702 McKinley - A Remodeling Journey

Kitchen - With Countertops

I know the kitchen update post I did was missing a photo of the countertops. Though it's not decorated...nor clean, here's a photo of the kitchen..."finished". (complete with cleaning products on the countertops!)

I'm in the process of shopping for a rug to take up most of the kitchen floor...the area is 6' x 6' (roughly) and I'm looking for a 4' x 4' rug....something bright and cheery!

*Note, the crown that goes across the cabinets on the left will also go across the cabinets on the right...Sean just got sidetracked with a million other things!

Kitchen Update

Here are some photos of the progress of the kitchen from the drywall finishing to cabinets and appliances! (Sorry no photos of the counter tops...though they ARE in!) And apologies for the color quality and graininess of some of the photos...with so much dust in the house, it's hard to take photos with flash, therefore I work with available light...which in some cases is not the best!

The kitchen color is Stamped Concrete from Sherwin Williams. It is a fairly neutral gray that has a tinge of green to it! It definitely changes colors throughout the day as the daylight changes.

Counter tops are solid-surface Staron by Samsung - black with white specks!

Appliances are all black, from Lowe's. The refrigerator is recessed into the wall, so that it is in line with the edge of the cabinets/counter tops.

Cabinets are from Marsh (D&S Construction, Sean's company, is a supplier of these cabinets). These High Point cabinets are Shaker style, maple wood, cordovan color (cherry), full access (no center stiles in cabinets or frame on face), full overlay face/frame-less (meaning the doors cover the entire face of the cabinet...no space between doors and hidden hinges). We went with 42 inch upper cabinets with crown to highlight the height of our 9 foot ceilings! Sean also splurged on the end panel where the refrigerator is! (I don't mind the splurge because it really completes the kitchen!)

Floors are maple wood, stained cherry and engineered. We put an inlay of natural finished maple where the dining room table will set. (Sean wanted me to note that the inlay was done custom by him...not ordered online. Thanks to Brad D. for lending his tools for this process!) Sean bought these floors at an auction, so I can't plug the brand, but I must say they're absolutely gorgeous!

Our trim is white...and can be seen in that last photo.

I'll try to get a photo of the kitchen with the counter tops soon!

Again, some of the photos really don't do it justice, so stop by if your in the area...we're always willing to take a break to show off the house!

And as always, thanks to the many friends and family who have dedicated some of their time to help tear it all apart and bring it back together! We really can't wait to host a little (big) get-together to celebrate the accomplishment of making the old dirty house nice and new!

Update!

Be forewarned...there will be no awesome photos accompanying this post. I promise I'll get to it soon! (If our lives would ever slow down!)

Since the last post, the house has completely changed! Here's a list of it all!

• Drywall finished (downstairs)
• Ceilings stomped (up and downstairs)
• Dining room and kitchen floors installed
• Foyer floor installed
• Walls painted
• Interior doors painted
• Cabinets installed
• Hardware for cabinets put on
• Appliances installed (range, microwave, dishwasher, washer, dryer)
• Flooring where carpet will be - scraped and scrubbed (that was a LONG weekend for me!)
• A bit of landscaping planted by my mother (just a few little shrubs)
• Can light covers installed, old bulbs replaced
• Carpet picked out
• Paint for the upstairs (semi) picked out
• Light switch covers installed

And...the grass has been mowed a few more times!

Currently we're working on painting the trim and finishing the upstairs drywall. And, again, I'm working on getting some photos of the progress edited and ready for posting!

Sean & I continue to thank everyone who comes over to help. I especially want to thank my mother for always coming to help, our neighbor Earl for being Sean's right-hand man, Sean's dad for all the help with the stomping and drywall finishing, and my beautiful aunts, cousins and friends who helped paint! We really couldn't do it without the support of those we love! Also, a huge thank you goes out to our neighbor, Dave, for trimming the bushes between our yards! It was forever on my to-do list and never got done by me! THANK YOU!

Kitchen Floor & Doors - Old Stuff

I realize I haven't written in awhile. I can assure you it's because we haven't done anything in awhile! (sad face) Sean is still healing, and it's an extremely busy time for me at the Gateway Arts Council! I thought I would share a couple of projects from the winter that I never wrote about. The first is the kitchen floor, and the second, new doors all around!

One evening in January, Sean called and said he & Brad (Dunham) were going to tear out the original kitchen floor. The very same kitchen floor I spent a significant amount of time on my hands & knees pulling out staples and hammering down nails. Thinking back, I don't recall being too upset by Sean's new proposal. Maybe because the entire time I had been pulling out staples and hammering down nails I had a gut feeling that my hard work would eventually be pointless. I had prepared myself for it. I did, however, ask why it was so essential for those floors to come out, reminding him of my hard work. His response was something along the lines of...the floor bows in the middle...completely uneven...will make it extremely hard to set the cabinets...it HAS to happen. And so it did.

Brad & Sean spent one night tearing out all of the kitchen floor, up to where it meets up with the dinning room. Half of the kitchen sits over part of the basement, while the other half sits over the crawl space (where dead bodies may or many not be buried! ha! that's just a hypothesis of mine!). When they tore up the floor over the crawl space, they did not find dead bodies, but they did find old treasures–an old walking cane, perfume box, egg basket, possible milk basket, shoe polish, an old skate–probably dating from the 1920's-40's. Pretty cool, eh? I remember Joni, Brad's wife, told me how excited Brad was when he got home that night. Apparently Joni didn't think all of this stuff sounded that great, but Brad knew I would love it! Some day when the house is done, some of those old treasures will be the knick knacks that fill our shelves!

At any rate, for a few days, to walk through the kitchen, you had to have great balance and no fear of heights, as only the floor joists remained. Myself & Mitch (brother) helped Sean get the floor joists to be level and lay down new sub-floor. I would love to explain the technical process of actually determining what level is, but it involves tying strings from each edge of the room, and every time I've asked about how it's done, I only get more confused. But I do understand everything following. Though now that I attempt to write it out, I can't explain it! (I'm a lost cause! ha! A poor student in the world of remodeling!) It involves a huge level, 2x4's (drilled to the existing joists), some glue, plywood, a nail gun, and hammer...I'll just let the photos speak for themselves! In the first photo, you can kind of get the jist of it–new 2x4's screwed into existing floor joists, evened up with the level, plywood glued & nailed to the new 2x4's. If you've been to the house since the new floor, I'm sure you would agree, it's a HUGE improvement!

 

 

Also, we put in new doors. Obviously, Sean put in the front door after Christmas, as that was his present to me. But Lowe's was having a huge contractors' sale on interior and exterior doors one weekend. Sean bought the two other exterior doors for the down stairs, as well as all of the interior doors. (I have yet to see them.)  Turns out, he didn't even get them at Lowe's...Menard's price-matched the doors, plus was able to get us the satin nickel finish (the finish we plan to use everywhere) for no additional cost. YAY! The doors will eventually be painted to match the front door, and the jams will be painted white to match the rest of the trim on the exterior of the house! What a huge different new doors can make!

 

The top photo is of the old back porch door and the busted up screen door! They looked so sad sitting by the trash trailer! 

My hope is by posting this, it will ignite a tiny little fire under Sean's butt and we'll start working again! Yeah, he still hurts every now and then, but he's been back to work for a few weeks now! It's time we finish this puppy! (at least enough to move in!)

A Porch to Play On

I remember when Sean & I first walked through 702 with the realtor. It definitely needed some work. I don't think Sean & I realized just how much work that was. In the beginning, we were going to do minor renovations like a complete kitchen remodel, new flooring in all of the rooms, paint, make the 1/2 bath downstairs into a full bath, a complete renovation of the 2nd story bathroom, etc. Walls started coming down and of course, as you know it now, the house is bare...right down to the studs. Once a month had passed and our original plan was out the window, I thought Sean & I needed to sit down and draw up a time line...just to help keep us on track. One would think this was a great idea. Well, according to that time line, we should have the electrical, heating and plumbing finished, the walls squared out (so that drywall can be hung easily), insulation in, drywall up, drywall finished, the walls painted, and the hardwood floors laid. (*note, I just chuckled to myself, as none of that is finished!) Honestly, looking at that time line right now, we got through one week's worth of tasks before getting completely derailed with projects not on the list. So much for sticking to any kind of plan!

You may be wondering how one gets so off track. Well, discoveries are made by one of the most meticulous contractors, such as the sagging planks of wood of the second story porch's floor that are actually the ceiling to the kitchen. It just so happened that the wood was weak right where the post for the porch was sitting. And of course, as I was told, the old wood should all be ripped out and replaced before doing the insulation, as it would be a huge mess if the insulation were already in. Next thing we know, all of the other projects, like finishing the electrical, plumbing and heating, were put on hold. An entire week was devoted to tearing out the porch floor, leveling it out and grading it slightly so the rain would run off, putting in new plywood, coating it with rubber, and putting in new posts and rails. Once this project was completed, Sean started helping Chad with his house, and then with the holidays...it was a month before we got back to it!

Sean & I talk about the future of this porch. It includes forts, 'house' and 'doll babies', maybe 'school', or even just a retreat for the adults to enjoy a summer evening! Here's the process of the porch. (mind you, we had a major wind storm accompanied with cold temperatures the week we decided to work outside...BRRR!)

The new rubber looks a little dirty after having snow and ice all over it and dirty shoes walking around on it. Obviously the railings need finished and the rubber still need to be trimmed. Before, the porch had sheet metal covering it. And if you notice in the last picture, the siding on the back porch has come off! (intentionally!) Jason Levering is preparing to wrap half of the house and put up NEW (sage green) siding! YAY! In time...don't expect photos of new siding for another couple of months....weather is going to play a huge part in how quickly things happen!

Below is the face of a happy homeowner! Chad & Kaylin's cabinets were delivered last night and I couldn't resist sharing this! Chad, Kaylin, Sean, Ryan, Suzie, Brad, Joni and I all installed cabinets at the Geuy house last night. Or rather the guys did while us girls cheered them on. At any rate, Kaylin was so pumped when the truck pulled up! (in case you couldn't tell!)

Halfway there...It looks amazing compared to what it looked like previously. Just to be sure there is no confusion, this is Chad's house! Sean & I's cabinets are similar...a little darker, a little simpler. It's hard to see it here, but Chad's have a little detailing around the door frames. Ours are a bit wider and smooth. And despite my love for Kaylin's red walls (the rest of the kitchen is tan and the countertops will be black with tan flecks), our kitchen will most likely be gray, countertops black...I'm leaning towards Valspar's Mark Twain House Ombre Gray! **Note: We all signed our names on the cabinet above Chad's head...also, Chad defaced a dollar bill. That dollar bill remains on top of that cabinet...IN CASE OF EMERGENCY! :)