Anticipation and dread...

[Kay/NC]

...is what I feel this morning. Have been gradually moving things out of the kitchen...stashing storage crates in the sauna and arranging stuff I know we will still need to be able to reach daily in the back room. Still a lot to move today and tomorrow. Tearing out the kitchen down to the dirt on Monday. The guys talked it over on Thanksgivng Day. Mike and hired man will start early, while son is on his way here. He is putting together the first small load of materials for reframing the floor; but, we won't know precisely what is causing the problem until we pull it out. That is what we hope to figure out by the end of the day on Monday. By the time he arrives, the men here will have gutted the cabinets and appliances.. My cabinets are going onto a trailer, so they can be moved to be painted, primed and distressed. Some of that may be done by me, some by my young friend with the secondhand shop. Appliances into the back room for now, then probably the stove and refrigerator into the office kitchen. Office refrigerator conked out earlier this week...at least in a timely fashion. Daughter pointed out one eye on the ceramic cooktop tha is unreliable while she was helping prepare our feast, and the office oven is shot, so, it makes sense to leapfrog them along, and dispose of the one tnat won't baek at all.... Lowe's will move the old ones wherever we want them when they deliver the new ones. During the next week, I expect to be stepping down for at least a few days to the ground and then back up again, since the kitchen is a major passageway in this old house. I know the guys will get it back up to at least the subfloor as soon as possible, but it will be such an inconvenience until they do. I dread the trash and dust that will get strewn about the house for the duration of the re-do. I have asked Mike to roll some sheet plastic out, and staple it up between the kitchen and dining room, do try to prevent the crud's migration. There will be a million small decisions to make in the next two weeks, too. The trick ths time is to avoid making bad ones that will cause another set of problems down the road. We are paying now for bad choices seventeen years ago. At least the end product ought to make it worthwhile...I have to close my eyes and picture the end result to keep from chickening out! Talking and thinking about a remodel in the abstract months and weeks ahead of time is one thing. Fun, exciting, full of anticipation. Actually facing the fact that you will have on floor in a couple of days is another...dirt, dust, noise and drafts...all adds up to a full case of dread. What do you do to deal cheerfully with the mess of a remodel? I am thinking that frequent trips to the wine closet maybe in order....

[turkey feather]

Wine might help. DD added a new kitchen to their home and I joked maybe she would be in by Thanksgiving months ago. The kitchen is mostly done but then they decided to work on some other rooms and there are still lots of small things that need finishing. It has been a long and costly project.

[linda/IL]

Yup, one hand on the wine bottle & the other on speed dial for carryout!!  Been there, done that kitchen remodel.  We had to do the dining room, laundry room & kitchen in a sequence to accomodate the wall/door changes.  And right before Christmas.  Won't forget when the nail got hammered into the hot water heat pipe in the ceiling!  I was thinking the other night, "I wish I would have done it this way or that way" but it will probably never get changed again after going through it already.  I cooked for the whole work crew (BIL & DH & DSs) for lunch then supper for us-all out of the laundry room w/crock pot or electric skillet.  Aaargh!  Just thinking of it sends shivers down my spine!

[Kay/NC]

Contractors call those 'Change orders".  Thye are susually where hte homewoner and the professional fall on bad feelgions for one another when it comes time to settle up, since most fail to do the proper written alteratiosn to the original contract. 

Mike and I got a bit further than I expected we would  this afternoon.  I dont' know why it is, but when two people work together, it goes way more than twice as fast...ever notice that? 

He helped get all; the things down off of walls and up high, then started taking up the shoe moldings.  Since we moved the new bakign cabniet withteh dozen drawers in last weekend, I have been walking  things out and storign them in that...so, we sitll have silverware drawers and knife drawers, etc. 

We are planning to eat the last turkey feast leftovers for supper, throw out anything remaining, and run the dishwasher one last cycle.  From there on, we agreed to paper plates and the cast iron on the woodstove for cooking for the duration.  I think we will likely get the cabinets and applainces out tomorrow in a quick move...IF we can get the tops off the cabinets.  They are glued down tight.   

I will make sure notto stack boxes in front of the wine closet door!  Seems like the concensus is that it will be a stress reliever....

[Kay/NC]

Fortunately, it's just the two of us...I dont' see how you dealt with a crew to feed.  Our main measl come off the wsoodsotve anyway, so it is mostly a matter fo using paper paltes adn plastic cups for a while.  If that isn't environmentally correct enough, i will just have to take my beating with a wet noodle. 

At least closing the kitchen ought to limit my shacking!!!

[MN cowgirl]

Tell me what you are going to do to your cupboards...Mine are the old blonde ones and I am thinking of painting them.  Have also been thinking of decorating my house in primitives as I already have some and bought somemore stuff at a store that was closing.

[Kay/NC]

All of our cabinets are base cabinets...I use smaller grid and cubby storage above the countertops.  I am so short, top cabinets always just frustrated me. 

I am taking the easy way out with the refinishing.  Took my burgundy Mexican tile for the tops to my young friend at the secondhand shop last week, and we talked it over. She recommended a Benjamin Moore Black, over gray primer. 

she had a bedroom suite painted and distressed over oak, and it was a really nice, flat black.  I have black rugs with bright veggie prints in the kitchen and adjoining dining room, plus some prints that basically echo that motif.   

She will be getting them delivered  to her garage.wprkshop at home tomorrow.  She says they will remove the doors and drawers, prime with the gray, and then paint them black.  They use a four-inch sponge roller, to get a smooth coat of each.  Her husband is a professional painter, and he often does her base coats, and she does the distressing and poly work. 

After the paint dries, she will do her distressing treatment, which mostly involves sanding back through the paint, to expose the edges and some spots that simulate normal use, wear and tear...the "shabby chic" sort of look I  love.  Final finish will be a low-lustre good quality acrylic poly coat, for easy cleaning.

These are stock oak cabinets...nothing special, and I am tired of them against all our pine.  I think the black with the distressing will look super against the country pine pattern Allure flooring.  With the rough-thrown tile for tops, and hand-hammered antiqued copper sinks, I think it will all work together well.  

Am sticking with white-on-white appliances, ordering new refrigerator and stove tomorrow, to get last Black Friday sale date pricing at Lowe's.  Wasn't going to change them, but office refrigerator went on the fritz last week, and the stove out there hasn't had a good oven in years. 

We tend to move appliances from house to office to elsewhere, like the rental houses. That way,. my electric bills tend to get the advantage of the Energy Stars.   We end up buying a set of appliances every year or so for somewhere...may as well have nice ones for us here.  

I will try to do a photo or two of this project as it comes along.