Moon white and Stilts

A few little big updates for today.

First, as I type, the cabinets are in our possession. This means that some day soon we will have a functional kitchen again, and today it seems so much closer then yesterday.

The last week has dragged and lagged. Nothing exiting. We had all of the grey tile ripped up (an expense we weren't planning on, but a)we couldn't match the 25+ year old tile to fill in spaces that are now going to be exposed and b)didn't particularly like it anyways and c) needed to call in a professional when the DIY methods proved difficult. $500 later, we have no floor in the kitchen/laundry/mudroom. Whoooo!

Other then that the week was spent building up the walls and ceilings and refining the drywall to prepare for the cabinets. 

Drywall stilts. See below. 

In other news, now that we have an intact ceiling, does anyone out there want to buy a pair of drywall stilts?

The other adventure was to the stone yard where I went to choose the slabs of granite that will make up our counters. The color/granite we had chosen is called "moon white" and apparently it's a best practice to go to the yard and actually choose the piece yourself from the options there.

To be honest, they all looked the same to me, but it was cool I guess to go over there. It was very very dusty as you can tell from these pictures...



Hard hat, patent leather and pearls...something doesn't belong...



The chosen slab of moon white. See you next week future counter!

Life and Kitchen Week 3!

Demo on the kitchen started the weekend of July 4th, so there was demo week and last week, and now this week is week 3. These little weeks go so quickly, it's bizarrely weird to look back and think about how we've gone from,

This:



















To:

















Moving that half wall, omygosh that is amazing! The whole space opens up- you can walk from the kitchen to the garage, with armfuls of stuff (or children) and not have to go sideways. You can actually fit a stroller or a suitcase through the space. And bonus, in the new sink spot (where those lovely pipes are) won't have the dish-washer staring out at the laundry machines, ok, so instead it will onto a wall, but it will be a beautifully tiled back splash, and we're getting a second dishwasher, so will never have to do dishes, ever again.

After the plumber and electrician did their thing last week, Ami spent time adding insulation and umm, walls to the kitchen. In many spots on both sides of the kitchen where cabinets and soffit once were, there was no drywall or insulation. Just studs of the house, and boom cabinets. These steps will help keep our house warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer and in particular as we moved some of the layout around, will allow wall to show through instead of rafters that look into the attic or the garage. Little things, you know?

The rest of this week will be adding "mud", or joint compound to the walls so they look like walls not just boards of drywall, and to level things out, and hopefully the removal of the floor time permitting.

Cabinets are scheduled to arrive next week and the granite a week or so after they come to do a final measure. And after that, or maybe in between that, the flooring, which we think we've picked but are going to wait to pull the trigger until the cabinets are in and we can get a better sense of the coloring. Oh, and the plumbers come back to install the dishwashers and sink, and electricians to do the oven. That's seeming like a lot. Bummer. But it will be beautiful!!!!!


And as a reminder that our lives aren't all kitchen all the time, mostly thanks to two little guys this week we:

Celebrated Ami's birthday, with the requisite Rozmaryn ring ding in bed (even though the store didn't have and I substituted a cheap imitation)

Eitan is loving camp! We're carpooling with our neighbors around the corner, and carpooling is fun by the way, you have to shuttle your kid half as much, and at least in our case, sweet Aviv is a force for good, I used to have problems getting Eitan in and out of the car, but Aviv's easy going nature is a treat, and Eitan just goes along too. We love you Aviv!

Ami continued to show Eitan how to ride his bike. Nothing like a 32 year old riding a bike for a preschooler. Enjoy.

Going out for meals, this accomplishes two goals, one keeping the kids away from construction and two, um feeding us. We've been managing with the grill, the microwave, family having us over and and eating a whole bunch of things I cooked before and froze, but we're also going out and getting pizza in way more then usual. It's a treat.

Last night, the fro yo shop ran out of small cups, so you know, toddler meet life size serving. And of course, every.last.drop. by Levav Rozmaryn:

Cutest milk mustache (and beard) of all time:

Kitchen Renovation: Week 2

News from the kitchen-less: this weekend saw the conclusion of demo (for now, we're still deciding if we are going to rip out the floor OR just lay new over it).

The double oven and rest of the soffit came out with the help of two friend assistants, and Ami's stiches popped out too a full week early. Greaaat.

Here it is: A kitchen without yellow!!!

Big upgrade- real switches! The rest of our house has low voltage switches, the height of coolness in the 50's, these push button things. Having a switch to flip in the kitchen is so satisfying!

Cooking for the kitchen-less. Rice cooker and microwave (we keep forgetting to pick up the toaster oven)

Eitan was so tired after camp one day he just went and fell asleep at 5pm sitting up...

And this sweet Lev. He can't not grab for the camera when he sees it.

The plumber and electrician were in this week, plumber to move the pipes from where the sink WAS to where it WILL BE, and the electrician to prepare the room for the appliance moves- the oven to the other side, the moving of dishwasher number 1 and the addition of dishwasher number 2 (TWO DISHWASHERS!).

Demo

This is what it looks like to lose your kitchen!

Day 1: Cabinets and Island go

Day 2: Rest of the cabinets and the soffit (bump down in the ceiling- the new kitchen cabinets go all the way up to the real ceiling)

Bad surprise #1: The soffit is filled with disgusting dusty looking insulation from the 50's
Bad surprise #2: The half-wall which used to house the sink is not just a cabinet, but backed with a random wood area that needs to be taken down ever so carefully as it's right next to the water pipes

Day #3: More stinking cabinets and soffit, keeping the kids distracted by making funny faces in phones and spending as much time outside as possible

Bad Surprise #3: Pulling down metal mesh behind the soffit is sharp (Ami gets three stiches)

Bad Surprise #4: The soffit on this side of the room is filled with wires that are going to need to go somewhere....

The remains:

Cabinets are ready for pick up- being donated on Tuesday (hooray for being ahead of schedule!), once the wooden "wall" gets removed this dumpster can be picked up (hooray for the end of demo!). Once the electrician starts he will remove and move the wall ovens (boo for no ovens!).

And, Ami's three new stitches on the back of his hand are fine and will need to be removed in 10-14 days.

The vision for the "Afters"

Before I post pictures of scary reno week (really, it's scary in here), I'm trying to focus on the afters. One day, our kitchen will kind of look like this!

The cabinets will be a warm wood with red undertones to bring out the copper hood, and the granite a white and grey vein-y swirly pattern with some browns. Sounds kind of gross. Hopefully will be a beaut. 

Here's the layout we're going for:

Cute kid picture added by popular request:

Kitchen remodel!!

And so it begins- we've lived here for a year and a week and the time has come to gut that yellow kitchen. We've met with a kitchen designer, decided where all the new stuff is going and are so ready. So far we've ordered new cabinets and countertops, and are waiting to choose flooring and backsplash until the other pieces are in.

We are donating the yellow cabinets and old counters to a re-store salvage place and they are coming a week from Tuesdy, which means everything has to be OUT by then. Then comes out the soffit (the bump down from the perimeter of the ceiling for wiring for lights that we're getting rid of.  Then up are the electrician and the plumbers to move the wiring/hoses. Then the cabinets, then the counters, then we decide on floors, blacksplash and paint. I'm tired thinking about it, and hoping we're in a functional kitchen by mid August and decide and finish up the paint/floors/backsplash sometime after that soonish.

So this weekend to prep, I cooked. So much. So many baked zitis. We also have a few quiches precooked, a couple batches of meatsauce that I've made over the few weeks that we knew we'd be kitchen less for a while.

I also celebrated independence day by packing up the kitchen- hooray for America!

Pictures of rendering of our plans and demo to come soon. People, this is going to be an undertaking, and the process is going to suck, but much like childbirth, we're prepared all we can and just crossing our fingers and hoping for the best. Unfortunately this experience doesn't offer epidurals...

Wish us luck!