MichaelandChrissy.com

The kitchen remodeling project is coming along. Uncle Marve moved the conduit that was behind the soffit and added some new outlets. Then, Glenn put up new drywall and started on the taping and mudding. We also installed a new back door, although we still might salvage the storm door.

We might be able to start painting next weekend. Chrissy picked out a less bright shade of yellow for the walls, and we bought some ceiling paint as well. The cabinets are due to arrive in late April.

We loved tearing the house apart so much last time that we just had to do it again. Chrissy ordered new kitchen cabinets yesterday from Omega Cabinets, which Consumers Reports ranked as the best. However, we may not actually get the cabinets for another ten weeks because Omega custom builds all of their orders. So that makes today the best day possible to tear down our existing cabinets.

As of now, our kitchen has nothing hanging on its walls. Uncle Glenn came over to do the job, and he’s coming back tomorrow to tear out the soffit. Removing the soffit will allow for taller cabinets, but we’ll need to put up new drywall on both sides of the room. Glenn is pretty familiar with our home, as he did the majority of the work in finishing our basement.

The new cabinets will be close to our favorite style, Arts and Crafts (or Mission Style). We’ll probably order some dark granite counter tops to go with the dark oak doors and yellow walls. The new kitchen will be awesome when it’s done, but I fear that we’ll have a disaster area on our hands until then.

Chrissy has been wanting new drapes in the upstairs bedrooms for a long time. Currently, we only have the horizontal wood blinds up on the windows. These are quality blinds and look good with the oak window trim, but they still let in light during the daytime. This light will inevitable find Aiden while he is trying to sleep.

So we went shopping for blinds last weekend. There was a half-off sale at JC Penny Home on 40″x84″ drapes, so we got a really good deal. We selected different colors for each room, and also bought new curtainrods and pull-backs to go with each set. However, this means more homework for me since I have to install the hardware. Guess I’ll be busy for the next night or two.

Last night, I hung the drapes in Aiden’s nursery (the priority). It only took about twenty minutes, and all I needed was my trusty power drill, the laser level and a tape measure. It turned out nice and blocks pretty much all the light coming in. Now I need to do the four other windows in the master and spare bedrooms…

I went to take out the garbage last night, and the neighbor across the street walks over while I’m in the road. He says, “Did you know that your chimney is broken?” I’m thinking, “No…”

It turns out the electrical damage we took on Thursday night was due to a direct lightning strike on our chimney. There was a huge hole blown into the side of it, and bricks were all over our roof and yard. I explained what happened to the neighbor and thanked him for telling me. Then I brought Chrissy outside (into the 90 degree heat, even after sundown) to see the damage. She was less than pleased.

We were planning on just eating the damages from the storm, since the AC cost us just a little less than our deductible and we could wait a while to get a new downstairs TV. Howver, we found out that it was going to cost us $4100 to fix the chimney, so we immediately called the home insurance company. Now we can get everything replaced for only $500. I hope our premiums don’t go up too high…

Glenn put in a the upstairs toilet on Saturday, so I removed the downstairs toilet after he was done. We needed to have at least one operative toilet in the house, but Chrissy prefers the upstairs one since she hates going up and down the stairs to use the bathroom.

Once I put a second coat of paint on the downstairs bathroom, I installed the bathroom toilet. So by Sunday afternoon, we had two working toilets. No sinks yet, though…

Uncle Marve will be coming over tomorrow to help install our sinks. Or rather, let me help him install the sinks. We already have the vanities and countertops in place (a huge slab of Corian upstairs and cultured marble downstairs), but the plumbing isn’t in yet.

Work on the upstairs rooms continues. Glenn is replacing the trim around the doors and the windows upstairs, but there is a problem. The new oak trim is about a half inch less wide than the old trim, so there will be a half-inch of exposed drywall when the new trim goes up. In most cases, there is also paint buildup around the edges of the old trim that needs to be scraped away. We found this out the hard way downstairs when we replaced the family room trim.

I was able to spackle around the windows and the door in the family room and then carefully prime and paint around the new trim. Upstairs, I had the chance to do all that work before the new trim goes up. The problem is that I had to do it all in two days. I managed to finish by working on it all night on Friday and then waking up at 6:30AM on Saturday to work on it until 6 PM. Glenn was working on the doors during this time, so at least I wasn’t slaving away all alone.

I finished painting around the doors (in the hall and inside the rooms) by the time Glenn got to hanging them. They look pretty good now, except for a distinct lack of texture around the new oak trim, since I sanded the spackle down to a flat surface. No one will notice that but me, I suppose…

The remodeling work in the basement is just about complete. We’ve finished two bedrooms, two closets and the hallway downstairs, and they look really good. Uncle Glenn did a great job. Perhaps too great? Chrissy liked the oak trim in the basement so much that she decided that we need it upstairs too.

So, work has begun in earnest to make the upstairs as pretty as the new downstairs. Glenn is installing all new oak trim in the three bedrooms, the hall, the hall closet and the bathroom. He put up the trim on three of the windows yesterday, which means that I need to start varnishing again. Wish me luck!

I needed some door hardware for the new shelves that Glenn is building in my office, but I was having trouble finding affordable ones in the style that I like. Chrissy and I really like Mission Style furniture (both of our office desks will be Mission Style), so I wanted to match that to the doors on my oak cabinets.

The problem is that these tend to be heavy pewter models, which cost a lot ($5 each) and are expensive to ship. However, I did find a good vendor online that is pretty inexpensive. The place is called “D. Lawless Hardware” and they have an entire line of Mission style door hardware. Surprisingly, I was able to put door pulls on all eight cabinet doors for about ten bucks, and it was only another ten shipping!

Life is sucking for me right now. I spent Friday night with a paint brush, putting two coats of primer in the two closets in the basement. Then I got up early on Saturday and put two coats of primer in my office (including the ceiling) and two coats of primer in the basement hall. Today, I got up bright and early to paint both offices, the hall, both closets, and stain two new doors. Actually, Chrissy’s mom came over and helped, but we never would have finished today if she hadn’t.

I’m so sore. My arms hurt so bad that I can’t lift my pop, and my feet hurt from climbing the damn ladder in my socks. I’m sure that I’m going to die. But, at least we’ve done as much as we can. Chrissy’s uncle Glenn will be over tomorrow to start putting up the doors and the trim.

Why are we working ourselves to death to finish the basement? Chrissy and I are going to Disneyworld on the 28th, so we need to have the basement done before we leave. I think that Glenn is going on a month-long vacation on the 1st of March too, so if the basement isn’t done by then we’re SOL… Thus, the mad scramble to get the basement done.

Because of all the work downstairs, I haven’t gotten any me-time lately. And I doubt I will this week either. I’ve got my Friday night shows Tivo’ed in the living room (I moved the Tivo box upstairs onto the big screen on Thursday), but Chrissy and I still need to go shopping for carpet for the whole downstairs, new desks for our new offices and a 16-foot-long countertop for her office (she’s getting cabinets for her scrapbook stuff). I’ll be happy when it’s all over…