Slide Show

Hi gang! For those of you that couldn't make it last night, I put together a slideshow of some of my favorite parts before/during/after the remodel. Check it out!

FIN!

Hello everyone from 5112!

Many of you have been waiting for the final chapter in our home renovations, and here we are! Mike and his guys completed their work Tuesday, October 27th, by removing the stoop that used to lead into the kitchen.

While the contractor's part is done, Dave and I still have work to finish. We spent this past Sunday installing the baseboards and painting trim. Dave worked very hard and got all the baseboards done- they look great! Oh, and another great thing? No one lost limbs or fingers in the process ;-)

We've gotten curtain tie-backs and the really make the windows look 'finished' when they're pulled back. We're still working on getting some stools for the bar; we can't find anything that we like *that* much. Rather than settle on something we're not 100% happy with, we'll continue looking until we've exhausted all options.

Hey, bartender....

Oh! The POD is gone! Dave made one last push to get out the rest of the 'stuff' that was left in the POD last week, and the fine POD folks took it away. I can't tell you how fantastic it is to have full use of our driveway again! I'm sure the neighbors are happy too.

We're slowly moving back into the den. As you can tell, the desk is back in (and not in pieces on the back porch and in our bedroom!). Once we seal the floor, we'll get bookshelves and all the books that currently line our spare bedroom floor will make it back to their rightful home.

I've made dinner in our kitchen EVERY day this week, and even baked a pie tonight. It's nice to be back into a routine and not eat out every night. I have to admit that I kind of like using the dishwasher, even though I resisted having one for so long. It's a great convenience, especially when you're cooking every night. And note the fancy wine rack Dave installed last night.... *loves* it!

We started to re-hang the pictures on the 'family walls' in the hallway. It's really starting to look comfortable in here again, and the echo (ehco! echo! echo!) is slowly going away. There's just a couple of boxes to empty in the spare room, but that can't be done until we get the surround sound installed.

What else is left? Well, there's the painting of the bathroom and kitchen, painting the outdoor trim around the 3 new doors and some smaller outdoor cleaning projects that always seem to be hanging at the bottom of the 'To do' list.

Dave and I are thrilled with our new home! We can't thank Mike, Trent, Andy and Adrian enough for their hard work and the skills and talent they brought to our renovation. In the long run, it really didn't take that much time to bring our little house from outdated 1957 to 2009 chic. We also would like to thank our friend Scott, who's architectural designs and plans were the inspiration to start the renovation in the first place. We owe you a bottle of the Captain my friend!

People have been begging for more pictures, but to be honest, you have to come visit to get the full effect. I tried taking pictures for over a half hour last night, but there's nothing different from what I've already taken and shown. I mean it when I say you're all invited to the housewarming on December 5th (if anyone other than Bill and crazy 'anonymous contractor' are reading the blog?). Evites will be going out sometime next week. If you don't get one, drop me a line and I'll give you the details. After all....

'The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it'

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

The beginning of the end

Mike and crew came back to finish what they started back in August (is it really the middle of October?), and I'm happy to say that we are now the proud owners of a new front door, countertops, sink and even some new funky backsplash tile- our 'little' renovation project is almost completed!

Before....

....After

After spending 20 minutes at Lowe's trying to figure out which grout color to select for the backsplash (I'm not inclined to the artsy aspect of things like Dave is, and he's in Houston), I arrived home to find the new door installed and it's even fancier than what it looked like in the brochure (Phew!).

Mike said the door threw the guys for a loop- after they took out the old door, they realized that the door opening was nowhere near square, and that they would need the 'heavy duty tools' to make a bigger and more square opening for the new door. I think Mike's exact words were that it (meaning the doorframe work) was a 'major pain in the ass'. At least this project has been anything but dull for them! *GRIN*

I marveled at the door for a minute before I realized the best was yet to come. I burst through the door, and there it was, in its glorious Granola color, the Corian counters!! Even as I type this, I can't stop looking at the kitchen. Can I also mention how nice it was to wash my dishes in the sink tonight, not the shower?!

I picked out the sink all by myself!

Trent got about 80% of the backsplash done today, too. It's gorgeous! The color of the greens really brings a nice depth to the kitchen too. By tomorrow, the rest of the backsplash and the grouting should be done. All that's left for the contractors to do (at least I think?) is some minor trim work, hooking up the dishwasher and sealing the grout. From our end, we just need to finish baseboards, paint trim and paint the bathroom (we painted the hall this past weekend). Not very much left before the housewarming party (Save the date- December 5th!!).

Bird's-eye view

If anyone would have told me two months ago that our house would look *this* good in just the span of a couple of months, I would have never believed them. I mean, I knew it would look good, but, WOW is all I can say (with a little giggling added in there too). In it's 52 years, 5112 has never looked so good.

The living room from the corner of the kitchen

This blog brought to you by....

Dave and I's favorite past-time here lately has been to go to Lowe's to get supplies for the house, then follow this uber-expensive trip up with a visit to our local Buffalo Wild Wings to have a beer to celebrate (or is that forget?) our latest purchases.

Tonight we hope that we've made our final high-dollar trip to our neighborhood Lowe's (where everyone knows *our* name...). We bought our kitchen sink faucet and our front door lock, as well as picked out colors for the hallway (Light Rafia, as of right now) and the bathroom (Sailboat, as of right now). It's amazing how a little project can spiral into a whole house project!

I've been MIA lately, as there's not been much happening since we moved back in 2 weeks ago. Well, at least not contractor-wise. We've managed to empty about 90% of the POD out (just a couple boxes, the top of the desk and the first fridge are left. The fridge *may* be sold?). Everything in the kitchen is put away nicely in their drawers, save for a few items. It will be very nice to not clean our dirty dishes in the shower! It will be even more wonderful not to eat out every night, too!

We got word today that the final installs should be starting later this week. Can I get a HURRAY?!

The front door that arrived 3 weeks ago damaged is finally scheduled to be here by the end of the week (how does a company that mass produces doors not have one in stock- are we that blah that we bought a door that the rest of the population is demanding right now?). The counters are finished being cut and shaped, and once those go in, it means the sink, the faucet and the backsplash can go in.

And that should be just about it, except some small finishing projects. Then it's on to the rest of the house for Dave and I. Save the date now for an Open House party on Saturday, December 5th. No time yet, but know that if you read this blog, you're definitely invited (however, if you live out of town, you better find lodging or bring your tent!!).

Hope to have more pictures and a more 'interesting' update by this weekend =)

We're Home!

*Wiping brow*.... Phew, what a fast and furious few days it's been! We moved home last Friday!

The cabinets started being installed Thursday of last week, and the rest of the appliances made their trek from the POD to the kitchen on Friday. The kitchen is gorgeous, even without countertops, wow!

After a brief homecoming party Thursday, the real work (for Dave and I at least) began Friday night. We stayed up until 2 am painting and unpacking. Initially, the color we picked for the living room, Eucalyptus, was horribly green and we considered that we may need to run to Lowe's for a change in paint. Luckily, when we woke up Saturday morning, we decided that the color would stay, as it had dried a very nice color.

Funny story- we cooked our first meal in the new kitchen Friday night, and talk about microwave gourmet.... However, we had to end up cooking by candlelight because we kept tripping a breaker! Our new microwave is super nuclear in strength; if we've got the fans and lights in the dining room, the light in the kitchen and the light in the carport on while we're using it, the circuit will be overloaded and pop the breaker. It took us tripping the breaker 3 times before we realized what was going on! Luckily, Mike said he can bump the breaker up 5 amps and that should be enough.

We spent nearly 3 hours at Ikea Saturday morning choosing out living room furniture- we knew that being back in the house we wouldn't want to be sitting on the floor watching tv, so new furniture was a priority. We picked out a couch, otoman, chair and entertainment unit... and as luck would have it, Ikea delivered the stuff later Saturday afternoon.

Besta Entertainment Unit

Kramfors couch and otoman

By the end of the weekend, all of the painting in the living room and den was finished (the den color is so pretty, it's my new favorite room in the house), all the furtniture was assembled (thank you, Sarah for helping Dave with the entertainment unit!) and some of the baseboards started to be nailed in. We packed a lot of work into 48 hours, and I'm still not sure we're fully recovered.

But the house looks *so* great. You see the pictures, am I lying? Our mantra for Sunday afternoon was 'We can't believe how big the house looks', and it still blows my mind. I was excited during demo, thinking of what a change the house would be, but I never knew just *how* great it would look when all was said and done. Dave keeps asking who's house we've broken into, cause 5112 is not the same house we moved out of 5 weeks ago.

Dave put the kitchen table back in on Monday

I, being the organizer that I am, have been unpacking boxes slowly but surely. The fun part has been deciding where to put all of the kitchen gadgets, since I have much more room than before. I've unpacked 3 boxes so far, and later this week I hope to start hauling stuff out of the POD. YAY!

Covered in drywall dust and *exhausted*

As much as the house looks finished, we still have a little work to go: front door, marble window sill instalation, transitions from the kitchen to the dining room and from the dining room down to the den, countertops, sink, backsplash.... All of which shall be finished in time. We are glad to be home and even more pleased with the outcome so far.