kitchen problems

we have run into some snags with the kitchen - all the little stuff is going wrong!

There is going to be a *big* delay for the granite countertop. The company that is going to do the work can't come out to even template it until Monday....and the actual installation looks like it's going to be somewhere around the last week of July. As in, almost 1 month from now!

We're supposed to wait to install the sink/faucet and the stove until the counter has been installed, which means I have a non-functional kitchen for a very long time.

The company was completely unapologetic about such a long delay and could only say "that's how these things go"....small consolation to us since we've been without cooking appliances for a week and have eaten nothing but shit the whole time.

There is *no way* we are going to be able to go for a month without a kitchen....so I have set Alberto to work on getting the faucet installed through the plywood, and the stove hooked up. We'll just have to undo when they get around to doing the work they were hired to do!



Other small problems:

the hose on the oven doesn't fit the attachment in the wall
the ring on the disposal doesn't fit the new sink
the vent hood didn't have the lights in the box it was supposed to

all small things, of course...but discovering them back-to-back-to-back in the span of an hour makes for a stressful morning :P

Here's the biggest small problem - the refrigerator is too wide for the cabinetry! I don't know how this got overlooked or if our refrigerator is just bigger than normal or what, but the unit juts out quite a lot from the front of the cabinet housing that was installed:

See how it's crooked too? That's because Alberto laid tile inside of the housing prior to putting the fridge back in, and so now it's more elevated in the back than in the front.

Remodeling is fun...

Kitchen remodel, Part I

We are in the midst of remodeling!!!

Day 1

We started on Friday night - at 4 pm Alberto started by pulling out our nasty old oven and breaking the tile backsplash that we have.

I helped! This is the only thing I could help with, unless you count making a decision on how the lighting is going in (and then changing my mind twice, which Alberto said was definitely *not* helpful).







The old cabinets came out next, and we found a beautiful shade of dark brown behind them.

Then we realized that it's what we've been looking at all along.

These cabinets, which are original to the house, had no backs. The walls were spray painted a dark brown to match the color of the cabinets.


Oh, the early eighties.....



It was difficult to take out the sink, so Alberto just took a little axe to it and split the wood enough to pull it down and out!




We also found that the cabinets were *beneath* the tile that had been laid at some point. So, we had to tear up part of the tile floor earlier than anticipated just to be able to get the cabinetry out.

By the end of Friday night, we had ripped out the bottom cabinets and pulled out the oven, vent hood and dishwasher, but the top cabinets were still left to be pulled.

Jose was coming at 7 am the next morning to get started, so Alberto decided he'd pull out the top cabinets while Jose was installing the bottom ones.

Day 2

And that's exactly what we did!

The next morning, Jose was here at 7 am on the dot, and they went to town.

This guy is definitely experienced with all of this work, he had the cabinets out of their boxes and in position before I even made it down the stairs to brew some coffee.
And so it went, ripping out top cabinets, installing bottom cabinets, and then getting started on the top cabinetry about halfway through the day.

Of course, Dudley had to be where the action was, and decided to supervise from the cozy little spot that he found in between the new cabinets, where the new oven will eventually go -

By the end of the day, we had all the cabinets hung except for the microwave insert and the wine buffet, and we also had to put all the trim and moulding around the tops and bottoms.

Day 3

We started again at 7 am Sunday morning (today), and wasted no time.

Today, all the trim and moulding has been placed, the glass inserts and cabinet shelves have been installed, and the arch valance has been installed above the sink.

Also, the wine buffet is up and it's looking great!

They also installed the new stainless steel sink and in the plywood. We will have someone out this week to template for the granite countertop and hopefully have that in soon after.

Here's Jose, the guy who's working with us. He is very friendly, very professional, and a very fast worker! If you are in the SoCal area and needs your cabinets put up, this is your man.

We just finished our day.

We have everything done except the oven and dishwasher installation, placing the refrigerator in its new 'housing', and the plumbing for the sink. We also need to put all the handles on the doors. Once the granite counter is in place, Alberto will make the custom backsplash he is planning for me.


After that we'll paint a couple of walls, hang a couple of nice lights, and we'll have a brand new kitchen!

While all this has been going on, I have kept myself very busy by addressing a variety of mini projects that needed to be done-

*hanging pictures
*touching up paint everywhere
*pruning the peach tree
*prepping the spa for Stephanie's arrival (in 3 days!)
*getting all my flower beds back in shape
*pulling weeds out of the grass and
*reorganizing the master bathroom.



Alberto is exhausted.
I am too, but I don't think it's the same kind of exhausted. :P


I'll post another blog when it's all done so you can see the finished product!

Living Room Floor is complete

Alberto has finished the living room floor, and it looks great. He used a very light color for the grout, and it really brings out all the texture in the tile.

Alberto grouted on Friday afternoon, and then buffed and sealed the floor on Saturday.


He finished up by adding a new 4 inch baseboard around the perimeter of the room.




Here's the finished product! What do you think?

Living Room Update!

Alberto continues to cut and lay tile in record time!

He set up the wet saw outside in the front yard, and once again, Dudley had to be the apprentice.

We are getting close to putting the sealer in...Here is where we are at this moment:

We have nothing to eat

Ok, completely emptying the kitchen in an attempt to prep for the remodel was a *good* idea....packing up everything I need to actually cook and/or prepare meals in the interim was a not-so-good idea. After I ponied up and cleaned out the whole place in less than a day, Alberto told me they'd start demo'ing the cabinets on Saturday. As in, 2 days from now.

I am going to have to get creative here...

Emptying the kitchen

I spent my first day of unemployment completely emptying the kitchen. The cupboards are bare, the utensils have been boxed and all that we have left is disposable plates and cups to get us through the next couple of days.

I'm doing this because we are on the verge of remodeling our kitchen now! What a long twisty road that has been, with designing the kitchen "of my dreams" with the guy from Home Depot to packing our garage with all the cabinetry, to picking out what countertop to order, to ordering appliances, to the minutiae to the nth degree about everything and everything else. And we still have to buy the vent hood, the sink, the faucet and fixtures, the lighting....I'm exhausted, and we haven't even demo'ed the first cabinet yet!

I am looking forward to my new kitchen though. With any luck, it will be completely done by the end of July and I'll be able to post some beautiful photos. Crossing my fingers........

Living Room floor

Alberto started working on the living room floor this week. We have ripped up that hideous carpet that was there and are laying down another original Alberto Serrano masterpiece :)


Here's a reminder of what the living room looked like originally:






Here are some photos of the progress so far:


The bare floor, after laying down the membrane

You can see all the tile bundled in the lower right of this photo. That's Alberto mixing the stuff that seals the tile to the floor -




Dudley doesn't quite know what to do about it all, so mainly he just hangs out close to Alberto and makes sure to get in the way!




Here's the design, beginning to take shape:


Alberto started this on Monday, and promises to have it all completed by Friday! And yes, he is still working his full time job in the midst of all of this...