This ones for you, Wendy

So about 4 months ago, Suzanne's friend Wendy was down from Maine visiting with us. We were swapping home remodeling "war stories" since Wendy had recently remodeled her kitchen and downstairs basement room. At the time, my current kitchen remodel was just a twinkle in my eye. I was kicking around the idea of replacing the cabinets instead of just slapping some white paint on them and calling it done. Well, little did I know that my conversation with Wendy was going to lead to pretty much a complete kitchen make over! It kind of went like this:

"So, your kitchen looks awesome Wendy, I can't believe how much space you have in the kitchen!"

"Yep, that's because I moved my fridge into what used to be a closet, you could do the same here in your kitchen and it would really open up the space."

"Really?...where would I move the fridge to?"

"How about that closet under the stairs, you could cut a new opening in it so that the fridge was facing into the kitchen and then seal up the existing door...it would be pretty simple."

Simple, yeah, well maybe not exactly. But, I will say that Suzanne and I are both very pleased with how the kitchen has turned out...and we have Wendy to thank for that!

half a range

With the help of my neighbor, Travis, I was able to get the new dual-fuel slide in Bosch range installed last night...well, and least half of it. You see, the "dual-fuel" refers to the fact that the oven is electric while the stove top burners are natural gas. That's great if you have both electrical and gas service installed in your kitchen. However, since our old stove was electric only, I am having to get a new gas fuel line installed in order to have full functionality on the new range. The gas installation is scheduled for January 2nd, so hopefully "we'll be cooking" in early 2008! Here a few shots of the new equipment in the kitchen, brought to you by the fine German engineers at Bosch appliances...

What a day

not much in the mood to type, my hands are killing me from having to use a screwdriver for the last 3 hours because my cordless screwdriver ran out of juice. Needless to say, the base cabinets and lights are finally installed! Tomorrow I meet with the gas company to talk about running a new fuel line for the stove. I'll probably run by Lowe's tomorrow evening or Tuesday after work to start the ball rolling on the counter tops as well. It's going to be close, but I still think that I will have everything done in the kitchen and sunroom by the end of the year.

I'm dreaming of a white christmas

You may be asking yourself, "Is it snowing in Durham today?" Or perhaps you are thinking, "Has the stress of home remodeling pushed Craig over the edge to the point he is now snorting coke?" Well, fear not loyal reader(s), that white powered on my face is not snow or "blow", it is; however, drywall dust from my 5th round of sanding the ceiling in the kitchen. I've got the final skim coat of mud on the ceiling now and it is drying. Once dry, I'll give it one final light sanding and then roll on two coats of paint. After that, I'm popping the cork on a tasty beer to celebrate the end of the worst job so far...ceiling repair! My hope is to have the ceiling finished in a few hours and then start placing the base cabinets and appliances. Check back later tonight and hopefully there will be some pictures showing my progress for the day.

I need a big weekend...

Funny how I can't get the Tom Petty song, "Big Weekend" out of my head today. The chorus of ,"I need a big weekend.Kick up the dust.Yeah a big weekend.If you don't run, you rust" just seemed fitting for my weekend. As I type this, my arms, face, and hair are covered in white drywall dust and my nose is "crusty" from inhaling the dust...yummy!

Since I last left you guys, I've kicked up the dust for sure! The recessed can lights are now in and functioning and I'm in the process of doing some serious drywall repair to the ceiling. I ended up having to cut out more of the existing ceiling than originally planned (here's a tip I learned...reciprocating saws cut through copper water pipes like butter!). Yep, I had a slight mishap while installing the can lights and ended up nicking a water supply line with my reciprocating saw. Thankfully, I was able to shut off the water quickly and Suzanne came running with multiple beach towels to soak up the water that was pouring from the ceiling. The copper supply line got repaired and I finished installing the recessed lights and patched up the drywall. I've spent the better part of 2 weekends getting the ceiling smoothed out and ready for the final coat of paint.

Last week, the Floor Guys stopped by to replace the kitchen floor that was damaged from my first water leak. They knocked out the repairs in one day and the floors look great! Once I get the ceiling finished, I can start installing the base cabinets and appliances! The gas company is coming out on Monday to look at running a new fuel line for the stove, but I found out from them on Friday they won't be able to actually do the installation until the first week in January. Oh well, I guess we'll just have the oven working until then!

Once the cabinets are set, it's on to the counter tops. I'll post more pics later on Sunday, but until then, here are some shots of the lights and ceiling patch repair that I am currently working on.