May 3

May 3.  Our plan was to be done on May 1.  Ah, well....we're getting close.

Larry's out in San Franciso, so he is just seeing the room now, too!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything...glad you are still here watching!  We've just been painting, and waiting for cabinets.

They are coming in, slowly but surely, and they are wonderful!!! Check 'em out!

We are on the third color green on the walls, and the third color for the woodwork.  Jeez.  I'm stopping here. 

The first picture is  a closeup of the cabinets and floor.

Here is the built-in bench

and the fabric we'll use for the cushions...

Here's the long wall with the sink, cooktop, dishwasher.  The white folding table is more or less where the island will be.

Here's the whole wall on the east side.

And the bar and stereo.  The plants are mint, for mojitos, of course!

I've been moving into the room, bringing stuff in from everywhere we stashed it.  It's all working well, and it feels wonderful to make coffee and toast toast and eat in our kitchen.

We're weary of the construction.  I do believe that we will be able to have water by the end of the week.  If not, I just may cancel the whole project.

China Cabinet!

Next up, the china cabinet.  Remember the closet in the dining room?  It's long been a dream of mine to get rid of it and put in a buffet, with lit up glass shelves.  Guess what?  Larry (demo), Rob (cabinets) and Allen (lighting) are going to make that dream come true.  Here's Larry, doing dancing with delight at another building project.  In the soon-to-be-gone-closet!

And still to come:  the booth area, the pantry, the vanity.  Woo-Hoo!

Day 44 - Cabinet Day

This is the day we've been waiting for, working towards, wondering about.  Have we made all the right choices?  Will we have enough room?  Is the style right?  Is it worth all the work????  Very happily, the answer to all the questions is "don't worry, be happy!!!"  

Rob's truck rolled in, full to the brim with cabinets.  

Rob, Larry and Richard unloaded them all.  The second photo shows Rob and Larry carrying in the cabinets that will be the bar.  First set in, hmmm.

This first picture is Larry checking out the set of cabinets that houses the oven and fridge.  These are all HUGE pieces of furniture that they moved in and installed.  

We are thrilled beyond words with the way they look.  Rob's a genius.

Richard installed them, and it wasn't easy, and we were really glad we weren't doing it!

Allen came by to put in the undercounter lights and generally tune things up.   He left all the lights on, dimmed down and gorgeous, so when we came home after Sean's talent show the room just took our breath away.  Can't wait to show you!

Sean sang and played guitar last night in a 10-act talent show.  He was just great, and really shines in the spotlight!  

New colors!

We're on our second round of colors!

This is the view from the living room looking the whole length of the kitchen.  

We're channelling Yvonne and getting bold (it's only paint!)

After we painted, I realized that the colors are exactly the colors in the kitchen rug (now on the floor of the dining room, in the forefront of this photo...),!  So, I guess we'll use the rug in the new kitchen!!!

 We spent today in Menards picking out just the right pieces of wood for the baseboards (maple in the back hall and oak in the kitchen), and the woodwork around the windows and doors.

Cabinets Friday!!!!!   So close!

Just for fun

I thought you might enjoy a "Day 1" and "Day 33" comparison...

Not quite a before and after...but cool to see!  Use the window over the sink for orientation!

Check out (in the "before" shot) the hole in the wall above the cabinets.  We made that so that we could look and feel around to see what is actually IN that wall, to see if it was possible to actually remove the wall.  Now we know exactly what WAS in that wall!~

Day 33 - Now for the fun part!

The heavy construction is officially complete.  We've begun to get our house back!

The floor is in, the ceiling and walls are done, the electricity works (thanks, Allen!)

We took down the plastic wall that kept the dust out of thehouse (HA!) and we reclaimed the dining room.  Here's how the dining room looked...

We visited Rob Higley in his cabinet shop.  What a thrill!  The cabinets are just beautiful!  Here are some shots of that day...  the long run of cabinets is the set that will hold the sink and the cooktop.  Larry took a moment to sit in a drawer space.

Now we are deciding on finishes.  We're going to wallpaper the back hall in maps we've collected over the years.

Here's a shot of the finished floor, it's birch, and BEAUTIFUL!

It's officially Spring here in Minnesota.  Here's a shot of Larry and David going down to the sauna on Thursday night.  Look at the lake:  that's the big iceberg that is the remnant of winter's frozen lake, being pushed eastward and out of our bay.  As of this morning the lake is completely open (as far as I can see...) and it's ready for summer fun.  So get out your calendar, pack your suit, and come see us!!!

The cabinets are going in on Friday, all the appliances are coming in that day.  Stay tuned, and thanks for watching!

With love from construction land...Kathryn and Larry.

Day 28 - The wood floor goes in

This floor is a masterpiece!  Maestro LaBonté (with the on-and-off help of his apprentices KTS and Sean) has

1. planed and leveled it
2. reinforced it by adding new stringers every 2-3 feet
3. installed a 3/4" plywood subfloor
4. put down aluminum sheeting all over for heat distribution
5. overseen the installation of the p-flex tubing for the infloor heat
6. cut and nailed this incredible new subfloor of plywood cut to fit around the tubes...

It's a work of art, truly.  Today the new floor is being installed.  Birch!  It will run perpendicular to the joists and the piping.  The tubing has 60 pounds of pressure so it will be well apparent if a nail goes astray.  We are holding our breath....

A visit to Portland!

I took a break from the kitchen, and winter,  and went out to Portland with Annette to visit Barbara.  She just moved into a wonderful new apartment just 2 blocks from the river in a wonderful, vibrant neighborhood.  

She has a third floor porch and a big bank of windows that look out over the street and into the middle of a big, beautiful tree!  

It only needed a bit of paint in the kitchen, so the midnight sister-crew did the job!

Here's a shot of Barbara and Annette at Barbara's office.  Check out all the projects she's working on!  

Day 18 - drywall nearly complete

This is Dan and Mark...working on the drywall.  It looks FABULOUS!!!

Rob is going to start the cabinets early next week.  We've made all our decisions except the hardware.  

I'm off to Portland to spend time with Barbara and Annette.  Barbara thinks we're going to paint!

Day 14 - Relocated Chute and Finished Subfloor

We finished the subfloor!  Sean and I thought that Larry had lost his mind...after planing the floor nice and level, the dymamic floor team (K,S and L) measured, cut and nailed (thousands of) 2x4 stringers between the joists to make the floor solid. OK, maybe about 100.

Next, we quilted the floor with 3/4" plywood, running perpendicular to the joists and the final maple floor strips.  

You can land a 747 on the floor.  It's wonderful to step on.  Quiet and strong.  

Did I mention: I tripped when the floor was open...landed with all my weight on a joist, on my shin, and now have a bruise from my ankle to my knee?  It's especially wonderful to have the FLOOR in again!!!

In the "it's always something" category:  we forgot to pull up the romex for the island's electricity.  It's under the subfloor somewhere.  We should be able to map and find it....

And the final thing before the drywallers come, I moved the opening of the chute from one side of the chute (where the new oven will be) to the other (inside the new closet).  From the beginning I was unwilling to give up the laundry chute, and it has survived!!!  Functional!!!

As have we, so far. 

Day 11 - A plane day!

Tee Hee, a plane day, get it?

Larry's planing the joists (this man needs a HOBBY!).

The floor wasn't completely level, but it will be now!!!

It's been "interesting", walking from the dining room to the lower level, which is where our kitchen is now, balancing on joists.  No one went through!

Day 10 He-Man Construction

A quiet family day today...

Larry and Sean ripped up the original subfloor, Kathryn cut it up into fireplace/suana sized pieces.

(Simone's in a library somewhere writing about the anthropology of food.)

Day 9 - Electrical Inspection

Passed electrical inspection!

Onward to begin assembling the new kitchen!

We took a break to go to the St. Patrick's Day Parade in St. Paul.

Miles of green!

Interesting shot

OK...this one is out of order, I know, but it's an interesting shot.

Here's a shot that shows the feel of the project...

just before the wall came down.

The plumbers are removing all the pipes from the wall.

You can see the false wall that Dan and Don put up before they demolished the Dr/kitchen wall.

Lots of ladders, people, work going on.

With a nice visit from Carole (LaBonte) Kelly!

Days 6-8 Wiring the weekend away

Allen is amazing.  And Larry.

You should have seen these guys working on the electricity.

Or should I say, helping me with the electricity!!!!!

We spent a looong 3-day weekend getting all the wiring done.

Some of those fixures or boxes were all but impossible to fish wire to, or get a box in, or whatever, and those guys, covered head to toe in plaster (and other) dust just plowed ahead and got the job done.  We went through over 500 feet of romex.  Oh, my.

We finished late Monday afternoon, marking the one WEEK anniversary of the start of the project.  Plumbing, electric, walls all roughed in.  Inspections are going well, electrical inspector coming this AM.  We have never been this up-to-code!!!!!

We're pooped.  

Day 5 - A dream come true.

It's the day we've been dreaming of since we moved in...

we opened the wall between the kitchen and the dining room!

Mike's plumbing team moved all kinds of pipes that had been in the wall,

and Dan and Don, the wonderful guys who gutted the room and are doing the carpentry, took care of the wall.  They had to put in a double header, and a new post with new footings in the basement to cary the load of the house.

Amazing!!!!

Carole Kelly is visiting from Chicago for a nice, relaxing weekend...

Designing the opening

This is Don and Dan...taking the measure of the peak of the existing peak so that the new opening matches.

Wow.

Day 3 - 6 degrees

Heat and water turned off.  

We said a fond farewell to the radiators...and are TRILLED at the one under the kitchen sink going away for good!  Sold them to a used radiator dealer.  For enough to buy a light switch.  Maybe two.

Larry tore up the bathroom floor and found that the whole wall that is the outside wall and near the foundation has ZERO insulation.  Bare wood and air.  Filling that in with foam should cure our frozen pipes.  

The one inch of 50 year old insulation in the sink area will be replaced, so our cups won't be cold in the cupboards.  Found lots of evidence of the old mice infestation (well, the mice weren't old, but the infestation is a thing of the past)  Fond memories that I'm sure Mom, Dad and Dan will remember.

Since the ceiling is out we are having the upstairs bathroom replumbed (thanks,  Yvonne and Ric, great idea).  

This is really going fast.

Thanks for watching, we enjoy your company!

March 10

DAY 2

Larry's working on the floor in the back hall.  He's taking the old subfloor off so he can level it.  Getting ready for the in-floor heat!

The sign above the basement door says "Please remove your shoes"!

Day ONE 5 pm part 2

A view into the back hall where the closet used to be.

(the clothes chute is still there...)

Day ONE 5PM

Oh, My, is it too late to change my mind????

March 9, 2007.  

And so it begins!  No turning back now!

Here is the last 24 hours in the kitchen.

Don Metcalf and his crew showed up this AM and the sawsalls are humming.

Larry's capping off the plumbing and radiators.

Here we go!

Greetings, one and all!  Or maybe just one...or maybe just me.

If you are reading this, welcome aboard! 

We're rehabbing our kitchen this Spring.  The appliances are dying, the drawers are falling out (except the ones that AJ has fixed with FULL EXTENSION GLIDERS over the years...)

and it's time.

We've been planning this for awhile.  Over a year ago my sisters came and we measured, planned, dreamed.  Last month the shopping, planning, scheming started in full swing, and now, we're really ready!  Monday is "crowbar day"...

We invite you along for the ride...