Before & After

I know that I'm not completely done yet, but I just couldn't help myself...

Close, but no cigar

Ah, so close and yet so far. If you have been keeping up with my Blog, you'd would probably believe that the countertops were installed last Wednesday and that Suzanne and I have been enjoying our functioning kitchen now for the past four days...and yet, you'd be wrong. The countertop guys came out on Wednesday, as planned, and I quickly gave them the tour of the kitchen, pointing out the little things that I felt needed to be shared before the got busy installing the countertops. I then disappeared upstairs to work and keep an eye on the dogs, and also to stay out their way downstairs. About 45 minutes into the installation, I hear Brad downstairs yell, "Hey bossman, I need you to come look at this." That has got to be the last thing I wanted to hear that morning. So I proceed downstairs, where I find Brad and his helper staring at the countertop cut out for the slid-in range. That's about when I notice that the countertop to the left of the range is about 3 inches too short, leaving a gap between the cooktop and the countertop. Brad tells me that because the range is off center in the cut out, the guys back at the shop who fabricated the countertop messed up and centered the opening about the middle of the cut out, which left the countertop short on the left side and long on the right. He then tells me that he will need to take the countertop back to the shop to get it fixed and that it will be Saturday morning before he can come back to finish the installation...ARGHHHHHH!! Well, what was I going to do other than say o.k. and wait until Saturday? Hey, it has been 3 months without countertops, what's another 3 days right?

So Saturday rolls around and Brad shows up with his 15 year old son to help him finish the installation (turns out Jr. is one of four boys in the family, 17 yrs old, 15 yrs. old, 12 yrs. old, and 3 yrs old!!). After about 3 hours of work, they finish up and low and behold, we have countertops again! I spent the rest of Saturday installing the sink, disposal, dishwasher, and water filter and by late Saturday night, we were running our first load of dishes in the dishwasher...no more hand washing!

So folks, the kitchen is functional again. I'll be picking out tile for the backsplash over the next couple of weeks (still deciding on if I want to do the install myself of just pay someone to do it for me). Then, I'm moving on to the sunroom and half-bath. I still need to finish smoothing out the ceiling in the sunroom, paint the ceiling in both rooms, paint the widows in both rooms, mud and paint the half-bath, install the toilet and sink, and paint the sunroom. I also need to install the new closet door and finish installing all of the trim moulding. These next couple of weekends should prove to be the last few work weekends before the little one arrives. Here are some pictures of the semi-completed kitchen (no tile backsplash yet).

Quick update

I realized that I've been quiet for a while so I thought I'd post a quick update to keep my loyal reader(s) off my back. I've spent the last week or so knocking out a few odd jobs around the house. I've installed the curtains in the nursery, painted the knee wall in the kitchen, purchased the countertop overhang supports, started installing the base moulding and quarter round moulding in the kitchen, and just some general cleaning/organizing. The next big step comes this Wednesday when Design Concepts will stop by in the morning to install the new countertops and sink!!! So by Thursday of this week, Suzanne and I will officially have a fully functional kitchen again! Stay tuned, I'll try and post some new pictures of the nursery and kitchen on Wednesday evening.

Side tracked again

Oh yeah, and I did a little painting in the nursery this past weekend. I think that this room is done as far as decorating goes, we just need to pick up the crib from Liz and Brian (thanks guys!) and hang a few prints on the wall. Everything else is good to go so I can focus on finishing up the kitchen and half bath these next few weeks.

I have made FIRE!!

Sometimes, a picture truly is worth a thousand words...

While the cat is away...

So Suzanne has planned a "girls weekend" at the beach, which means I've got the entire weekend (minus a brief 65 mile bike ride on Saturday morning) to knock out a bunch of work around the house. On the schedule for this weekend is painting the nursery, painting the kitchen knee wall, painting the sun room, painting the entry hallway and stairwell, painting, painting, painting...YUCK!!!! With Hudson only 67 days away, I'm hoping to get all of the painting done with Suzanne and child out of the house so that they don't inhale the fumes. If I get all the painting done, I might also try and finish wiring the microwave hood outlet above the stove, connecting the dishwasher to the water supply and electrical supply lines, and hang the new coat closet door! Yep, it's going to be a BIG weekend again!

Coming soon to a kitchen near you

FIRE!!! Yep, the guys from PSNC came by yesterday to install the new natural gas fuel line for the stove. They ran some new piping, drilled through the floor behind the stove, installed a shut-off valve, and pressurized the line with air before capping it off with a pressure gauge. All was right in the world...until I walked downstairs and saw that the gauge had dropped from 25 psi to 0 psi in about 30 minutes of them leaving. I called PSNC and they came back out and checked the new line for leaks. Everything looked good in the new fuel line so they thought that the gauge itself had a leak. They re-taped the gauge and re-pressurized the line before leaving again. I've been keeping a close watch on the gauge as it has slowly dropped from 30 psi down to 17 psi. They told me that it would fluctuate due to changes in temperature, and considering that we had one of the coldest nights so far this season, I'm holding my breath that this drop in pressure has to do with the weather! I'm cautiously waiting for the Durham County Inspection Department to make an appearance soon! Once the new line passes inspection, I have to call PSNC to get them to come back out and hook up the stove and turn the gas on. When that happens, we'll be cooking again on Cobble Glen Ct.!