Just a Lazy Sunday

I spent the day picking at the boxes of kitchen stuff. There are only a few shelves I can use at this point as they all need to be washed down and have new shelf liners. The problem is with no plumbing (water) in the kitchen yet it’s hard to make much progress with just a bucket and running back and forth to the bathroom for refills of fresh water.

I got through 2 boxes and gave up. I really need the shelves fixed in the new cabinets so I can figure out what I can put there and what needs to go back into the existing cabinets. I also have to keep the counter clear until the tile people get here.

counters 004 copy

I have a big box of cleaning stuff that needs to be under the sink but I can’t put that away  until the plumber is done. Oh and did I mention the glassware is covered in dust from the sawing and sanding and all needs to be washed. Of course the dishwasher isn’t working yet either! Same thing with the stove. It’s disgusting. The stove top is covered with a fine dust! No way can any food be prepared on that stove top. I think I know why people add new appliances when they re-do their kitchens. Its to  avoid the clean up of the old appliances!  I hope I have an old toothbrush so I can get into the little cracks and crevasses.

kitchen2 011 copy

I think I’m going to cut back on my Thanksgiving dinner. I’m beginning to doubt I’ll have the kitchen ready for the preparation. I’ll have the turkey and maybe some green beans (from a can), sweet potatoes, stuffing (Stove top) and gravy. Skip the mashed potatoes, glazed carrots and cranberries, and desert. Just stick with the basics. That will be more than enough food for just for me and will minimize the pots and pans I’ll need to locate!

The Thanksgiving Turkey float  during th

Of course, I’ll be watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade 🙂  and I will be counting my blessings because for all my complaining, I still have a very blessed life.

Renovations Continue

Oh Oh! After the cabinet guys left I discovered that shelves in the new cabinets (not the refaced ones) were unstable. My observation … they are too narrow but I am not a cabinet maker.

counters 005 copy

Even so they need to be stabilized so they don’t fall down all the time. I called the 800 customer care line and explained my problem. They said they would let the project manager know and have him call me. That was yesterday morning.

7 am my phone rang. The counter folks were early! They were out front and ready to start the installation. I told them give me 5 minutes to get dressed and I’ll let you in. By 9 am the big pieces were in. It took another 2 hours for the back splashes, holes for the facet etc on the sink and the caulk. I don’t know how anyone else will feel about the counters but I absolutely love them!

counters 001 copy

Such an improvement over the old white counters. The greens in the pattern match the soft green of the cabinets perfectly too. You never know if that tiny sample will really look as good in real life as it did in your imagination.

counters 002 copy

Everything has to set and dry so the plumber won’t be out until Monday. 🙁

counters 006 copy

About 9:30 the phone rang again. It was the project manager. I explained the problem with the shelves to him and he said he’d send the cabinet guys back…if not today he’d send them Saturday. I told him I could wait til Monday because I needed to go shopping Saturday for new shelf liners and a few other things to organize the cabinets. I want to start putting stuff away.

counters 004 copy

I scheduled the tile install with him for Wednesday and Friday. I guess they do all the tile first then come back the next day to caulk. Since Thursday is Thanksgiving we’re going to do Wednesday and Friday. The kitchen will be functional to cook even if its not 100% done.

This is dragging out longer than they told me but it’s partly my fault. I couldn’t go Monday – Friday because of work commitments on Thursday. That made the job spill over to Monday.

The tile people could have come Monday but I want to add another outlet near the stove so my electrician needs to get here  to put in the box for the outlet before they tile. I need to give him time to come in first.  I am scheduled to work in the Foxboro office on Tuesday so can’t have anyone here then so Wednesday was the only logical choice. But we are making progress!

 

 

 

Cabinets Are In!

Day 3 and the cabinets are all installed! I picked such simple clean lines. I love them. I hope the plain doors will be easier to clean than my old ones. The cooking grease used to get into the ridges in the old doors and nothing I did would get it out.

cabinets 002 copy

They closed in the soffit above the upper cabinets. I didn’t realize that. I thought they were only going to remove the railing and cover the wall in back. OOPS. Oh well, this looks good too. I think I will need to stencil a design of some type on the blank soffit.

cabinets 003 copy

Tomorrow will be a day off for them. I have to go to our Foxboro office in the morning, dentist mid afternoon and the Somerville office at 5 pm so no way there’s any time for workmen.

cabinets 001 copy

Friday the counter tops go in! Yay! The stove has to be disconnected and pulled out for them to install the counters. I hope they turn it back on once the counters are in. I’d hate to go the whole weekend without a stove or oven!

cabinets 006 copy

Day 2 of the Great Kitchen Makeover

I awoke to a flooded kitchen! Yup the bucket containing the drip had overflowed during the night. I grabbed a bunch of old towels and began the mop up.  Right at 8 am the door bell rang and my two perky installers arrived ready for a full days work. I explained that the pail had over flowed and we pondered the problem for a bit. Then they started on their main business, the cabinets.

002 copy

I went out to locate our property manager who then called in a drain specialist to address the water problem. They only made it worse so the cabinet guys came up with a plan that seemed to solve the drip. They diverted it to a higher point so it was now running downhill into the drain. After all water can’t run uphill.

001 copy

The cats were underfoot all day! The noise was deafening with the sanders and hand saw. You would have thought they would have stayed hidden with all the commotion!

003 copy

The plastic drapes were hung today as a lot of sawdust was being generated, They had their big shop vac running to add to the mayhem.

004 copy

But I am beginning to see progress. Can’t wait til the doors go on and I can really see the new look! A lot different from those old dark cabinets.

005 copy

I think the kitty cats are down for the count. Should be a quiet night!

Let The Tear Out Begin

Things really started happening fast. Friday the counter top people came in and made templates of the counters. Then Saturday I got a call from Home Depot that the materials had come in and they were ready to start. They wanted to start Monday!

kitchen2 008 copy

I had Sunday to take everything out of the cabinets! I am now living in boxes. That show about hoarders has nothing on me.

kitchen2 011 copy

I used the clean out as an opportunity to toss all the old  plastic containers that always seem to get saved and accumulated. Do I use them? Sometimes but much less since I’ve been working from home so bye bye. I’ll just start collecting again.

kitchen2 010 copy

2 guys from Home Depot arrived right on time at 9:30. It was a nasty rainy day out so they didn’t want to set up all their equipment in the rain so all they did was the tear out. Good bye yellow tiles! They were done by noon.

kitchen2 016 copy

The cats had a lot of exploring to do.

kitchen2 014 copy

The guys left the fridge pulled out for me so I could vacuum the coils and mop the floor behind it. They found a treasure trove of cat toys. Both of the installers told me they had cats a of their own at home so they found Buddy’s antics funny and they saved all of the toys from behind the fridge!

kitchen2 013 copy

They found a leak under the sink but since a plumber will be coming out anyway we just stuck a bucket under it for now.

While they were tearing everything out I got a call from the counter people. They will come out between 8-9 on Friday to install the counters.  Everything should be done by Friday!

The plumber might have to come out on Saturday but we are hoping not. I have to buy the over the oven microwave and arrange for my electrician to come out and we will be done!

Wow!