Took a day off work so that I can work with Scott on the countertop.  Once things were set up and we were ready to start, I got to mix the thinset (and keep up with Scott)…I got to cut the easy-to-cut tiles.  No way was I going to cut the tiles for the sink  🙂 and “butter” some of the tiles….So I did work my ass off all day…but it was SO worth it…

Tomorrow, bullnose and backsplash (but Scott will be doing that, since I have some work to catch up on)…if this gets done, we will be able to get the grout in late Saturday or Sunday, which means Scott – plumbing – sink…oh to do dishes in a real sink….a girl can dream!

Speaking of normalcy, we were able to move the fridge back in the kitchen today

The weekend went as planned, we got all the stuff done on the list and then some, but this hurricane came up and threw a handful of monkey wrenches in.  Monday and Tuesday were wet, windy, State of Emergency days.  (oh and I was the only one (in the eye of the storm) of all my co-workers that didn’t lose internet or electric)  Scott had to go to Nancy’s to replace the heat flue at her place, apparently the wind ripped it out…that was Wednesday.  Starting to get nervous about Thanksgiving…

I planned on helping alot more today on the building of the countertop ‘framing’ but between work stuff and trying to stay out of the way, I got very little ‘kitchen time’.  Jen was in there all day getting things done!!  You Go Girl!

Some of the cabinet doors now have pulls (this was done 2 days ago…and they look great – still more to do)…there are 17 cabinets in the kitchen now…41 cabinet pulls for doors and drawers

Trim has been cut/installed for most of the windows and doors, baseboards painted.

The countertop framing is complete…the raw plumbing is in place…and the cement board is cut and ready to be screwed into place.  We are using a bolt cutter to nip 1/4″ of the end of cement screws, since the shortest cement screw sold is a little too long.  Chances of these screws ever making contact with skin is slim to none, but why take the chance…that cut would be ugly!  screwing cement board into place is one of my many weekend projects….

Since Scott wont be here until Monday (or Tuesday, depending on the direction of Hurricane Sandy)…there is a list that has been started…details

• Need to cut the grass one more time
• Pull the AC from the bedroom window (we have central air, but why cool the whole house when that is the only room we are in at night)…there is a story behind how the window AC idea came to light, but that’s another blog :))
• Organize my office…now this is always an ongoing process, but I had a hardware upgrade in one of the PC’s, tested some Cisco/iPhone connection cables (which means I needed something Cisco to be pulled out)…my desk is super stacked with paperwork…yeah, not liking this
• exchange kitchen blinds for the right size…trip to Ikea
• The kitchen list:  finish cabinet pulls on all the drawers, paint/seal the backsplash, paint the front cap of the countertop, screw down the wonderboard…I’m sure there’s more tp

It’s been a while since my last post.  There has been alot going on!  We have made at least one trip a day to Home Depot, Lowes, Ikea and/or Avalon Floor and Tile and I’m sure this trend will continue because we are getting to the big smaller projects.

Plumbing, the lines all need to be extended to the back of the house, so 8′ or so…we are heat tape wrapping them because they are in the crawl space and not the house, so why take a chance.  Dishwasher and Garbage Disposal are on the plumbing list too.

Electricity, we have to make a couple runs to the outlet box…dishwasher, garbage disposal, GFI switch near the sink and the Bistro Lighting needs to be done too.

Heating, this one is crazy…there was a heat vent behind the dishwasher that I always thought was an intake…because it was right next to the exterior wall, so you couldnt feel any air coming out of it…well, we are moving that…it will come out at the toe-kick right under the sink cabinet…warm tootsies in the winter, cool tootsies in the summer!!  woot woot!

The biggest project that remains is the countertop…today, Scott comes with table saw, epoxy glue, lots of wood screws and wonderboard.

We have decided…but not without a story

Avalon is in DE, across the street, on 202,from the Lowes (where the Brandywine Racetrack used to be).  There was ALOT that we liked, but Jen and I both liked the black granite the best, there was even a partial highlight tile designed to go between the plain tiles.  So now we have the idea of what we really like…so we ran over to Lowes to return some extra floor tiles and grout and look at their tiles that we would consider for the countertop.  We found the granite tiles there, $2.00 cheaper per tile, and I had a couple coupons, so we really saved a nice little chunk on this purchase  🙂

We decided that we would really like the highlight tile, so we pulled a tile from the case and went back to Avalon, it matched but then we found out that there is a 2-3 month lead time on every “non-stock” item.  Now, a week, maybe 2, I can see, but who in the hell knows what countertop or even flooring they want 2-3 months before they start their project??

We did, however, order the tile for the backsplash from them, that only has a week to 10 day lead time…that, I can live with!!

Way back in the ‘galley kitchen’ pre-planning days I said to Scott, can we get a countertop that long?  He says, we can do anything we want…well, in my head, one long countertop.  Not!

So the discussion goes to…what can we do??  butt 2 countertops together?  nah!  2 tiers? I like this idea, except now we need to raise some of the cabinets before installation. custom made, ceramic tiles, so we did a google image search for custom countertops

Scott suggests going to Avalon Carpet Tile and Floors 

There was a holdup on the wall of cabinets being installed….first and fore-most…the DIRTY windows!  11 years of not being cleaned, drywall dust and all the things we have stirred up since the beginning, stuck to the window like glue.  We had to call in a professional (THANKS SHIRLEY B!!)

Missing hinges for 1 cabinet door…

Wiped out 3 Home Depots for the 41 cabinet pulls needed…

Scott was here all day!  We got the all of the high cabinets in, the base cabinets below the high cabinets.  Built the first three cabinets for the long wall so that Scott can cut the cabinet that goes over the stump.

Pictures later…

The last few days have been a blur…we put on the first coat of wall paint and 2 coats of ceiling paint, it’s really looking good.  We did do the second coat of wall paint on the wall that we are starting the cabinets on.

Most of the cabinets are built for day 1 of the hangings….we are ready (kinda)