Cabinet repair...

The base cabinet under the sink seems to have gotten wet on several occasions. The floor was just rotted, and the side and toe boards were made of particle board, and they swelled up and deformed from the moisture. I decided to take it apart and rebuild it out of plywood. I got the toe and side boards cut out and temporarily assembled tonight. I think I'll take them back out tomorrow and paint the bottom edges with the primer we're using to attempt to seal them up a little.

Tiff worked on the cabinet doors and pantry door a little more. I think she and her mom will be priming and painting them this weekend.

Dismantling is easy.

Rotten mess.

More mess.

New toe board.

Base cabinet face frame, toe board, and side mock up.

Tonight was a night off...

Except for cleaning up yesterday's mess. Yesterday was a very productive day. Tiff and her mom spent most of the day sanding and prepping cabinet doors for primer. My buddy Tony came over to help me install some new lighting. 18 recessed can lights in all, along with a new ceiling fan receptical and relocating the dining room receptical. It was long day, but worth it. I stopped by the new house late tonight to see how the new lighting turned out. A very well lit room (or rooms, depending on how you look at it). Keep in mind there will still be a light on the ceiling fan, 3 (maybe 4) pendant lights over the island, and the dining room chandelier. Tiff wanted "bright in the darkness of winter", I think she got it.

4/25 Today's progress...

This weekend Tiff's mom, Pat came up to help. She painted a room at the old house yesterday, and today helped us remove wall paper on the main floor. Today all the ceilings are scraped, all the wall paper in the kitchen, entry, and stairwells has been removed, I got the new wifi thermostat relocated and wired in, and did a lot of layout and measuring for all the new recessed lighting. Additionally, I got a call from my buddy Dale who let me come to his shop to use his fancy (bad-ass) drill press to drill all the old cabinet doors for new hinges. Good day's work!

Kitchen Mess

Wallpaper Gone

"Wallpaper Remover"

Super Awesome Wifi Thermostat! (Can change the temp from my phone in bed.)

All cabinets drilled for new hidden hinges thanks to Dale's super mega awesome drill press!

4/22 - Still breakin' stuffs.

Progress update: Tonight we were limited for time. We picked up a washer and dryer, then picked up the builder grade cabinets to be used for the kitchen island. After that, we still had some time to work, thanks to Stacy who took Elliot to pancake dinner for a couple hours. Tiff decided to scrape the popcorn ceiling out of the dinning area. She had already finished the living area, and she gets a lot of satisfaction out of the quick results thanks to John's popcorn ceiling life hack. See photo for details. I decided I'd cut out the soffit above the stove to make room for the range hood. It's all progress, and so far we're doing great on time and budget.

New base cabinets for island.

Basic kitchen layout.

Another angle.

Scraped ceiling. No more popcorn.

Soffit removal. Looks weird now, but should come together nicely.

More progress...

Not sure what day this is from now, but most of the kitchen wall is removed. We left a little section to somewhat simulate where the island may go. Eventually, it will be entirely gone, and a free standing island will be in it's place. The kitchen cabinet doors and drawers have all been removed. Cabinets themselves need minor repairs and alterations, doors and drawers need to be sanded and prepped for paint.

Progress Pics:

View from kitchen corner.

 View from front door.

 View from living room corner.

 View from dining room corner.

End of Day 3

Day 3: Entry to Living wall fully removed. Header between Living and Dining fully removed. Kitchen wall stripped. Living/Dining carpet removed.

Progress Pics: 

View from Kitchen

 View from kitchen corner.

 View from kitchen corner.

 View from corner of living room.

 View from corner of living room

 View from dining room corner.

Days 1 & 2

Day 1 - We took possession of the house on Monday April 13th. We basically just hung out in there and talked about the different ideas we have for the space. First thing on the list was to renovate the main floor living, dining, & kitchen.

Day 2 - Moved in a bunch of tools. 

My contractor friend, Clint Miller came over to tell me how much of the walls dividing the main floor we could remove. He said, "Take the whole thing out." So, that's the plan.

Here's some "before" photos from Day 2:

View from the front door.

View from the corner of the living room.

 View from the corner of the kitchen.

 View from the corner of the dining room.

The Real Estate listing photos.

Here are the pictures from the real estate listing for the house we purchased...

It has all the features we wanted, in a neighborhood we like, but we felt it was a little dated...