The Shape of Things to Come

This week brought a whole flurry of activity to our house.  There is now running water in the laundry and our bathroom is semi-usable.  Bit by bit the fixtures in the bathroom are being installed, possibly grouting the first of next week.  

The drywallers arrived to drywall the kitchen and front closet on Thursday and finished up on Friday.  Our talented lady mudder came Saturday to get the first layer of tape and mud on .  This was great, but made for a short weekend on our end.

The flooring may arrive this week and at that point the washer and dryer will be moved out of the basement and into the garage for sale.  Then the beginning of the reorganization of the lower level will begin.

 Even though the rooms are not finished, they are becoming useful.  Our son needed to work from home on Saturday and spread out in the sun room (old porch area, with mostly shade).

Everyday, something is ordered or delivered, a busy time here.  Within the next two weeks the kitchen cupboards are due in. We are in for a big snowstorm beginning Monday night, not sure if that will hold up the action or not.

Crew works to remove garden window, it was time.

Second kitchen window framed in. 

The crew was able to frame an extra 4'' in height, this will be great.

Level and square.

Board up against the cold until windows arrive.

Crew working on the landing in the garage.

Drywall being delivered right into the front door.

Will it fit?

Bathroom granite delivered today.

Bathroom Medicine Cabinet installed.

That was a big piece of rock, two very strong men installed it.

Here it is, the other shots show its true color.

Close up of medicine cabinet and granite.

Drywall crew, those two guys are fast.  Note the stilts. 

REMOVING EVERYTHING.....PLUS THE KITCHEN SINK

It has been an interesting week on our little street.  It began with the deconstruction of the old kitchen.  The crew decided that taking the soffits out would make for too many patches to the ceiling, so out it came.  When the soffits came out the electrical wiring was hanging down as it was not placed into the framework.  In order to get the wiring done, cuts to the walls were in order so they would have to be patched, so down came all the walls.

The room will look excellent with all new walls, this also enabled added insulation to those areas which should help with the cold bedrooms.  There was an uninsulated cold air shaft on the outer wall leading up to all the bedrooms.  No wonder we were always cold upstairs.

No walls also enabled the electrician to wire the upstairs cable with new wire that is hd compatible, a nice feature.

Front Door from kitchen area, new closet 1/2 the size.

View as you walk in the front door. That beam is the wall that is now gone.

The Remainder of the kitchen was demolished, the total floor has been removed from kitchen, foyer and bathroom.  We did get a new toilet in the master bedroom. 

2 of the 6 items found under the cabinets.

 Drumroll please, if any are wondering what we did find under the cabinets here it is.  20 tupper ware lids, to my surprise NO.  A Hunts Ketsup from the summer (we knew it was there). A dusty old mustard, a small seive, a bottle of Chocolate flavoring, the reason why my homemade chocolate frozen yogurt has not been perfected. And 2 super bouncer balls, a yellow one and a black one.

New outdoor lighting.  The smaller version in back.

 The lighting has been up for a couple weeks, but I kept forgetting to take a pic of it before it got too dark out.

We just love the look of the exterior lighting.

They removed everything, even the kitchen sink.

Remaining cabinet, ready to go.

The crew works hard removing the old flooring.

Open look of the kitchen.

Truck being loaded with flooring.

 There is a cute story about this truck, now the pups have been excellent during this noisy time.  This truck pulled into Lembke's driveway, gunned it to get up the slight incline of our front yard.  The only problem is that it was coming so fast, I thought it was going to crash into the front of the house.  Holly thought so too as she began barking as soon as it got into her yard.

See the cute little front closet.

No more Pink Toilet.

 There are somethings I like that are going, I did like the color of the toilet and the slate floor was beautiful, if small.  I do know we are going to Love the new foyer and open floor plan.

Removal of the Slate Foyer.

For one day we had to keep shoes on, there was the possibility of nails and splinters in the kitchen.  The foyer floor was eerie to walk on, it seemed thinner and you could see the basement light below, feeling like you would fall through.

The empty kitchen.

Tuesday Dinner: Chicken broccoli and rice.

Great item for a kitchen-less household.

Cooking has been an interesting challenge. We have eaten out a couple times, but it gets old and expensive.  Last week we had a chicken/stuffing crock-pot meal.  It was good, we had it a few times.  We had homemade Reubens 2x  YUM, cannot order them out anymore as they are too salty and too greasy at restaurants.


Today was an interesting challenge, as I couldn't find a crockpot meal that I had all the ingredients for.  Well Ziplock to the rescue.  See pics of the product below, within 10 minutes (after chicken thawed), Dinner was on the (TV) table. The chicken was moist and tender, the broccoli cooked perfectly.

We are doing well cooking using an electric skillet, crock-pot, toaster oven, microwave, coffee pot.

This week should see the completion of the laundry and mud closet, finishing of master bathroom (except border tile which is on back order). The bedroom and its closet are complete except for carpeting and the closet system which goes in after carpeting.

The wood floor is due in next Monday, then things should really move along.  Another new item has been added, in place of a ramp that would take up a good portion of the garage, there will be an electronic lift.

And the Walls Come Tumbling Down

Bathroom vanity.

View from window, up north.

Southern view up north.

SBQ's beautiful quilt

The Cupboard was bare.

Cupboards are empty.

New wall in kitchen onto the addition.

Current pantry ;-)

Crew + decontruct.

Lots of hauling.

Soffits coming out.

View from the hallway.

Holly supervising assembly.

Ceiling coming down.

Mike chatting with the crew.

In the end, all the walls came down.

Easy Closets  

There has been lots of activity this past week.  We broke through to the addition, all the tile was set. The kitchen was gutted.  Appliances are ordered, and miscellaneous items are being delivered daily.  This week we are down to a snack/coffee station upstairs in the bedroom.  Life is interesting.

Last weekend  I journeyed with my gal friends up north for a lovely respite.  We had a wonderful time sewing and visiting.  I returned home on Monday with a note from the crew that the kitchen would be gutted the very next day.  Luckily, it was already 80% empty and much of the remainder was in plastic shoe boxes that I just slid out.  It only took me a couple hours.

The easy closets arrived, all 19 boxes and 580+ pounds of it, the bathroom medicine cabinets, the kitchen cupboards will arrive in 4 weeks.  The flooring will be coming in next week.  We have made a decision to order a lift, a ramp in the garage would have taken up a lot of real estate, the lift will be so wonderful.

By for now.

Crew working in the laundry.

Siding completed on front.

Porch is taking shape.

Quartz with the cabinet finishes.  One on left is being changed to a calmer style.

Office is taking shape.

View of shower tile, accent stripe coming on Wed.

Well it has been a couple of weeks since I have posted.  Things are really beginning to roll. A couple times each week we need to get out, make a final decision and either order or go and pickup some items.

This past week there was a bit of  stress, the initial kitchen wall measurement was incorrect, meaning that wall of the kitchen wouldn't hold the design. Yikes!  Well after thinking about the alterations overnight, then sitting down with the designer for a couple hours on Saturday, we took the opportunity to tweak our design. It will be fabulous.

The floor in the laundry is down and I expect the grout to be done perhaps on Friday or Monday. The bathroom vanity is waiting in the garage.  The painter is painting trim and getting ready for the final coat on the walls.

We ordered our "Easy Closets" (for the master closet) this week and expect them tomorrow.....all 19 boxes and 581 pounds of them. The UPS guy is either going to love us or.....

Tomorrow the crew comes through the kitchen wall to finish the hallway, and next week, probably the big wreck.  I leave on Thursday for up north, and tomorrow may be the last meal I prepare in the old kitchen.

The kitchen is 2/3 packed up and I intend to finish next Tuesday.