The Kitchen Project

[SteveDallas]

I'm damned tired. Yes, I should be in bed.

Anyway. I need to unwind for a few minutes. I thought I'd give an overview of the last few days. Miss Dallas is being confirmed on Sunday, and my parents are coming up for the occasion. They arrive on Thursday. We had been meaning to paint etc. and we decided to have the dining room all painted before they got here. We ended up going with the kitchen instead....

For the past couple week or so Mrs. Dallas successfully put a skim coat on the one wall that we had trouble with. She did a damned good job. (I didn't get to help--she did it during the day, so the only thing to do when I came home from work was to let it dry!)

Saturday, we were ready to start. We went out to buy paint. We got enough for the kitchen, dining room, and living room since it was on sale. We got home, taped everything up, and put primer on all the trim.

Sunday morning, we painted the trim. I'm thinking we did something else, but I can't remember what.

Monday, we got up early and primed the walls. (Only 2 walls--the others have formica backing between the cabinets and we're not messing with those.) I mowed the grass, then we headed out to Home Depot to get flowers and some other stuff we needed. Mrs. Dallas and the kids proceeded to plant & mulch the flower bed under the tree in the front yard. Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, I was chopping out the really weird baseboard arrangement that had been there when we moved in, and cut a strip down the center of the floor where a seam in the flooring had poked up. We painted the walls, then went out for dinner. I finished chopping up the floor and put down some leveling primer.

Tuesday morning... whew... sanded off the leveling stuff, then moved out the fridge and the stove and cleaned up the floor as well as we could. We then put some surface prep stuff down for the vinyl tile, and the went out for some quick errands while it dried.

We then started putting the vinyl tiles down. Things mostly went well--we made some mistakes, but we had lots of extras. After several hours of cutting the tiles around the edges of the room, I called it quits. We needed to get dinner, and oh, my daughter had a softball game & Mrs. Dallas and son had a band rehearsal. (WTF kind of softball leagues has 8:15PM games on school nights??) Around 10:30 we dragged home. Mrs. Dallas collapsed and said if we can't finish, we can't.

Bullshit. I have 7 tiles left to do--the hardest ones, with the trickiest cuts, including around the a/c register and the gas supply for the stove. Maybe 60-90 minutes. But the limiting factor was the molding.. the molding needs time to dry. But it hasn't been cut. Oh, we can't cut it without a saw. I got a new table saw--a cheap Ryobi model , but hey, all I need it to do is cut some molding & other small jobs once in a while. So I set it up. Mostly before the game, but now I had to make space for it in the basement. (The saw did not disappoint--I spent more to running up & down stairs to double-check measurements and fit than I did sawing, and the 45-degree corner is damn near perfect. I even got fancy and used the scraps to make up a little backing for the new a/c vent, which has a gap behind it since we couldn't find an exact replacement for the old one.)

So now I got the molding ready, and primed it. Tomorrow it can be painted first thing, then I can finish the last few tiles, nail in the molding, and then--if we're still alive--move the fridge and stove back into the kitchen (hopefully without destroying the new floor) and collapse.

That's it for now. The adrenalin high of using a new power tool has passed, and I'm off to bed. But we have the way clear to finish everything by tomorrow afternoon.

[elSicomoro]

Impressive!

[capnhowdy]

Where are the pics already.

Ok. You may rest first.

[glatt]

well done. or well almost-done, as the case may be.

[ZenGum]

I was waiting for the big "Oh crap" moment when you realise you've cocked it all up, maybe putting the tiles upside-down or something. I tip my cap to you, SD, for your successful renovation. I hope the rellies are duly impressed.

[Alluvial]

Well done. Remodeling is hard enough without trying to do it while you're living in the space you're remodeling!

Hubby and I remodeled this house while we were living here. The worst thing that happened was when I was using an electric grinder with a wire brush, and the thing tried to climb up my leg.

[capnhowdy]

Tell your husband not to be climbing up your leg while you're using power tools. That is really dangerous.

[SteveDallas]

Damn, I tried to post last night. I think I previewed and didn't actually save.

Anyway. A couple pictures. A view of the floor. I'm particularly proud of the outside corner around the cabinet and the cutout for the gas supply line.



Here is a view of the painted walls, with baseboard molding and a new a/c register in place. (I had to build up a little backing for it with some scrap molding since it I couldn't find a register as deep as the old one.)



And finally, the fully completed wall, basically the same as before with quarter-round molding added.



We finished the last small pieces on Wednesday night around 10 PM. I was worried about moving the stove and fridge back in without wrecking the floor, but we did it. Then my parents arrived about noon on Thursday. From then it was the Phillies game Friday night, then on Saturday little league game (son), little league game (daughter), orchestra auditions (both), and on to Sunday, confirmation (daughter), band playing @ church (everyone except me), lunch out w/ ddaughter's godmother & others, little league game (son), replacing broken screen in nephew's laptop, little league game (daughter), crash. Bleah.

Now we need to clean the place up and begin painting the dining room. But we're not giving ourselves a deadline on that.

Oh how could I forget... the faux Waterford crystal chndelier in the dining room, a family heirloom from my in-laws, had one bulb that wasn't burning. When I looked at it to see what was the mattter, the wires fell out in my hand. I decided if that one was that bad, I should rewire the whole thing. That occupied some time here and there, especially Friday, and in between there were three days since I took it apart that we had no overhead light in the dining room.

[Griff]

Good job SD!

[capnhowdy]

Looks great.

I didn't see any alcohol. It's hard for me to work at home without it.

[skysidhe]

good job