the last layer

Sorry for the long delay in updating our blog. We have been so busy. Well, here it is finally the back splash tile has arrived and being installed. You might have thought our kitchen was done by now but this is the first thing that has happened this year. We finally decided on the tile and it took 6 weeks to arrive. We had some guest stay at our house for 2 weekends in a row so it took a couple of extra weeks before we had some time for work to be done. As you can see the hood and stove had to be removed so yet again no cooking for a few weeks. It will be a miracle if the flooring doesn't get messed up!!!

The center design layout.



Looks good so far.

First look at the custom made tile by Brittany & Coggs. It was pretty scary ordering it since we had no idea of how it would turn out. The center white tiles were ordered wrong so it won't be finished till next week. It will have a good amount of time to dry before it's finished and grouted. Stay tuned for the end result.

oh what a day

So much is going on and our kitchen is getting closer to finally being complete. When they installed the granite, I noticed that there was something not right with the sink area and I was unhappy with how it turned out. Today they came back to try to fix it. They did a good job and it's not perfect but I can live with it.

We also got our floors sealed in preparation for the wood being installed. It was very sticky and smelly. They made a small path for us to get out.

Love that green!!!

Also 32 boxes of our flooring was delivered. Jeff was home and decided to help unload it. His arms hurt the next day!!!

The best part of the day was that we got to meet our new nephew. Kai. He was sleeping when we arrived so we was not too happy when we woke him up!!! He turned bright red and started to cry when Uncle Jeff held him.

So cute!!!


After all of that we ended the night in Hawaii!!!

This is the view we woke up to. We are taking a short trip that was planned when we thought our kitchen would be done the day before Thanksgiving. It will be a nice break from all the work being done at home.

granite installation day

Another, I can't believe this day is finally here. They got our granite cut in record time. Just 9 working days from when they made the template. This is a major item in our remodel since the flooring, appliances and plumbing can't be done till the granite is installed. They are afraid if the granite gets dropped the flooring will get damaged.

Back side of the granite.

Workers are doing the final fit work outside. There was a big white cloud of dust over our house. I am sure our neighbors are not happy again.

Powder room.

Jeff took the drawers out and tried to protect the cabinets as much as we can. Unfortunately, we have already had some bad dings and dents. Pretty sad but they just keep saying all that will be fixed in the end... I have already shed tears over it.

Looks great. We love it!!!

painting, again...

Seems like we have been painting for months. Finally starting to paint the upstairs. The rest will have to wait till next year. Hopefully we will be done soon. We still have to paint our baseboards before next week when the flooring will be installed. Note: not a good idea to paint at night cause you miss a lot of spots.

Thought we would have to hire a painter to paint the stairwell since it's so tall but Jeff risked his life on a ladder (no photo) to paint the top. It's a little rough around the edges but it's done.

It has been fun doing all the painting but also very hard and time consuming. Still don't think we would have hired a painter since it's something we can do ourselves. We have learned a lot in this remodel and look forward to our next project. We are also now experienced in patching and re doing wall texture.

we were dusted

Last week the granite fabricator's made a template of our counter tops so they could cut the granite to fit. They told us we are able to go to the shop and see the layout. We really didn't have to go since our granite has no pattern. As you can see it's all black with small grey spots. We thought it would be interesting to see anyway and it happened on a day Jeff was off so it worked perfect.

We were a little shocked when we got there. It was near Disneyland but in a very industrial part of town. It felt like we were in a very bad neighborhood. Good thing is was during the day!!! We finally found the shop and it was small with a couple of guys working. There was dust every where. Inches of it on the ground and we could see it in the air. As we walked in I kept telling Jeff, we are going to die in there!!! It was so bad we could barely breathe. After they got the granite out with a fork lift I told Jeff OK, that's good let's leave. The guy wanted to show us the edge styles. I stayed back to take pictures while Jeff went into the shop with the guy. He wanted me to look at an example of a mitered edge. Normally you would see a line where the edge is glued on but on the mitered edge it is sort of hidden. We never heard of it before so we wanted to see it. The piece was covered in dust and as the guy was wiping it off with his hand,I noticed it was a grave stone. I was mortified!!! I couldn't wait to get out of that place. We were covered in granite dust and took us a while to recover...

The template was made with thin wood and a glue gun!!!

windows are in

Things are moving along in the progress of our remodel. The new windows for the downstairs are delivered and installed. They look great but our house is still a long way to being done. Our granite is being cut and will take several weeks to complete. We won't have too much activity till they are done except for the stuff we are doing ourselves like painting etc. After that everything should go pretty fast. The flooring, appliances and final electrical and plumbing. It's starting to feel like a brand new house. Well, sort of...

granite

A few weeks ago we decided we should pick out our granite slabs. Our choice was easy since it's just absolute black. We went to a different yard than last time. This one was nicer and inside. The granite was clean and easier to see vs. the last place we went to the granite was dirty and dusty. We had to choose from group that contains enough pieces for our counter tops. This is so all the slabs match if you need more than one. Part of our lot was already reserved but there were 3 slabs we put our name on. After our template was made we only need 2 slabs for our kitchen and powder room.

Before the counter top is cut we will go to the fabricator and see if it is laid out the way we want it to be. It should be interesting and we are looking forward to it.

cabinet installation

Can't believe this day is finally here. We were getting used to nothing in our kitchen and now we have cabinets. Our kitchen is feeling a little small. We do seem to have twice as much cabinet space. Most of which I will not be able to reach. It's really exciting to think we will be able to put all of our stuff away. We rarely saw our counter tops since most of the time they were covered with junk. This will be a big improvement for us.

The peninsula, the biggest change we made.

Very large pantry. Most worried about this cabinet since the old one had a big angle in the corner and we got rid of it to get more storage. The wall angle is a little strange but we can live with it. It has pull out drawers for food. Now we won't have to wonder what is hidden in the back.

Sink cabinet

This space where the TV was located in the top part of the cabinet. The shelf and cabinet was removed and now is now redesigned.

Farmers sink fits!!! yippee... Everyone was against our sink choice cause it is very hard to fit and very heavy too. No two sinks are exactly alike and the rounded corners can differ so cutting the cabinet is difficult. It was one of our most desired items in the renovation. There wasn't any one that could change our minds on this one.

Peninsula with corbels, legs and spice cabinet. Didn't really want the spice cabinet at first since I don't really use very many spices but it looks pretty nice. I am sure I can fill it up with stuff I don't need!!!

The new and improved TV cabinet. This piece was one of our biggest problem areas. This final design was made at the very last minute. Jeff was happy that he could get a new TV when he was just going to be happy with the old one. A wine cooler will go on the bottom and the cabinet will hold TV stuff . New TV will be mounted above the cabinet. It turned out good.

finally, they have arrived

Our kitchen cabinets!!!

Almost like Christmas, everything is wrapped up and we have to wait till they install the cabinets to see how everything will look.

The new pantry is huge!!!

The pantry drawers and pull out drawers.

Looks like pieces to a puzzle, all marked and ready to put together.

All the pieces filled up the living room. To be continued...

kitchen drywall

Finally all the drywall is installed and ready for the final patching and texture spraying

kitchen

Not too much is happening on our kitchen. The first work done was moving the a/c vent and the hood vent. All went well and we passed our first inspection. We have been painting and have a lot more to do. But for now we are heading out of town and going east to celebrate Jeff's Dad's 70th birthday.

Painted the coat closet and laundry room dark green. Looks great. All fresh and new. A little bit of paint sure does wonders...

Our new a/c vent. Not in the greatest location but at least it won't be in the way of the new cabinets.

The hood vent was moved to the ceiling and now only a small part of the corner of the cabinet has to be notched. Next step is plumbing and the electrical work.