December 20, 07

A lot has happened! We have a lot completed and not too much more to go!
-The kitchen is fully usable! Finishing touches are going in...lighting, drawers, flooring, baseboards soon...
-Counters are quartz: Hanstone-Tiffany Grey... LOVE IT! It looks like concrete
-Backsplash can't go in till the new 2 window replacements go in. It's beautiful glass tile red/orangie, grey and brown
-Studio is 98% done! We need to add picture rail, baseboards and remaining flooring and glass door and touch up paint. Next in there: Add the art to the walls!!

It's coming together! The area between the slider and kitchen is going to be a mail center/work station.

Our new materials... oy.
So we got a call AFTER we ordered the backsplash and flooring saying that color was no longer available. Quartz is a man made product so it's not readily available like granite. The color wasn't available till January which meant we would be without a kitchen till then! No way!
So, we reselected. Now.. the countertops are gray and look like concrete.. very elegant and contemporary... the backsplash has the same gray, red/orange and brown. The new floor tile--sorry no picture. It's taupe with a mix of black, white, and different browns.. looks really nice with everything.


Backsplash--colors kinda off

Countertop--looks like concrete

Art niche that will be right when you walk into the studio with a big 20x30 print.

November 15: All framed and electrical & plumbing!

We are now fully framed, have electrical boxes in (not wired yet) and have the new gas line, water line and plumbing all complete! We had some delays on timing of things because of some family issues, but all is good and we should be back on track.
We pre-wired the studio for the LCD tv that will go there for client projections... and also pre-wired the family room for satellite tv incase one day we want it.
Looking from master bed into family room
Kitchen
Dining room looking at fridge/oven/cooktop wall
From Hill's studio to kitchen (was dining) -YES that light is coming down!

Hills studio looking toward kitchen

Hill's studio looking toward living room

November 11-14th: Getting framed!

The framing has gone up! Not fully complete but still almost done.
We also had to change our materials due to the fabricator not being able to get our quartz until January! Those selections will be posted.
Looking from kitchen (dining) to family
Looking from living room (hill's studio) to dining
Hill's studio
In the entry looking into Hill's studio. There will be a full panel glass door here.
Looking from entry to family and kitchen
In kitchen looking to family.
In Kitchen
In Hill's studio
Entry to family
Cabinets getting put together by Sammy

November 7th:All open

As of this day... all the walls are out. Our living room, family room, dining room and kitchen are one huge room. Kinda cool. You can see the old layout on the concrete.

The specs

Our specs:
Appliance Line: GE Performance:



Cabinets:
Handles:

Countertops: Caesarstone Savannah... has some red/maroon quartz pieces--SO beautiful

Backsplash: Haven't choosen yet- Either:

The resolution onscreen is way different then the material! Both are super beautiful but I'm leaning toward the one with the white.

The flooring in the kitchen is similar to the countertop--it's porcelain but looks like filled travertine. The flooring in the rest of the house is a dark brown laminate.

Walls are being framed out!
Today we bought:
-Door for my office (living room)
-Fan for over the banquette (as sam calls the Dennys seat)
-60 studs
-Sink
-nuts and screws
-can lighting

still in search for:
-Pendant for island!

Let the demo begin!

One of Hill's best friends came down to paint her living room which she is using as an office. It looked so beautiful... pumpkin orange and creamy yellow walls with chocolate brown fireplace. We also replaced the ickie white blinds with pretty brown ones. Then we went and demolished it :( Sorry Jenn... but I won't have you come down to paint AGAIN! :(
Considering Hillary is working out of the home, we decided to turn the formal living room into her client viewing area. We got some laminate flooring to lay down in the dining, living room, entry, family room and hallway. This WAS going to be a SMALL project! Hill's uncle is a contractor so he offered to do the installation. Well... we had this big ugly 70's cut out in the wall between the family and living room that we wanted to fill. Kevin, Hill & Bev got out hammers and knocked the wall down (the only way to fill the huge hole was to rebuild it). Upon knocking it down, we noticed mold on the beams near the kitchen...

Now we were left with the question of what to do. What other mold is there in the walls? Upon lifting the wood flooring in the family room we found:
Now we were left with the decision of should we gut the kitchen and see what mold/water damage is under those cabinets? There was a water leak when we moved in with the dishwasher but they owners fixed it... maybe it dripped for a while and spread? We didn't want to have kids and have a mold problem and people get sick.
So we figured we need to remodel the kitchen anyway... may as well do it now while the rest of the house is under construction and also we have Kevin doing it for us for a great price :)
This is the extent we thought we would be doing:


So, demo of the kitchen has begun. Upon pulling up the tiles in the entry we discovered WHY the grout was all cracking:
The idiots laid tile ontop of tile!!! And as Kevin says, the buttering was horrible. So that explained that problem.
We then began to rip out the dry wall in the kitchen and dining and living. We are changing out layout to go into the dining and living. The wall is being pulled out 2' to make more room so we can have an island.