Kitchen Cabinets

I know I said I wouldn't post anymore cabinet pictures until drawers and doors were installed, but I had to share these pictures of my hickory cabinets!  I'm in love!  Jeff built all the bases on site, but all the doors are ordered and are coming from a cabinet shop in Chesapeake.  I can hardly wait to see them all together!

 This is a shot taken from the Living room looking back into the kitchen.  Look closely and you'll see the Fridge, Freezer and oven hiding in their new hideaways!  The bottom front of this island will be covered in airstone!

And here is a shot of the galley part of the kitchen.  The Fridge and Freezer are just out of the picture to the right, and the laundry shoot access will be between the upper cabinets on the left and go all the way down through the bottom cabinets.

Laying Tile

When Jeffrey first told me he was going to do the tile work himself, I have to admit I was a little skeptical.  There was a lot of prep work to do, a lot of youtube video how-to's to watch and a lot of patience to come.  We wanted the job done right, so there was no cutting corners here.  First things first was to put down a layer of hardibacker board over all the floors and walls that were to be tiled.  Here you can see Jeffrey working into the Master Bath from the closet area with the thinset.  The boards were all pre-cut and put  in place and then we came back with the thinset and screws to secure them.  This part alone took a good part of a week working off and on.

 

After all the backerboard was installed on Friday, I started laying the tile out in the powder room to get a feel for the layout, and the easiest way for cuts.  Since it was such a small room, I just went with a standard grid layout and this room went pretty fast.  Cutting the circle around the toilet flange was the hardest part (FYI - I didn't do any of the cutting).  Here is a shot of the room after we came back on Sunday and cleaned it up a bit.  Looks good to me!

 

Of course Saturday we were back at it again, this time in the upstairs bathroom, finishing up what we couldn't get done the night before.  The upstairs bathroom has the same tile layout as the powder room above.  It also went pretty fast, but I forgot to take any pictures of the finished floor!

 

Then we started in the kitchen.

 

 I had decided the grid layout looked okay in the smaller bathrooms, but I had already had it on my mind that the kitchen and halls were going to be on a diamond pattern.  I didn't like the idea of looking down those long straight (or not so straight) grout lines.  So it took us a little while to determine the best layout for the floor, and finally pop a chalk line to get us going. 

After doing the front section of the kitchen, we moved around to the galley side of the kitchen,  about the time it started snowing! Poor Jeffrey was out there on the porch getting snowed on all afternoon while his tile saw had ice sickles hanging from it by nightfall.

 But we got the kitchen finished and we came back Sunday afternoon to do the back hallway.

 

Last night we started and finished the walk-in closet, and tonight - we're in hopes to finish the floor to the master bathroom.  So as you can see, it's a work in progress, with a long ways still to go.  A few hours here and there doesn't seem like a lot, but every little bit goes a long way!

  (I still have no idea on when the tub and shower will get tiled!)

 

 



Steady Progress

Every day I see steady progress, which is great at this point.

 

The nursery door is hung and just needs some poly, 

 

The same goes for our bedroom door.  The pantry doors you see in the background still need stain, and we're still waiting on the arrival of the pocket door for the bathroom.

 

 

The outside fans are ready to rock and roll as well as all the exterior lights and receptacles.  The front porch even has motion lights waiting for guests (and electricity).

We even got a little funky with the sconces in the dining and living room, bringing in that rustic look. 

 

The base cabinets have been framed for the wash room, and the laundry chute cabinet was being framed this afternoon.

 

 

The base cabinets for the master bathroom were framed out as well this morning and are waiting on vanities and the center cabinet that will house the tv ;)

 

The cabinets upstairs in the girls bathroom are finished, just awaiting the doors in the garage to be put on.  Waiting on cabinet hinges for that part.... I'll update with more cabinet pics once the doors and drawers are all in.

Time for some updates!

It's been a while since I've taken the opportunity to update with the house progress.  Everyone said the inside work was the slowest, and I really didn't want to believe them, but it is....  In the last few weeks a little has changed, so let me bring you up to speed. 

First of all, I last left you with the start of a knotty pine ceiling. Well that ceiling is now in, as well as two of the three decorative beams and the trim work was to be finished this afternoon.  Here's the progression of that.

 

 

 

There's also been a lot of painting and staining going on; especially trying to repaint a new color over that green upstairs!

 

Then the trim started going in for the doors and windows.  Yesterday they even sized and hung the upstairs doors and today installed the doorstops and knobs.  Hopefully this weekend we will be able to get them painted and stained!

 

 

 

And then yesterday, they started the vanity for the girls bathroom upstairs.  The hole in the floor is the guesswork for where the laundry chute will come down through another cabinet.  By the progress of things I guess the order seems to be finish from the top down.  Luckily the basement is all done but the baseboard.

Meanwhile life has continued as usual.  Well, a little busier than usual...

 

We've had snow...

 

A Birthday....

 

An unexpected litter of puppies....

 We've had play time,

 

And we've had down time.... :)