From the day we moved into the house, we disliked the kitchen. It was our plan to remodel the kitchen immediately, but several things prevented/postponed that dream. Putting a new roof and new windows on the house exhausted our resources.
The counter tops are these nasty 4' white tiles, with thick grout lines. It screams late 80's/early 90's. The backsplash is the same. The grout is a pain to clean, and a pain to prepare food on. It has been the most common complaint from day one. The other problem, cant see the TV from the kitchen!
(view from kitchen, other than the picture being crooked, the TV is out of view. Also look for the Daisy photobomb)
As you can see. . nasty dated white tile everywere! The mess is my own doggon fault!
So, I decided to surprise my wife while we were on vacation. I am trying to be sneaky, and am hoping she does not figure it out. Before we left, I picked out the color, and also found a nice tile for a backsplash. I hired a contractor to arrange to have the countertops measured, and new laminate countertops made while we were gone. Laminate is not our first choice, but until we have the funds to replace the floors, counters, cabinets, and appliances . . . laminate will have to do.
On the first day of vacation I was very eager to leave, my wife and kid probably thought I was insane, what they did not know was that I had a crew waiting for us to get out of the house so they could come in and measure. So countertops are now measured and were ordered while we were away . . my part of the project started July 9th when I returned from the vacation 10 days before the family. I had to come home before them because I had work at the office which needed to be done.
So the project begins!
DAY 1 - July 9, 2012
After a 12 hour day at work, I returned home and called the contractor. He said the countertops were coming Friday, so I had 5 days to get the prep work done. I started with the backsplash.
Step one was to clean everything up:
As an added bonus to the white tiles, you can see some of the tiles have little prints on them!
Back splash removal begins!
Getting closer!
Had to remove the microwave!
Day 1 ended after 3 hours of popping tiles, and with a power outage due to the heat. I was exhausted, so I took a shower and went to bed.
Day 2 - July 10
Another long day at work, but not as long as yesterday. I ran around looking for a new sink, after 3 stores I found a stainless one that looks like it should work. Work begins on popping the remaining tiles on the countertop.
I moved the stove to start
Bad news, I expected to see a little grout and some wood under the tile . . but I saw about 1.5" of cement. Oh crap, this could take longer than I planned!
Tiles off about half of the countertop, time to see what the cement does:
Its 11pm! I am exhausted, and still have a ways to go. Hopefully I will be able to finish up tomorrow after work!
Day 3 - July 11
OUCH! I felt yesterday in my muscles this morning! This could be a long one today.
I got home from work about 6:30ish, talk with my wife & mother until about 7pm, then went to work. Probably the hardest part of this project is answering the question "What are you doing tonight?". I am not a very good liar, nor am I very creative, so I have been responding "It was a long day at work, I think I am just going to watch TV and go to bed." There is some truth to that, I do have the TV on in the background, and I do eventually go to bed. I hate fibbing to her, but I hope the surprise is worth it. She may realize I am fibbing, because she knows I can hardly sit still, and am always doing something.
So, as you can see, I removed the remaining tile tonight, then started on the cement.
And Ta Da! All the tile, cement, sink . . everything is gone! Demolition finished.
Took me about 3.5 hours tonight, I am exhausted. I should sleep well. I am typing this in bed, and Daisy the dog is already sound asleep next to me. So far I am ahead of schedule! Hopefully the countertops arrive Friday as planned.
Day 4 - July 12
Oh crud! So the day started off helping a friend move, which was fine except it was HOT today. Then back to work, when I got a call saying the counter tops would not be ready until Friday afternoon, and probably would not be installed until Monday, and then another call from my wife saying they are going to try and come home Tuesday instead of Wednesday. Not good, not good at all. The evening was spent doing church stuff. I got home about 9:30, talked to my wife, did a little vacuuming, and went to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some better news with regards to the project.
Day 5 - Friday the 13th!
Remember that epic scene from the movie Titanic? the one where kate and leo are on the front of the ship:
Leo should have been thinking "Oh crap, there is an ugly mean jealous dude with a gun chasing after us, and look out in the distance . . .icebergs! If one doesn't kill us, the other one will. Maybe we better warn someone, or head to the lifeboats or something" . . .instead he was thinking "Boobies" as evidenced by his complete lack of stress regarding the impending doom.
Maybe I should take a page out of Leo's book to manage stress. I just got a call, the counter tops wont be ready until Monday. My wife likely gets back Tuesday, and right now (and surely all weekend) the kitchen looks like this:
Fingers crossed . . . I would like Tuesday's surprise to be a good one!
Day 6 - Saturday
Well since things are at a standstill with the kitchen itself until the countertops arrive, I decided to start on moving the TV. One of the complaints was that you cant see the TV from the kitchen. About the only places that left for the TV were over the fireplace, or in front of a window. That really just left over the fireplace. My only complaint . . what to do with the cords! Its a 46" TV, and now its over the fireplace as you can see below. I hid the cords later (and cleaned up the room), and will put up another photo at the end.
Day 7 - Sunday
Genesis 2, minus the whole finished part ;) I went to church, spent some time with my mom, walked the dogs. I did receive confirmation that they will be home Tuesday night . . pressure is on!
Day 8 - Monday
The crew came with the counter tops, I came home from work for a couple hours to help get things started.
After the initial install, they got the sink in, and the oven, but left the faucets and plumbing up to me to finish. which I finished about 10:30pm
Day 3 - July 11
OUCH! I felt yesterday in my muscles this morning! This could be a long one today.
I got home from work about 6:30ish, talk with my wife & mother until about 7pm, then went to work. Probably the hardest part of this project is answering the question "What are you doing tonight?". I am not a very good liar, nor am I very creative, so I have been responding "It was a long day at work, I think I am just going to watch TV and go to bed." There is some truth to that, I do have the TV on in the background, and I do eventually go to bed. I hate fibbing to her, but I hope the surprise is worth it. She may realize I am fibbing, because she knows I can hardly sit still, and am always doing something.
So, as you can see, I removed the remaining tile tonight, then started on the cement.
Day 4 - July 12
Oh crud! So the day started off helping a friend move, which was fine except it was HOT today. Then back to work, when I got a call saying the counter tops would not be ready until Friday afternoon, and probably would not be installed until Monday, and then another call from my wife saying they are going to try and come home Tuesday instead of Wednesday. Not good, not good at all. The evening was spent doing church stuff. I got home about 9:30, talked to my wife, did a little vacuuming, and went to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some better news with regards to the project.
Day 5 - Friday the 13th!
Remember that epic scene from the movie Titanic? the one where kate and leo are on the front of the ship:
Leo should have been thinking "Oh crap, there is an ugly mean jealous dude with a gun chasing after us, and look out in the distance . . .icebergs! If one doesn't kill us, the other one will. Maybe we better warn someone, or head to the lifeboats or something" . . .instead he was thinking "Boobies" as evidenced by his complete lack of stress regarding the impending doom.
Maybe I should take a page out of Leo's book to manage stress. I just got a call, the counter tops wont be ready until Monday. My wife likely gets back Tuesday, and right now (and surely all weekend) the kitchen looks like this:
Fingers crossed . . . I would like Tuesday's surprise to be a good one!
Day 6 - Saturday
Well since things are at a standstill with the kitchen itself until the countertops arrive, I decided to start on moving the TV. One of the complaints was that you cant see the TV from the kitchen. About the only places that left for the TV were over the fireplace, or in front of a window. That really just left over the fireplace. My only complaint . . what to do with the cords! Its a 46" TV, and now its over the fireplace as you can see below. I hid the cords later (and cleaned up the room), and will put up another photo at the end.
Day 7 - Sunday
Genesis 2, minus the whole finished part ;) I went to church, spent some time with my mom, walked the dogs. I did receive confirmation that they will be home Tuesday night . . pressure is on!
Day 8 - Monday
The crew came with the counter tops, I came home from work for a couple hours to help get things started.
The backsplash wont be done till tomorrow, wife gets home tomorrow evening. This is going to be a cliffhanger ending!
Day 9 - Tuesday
I DID IT!!!! With 45 minutes to spare! Its 7:45pm and the last update I got was they would be arriving about 8:30. I am totally and completely exhausted!
The contractors finished placing the tile about noon, and it needed 4 hours to dry. I came home from work about 3pm, and it looked like this:
I grouted, cleaned replaced the microwave. . .
and put everything away. I broke one bowl when a leg on the chair I was standing on broke . .cleaning up the glass was a pain . . but I am DONE!!!
I love you honey!
Day 9 - Tuesday
I DID IT!!!! With 45 minutes to spare! Its 7:45pm and the last update I got was they would be arriving about 8:30. I am totally and completely exhausted!
The contractors finished placing the tile about noon, and it needed 4 hours to dry. I came home from work about 3pm, and it looked like this:
I grouted, cleaned replaced the microwave. . .
So fun to see the whole process unfold! You are a good husband to surprise your wife! Congratulations on a beautiful new kitchen! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteYou did an AWESOME job Greg. I really hope she loved it. She's a lucky lady to have you.
ReplyDelete