Renovation (Week 17)

Well, there's finally stuff going on at the house. On Wednesday the painters painted the kitchen, mudroom, and the bathroom (the three places where there will be cabinets). The kitchen color is called Sensitive Tint.



Then today the cabinets were delivered. Yay! Yay! Yay!



Finally. That's what we've been waiting for. Once the cabinets go in, which is Tuesday BTW, everything else can happen. The templates for the counter top will made, then the counter top will go in. Then the plumbing will go in. Then the hood will go in. Then they'll finish the painting. Then they'll do the floors. Then woohoo, we can move back in.

Like always, you can view all of the photos here.

Renovation (Week 16)

Last weekend I attempted to destroy the evil Ivy that grows in my front yard. I was able to get the bulk of it out, but it was a pain in the ass. I couldn't find my gardening gloves so I did it gloveless with a pair of pruning shears. It worked, but I ended the day with many blisters, after having started the day with only one (cooking related, BTW, use two or more potholders when removing a cast iron skillet from the oven after broiling in it).

If you are reading this from another part of the country you might not realize how evil Ivy is. Believe me, it is evil. In Seattle it grows everywhere and kills all plants around it. I've been told that it grows so quickly because there aren't the harsh winters that are required to hold it back.



This week we got a few more things finished besides trim. This is the laundry chute and laundry table in the basement. We used the leftover hole in the floor from the old chimney for the chute. The table came out very nicely. This isn't something specified in detail. When the chute was finished we measured out how deep the table should be and then the contractor built it. And it's beautiful. There are even nice edges.

Since the drywallers accidentally drywalled in part of the laundry room and Laurel has always thought the room was very uncomfortable, we decided to build out the north wall and finish the whole room. So they've roughed in a wall which will soon be drywalled over.



I think that I finally have a photo of the drywalled upstairs without crap all over the place:



We also now have shelves in the new linen closet. Again, they came out great.




The painters are coming tomorrow to do the initial coat that needs to be done before the cabinets go in. Supposedly this will be the only way to properly paint the edges between the wall and the cabinets. It makes me wonder how it's going to look when we eventually change colors. Oh well.

We're starting to get very excited because the cabinets are scheduled to be delivered on July 27, in a week! Once we get those everything else can happen.

As always, all photos from this week can be found here.

Renovation (Week 15)

This week one of the trees out front was cut down.



It was officially in our neighbor's yard, but it was interfering with both of our electrical lines, and Seattle City Light said that it needed to go. Fortunately I thought that the tree was ugly and this gives us the opportunity to plant a small, and more beautiful tree. The space left over was bigger than I expected too.

The contractors continued to work on trim this week. They also tore up all of the fir in the hallway and back bedroom because it would have been just as expensive to fix than to replace. Supposedly it looks beautiful, but they immediately covered it up to keep from ruining it during the rest of the renovation.

All of the photos from this week can be found here.

Renovation (Month 3)

It has been just over a month since I last posted. It's just that nothing really exciting has happened. It slowed down quite a bit during the month of June. Since my last post the walls have been taped over and mudded, they've been primed, and some trim has been added to match the existing trim. We're mostly just waiting for the cabinets now. They are scheduled for delivery on July 27.



The interior doors have been delivered and they look really good.



The appliances have also been delivered and they are just sitting in a pile.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, boring, boring, boring, I'm waiting for something interesting to happen.

Fortunately, there's at least one interesting thing going on this month.



The big spruce on the right side of our house is being cut down. Seattle City Light is making us cut it down because it interferes with the electrical wires going into our house and our neighbor's. And the tree isn't even on our property. I'm usually against cutting down trees in the city, but I think we'll be able to plant something nice to replace it. I'm excited because it means we'll be able to pick one or more trees/bushes that are prettier than the spruce. I'm thinking cherry trees.

All of the photos from this months can be found here.