The lights.
The floor. We finished Friday. The baseboards are yet to come, but we don’t count those: that’s wall, and Scott will do the baseboards. We now have a complete floor. Yay us.
Ceiling painting, dining area painting, almost done, pantry interiors, done, closet almost done. Kitchen area painting, yet to do.
Pantry 1 is functional: freezer is in, pantry shelves are in.
Pantry 2 is still under construction, but we’ve stained and varnished the doors.
Cabinets arrive on Nov 13; install to follow.
Countertop template to be made following cabinet install. Delivery and install of same uncertain date.
Backsplash tiling yet to do—
You patient people must be weary of the details, but it occupies our lives right now. I’m writing while all this is going on. I’m going to be able to put the table saw away for the rest of the operation after I cut the four shelves that are waiting out in the garage. Floor install means Jane sitting on the floor, shuffling pieces around and looking for flaws, marking same with a pencil, me picking up same, donning mask, glasses, hat, and going out across the garden to the garage to cut a piece, trekking back, delivering it, standing on the joint while Jane taps it into place, waiting while Jane measures another, repeat, repeat, repeat. I’m pretty good with the table saw, getting good with the Dremel. Our system for flooring accuracy: pencil lines with arrow on line to be cut: if no arrow, no cut, it’s just a chance line. X’s on areas of the tile that will go away, no x’s on area that will be part of the floor. And if it requires a cut that the table saw can’t make, it’s the Dremel, which can cut straight down and along any line. Great little tool, especially for this kind of flooring, where there’s a rigid repetition of whole-tile matched by 2 half-tiles. If you’ve got an anomaly like a doorway or whatever, you need the bottom of a U cut — a table saw can cut the two upright arms, but the bottom cut has to be a jigsaw or Dremel, and I’m here to tell you, the Dremel has it—you don’t have to finagle a starting hole or force a corner: just press the blade against the tile and it vibrates its way through the flat and then cuts forward. Love this thing!
Anyway, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve eaten way too much fast food, and we’re going to have to be good and diet for months to get off what Burger King and Zip’s put on. Christmas is going to be way tempting, but we have to be good. Even with the new kitchen.
Jane sat and sat this morning…watched a little telly. Had breakfast. And sat. Exhausted. Finally realizing…all the ‘puzzles’ and knotty problems of the work are solved. Measurements are done. The only thing involving cutting is a few shelves, which I do, and the baseboards which Scott will do. And our part is just about done.
Done.
She came in to report this situation, and then decided she would finish the ceiling painting. Home stretch type stuff for us.
Congratulations to you both on getting the floor done!
Happy dance! It is so nice to see the light at the end of the home improvement tunnel, and know it’s not an oncoming train!
Yesterday, I set up my Rainbow vacuum cleaner for a thorough house cleaning, after having had it at the repair shop for 2 months — it sounded like a jet airplane on takeoff, so obviously needed an overhaul. Rainbow vacuums, if you aren’t familiar, use water filtration to remove anything your vacuum sucks up. You start with a pan of clean water, snap it into the vacuum, and after you are done, you have a container of filthy water containing everything that was on your floor. Very efficient, and usually almost indestructible. It seems the repair shop may have overlooked a gasket or failed to tighten something down, because a few seconds after I turned it on and started sweeping, water began spraying out of the motor. Luckily I chose to begin using it in the bathroom, because even those few seconds turned clean water into gray, which then went all over the floor, the tub, the cabinets… oog! I think I will have to take it back and have them check it over again.
Oh, glug! on the water spray.
I actually rather enjoy hearing about projects, recipes and so forth. It also allows me the pleasure of putting in my two cents. On the other hand, long stories about myself bore me, so I rarely write them. Don’t feel constrained to tell me things that you don’t care to.
Comment
I love reading about your kitchen remodeling, and I’m hoping you’ll post more pictures as you go.
Tag the kitchen ceiling as Done.
We are now in the painting phase.
I went through a total kitchen gut-job and remodel several years ago, so in the spirit of schadenfreude I have enjoyed your reports on your kitchen. [At least you didn’t have to go down to the studs and replace insulation because the #@*%! squirrels had stolen it for nest material]
Think positively: floor is done, ceiling is done, what is in the middle is just details.
You won’t regret springing for stone counters, especially if you make pastry. And not having to freak over hot pots or squashed blackberries takes some getting used to [in a good way].
Second on the liking for stone or tile countertops. It is very nice to not worry about what to do with hot pans straight off the stove or out of the oven.
Teasel: sounds like a bad b-rated flick: “Squirrels stole my insulation!”
Speaking of… CJ, you have mentioned raccoons, ospreys, eagles, and other predators; do you ever see chipmunks or squirrels? They must task the cats something fierce if they come into view.
The squirrel infestation came to a head when the kitchen fan got blocked up. No fan action, horrible noise. I could’t see anything when I took the screen off the fan, then went out to check the exterior vent. At that point the fan unblocked itself with a gawdawfel racket and shot FibreGlas pink and semi-hairless baby squirrels a dozen feet across the courtyard. Condo maintenance was called to clean out fan housing and vent. During the Great Reno I installed an over-the-stove microwave which necessitated re-routing the fan. The guys discovered wall cavities minus insulation but plus a lot of rodent droppings.
The problem is Eastern grey squirrels, which are an introduced species. They eat practically anything and they are a real pest. They are larger and out-compete our native Douglas squirrels, which are conifer-seed eaters. [The same problem is occurring in the UK where Eastern greys have practically driven out the native red squirrels]
Squirrels, yes. I keep trying to entice them to our trees, but not much luck. No chipmunks or ground squirrels here in the city. Our cats would just stare at the squirrels. They’re not real go-getters except for mice (theoretically: never caught one) and (once, but unharmed) birds. Shu caught a dragonfly once, and when I took it, it turned out to be quite alive and unharmed: I released it and it happily tootled about the pond for weeks.