We've spent the last week moving into the new kitchen. Dave came over to help Michael move the appliances downstairs. He brought Michael's nephew, Nathan, with him. Nathan, who is 5, always has the funniest observations and questions about our house. For instance, "Why is there a big hole in the ceiling?" and "Why is your kitchen upstairs?" His most recent comments include "Wow, what a really nice floor," complimenting our new bathroom floor, and "It doesn't look very pleasant" with regard to our backyard, something we will fix up after we take care of the house.
The kitchen is still a work in process. Most of the items were covered in dust because the room next to the old kitchen was demolished, so we had to clean everything (hard to do when the dishwasher isn't hooked up) before putting it in its new home. I'm hoping we'll finish getting everything in its proper place today; the things left to do are scattered on the kitchen floor or piled in the dining room. Speaking of, check out our dining arrangements:
I guess it's good that we're getting more uses out of our tailgating gear.
Our old kitchen is gone. Here's what it looked like:
It's hard to tell, but those are tile counter tops. Because who needs a smooth surface to work on that's easy to clean in a kitchen? And the cabinets? The cabinets weren't even real cabinets; they were slabs of wood nailed to the wall. I don't think the person who installed them even bothered to sand them down a bit, because I was afraid of getting a splinter every time I tried opening one of the doors or drawers. No, of course they didn't have hardware.
But, that's all behind us now. Here's what that room looks like now (see if you can spot Tanga):
The ceiling was torn down, too, and even more fire damage was found.
Fortunately, this doesn't cause any structural issues that we'll need to fix. This room and the room next to it, as I've mentioned, will be bedrooms. Over in the other room, we have the closets framed.
And we have the plumbing for the new bathroom:
As I sat down to start this post, I heard some strange noises coming from downstairs. Of course, my first thought was that it was someone breaking in, but it was just another bird. Apparently the roof isn't completely sealed off yet. I had to get Michael up and the cats back upstairs, but the bird found its way out, we hope, through the same way it got in.
More finishing details went in this week. Plus we have a working bathroom on the first floor, and we almost have a washing machine back.
All of the floors in the living room are down, but they still need refinishing. Baseboards and door frames are also in the living room and along the hallway.
Molding is on top of the beatboard in the living room, so those half-walls look much better:
And here's my new favorite thing in the house - the columns on the half-walls that separate the hallway from the living room:
Finally, here's a look at the entire new kitchen floor:
We also have most of the hardware in the kitchen; we still don't have the doorknobs on the pantry doors, but the cabinets and drawers are good to go:
We are ready to move into the new kitchen. We had a cleaning crew in there yesterday getting it ready for us. Michael's brother-in-law Dave is helping us move the appliances downstairs tomorrow. We're planning on getting new appliances eventually, but the ones we have work just fine for now. We'll also move the rest of the kitchen downstairs, plus anything else in the old kitchen so that it can be demolished next week. I get the first swing of the sledgehammer once we've cleared out of the old kitchen. I'll post pictures of it when it's cleaned out but before the demo starts. It has to be one of the ugliest kitchens. Ever.
