Sunday, May 22, 2011
KITCHENS ALMOST DONE!
So the past few days I've been working on the kitchen. I bought a little table tile saw from Harbor Frieght that has been doing an awesome job. We started with the granite, then the sink, and the past few days I've been making sure to carefully install our tile backsplash. Yesterday, I also changed all the outlets and switches in the kitchen to match the rest of the house. The tile came out really good and tomorrow, I'll be grouting and getting all that done. I also installed some under the cabinet lighting as a surprise for Katie... I hooked them all up to a switch and they look really nice. For a while this afternoon, Dad came over and we took the old microwave down and finished the tile job. I even got a little shock from the outlet... it didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would, but it woke me up. This evening, Katie and I organized a bit of our things and I moved in more clothes, then I tore up all the floor tiles in the kitchen. With that step, we officially have changed everything in the kitchen but the cabinets and the oven. It was a good day. Pictures will follow soon.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Wow... Its been a looooonnnnnnnggggg Time
This getting a house ready thing is killing me. We are in full swing now, I picked up a huge new contract at work, I'm trying to prepare for my comp exam in the beginning of June, I'm trying to get this stuff done at the condo, and poor Katie is teaching full time, and up to her ears in all the aspects of planning a wedding that go into the last few weeks. We are only A FEW WEEKS out from the wedding now. I don't know where to begin.
Wow!!! Okay, well I think in the last post I was talking about a desk that I found and began to work on, I spent a few more days finishing the desk sanding, I began to stain in when Katie brought up that I should measure the desk and see where we are going to put it in OUR office. (I only bring attention to that its our office because I frequently make the mistake of calling it my office and I want to make sure it's noticed). I took the measuring tape up the stairs and realized that while I did measure to make sure it would be able to get up the stairs and into the bedroom, I never measured to see where I would situate it. Sadly, after all the man hours, saw dust in my lungs and fun I've had messing around with it... ITS TOO BIG! So the desk is going up for sale on craigslist at some point and we will see if I get any takers. This project got benched.
The next job I tackled was getting the back patio cleaned up and nice. There has been a tree thats been dead for years. Katie and I got an estimate from a company to take it out for $270.00. I have an issue spending that much money to destroy something and take it down, so my dad and I got a couple shovels, a pick axe and a saw and brought the damn thing down. It took a while because the chain saw that we had didn't work, so I had to use a combination of my hand saw, and the manual old school saw to break apart the big pieces. After a bit we took the main trunk down with a pick axe and called it a day. The next awesome part about this story, was that I live in a complex with only one trash dumpster that frequently gets full. Being that I didn't want to be the bad guy in the neighborhood and use up all the trash with the pieces of tree, I decided to have a bunch of friends over for a bonfire in the back patio. WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS! I got my fire pit, chairs, sodas, and smore stuff. It was an awesome little gathering at the condo, and was like Katie and I's first time entertaining. We burned the entire tree down, with the exception of the giant stump pieces. However, the next day when I got to the condo, the school next door was getting a tree taken out. I popped my head over the fence and asked the guys if they had a chipper, they were happy to help and the remaining pieces of the tree were chucked over the fence and hauled away... AMAZING!
Katie and I then got a green thumb and decided to run chains up and down the fence posts and build a little planter of jasmine that will hopefully eventually vine up and cover the fence...
We graded the ground, got rid of rocks and planted low maintenance grass seed. The grass is just now starting to come up and the jasmine are doing well. I'm sad to report however, that we also decided to plant roses in the other planter and they are dead... I definitely took care of them, I watered everything everyday and the both the grass and jasmine made it so, I have no idea what happened to the roses.
With our back patio done and some serious progress underway we decided to go and get estimates for granite countertops. I wanted to keep the cabinets and redo the countertops so that we had a little larger bar and a bit more in the kitchen. This was the drawing estimates I had in an earlier post. After several estimates we finally gave up and I decided I would be doing granite countertops made of granite tile. I could do it myself and it shouldn't be as expensive. I went to Sun Tile in Glendora. After speaking with the owners there really wasn't any reason to do the tile, it may break, it costs a ton of money and they have prefab granite slabs that would work perfectly in the kitchen. I showed them my drawing and they gave us a really good price. (plus I think it helped I played the middle eastern card) Anyways... they said they could measure and start right away and if I could do the demolition myself, I would save a bunch more money. Katie and I picked our granite, decided that I would do the glass tile backsplash and we would get started right away. It all SOUNDED really nice.
Demolition took place on mothers day. I thought I would have the weekend to work on it, but later remembered that the family goes to Vegas for mothers day. When I got back, we had our brunch and I immediately worked like crazy. I only made the mistake of not putting on my protective glasses once... when shards of ceramic tile come flying up it gets scary quick. Night began to fall and my dad came over to help... the demolition got done Sunday night at 8pm.
I was able to contain the mess, so while we didn't have any countertops, it still felt like in the morning they would come in, lay the slabs down, put the sink in and leave. If only I knew... I should note that Mom and Katie went out that night and grabbed tap lights to put into all the deep reaches of the cabinets, because it was easy to put them in. Anyways... I got to the condo at 8:30am on the Monday they were to start. I was expecting them at 9am and at around 9:30am I called the owner of Sun Tile, their boss and asked where they were, he called them and called me back to tell me they were at Home Depot getting the new plywood and would be there in 10 minutes... I should have known how the day would go then. When they got to the condo they set up in the garage, told me it would get pretty dusty and started working on the granite. I had no idea they were going to turn my garage into a granite fabrication shop. They came into the kitchen, moved my appliances and immediately broke 4 beer steins that Katie and I kept in the freezer. At 5:30pm I asked them how long it would be before they finished, because Katie and I got her Dad Angels tickets for his birthday for a game that night. He said, at the latest they would be done by 6pm. Mind you, I thought this would be a 3 hour process. At 6:15 I took their tools out of my garage and told them they would have to finish the job another day. When I went to close the garage, there was SOOOO much "dust" on the garage door opener sensors that it kept trying to open and close and the sprocket that opened the door sheared off and my garage door opener was now broken. We went to the game, I had work the next day and on Wednesday, he was supposed to come and install the bar, the sink and put my appliances back. I had already cleaned up all the dust, cigarette butts and razor blades in my garage, so I wasn't too happy when they showed up and told me the granite they ordered was the wrong size and that they would just shorten the opening of the bar by adding a couple pieces of drywall. I told him to get out of my house and when he ordered the right size he could come back... Friday, he comes and finally puts the right piece in, tells me he can hook up the sink for an extra $170.00 because of course its not included. Not that I thought it would be, but he told me it would be when he took it out. I said I would do it myself and asked him to leave. Katie and I went down to Sun Tile and spoke with the owners, told them that we didn't like the crew. He gave us a bigger discount and told us that they would never be back in our house again... He's got other crews, thankfully.
Thursday Dad and I went down to Jeromes in Corona to pick up Katie and my new bedroom furniture. We rented a Uhaul and went down to get it because they said it would cost $500 for delivery and set up, since we were "out of area." Dad and I had a nice drive, enjoyed our time and when we got back to the condo, I saved a $400. We went to Jeromes because it was a lot cheaper than anywhere else and we got a dresser, a tall chest, two nightstands and a California king bed for $1600 and it looks and feels great. I got back, put the furniture together, which wasn't difficult, just time consuming and Katie and I put together our new Sleep Number Bed. Its amazing that a California King bed can come in 3 average sized boxes... But it was an awesome adventure following all the directions, hooking up pumps to air mattresses, lining the bed with foam, zipping up the mattress and building a box spring out of what looks like fisher price plastic... BUT I LOVE IT!
The following Saturday, a friend of my dads came over and showed my how to install a new garage door opener. While I was pissed I had to buy a new one, I can't complain because my dad said he would get it for me, and he got Katie and I an awesome unit that is ultra quite, fast and has all these awesome features.
In the meantime, I spent way too long hooking up our sink, faucet and garbage disposal, but I did get it done and there are no leaks... I was told anyone with average intelligence could do it, and so I guess I'm at least of average intelligence. I began the tile work a few days ago, ran out of tile and am picking up more from Sun Tile tomorrow... They really have been amazing and I can recommend them to anyone because the owners are great and always in the shop. I'll be posting pictures of the new kitchen soon.
Katie and I bought a new convection microwave, we are getting a new fridge soon and the floors should be done this weekend. I should be living at the condo by Sunday... YAY!
Wow!!! Okay, well I think in the last post I was talking about a desk that I found and began to work on, I spent a few more days finishing the desk sanding, I began to stain in when Katie brought up that I should measure the desk and see where we are going to put it in OUR office. (I only bring attention to that its our office because I frequently make the mistake of calling it my office and I want to make sure it's noticed). I took the measuring tape up the stairs and realized that while I did measure to make sure it would be able to get up the stairs and into the bedroom, I never measured to see where I would situate it. Sadly, after all the man hours, saw dust in my lungs and fun I've had messing around with it... ITS TOO BIG! So the desk is going up for sale on craigslist at some point and we will see if I get any takers. This project got benched.
The next job I tackled was getting the back patio cleaned up and nice. There has been a tree thats been dead for years. Katie and I got an estimate from a company to take it out for $270.00. I have an issue spending that much money to destroy something and take it down, so my dad and I got a couple shovels, a pick axe and a saw and brought the damn thing down. It took a while because the chain saw that we had didn't work, so I had to use a combination of my hand saw, and the manual old school saw to break apart the big pieces. After a bit we took the main trunk down with a pick axe and called it a day. The next awesome part about this story, was that I live in a complex with only one trash dumpster that frequently gets full. Being that I didn't want to be the bad guy in the neighborhood and use up all the trash with the pieces of tree, I decided to have a bunch of friends over for a bonfire in the back patio. WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS! I got my fire pit, chairs, sodas, and smore stuff. It was an awesome little gathering at the condo, and was like Katie and I's first time entertaining. We burned the entire tree down, with the exception of the giant stump pieces. However, the next day when I got to the condo, the school next door was getting a tree taken out. I popped my head over the fence and asked the guys if they had a chipper, they were happy to help and the remaining pieces of the tree were chucked over the fence and hauled away... AMAZING!
Katie and I then got a green thumb and decided to run chains up and down the fence posts and build a little planter of jasmine that will hopefully eventually vine up and cover the fence...
We graded the ground, got rid of rocks and planted low maintenance grass seed. The grass is just now starting to come up and the jasmine are doing well. I'm sad to report however, that we also decided to plant roses in the other planter and they are dead... I definitely took care of them, I watered everything everyday and the both the grass and jasmine made it so, I have no idea what happened to the roses.
With our back patio done and some serious progress underway we decided to go and get estimates for granite countertops. I wanted to keep the cabinets and redo the countertops so that we had a little larger bar and a bit more in the kitchen. This was the drawing estimates I had in an earlier post. After several estimates we finally gave up and I decided I would be doing granite countertops made of granite tile. I could do it myself and it shouldn't be as expensive. I went to Sun Tile in Glendora. After speaking with the owners there really wasn't any reason to do the tile, it may break, it costs a ton of money and they have prefab granite slabs that would work perfectly in the kitchen. I showed them my drawing and they gave us a really good price. (plus I think it helped I played the middle eastern card) Anyways... they said they could measure and start right away and if I could do the demolition myself, I would save a bunch more money. Katie and I picked our granite, decided that I would do the glass tile backsplash and we would get started right away. It all SOUNDED really nice.
Demolition took place on mothers day. I thought I would have the weekend to work on it, but later remembered that the family goes to Vegas for mothers day. When I got back, we had our brunch and I immediately worked like crazy. I only made the mistake of not putting on my protective glasses once... when shards of ceramic tile come flying up it gets scary quick. Night began to fall and my dad came over to help... the demolition got done Sunday night at 8pm.
Thursday Dad and I went down to Jeromes in Corona to pick up Katie and my new bedroom furniture. We rented a Uhaul and went down to get it because they said it would cost $500 for delivery and set up, since we were "out of area." Dad and I had a nice drive, enjoyed our time and when we got back to the condo, I saved a $400. We went to Jeromes because it was a lot cheaper than anywhere else and we got a dresser, a tall chest, two nightstands and a California king bed for $1600 and it looks and feels great. I got back, put the furniture together, which wasn't difficult, just time consuming and Katie and I put together our new Sleep Number Bed. Its amazing that a California King bed can come in 3 average sized boxes... But it was an awesome adventure following all the directions, hooking up pumps to air mattresses, lining the bed with foam, zipping up the mattress and building a box spring out of what looks like fisher price plastic... BUT I LOVE IT!
The following Saturday, a friend of my dads came over and showed my how to install a new garage door opener. While I was pissed I had to buy a new one, I can't complain because my dad said he would get it for me, and he got Katie and I an awesome unit that is ultra quite, fast and has all these awesome features.
In the meantime, I spent way too long hooking up our sink, faucet and garbage disposal, but I did get it done and there are no leaks... I was told anyone with average intelligence could do it, and so I guess I'm at least of average intelligence. I began the tile work a few days ago, ran out of tile and am picking up more from Sun Tile tomorrow... They really have been amazing and I can recommend them to anyone because the owners are great and always in the shop. I'll be posting pictures of the new kitchen soon.
Katie and I bought a new convection microwave, we are getting a new fridge soon and the floors should be done this weekend. I should be living at the condo by Sunday... YAY!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)