Right... The Blog

Yes it's been 10 months since an update. Ashley got another puppy. I'm blaming it on that. It's like having two kids, and then one two more. And a pig. Yea, a pig too. Back to topic. Cliche warning: A picture is worth a thousand words. So here's what we got.

Kitchen day 1

Kitchen mostly taken apart

Starting to come together

Final product

Hope and Love top it off

Quick peek at the adjacent dining room.

After

That's pretty much the dining room and kitchen. Save for a couple touch ups and finishing touches, it's a completed project.
Look for another update on some other portions of our home soon. And when I say soon, I might mean next June, or I might mean tomorrow. Guess you'll have to check everyday to see :)

So. Very. Close

Hiya peeps!
We're so close to putting a bow on this thing. The kitchen, living room, dining room, and our bedroom just need a few finishing touches and we'll be done. We stamped the ceiling in the bedroom; quite and adventure when you fly by the seat of your pants. Ashley and Vanessa made a tiny mess of each other and the room but it looks wonderful. (You can click on any image and view it larger)

Ashley in action

Vanessa highlighting Ashley in action

Ness in action

Casualty of Battle

So here's two before shots:

And here's the after!

I'm particularly proud of the window work, Ashley's idea, my craftsmanship :) We did the same thing in the living room, more on that later ;)

Now to the living room. We went with a little more bold color than the subtle blue of the bedroom. We refinished the baseboards and chair rail from the pine finish to a more modern white. We also added crown moulding and some window trim. Not to mention removing the dated wallpaper, adding some color, and allowing the beautiful hardwood floors to see the sunshine instead of hiding underneath carpet. I might be in love.. Good thing I'm already married. Here's the before:

And after!

Here's the corner that shows off the window trim, crown moulding, corner detail, chair rail, and baseboard (feel free to say "oooh, aahhhhh"):

Ashley and Vanessa are practically certified electricians. Here's Vanessa showing off her finished product:

And Ashley using a more unorthodox method (although I realized it was quite effective when I worked on it for a bit. Those GFCI outlets can be a *bad word* to install):

Quick hit on the kitchen. We don't enjoy the sanding, painting, painting routine of the cabinets, so we haven't finished all of them yet. But the island looks GREAT, and most of the cabinets are painted. Backsplash should go up within a couple weeks. The dishwasher looks MUCH better next to the sink.
Before:

And now:

I realized I don't have a great picture of the island yet. I'll get that soon, but you can see part of it in the bottom of the above picture. Special gigantic shout out to a couple of my uncles for allowing me to borrow a compound miter saw and gas-powered nail gun. Those two tools alone have made the tasks infinitely easier. I guess Auburn fans aren't all bad :) And not to forget the wondrous knowledge our parents and grandparents have blessed us with so far. None of it would be possible without their help.

That's all for today, and remember; Safe-D begins with me!

A Plumbing We Will Go

Ashley is out of town on business this week so that means less decorating work and more TOOLS! We're talking running electricity to relocated appliances, installing new plumbing for the kitchen sink, dishwasher, and icemaker, and making plans to add support to the ceiling. The previous owners removed a load-bearing wall at some point years ago and the ceiling is beginning to sag a bit. My uncle and cousin (co-author of this blog) came over to give their expert contractor/engineer opinions. Huge help, that project is a little down the road.
We started painting this week! It makes SUCH a difference going from wallpaper, to finding paneling underneath, to now having modern colors in the house. It's not done, but coming along. Pictures in a later post.
The countertops are all in, the island is installed, there's one more cabinet being installed tomorrow and then we can finish painting those.
Today was a productive day, but purely in a behind-the-scenes way. The new stovetop is installed, along with its new junction box for power. Thats's the only pic today. I only had my phone.
The new faucet on the kitchen sink is connected, along with all the new plumbing for the dishwasher and icemaker.
The power for the dishwasher is next up, after I crawled under the house (the length of the house) to relocate the existing wire to the new location, only to find it was too short to make it.
Props to my dad for the big assist today.
Everything is coming together amazingly well, can't wait for everyone to see it!
PS: I miss my wife. Hurry home.

Covered in Dust

We're very close to having the big projects done. The tile is done in the kitchen, hallway, and bathroom. The cabinets and countertops should be done Tuesday or Wednesday. Once all that is done we can paint the walls and cabinets in the kitchen, and put up a backsplash (we might need to pick one out....). Yesterday and today we put sheetrock mud in the seams of the lovely paneling and started sanding it. Wow, that dust gets everywhere. This is the first part of the project both Ashley and I haven't enjoyed.
So here's the progression so far:

And I mowed the yard for the first time! It looks fantastic. I'd love to take credit, but it was in great shape before we moved it. I just have to try not to screw it up!

Kitchen Refresh

The biggest project we have going right now is the kitchen. There was a small section of linoleum in the kitchen, with the refrigerator halfway on that and carpet. Anyone else find that strange? The carpet was roughly 12 million years old. (Ok, maybe a slight exaggeration, but you get the point.)

 Here's the kitchen before picture (click on the picture for a larger version). Notice the space-hogging panels above the upper cabinets. Bleck. And the dishwasher under the oven? Not staying there. Flooring, countertops, cabinet color? Not a fan. We'll change that later.

 Here's the kitchen after we sanded some of the cabinets, removed the linoleum, removed the sink, and removed the cooktop. Oh, and the ugly panels up top. Opens the room up a bit, yeah?

New flooring! Who loves tile? This guy. And his wife. Not done yet, give it another day or two. Notice the dishwasher is MIA. I told ya that thing was getting moved.







So there's the kitchen progress thus far. Thoughts? Suggestions? Volunteers? You get to work with some moi caliente people; namely, my wife.

And remember, Safety Begins With Me!

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog, friends! Ashley and I decided to create this blog as a way to track the progress of the remodel/renovation of our newly purchased home; and to allow an easier method of sharing what's going on with our friends and family (shameless plug alert: for an entertaining view of what's going on, check out our dog Lilo's blog at http://dognamedlilo.blogspot.com). Feel free to comment, share, or participate any way you like.
Enjoy our journey!!