furniture was delivered today; everything is now set up in the family room!!! still have some stuff in boxes, but i think everything that i NEED is put away where they should be. now to decide if i want to stuff EVERYTHING back into the kitchen, or should i just get rid of a lot of the stuff that's left???

OMG!!! that family room cabinet is gonna be the death of me yet!!! i started putting the shelves up (i put the brackets in) then realized that the shelves were all too short!!! they're all about 3 inches too short lengthwise!!! made a quick call to the contractor, who said they'll get the right shelves, and it'll take about two weeks to be delivered. will this never end???

but there is a silver lining; i wanted to get extra shelves for the kitchen cabinets, but would have to order them through the cabinet maker to get the same finish. nina said that i could just keep the short shelves (the manufacturer would just send the right ones, but doesn't expect the original ones back). so, all ron has to do is cut down the shelves about 6" to fit the kitchen cabinets!!! at least something good came out of it!!!

more good news; lane home furnishings called today to say the furniture has come in (this saturday would have been three weeks, so it's in early). everything's being delivered on sunday!!! yippee!!! maybe we'll have movie night on sunday instead of saturday, so we can just be potatoes on the new sectional!!!

final inspection completed today!!! yippeee!!! so the kitchen is finally done!!! i mopped the floors and am now finishing the shelf paper (in the pantry). time to start moving back in!!!


the first picture is of the infamous family room cabinet, the one that took an extra two plus weeks to arrive, two weeks when nothing was being done but wait, and wait, and wait...

the furniture for the family room (sectional, end tables, rug) should be arriving pretty soon (3-6 weeks, and this week is the third). maybe it'll be delivered earlier than expected???

still nothing new; waiting for the trim kit for the bottom of the island, glass for cabinet, and the family room cabinet.

we did go looking for new furniture for the family room, though. last weekend we went to a few places around fremont and got some ideas. this weekend we went to lane home furnishings in walnut creek and found what we wanted. i guess we're eating mac&cheese for the next few months (poor bradley will starve!!!).

we got a sectional (hendrix by lane), two end tables, and an area rug (greenie abstract pattern). the first pic is of the sectional we bought (the top is the sectional style, but in the bottom color). the second pic is the layout in the family room. the "cutoff" for the family room lines up with the doorway into the main hallway. the big square on top left corner that's at an angle is our old "white" leather recliner (it'll stay if it fits in). the wedge we got is actually rounded on the back end, not squared off as in the picture (the program ron used to set the layout didn't have any curved wedges). i hope the sectional actually fits in the room; from the measurements they gave, it's gonna be close, but according to their setup program, we should have lotsa space.

the furniture should be coming in 3-6 weeks, so that will be just when they'll be finishing up with the remodel.

it's been five weeks, and it's almost done!!! all the granite (countertops, island top, backsplash) was put in yesterday (yes, in one day, but they did finish at about 7:00!). today the electrician came back and finished all the lighting; the under-cabinet lights really came out nice; the backsplashes look so good!!!

all the appliances are in and working, and the handles were all put on today.

all that's left are the little details, and i wonder if they're gonna do more fixing on the base boards. there was an issue about the quality of work done there. they did fix up some of it today, but there's still a little that i think should be fixed.

the glass for the window cabinets come in on monday, and they're waiting for the trim kit to finish off the base of the island. the family room cabinet now is scheduled to be delivered on august 8, so that's still a ways off.

been a slow week so far this week. no one came on monday. the lone worker bee from saturday came back yesterday to finish up the stucco outside. today another worker came in and put in all the baseboards by himself. i thought the electrician was supposed to come in today and finish up the outlets, but i guess not. ups should be delivering my handles today, and the counter installation should start tomorrow. i wonder how long that will take...

the one cabinet in the family room wasn't ordered until after all the other cabinets were installed and they realized one was missing. that one should be delivered on august 3 and installed soon after. bummers, a big empty space in the wall until then.

didn't think anyone would be coming in today. one lone worker bee came in today to do the stucco outside, around the new door and windows. here are some pix of the completed floor (yes, in the pantry, too!!!).

no new pictures today. the floors are done, just need to put the base boards in. according to ups, the handles should be arriving on wednesday. the counter tops are supposed to be done soon and installation starts next thursday. this is the end of the fourth week, and the remodel was supposed to take 6-8 weeks, so still on schedule.

yet another crew of workers put in most of the floor today. they have about 2 foot strip left in the "big room" (kitchen/family room). have yet to do the dining room, and yes, we mustn't forget, the most important pantry!!!

they will be coming back tomorrow to finish up. then we wait for the counter tops to be done (another 9 working days?), before putting the remaining appliances in. i think there's some misunderstanding between the main crew and the floor crew about who's putting the baseboards in. all i know is that I'm not doing it!!!

no new pix today. the counter guy came to make the templates for the counter tops and backsplashes. that took a couple of hours to do!

the materials for the floors got delivered today; that will be installed on wednesday/thursday. then we just wait for the countertops, i guess, which will be about two weeks.

i ordered the handles for the cabinets and drawers (i decided to get all handles, no knobs). had to order 52 of them!!!

workers finished up the cabinets today. looks great! didn't realize i had to get handles for the cabinets/drawers; thought they had the "finger knotches" to use. i guess not. boy, that's a lot of handles i've gots to buy...

one appliance got put in, the convection microwave (that black spot in the picture between the fridge and stove openings). i need a stepstool, though. it's too high; i can't see into it to see if whatever i'm cooking is burning!!!

cabinets are almost all done! they started today, just have to finish putting up some of the doors and then the crown molding? bummers, they thought they might have been able to finish today, but i guess we had more cabinets than they thought. plus, the cabinet that goes in the family room didn't come yet, so that's for later.

in the second pic, bradley (blue shirt) is where the fridge goes, and aaron (near the center) is where the stove goes.

painting finished!!! pantry has been restored to its previous bright yellow. all is happy in the slater kitchen!!!

and if you notice, they painted all the wood around the fireplace a white color (matches the trim and ceilings). looks pretty good, a lot better than the original dark wood, i think.

the colors came out really nice for the kitchen/family room and the dining room. actually came out a little paler than the sample patch i did, but hey, i wanted to look for a paler color, but just gave up, so i'm happy! can't really tell in the pix, though.

i am just so sad right now... i went downstairs to see how far they're getting with the painting (they looked like they were packing it in for the day). they finished all the ceilings, the paneling above the fireplace, and the primer on the walls. all they have to do tomorrow is paint the walls with the right colors. BUT, THEY PAINTED MY PANTRY WHITE!!! ALL OF IT!!! arghhhh!!!! all that work, all for naught... sad, sad, sad... i am so sad...

nothing new today. they put the trim around the door, and the window sill for the one new window. they did buy all the paint, though, which is now sitting on the floor in the kitchen. they start painting tomorrow. the new window for the family room is supposed to arrive tomorrow, so on wednesday, the new window goes in, and the painting should be completed. they marked on the walls where all the cabinets and appliances go. looks cramped to me...

finished with the taping, "mudding", and texturing of the walls, ceilings, and pantry. took the one guy 2.5 days, by himself.

they got all the sheetrock on the walls and ceiling. i guess tomorrow they have to tape and then put the texture stuff on? don't ask me; i'm not into construction.

love the big doorway between the dining room and kitchen now. really brightens up the front half of the house.

look at the ceiling of my poor pantry. they just screwed the cut up pieces back into place. hope they cover the seams and re-texture!

the electrician guys did all the wiring on wednesday, and finished up on thursday. all the can lights are up and working. on friday the regular crew was supposed to start putting up the sheet rock. but no cigar. guess the city inspector came late. at least the electrical passed the inspection. so i think the sheet rocking will start on monday. nice to have no workers around for the weekend.

no big visual change today. the electrician came today to put in all the new wiring. he still has to come back tomorrow to finish up; ron made a lot of additional changes to what was in the original plans. i almost had a heart attack when i saw the large cut-outs in my newly painted pantry ceiling!!! he had to cut out the ceiling to get the wires from the existing switches on one side of the pantry to the other, to the dining room. how sad!!! all that hard work; and the ceiling was the hardest part to paint... oh, well... the electrician must think that i'm really eccentric, with my very strong reaction to the pantry holes...

they put the french doors in where the bay window was, and put in a new big window where the old sliding glass doors were. they also made the doorway to the dining room from the kitchen twice as wide. i think we're gonna have to replace the one remaining window in the family room; it looks really out of place with black frame and old sill (all the new stuff is white). i guess it's true. as you progress into the remodeling, you just find more things you HAVE to do at the same time...

the cabinets were delivered this morning and put into the garage; it's getting awfully crowded in there!

workers have gone home for the day; a layer of dust covers everything! it smells like sawdust, too. didn't know they were gonna tear out the walls, too!!!

tomorrow they're planning to take out the existing sliding glass door and put in a new window, and take out the bay window in the kitchen and put in the french doors.

pix of the partial demolition. pretty quick. this was taken at about noon today, while the guys were taking their lunch break.

here are some pix of the "new kitchen". at least, for the next 6 weeks! hopefully not much longer than that!!! i wonder how long it's gonna be until i get tired of cooking in the garage? a day??? the real pain will be trying to wash the dishes, pans, and utensils without a sink. i got a wash tub, and put that along with my drying rack in the shower stall downstairs. hope the place doesn't start smelling. at least there's a fan in there!

the boys are now using up all my paint samples on the walls in the family room. i think they're actually getting more paint on themselves than on the walls!

pix of the old kitchen and family room, all emptied out...

okay, back to colors. changed our minds again about the dining room. i had this "great" idea; why don't i just use the color i picked originally for the big room for the dining room? it looks blue, with a hint of green. so i did paint some patches in the dining room with the original color "alameda" and i think that's what we're going with. boy, that's enough with choosing colors. no more changing my mind... probably, anyway...

nina came over today to look at the colors for the rooms. she likes the green we picked for the big room, but suggest we keep the ceiling the color it is (cream). says it will tie the rooms with the rest of the house. for the dining room, she liked the color "silence" (top right in the previous pic with the four swatches). gotta admit, it looks the best with the green from the other room (i didn't put up the green swatch to the colors for the dining room). i guess that's why she's works as a designer and i don't!!!

nothing much happening now. been trying to decide on the colors to paint the kitchen/family room. never realized that the swatches you get from the paint store are sometimes NOTHING like what it actually looks like on the wall! i had my heart set on a specific color (it's the top right color in the second picture). on the swatch it looked like green, with a tinge of blue. on the wall it looked downright blue!!! how sad... so the hunt started. ask michelle; how many handfuls of swatches did i pick up??? from lowe's, home depot, dales, kelly paints... so finally decided on the color that's on the bottom left, the lighter strip of color on top of it will be the ceiling. kinda hard to see the actual color in the pic, though.

the colors in the first picture are the colors for the dining room. while lying in bed on wednesday, i realized that the dining room is also going to be painted!!! oh no!!! more dilemmas. i wanted a blue with a gray/green tinge. okay, sounds easy to find. NOT!!! i think the guy who mixes the paint at home depot is sick of me. they had to refill their paint sample display today while i was there; did i buy that many??? i went there three times today. i think we're leaning toward the bottom right color. but in the pic it looks kinda purple, no? but it's not, more blue (i hope!). i think the ceiling in the dining room is staying white; i don't want to look at any more paint.

finished the pantry. i thought i was so neat, i kept my workout clothes on instead of changing into junkie stuff. oh, well, those exercise capris were getting old, anyway...

can't really tell the new color of the pantry (cream custard, a light, bright yellow) in the picture. but now it looks like the light is on even when it's not. i guess that's comparatively speaking, comparing with the old dingy wallpaper.

appliances have been delivered!!! now i really can't park in the garage even if i tried...

check out the refrigerator box; that thing is huge! the delivery guy said it was the biggest one he's delivered so far (oh-oh... ge profile not a big seller???)

here's a pic of the pantry, wallpaper removed and clean, ready to be painted. i should have taken a pic before cleaning it out (what a mess!!! and a lot of junk; there were things in there that haven't seen the light of day for over ten years!!! how long do spices last???).

hopefully i'll get around to painting today, after the appliances get here.

Here's some pix of the family room/kitchen, after we cleared most of the stuff out. bummers, i should have taken pix before all the furniture was moved out, especially out of the family room. don't think ron would be too accommodating if i asked he move everything back in (sofa, all the media cabinets, big screen tv, etc.) just so i can take some pictures... or would he???

the boys have been playing "baseball" in the empty family room, using nerf bullets/bombs for the baseball and who know what for the bat. this weekend they wanted to paint the dividing wall (which is gonna be torn down) with the extra paint samples i got.

let's see. talked to contractor yesterday. had to clear up some things.

no need to remove light fixture in dining room; since they're only painting and redoing the floors.

if possible, park the truck in the street so they can have the driveway clear. i guess ron has to do that over the weekend, cuz i've still never drove his truck and don't plan to!

realized that the floor vent in the kitchen will be right in front of the new door; they will have to move it. now the question is where to? i think against the wall between the pantry and the door to the dining room.

the new door will just be a standard wooden one, with 10 panes of glass on each side; active working door will be the right. nothing fancy. if i want a screen door, i'll have to get one after they're done; supposedly there's a lot of "after-market" styles to choose from.


the appliances are being delivered today. no more parking in the garage for the next two months. how sad...

Getting all the kitchen stuff moved out into the garage. I'd say about 75% of stuff is moved either upstairs in the bonus room (in boxes or on the floor) or in the garage. Ask Ron and he'd probably say a lot less. A lot of stuff left is my "junk drawers"...

The pantry has been cleaned out. The wallpaper is gone (thank goodness; it was getting outdated, put in over 20 years ago!). The glue was so old it was easy to pull a lot of the wallpaper off. The walls have been washed down, ready to be painted. Hopefully that will be done before the end of this week, before the actual demolition of the rest of the kitchen.