Before and after pictures so far

We've started to settle in...and become very lazy :)

Mike and I have continued to stay busy with the house, but we've slowed considerably.  We've taken time to enjoy living in a home that is all ours and get things unpacked and where they need to be.  In addition, we have started to get back to enjoying our old hobbies, cooking and sewing for me and computers and video games for Mike. 

I finally fixed my sewing machine (it was broken in the move) and made curtains and a new lunch bag for myself for spring.  Mike was finally able to get the entertainment center of his dreams hooked up, complete with all of the cables and wire zip tied and organized.  He also finally constructed his monster computer.  

As for projects around the house, I raked the backyard...again.  It likes to collect leaves and garbage.  The kitchen still has some work to do but I've slowly been working on the finishing molding and installed the flip out sink tray on the drawer front below the sink.  I also found homes for everything in the kitchen and started to unpack all of my clothes.  Mike replaced the plumbing in the basement to the laundry sink and washer with CPVC piping to replace the nasty old pipes that were down there.  

My favorite thing that we've gotten done in that last few weeks was finally getting some window treatments in the living room.  It was tough to decide what to do for the bay window that would give us privacy without breaking the bank, and allowing Callie to still use the window seat as her lookout.  We got a good deal on cordless cellular shades from Lowes, thanks to the machine breaking and having to wait forever, we wound up getting all three curtains for $100; I also had a $70 tax incentive gift card that Lowes gave us for buying so much there, so we paid $30 out of pocket for $200 shades, needless to say, I was pumped. 

In addition to all of our work, we've celebrated with a few house parties.  I am surprised at how easily our house cleans up after a get together, we might owe that to our friends though. Now for some pictures and close ups of what we've been working on!

The sink flip out tray!

Callie's leash hook by the door.

A hook in the kitchen for my Vera Bradley Apron.

The kitchen, starting to come together.

Bookshelves in the dining room.

Our vintage ice chest, which holds our liquor and party supplies. :)

My new lunch bag!

Yes, it's reversible :)

After many weeks of labor....it's a KITCHEN!!!!

We finally got the counters and sink installed this morning!  Mike's been working on the plumbing for the sink, installed a garbage disposal and the dishwasher.  Mike zapped himself with 110v over the weekend, but he's recovering nicely and learned his lesson.  Always double check the breaker when installing an electric plug.  We also worked on the entertainment system, but we have a long way to go before that's done, lots of speaker wire to run for our new 7:1 Onkyo system.  We still have some finishing work to do in the kitchen, but it's finally, almost, functional.  Hopefully Mike can finish the plumbing tomorrow!

Almost a home!

It's been a little over two weeks since we last posted and a lot has changed.  My parents came out over the President's Day weekend and helped Mike and I install the kitchen cabinets.  It was a weekend long project, screwing the cabinets together, leveling, shimming, etc.  First, we had to hang plywood on the walls since our studs weren't exactly where we needed them.  We also found a bunch of nasty stuff built up in the sink pipes (pictured below).

 In addition, Mike had to build out the valance between the cupboards and the ceiling since we added more cabinets than were originally in the kitchen.  He also had to turn the inner 90 degree corners into a diagonal since we bought actual corner cabinets.  Installing the cabinets was a frustrating project, but it was definitely worth the money we saved by doing it ourselves.  

While I helped a bit in the kitchen, most of my time was spent sanding and painting with my mom and my cousin Lauren.  We got all the trim and doorways painted in the hallway upstairs and the doors painted for the linen closet.  I also had the fun task of trimming and customizing all of the heat registers and cold air exchange registers.  The molding around them needed to be trimmed back about a 1/4 inch.  

 

After my parents left, Mike and I took a bit of a breather during the week, but I was able to get the linen closet put back together with new black hardware.  Mike and I worked to get the trim painted in the dining room and worked on finishing the valences by taping, plastering and sanding them so they looked like walls again.

 

Mike's half mustache

Our grid shelves

Last weekend, Mike and Kevin worked on installing the flooring in the kitchen.  Holy cow, what a change once that was done.  It was a bit of a frustrating job but they did a great job.  I worked on getting the house decorated a bit and cleaned the kitchen cabinets.

Monet, our dining room Betta

Mike and I also bought new chairs for the dining room since we only had two for the table.  Mike mounted the tv in the living room and cut the molding for the kitchen during the week.  Since Mike got moved to working nights, we've been trying to get things done, but it's been a bit difficult.  We did manage to get the molding ready for install and some of it is put in.  I installed the transition strips for all of the new flooring, so it's starting to look really nice.



 

The stove

 Mike and his friends got all of the appliances in the house and hooked up the fridge and microwave.  I managed to hook up the gas stove without blowing myself up and I installed the pendant light above the sink without electrocuting myself.  I feel a bit like Bob Vila.

The dishwasher

We managed to get the house ready enough to have some friends over for a housewarming party on Friday night, complete with ice cubes from the new freezer.  We are now only waiting for the counter tops and sink to be installed on March 14th and the house will be mostly done.  

 

The start of our entertainment system.

Callie loving her house!

The exceptions are replacing the windows, finishing the basement and painting our two spare bedrooms and both entryways.  There are also a ton of little things we will eventually want to replace like light fixtures, a runner on the stairs and all of the outside yardwork, but we're going to take a little break once the kitchen is done to unpack and relax a little bit.

Our house is starting to feel like a home...even without a kitchen!

Our counter top

Well a lot has transpired in the past week and a half.  Last week, Mike and I finally splurged and bought the kitchen cabinets, counter top and sink.  It was a pretty interesting process and took all of about 15 minutes.  We ordered the in-stock cherry cabinets at Lowes and our counter tops are Corian solid surface in a color called silt.  The undermounted sink came free with our order, so we are getting an 8 inch deep stainless steel Revere sink.  We had the cabinets delivered over this past weekend and the counter top will be installed mid March once they've custom manufactured it for us.

Our kitchen floor

We also got some bad news about our kitchen flooring.  The place we ordered it from called us after the measure and gave us a price twice of what they quoted us for.  We decided to look at some other options and settled on installing the subflooring ourselves and picked out a click type flooring that is almost identical to the linoleum we had picked out.  We bought all of the materials for the floor this past weekend and Mike and Kevin did some manual labor pounding in almost an entire 5 pound box of nails into the floor by hand.  In addition to all of that, I was able to get the dining room painted and the kitchen primed.

We also managed to completely clog the basement sink beyond what we want to repair since it is an ancient concrete double basin tub, so we ordered a new utility sink.  Needless to say, laundry is piling up since our washer drains into the sink.  Mike was able to get the basement organized and I finally ripped the carpeting off the stairs going into the basement.  I knew it was time when the guys delivering our cabinets were joking about them.  Seven of the treads were hot pink and the last two were blue...yikes.  Like many of our other discoveries, they stairs might as well have been outside judging by the amount of dirt under the carpeting.

This week has been hectic but Mike has been working on building the valence out for the upper cabinets since we are putting more cabinets in than were originally in the kitchen.  I was able to get some of the kitchen painted and Mike unpacked all of the cabinets.  Our most exciting change this week was that our carpet was FINALLY installed.  We ordered it all the way back in mid January so it's been a long wait, but totally worth it.  We moved some furniture in and we are both loving it...Callie does too.  We are also excited because there is enough left over carpet for us to have bound into a runner for the stairs.  We're going to install it ourselves to save on labor costs...which are astronomical to do a stair runner.

My parents and my cousin Lauren are coming out this weekend to help us finish installing the cabinets and flooring.  Once that is done, we can finally move our new appliances in and unpack the kitchen.  We're hoping our new laundry sink will be in so we can install that as well.  Things are finally coming along and we're definitely looking forward to slowing down and starting to enjoy the house...not that we still won't have a million and one things we still want to do.

The kitchen with new subflooring and a close up of all the nails.

Mike working on the valence.

Callie loves her house.                      The peachy dining room.

Some of the army of cabinets and the kitchen getting painted.

                                                 

The living room with carpet...and a mess.