Creeping Remodelitis

The painting is done! Well, almost. I decided to extend the color to my downstairs stairwell, and I have only put one coat on there so far. I got all the masking stuff taken down, and there are a couple of spots that I will need to touch up, but…. I need a break! Sick of the smell of paint, and my wrist is sore.

Meanwhile, I seem to have contracted creeping remodelitis. I’ve now decided I need new lighting fixtures for my kitchen. And, ergo, probably for my office, too. Today I ordered two fixtures from Plow and Hearth that promise to “easily” convert the two recessed fixtures in my kitchen to cool mini-pendants. Then I think I’ll start shopping for a nice pendant light to hang over my table.

Also decided I need new switchplates and outlet covers, as the brass-look ones I have don’t go with the new stainless cabinet hardware, and they’re cheap corroding things anyway. Started looking on-line, and man, for anything but the most standard ivory plastic (which I may yet go with) they’re $15-$20 each. So, I got this bright idea to try using the Sculpy clay I have had in the back in my pantry for about 10 years.Made one nice terracotta-looking switchplate, a couple more in the oven. Not sure how they'll hold up, but I like the look of the terracotta against my new sage green walls, nicely offset by the brick-red flooring.

Too tired to move all my stuff back into place tonight. Once I clean up a bit, I'll post pictures.

Tired of this project...

OK, I admit, I'm tired of this project. Ready to be done.

Now working on painting. After about a dozen sample swatches on my kitchen wall, I started painting "Clay Pot", basically a terra cotta, in my office. I wanted to finish the office before Leslie and Dave came down for Christmas so they could help me move my file cabinet, which weighs about a half-ton, back into place. So, I got the room done in time but am not crazy about the color. I guess it's OK for that room but I don't want to extend it into the hallway and kitchen. So, back to the paint store for another half-dozen samples, this time in gray-greens. Finally settled on "Saybrook Sage", back to the paint store to have them mix me up two gallons.

Come home all set to paint. Oh wait, I have to mask off all the trim, mask around the ceiling, wash the walls, take down the pictures and pull the nails, protect the new floor, take down the phone, knock down the cobwebs, protect the new countertop and sink, move everything off of the countertop, remove switchplates. Oh, and move the dang refrigerator. I got everything done but that last one before collapsing into chair with beer and crackers. Onward, tomorrow.

I'm floored!

Before -- All the cabinets were this ugly brown color. The drawers were plastic and falling apart.

New flooring, new drawers and hardware, newly painted cabinets, new countertops

New sink

The new flooring is in, and it looks fabulous!

Sadly, that's not the end, yet. When they went to reinstall my bathroom sink, uh-oh, there was weird non-standard plumbing on the drain, that won't go back in correctly. So, my sink is sitting out on my porch awaiting further attention.

I got up this morning ready and raring to move all of my furniture back into my office and kitchen, but... I told the installers not to re-install the parts of the baseboard which had never had any finish applied, as I want to finish them first. Too cold to do this outside, so at the present time my office floor is covered with a blue tarp and assorted pieces of baseboard. My kitchen table is still in my living room, covered with a rat's nest of computer-related wiring and printers while my office furniture waits out on the patio.

Also, I need to buy, finish, and install some quarter-round where the new vinyl butts up against the base of the countertops.

And then repaint the walls.

And here are a couple of bonus pictures...

A nice winter day at the beach

Where Sabrina spends the winter

I am WOMAN, hear me roar!

My new countertops, sink, and faucet are IN!

It took me several hours of sweating and swearing to remove my kitchen sink prior to the countertop installation, but I did it. After several more hours of trying to remove the old caulking from the sink, Leslie, bless her heart, suggested that I should just buy a new sink and new faucet too, while I'm at it. So off I went to Lowe's and did just that. Found a knowledgeable guy (IMHO, Lowe's has a lot more of these than Home Depot) who set me up with everything I needed. Well, almost everything....

On the 2nd trip to Lowe's, I got the part that was missing from the faucet, extra connections to connect the 3/8" faucet to my 1/2" water supply (thanks to Dave for advising me to check on that!), and waste connections with threads that actually matched the sink traps'.

This morning I got up all set to install the sink. But first, I'll slide my stove back into place, a 60-second job, right? 2 hours of getting it in place and levelled, and finally it's there.

Now I'm ready for the sink. Off to the hardware store (trip#3) to get caulk, then back home to apply it and put the sink in place. Now under the sink to apply the clips that torque it down...oh, now that I have the granite on top of my old countertops, the screws that came with the sink aren't long enough. Back to the hardware store (trip#4) and, with only an hour or so of further fuss, the sink is in!

Now for the faucet. I've already done some pre-assembly of the faucet, so all that remains is to drop it into place and hook up the water lines. The hell you say. This would've been much easier, I think, if I had had someone to hold the faucet on top of the sink while I tried to tighten it down underneath. But, too impatient to wait for help, I struggled long enough to finally get it in.

Now to connect the drains. Hacksaw off a bit here, a bit more there, finally everything more or less fits. Except that I have a minor drip from the p-trap. This, I can live with for now.

At last it's time to connect the water! Drip, drip, tighten, tighten, drip, drip, tighten, tighten. At last no drip.

In addition to new countertops, I now have a beautiful goose-neck faucet with detachable sprayer head, shiny new sink with built-in soap dispenser.

Let's see, I started this project at 9 this morning, it's now 6pm. Maybe a plumber could've done it faster, but I did it! I did it!

Next step: Move all the furniture out of kitchen and office in preparation for new floor installation next Tuesday. Stay tuned....