• put laminate on top of craft table
• paint and hang door

Hall Bath

• skim coat walls a little more
• repaint walls
• really, really scrub grout--and if that doesn't remove yellowing, try one of those grout pens
• hang at least one picture/piece of art
•  install closet door knob
• install hooks where I can hang my work clothes 
• install new light fixture

Hall/Living Room/Kitchen/Dining Room

• knock down walls to make these all a single space
• install structural beam to replace structural wall 
• patch existing oak flooring where walls were removed
• make new attic hatch
• replace textured ceiling in kitchen--texture is gone, but it will be a while before we're ready to make it pretty again.
• remove wood panelling and replace with drywall
• remove vinyl floor in kitchen, and lay new hardwoods there and over exposed subfloor in dining room
• commit to new kitchen plans we've got the general idea down.  I think we'll be figuring out the details (e.g., exact size of cabinets, placement of lights and outlets, etc.) as we go along.
• build new kitchen cabinets (at least the lower ones)
• get/make new countertops
• install backsplash
• run plumbing for gas range
• install new sink
• remove windows in dining room, and replace with french doors out to backyard
• buy fireplace screen and make the occasional fire    
• replace hearth tile
• make living room curtains (purely ornamental)
• figure out window treatment for front windows that will maximize both light and privacy (plantation shutters?)
• install new baseboard and crown molding
• install doors on coat closet
• fix draft under front door
• install lots of new outlets to bring house up to newer codes for required number of outlets per room
• install new lighting

Utility room

• build utility room--we gotten a start here--have uninstalled all the kitchen cabinets, shelves, etc, and are concentrating our efforts here for the time being 
• buy and install new tankless water heater--got a lot of research done.  Next need to call the water company: tankless water heaters need a 3/4" diameter feed line, but our lines are all 1/2".  What do they recommend we do?
• run plumbing and install utility sink--P has all the drain plumbing installed, and has begun work on the incoming water lines 
• run plumbing and vent lines for washer/dryer--again, drain lines done, and incoming begun.  One of the things that slowed work down this month was that I waited until P had the new drain lines in place before asking "where will the dryer vent go?"  Rerouting ensured.  Some times it is one step forward, two steps back.

Master bedroom

• lay hardwood flooring over exposed subfloor

Master Bath

•  give ugly medicine cabinet a cosmetic face lift

  Crawl Space 

• complete encapsulation 99% of the way there....
• test house for radon
• enjoy running lots of plumbing and wiring for new kitchen/utility room/great room in new, dry, clean space--begun!

Garage

•  fix roof leaks 
• continue to work to make this a functional wood shop for P (so he can spend lots of time out there building me new kitchen cabinets!)

Exterior

• paint foundation to complement new stair color
• figure out how to make exterior brick look good after we cut into it to install afore-mentioned french doors
• paint front door a more lively color (it should be easy to beat white)
• work with P's brother A, a professional landscape designer, to come up with an actual design for our landscape
• remove a few more azaleas
• add more plants and beds to continue moving toward cottage garden look seedlings had a rough  month, and I'm terribly late on the direct-sow ones, but summer will arrive eventually!
• grow a tomato that doesn't rot before it ripens I pretty much killed the tomato seedlings.  :-(  Might just buy plants.
• try to agree on privacy plantings for west property line, and plant them so they have some time to grow arguing with our landscaper....  I guess the customer isn't always right when she's your sister-in-law  :-)
• buy and plant Yaupon hollies on east property line  see above

Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Happy Arbor Day!

P and I celebrated by planting our new black mission fig tree.

Not much to look at now, but hopefully some day (many, many years from now) we'll have fruit!

That is, if it's alive by then.  Some people would recommend wrapping it for the winter and generally babying it in our climate.  I have more of a devil-may-care attitude when it comes to such recommendations.  I've planted it on the west side of our house, where it's nice and hot and sunny, but otherwise, no special treatment from me.  We'll see how it goes. 

You can ask my calla lilies what they think of the policy--you're supposed to dig them up each fall and properly store the bulbs away from frost.  I leave them in the ground, and what do you know, they've not only lived, but multiplied!

Weekend pic

P apparently got a little confused about what he was supposed to be demoing this weekend:

P: "See what happens when you buy cheap tools!" 

I hate it when he's right on that issue.

Happy Easter!

P and I decided to enjoy the nice weather and our nice clothes, and took some pictures of ourselves in the yard after church.  I guess we never get too far from our DIY selves--I used a sawhorse and some wooden shims to set up the camera for the shots.

Our crazy kitchen

Before I get too deep into the nitty gritty of updating you about all the wonderful plumbing, etc., that P has been doing, let me explain a bit of the big picture: where the kitchen is now, and why we're messing with it.

Problems with the kitchen we hope to resolve with this remodel:

1. It's really dark in there, and we're suckers for light, bright spaces.

2. We love open floor plans--and this is not open

3. The cabinetry is in very good condition, but it screams early 80s.  P and I lived through that era once, and don't feel a need to repeat it.  Plus it's really dark, and is sapping the bit of light we have in there.  Have you ever heard anyone complain in a remodel that their kitchen has too much storage?  Well, then let me be the first.  We actually keep our shoes in one of those cabinets, because what else would we use it for?  Which leads to:

4. The side door leads into the kitchen.  This is the door we use all of the time, and there's no place for us to keep keys, shoes, jackets, etc.

5. The vinyl flooring also screams early 80s, and is not in good condition.

6. While there is a lot of cabinetry and counter space, I end up feeling cramped, and like I need more room to spread out.  I'm sure I could take some of the blame here in how I've organized things and work, but the bigger problem is the layout.

When you enter the kitchen via the side door, you turn right and see what I think of as the "core" of the kitchen:

This is the part of the kitchen where I do almost all of the cooking.  You've got all of the appliances--sink, range, refrigerator, and dishwasher--in a very tight area, with a bit of counter space.  And not to complain, but it's actually less counter space than it appears--I took this picture with a fish eye lens that distorts the foreground, making it appear larger than in real life.  (That's also why the pictures are blurry--I need to work on my focusing skills with this lens!)

To your right when you come in through the side door is the rest of the kitchen:

And across from it:

(What's that strange wooden box, you ask? Check it out:

Yeah, that's been a major obstacle in figuring out our new floor plan.) 

This portion of kitchen is a late 80s addition.  It added storage space, but since they didn't go to the expense of rerouting utilities, it didn't change anything about the way the kitchen really functions.  I do all of my work over in the "core" kitchen area, while all of the new countertop space over here goes to waste.  I know it sounds a little silly to say I don't want to walk five extra steps before chopping my onion, but seriously, no one cooks that way.

Want to see a floor plan rendering of this?  It's going to blow your mind:

How many zig zags can a single wall have?   They're a function of the last remodel--we're hoping ours will be a little better conceived!