Icing on the . . . . Cabinets?

Our counters are in! Our counters are in!

Need I say more? We've both been totally antsy all weekend waiting for Monday, when we knew our carrera marble countertops would finally be installed. Then we woke up this morning to another surprise - tons of beautiful oak trim lumber being delivered.

We were thrilled for all the progress to begin in a single day. Don't the boards have beautiful grain? We are splurging a little on the main floor on large oak trim to match the style and grain of the original oak trim that goes throughout downstairs.

 I couldn't help coming home for lunch to check on the progress, and while the trim guys were sanding up a storm in the driveway, the countertop guys were inside working hard. The kitchen stone was all in, and they were working on the seams which are tucked very discreetly behind the sink, so they shouldn't be noticeable at all when we're working in the kitchen. They had yet to drill the faucet holes downstairs, and were preparing to begin installation of the bathroom counter when I left to go back to work.

Here are a few quick photos I snapped. I was working hard to stay out of their way and not be TOO pesky, so please excuse the poor quality!

I am so thrilled with how they look - I love the dark rich lower cabinets, with the cool, matte stone on top leading to the white uppers. It's amazing to see the look coming together. Naturally, I couldn't wait to get home to see everything completed.

So, I was a tad disappointed to come home to this:

There's a protective layer of cardboard taped around the entire surface! Very opaque cardboard. I think they're teasing me. Of course, I very much respect their work in protecting the beautiful new stone as construction continues. I'm just glad I got a little midday peak. And I can still get the gist of the faucet, which is nice.

Fortunately for my sanity, the view upstairs was a much easier one to see - no cardboard on the bathroom vanity counter at all, and cute little undermount sinks to boot!

I love the simple, straight edge profile - it makes such a nice clean edge on everything.

And wait, there's more! Stone isn't the only thing that happened today - those trim guys got going big time. Our upstairs window is all trimmed in, and trim is installed in our downstairs half bath.

As you can tell, it was a big day for us and our old house. We're calling this week and next the "home stretch," with high hopes that everything will be finished by late next week or early the following. At this pace I think that feels pretty reasonable.

Big Things are Happening

Watch for a major update tonight - big things are happening on the homefront and I can't wait to post photos (after seeing it, of course) tonight. Here's a rather cryptic hint of the part I'm most excited about.

It's finished!

I'm happy to announce we're done with the back of the house. I'm working on an animated gif that will show the entire process, but until then, you can see the final results below. We rented an airless paint sprayer for the final coat, Expensive, but time saving.

Our turning walnut tree leaves inspired a final yellow coat on the attic vent window. Overall we're happy with the results, and even more happy to be done.

Thank You Elliott Family!

During floor refinishing over the last week, we were very fortunate to have family in town willing to host both us and our silly kitty. Thank you, Elliotts, for making homelessness fun and exciting for us. We'll have you over for a celebratory dinner in a few short weeks! 

New Life for Old Oak

I peeked in this morning at our floor progress, and snapped a few quick shots. They have completed the sanding/filling process, which took a bit longer than expected, and by this morning had stained and gotten the first coat of polyurethane down. They should have the second coat applied today, and the third and final coat down tomorrow, so progress is still fast despite the initial delay.

The finish appears shiny in the pictures only because it was still tacky when I visited this morning. The end result should be a nice satin finish, that glows more than it shines. They did a great job of filling old cracks and sanding out old scratches, and I'm amazed at how new the old floors look, even next to the new ones that were just laid last month.

In the process of refinishing, they put our fridge in its new home (which I'm so obsessed with - it's so nice to have that huge machine tucked away) and put in our inset floor vents, which fit right into their oak surroundings.

So that's more or less it for progress this week - just polyurethane and more polyurethane to go - but then we should be back to having a living room/dining room/office next week, and we've been promised fast progress over the next two weeks until it's all done.

Stripped Naked

Chris and I have been hard at work this weekend, not only painting the back of the house, but also getting the first floor ready for hardwood floor refinishing. I went home over lunch today to look at floor colors, and was amazed to see that they already had the floors almost completely stripped. It's amazing to see nearly 90 year old wood look brand new - and very promising. As they put the samples down, the grain looked bold, fresh and new.

Here are some photos as they were wrapping up the last of the stripping, and getting ready to stain. 

We opted for just a shade lighter than what our floors currently are, matching the stair treads that we replaced and stained ourselves during our first winter in the house. I think the difference will be very subtle (probably only we will ever know), but I have a feeling our dark woodwork and cabinets will really pop against the new finish. No sample color photos though - you'll have to check back for pics of the floor stained tomorrow!

 Recessed register for kitchen floor.

Everything should be stained by the end of today, with the first coat of sealer on and drying. I can't wait to peek at it and get a feel for our fresh new floors.

Paint Progress

Fall has been nearly picture perfect around KC. The cool dry season has proven perfect for house painting. With each week's passage, I find myself getting more and more nervous about getting everything done before the end of the "painting season."

Thankfully, today we were able to finish the 1st coat of paint on the entire back of the house. We even broke out some orange paint for the attic vent area, which was like a cherry on top of all the progress.

We used to live on a screet in KC affectionately called "Nutterville" by locals, in which every home was painted with a wild pallet of colors that you really don't see anywhere else in the city.

We jokingly called our orange vent an "ode" to our previous hood, and we like it - (hopefully the neighbors do too).

Our last step for the back of the house is to rent an airless sprayer and cover all the blue shingles again. We used rollers for the 1st coat, but there are too many valleys to fully cover with a roller. Anybody have some advice on how to pick out a good sprayer?

Handy Hardware

The cabinet guys were back in full force yesterday, installing crown and hardware to our cabinets. To be honest I wasn't too excited about it yesterday morning - I kind of felt like this week would be a slow one in terms of progress. So imagine my excitement when I got home to see these lovely details.

Cat added for dramatic effect.
 

We're using a two-piece trim, so you can see in some places where the first piece is in, a flat piece with decorative lines along the bottom. The pictures above of the white cabinets show the final look with both pieces in, and below you can see what the under piece looks like over the dark cabinet.

The crown and hardware may be small details in terms of the overall project, but they make a tremendous difference in the look. We are so happy with how things are coming along, and pleased with the surprise of the dramatic change.

They should be back today to continue their good work, and the stack of glass cabinet inserts, doors and trim left in the kitchen makes us very excited for another day of great strides. They will also putty and put a final finish coat over all the nail holes and cracks for a perfectly finished look.

And while we're on it, let's take a moment to look at the grain in the dark cherry cabinets. My original pictures were in poor light and with my ancient cell phone, so here's a close-up of the grain. We were actually originally going to use oak for our dark cabinets, as that's what the rest of our downstairs trim is made out of, but when we got into the cabinet showroom C spotted a beautiful cherry vanity and the rest was history.

So that's where we are. We appear to be about 3 weeks from finished now (and we're on our 6th week, so we should land around 9 total weeks when all is said and done). Next week they're refinishing our hardwood floors on the entire main floor, so we're busy moving out of the house this week, and have scheduled piano movers to move my 1920's upright (which translates into incredibly heavy but very lovely old piano) out to the garage so that it's out of the way. Then refinishing should be about a week of work/drying/defuming. The following Monday, which happens to be Halloween, will be countertop installation (I'm so excited) followed by two weeks of painting, trimming, installing fixtures and faucets, etc. until everything is finished and we can enjoy our new home!

A Star is Born

Born, in this case, meaning installed. In order to create the template for our marble countertops, they had to install our farmhouse sink that I've been totally obsessed with very excited about for oh, about two years. We were so excited to see it in place.

The guys arrived at 7:30 am to install it, when it was still pretty dark, so the task light makes for a kind of funny photo. Don't the guys look angelic? I think it's pretty fitting.

So I waited until lunchtime to snap some decent shots of it. I love how the white plays against the dark lower cabinets, and the clean lines of the shiny white fireclay. Want to see it closer?

Closer still? Can you tell I'm a bit enamored? 

Here's the view from above. They offset the drain so that the garbage disposal is off to the side below, since these sinks take up quite a bit of space and reduce storage in the cabinet below. Not that I really care about that - it's so pretty!

With the sink weighing in at 132 pounds, it requires some pretty serious support. The guys built a 2x4 frame that holds it in place in the cabinet below. 

And finally, here's the money shot. I love the side view, with our inset drawers flush against the cabinet fronts, and the sink protruding just the slightest bit. The curved edges look so nice sticking out of the dark cherry cabinets.  

So at this point, we have the countertop templates made, and countertops are set to be installed on Halloween - less than two weeks away! This week the cabinet installers will return to do finishing touches, and there's been talk of some possible trim work. Next week is hardwood refinishing (yay!) and the following week is big. Countertop installation on Monday, followed by painting and completing tile work. Then trim, installation of fixtures and lights, etc. and we can call this thing done! While there's still a lot to do, and probably close to a month before we get there, the end is beginning to feel in sight.