This Old House

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! It's about time for a house update...

Our contractor finished all of his work on December 26th. He did a great job and left us with some really big projects. In an effort to save some money, Nate and I decided long ago to paint and tile the kitchen once all the more laborious work was finished. As a result, the kitchen is functional, but we still can't use it. The desk in the living room continues to function as a pantry, cupboard, and a general collection place for just about everything. The dust, once long gone from the kitchen, has returned.

We, er, I mean Nate, has sanded the inside of all of the cupboards. I just finished priming the last shelf. We should be able to slap on the first coat of paint this evening. Once the insides are finished, then we must move to the faces of the cabinets. Much sanding and swearing will ensue, no doubt. Then a couple of coats of paint. Then the walls. Then the tiling. If we're lucky, we'll be finished by 2011.

The good news is that everything looks great. With a coat of paint everything will look fabulous. And, for the first time in over a year, we have a functional oven. Definitely something to celebrate in the new year!

Happy holidays to all! Here's to home projects and 2010!

Zee Kitchen (Update)

Countertops. Check! New door. Check! Things are coming along. Enjoy the pics of the installation of the countertop. It's a dark, dark green granite. I haven't even seen it in person yet. These pics are courtesy of Jake the Contractor.

Pee Pee in the Potty!

Big news: Benny went pee in the toilet last night. And, unlike the other times he's gone to the bathroom on the big boy chair, he seemed to understand what was going on last night and was excited to be doing it. I'm not sure if we've turned a corner or not, but this is definitely progress. Baby steps. We'll keep taking them until we're diaper-free!

On another positive pee-related note: We're using cloth diapers at night now rather than disposable. That way we can make up for some of the waste of using disposable diapers at daycare. Hurrah for green parenting!

Zee Kitchen (During)

1. Nate finishing his demo work.

2. Bare kitchen - nothing but the cabinets.
3. Ditto.
4. Today, after Jake the Contractor (think Bob the Builder) removed the partial wall. Those wooden pillars will be removed soon. It's so open now - minus the debris.

Things are most definitely progressing. Even in the cold, dusty house, the kitchen is coming along!

Life Sans Kitchen: Day 3

Technically, I've only been without a kitchen for about two days. So far, OK. Jake, our contractor started yesterday after a long weekend of Nate tearing stuff out of the kitchen. The only thing Nate left in there were the cabinets. Jake's progress report yesterday read something like this:

The Good: The dishwasher did not leak as bad as we had thought, so we don't need to do any repairs to the subfloor (that could have gotten expensive FAST). Also, the floor is already insulated, although you would never guess that by walking on it on a cold winter's day, so we'll save that money.

The Bad: The crack in the wall where the old house and the addition meet is much, much worse than originally anticipated. Jake said he's seen worse, but I'm not sure. The structural engineer will be at the house today to check things out.

The Ugly: I can't remember what the ugly was. Perhaps it was our entire house. The living room now houses a (working) refigerator and a (not-working) range as well as a make shift kitchen (complete with a microwave) on the desk. It looks pretty, pretty classy. We have yet to go out to eat, after two full days of this. Hopefully that bodes well for the future!