Yesterday while I worked from home, the counter installers showed up.  Both ryan and I had forgotten what the counters actually looked like, it was so hard to choose one we liked originally.  Once I saw that first pieces of stone though I knew it was perfect.  We love them!

We ate dinner last night sitting at the counter 🙂  Unfortunately the main picture I took I got major sun glare so you can’t see it too clearly but still…

Counters installed!

Sink installed!

Close up of the stove area

They did a good job with the seams, they are hard to see (i am pointing to it here).

The counter is grey/black/white with small bits of silver throughout.  It matches the stainless steel perfectly!  Now we just have to decide on a tile that matches this AND the cabinets 🙂

I picked up the last base cabinet last night and Ryan got it installed along with putting the stove in place.   I still need to run an outlet for the stove and we need to get the plumber out for the gas line but he might be able to come next week (it’s the guy that did our new heat and a/c – he needs to add a heat drop to the kitchen anyhow and can do the stove at the same time).  So there is a chance I will have a working stove the weekend after xmas!

Stove and last cabinet in place!

The counter installers are coming to template on friday (I got confirmation) so here’s hoping they can install in 2 weeks or less like they said.

Now we can relax on the kitchen, get ready for xmas (lots of wrapping to do!).  After xmas we can get back to kitchen work!  And once the counters get installed we can start the hunt for the perfect tile backsplash and floor!

Merry almost Christmas!

HAHAHA – please ignore the demolished state of the front livingroom, the tree is in the cupola!  At least there’s one working outlet 🙂

We had a very long weekend, full of late nights.  Luckily so far Alex has taken pity on us and Saturday she slept later than ever which was awesome!

Friday night we got the final coat of spackle on in the kitchen and back hall before dinner.  Then after dinner, once it was dry Ryan got the whole kitchen sanded, then I vacuumed it down and we got a coat of primer on the ceiling and walls.  We got tinted primer so we really can get away with one coat of pain most likely.  It was 2am when we finished priming so we called it quits and we ALL slept till 8am saturday (alex usually gets up at 6:30).

Ceiling primed!

kitchen primed!

Saturday we got a coat of paint on the ceiling and walls while our neighbor was over to play with Alex.  Ryan also got the last piece of cement board put down in the kitchen section (it had to be re-cut).

Painted!

And everything moved out of the way to start cabinets

And finally it was time to start cabinets.  First we had to unpack the cabinets, we decided to start with the base cabinets because it was almost impossible for us to do the uppers since Ryan mostly had to do them by himself since I was watching Alli and because the base ones are what we need in to get our counters templated and we need to get that done this week if we can.

So we dry fit the first few cabinets and Ryan started the long arduous process of getting the cabinets leveled and installed.  By bedtime Ryan had the cabinets between the stove and dishwasher all installed.  We also dry fit the 2 cabinets to the right of the dishwasher to see where we were at.

Cabinets going in!

And the end cabinets ready to go the next day.

We slept even later on sunday, Alli was very accommodating and after waking up to eat and play a bit, she occupied herself in her pac n play in our room while we slept in.  It was very necessary.  Sunday we didn’t have any helper so Alli spent a little time in the kitchen with us 🙂  She thoroughly enjoyed herself!

Alli and Fitz, big helpers in the kitchen install project

Ryan got the rest of the base cabinets installed!  We are just waiting on one last cabinet that is coming Tuesday night (the original showed up broken), but it goes on the other side of the stove so it worked out well at least.  Hopefully we can get that cabinet installed quickly tuesday night.  I have to call and set up a template appt for this week if they can do it.  They have a 10-14 day time between template and install and we have xmas next week so no idea when we’ll get installed counters!

Cabinets with doors on!

Once the base cabinets were done, Alli was napping so we pulled out the pantry cabinets and got a start on that craziness that surrounds the monstrous fridge.  With a break after nap time was over to hit up home depot and then to buy our xmas tree it was back to it.  Once Alli was in bed we got one of the cabinets above the fridge installed and the other clamped in.  There was a lot of trying to figure out how to get the fridge with the surround kit to fit and still allow cabinet doors to open but we think we got it figured out, it just took a lot of time tonight.

Pantry cabinets

So we are positioned very well. I really only hoped to get the base cabinets done and we got a start on the fridge section so I’m excited! I was able to move all the uppers over to the diningroom area, clean out the livingroom and we got the tree up in the cupola!  Tomorrow night I’ll probably get the lights and decorations down and start on that.  Last week was a lot of kitchen work so hopefully this week we can focus on christmas (minus one night to install the one last cabinet).  We’ll see how it goes.

It’s so awesome seeing a kitchen come back together!  This is certainly the hardest project we have taken on.  Even harder than the built-ins.  The walls and floors are so out of whack that nothing was easy.  Now I just need a recovery day (Ryan probably more so) – too bad it’s back to work tomorrow!

Well Monday night was a bust, I had a migraine and Ryan had work to do late into the night.  Tuesday however was MUCH more successful.  Ryan got home just as I was done with my dinner break after putting Alex to bed.  We got right to work spackling into the night (Ryan much later than I). We got a coat on the ceiling seams and screws as well as another on the walls.  We got the corner bead up on the bumpout and spackled.

Ryan finished sheetrocking the tiny bumpout by the back hallway and put up the corner beads there then spackled.  I got durabond90 put up around the ceiling where there are gaps.  It’s not done but I got a first round done.  Luckily screw drivers don’t wake up peanut while she sleeps, she slept great through all the noise.  By 11 (3 hours in) I was done and went to bed while Ryan finished up getting a coat on the back hallway.  It was a very productive night!

outside wall, not much left to do since most of this wall is covered by cabinets

Stove wall and ceiling shot

new bumpout on the left there that ryan finished up

fridge wall

Wednesday was also productive although much easier than tuesday night because all the prep work was done (no more tightening screws for one thing!).  We got another coat on everything in the kitchen and back hallway.  Finished up filling gaps with durabond too. We’re not taping the upper corners since we’ll be doing crown molding and they’re mostly filled in with durabond.  The walls I’m considering done (the ones covered by cabinets) so we just did a full coat on the ceiling (screws and seams), back hallway, bumpout wall and all outside corners.  Then the top 2 feet on the cabinet walls.  It went pretty quick, 2 hours or so tonight.

One more coat on everything, hopefully we’re up for it tonight after Ryan’s holiday party (the good thing is that we have to leave early to get Alex to bed so we won’t be getting a much later start than previous nights).