Playing in Cabinets

A few days ago we finally got our new cabinets for our bathroom.  We are so excited, because this is a big step towards the master bathroom being done!

The granite guy has not made the countertop yet, so the girls could not resist playing "pop up and down" in the sink cabinets:

Where's Sabrina?  Here she is!

Playhouse Footings

This year for Christmas we are building the girls a playhouse in our back yard.  My Dad, an architect, is our designer, so it will be very nice, and much larger than a typical playhouse.  We have been working on it for a few weeks and will still need to push hard to finish by Christmas.

Here are some shots of the first day of work, when we dug the footings.  I love how helpful Sabrina is in projects like this.  She always wants to get in the middle of things:

 My Dad and Robby handling the "one person" hole digger:

 Robby teaching Sabrina how to use a level:

Tile in the Kitchen!!

We started our kitchen renovation in September 2010.  By Thanksgiving we had a functional kitchen with cabinets and all of the major appliances.  Well, we did not have a vent.  We argued about which vent to buy for a few weeks, then we ignored the issue for a few weeks.  Then, Robby gave me two vents to choose from and I picked one.  So, we ordered it and it arrived over a month ago.

We were ready to install it, but my Dad told us that we needed to put tile up on the walls before we could install the vent.  So, last week we finally picked out some tile and installed it.  Then, Robby grouted it: 

This is a messy project.  I have to laugh about the last few months.  It has been crazy and a good exercise in flexibility.  Thankfully we can no see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Maybe, just maybe, we will get a vent installed tonight.  We'll see!

Hard at Work

We were so thrilled when we passed all of our "rough" inspections and could put insulation in the walls:

My Own Private Electrician

Robby has done all of the electrical work for our new kitchen. It was a lot of work because h had to add two new panels (whatever those are), as well as figure out what was done before and where he could put new stuff.

These pictures are a week old; we now have drywall up and are ready to go pick out paint.

We're Talking Chaos!

It is finally getting a little better, but this is what my kitchen has looked like for the past few weeks:

In this shot part of the ceiling is missing and exposed to the sky. That was only for a few hours while the framers for the second floor were here. It was enclosed in one day. However, we have found several birds flying around inside.

Some of the mess from the framers work (it is cleaned up now):

Master Bath Addition

Although our focus right now is on renovating our kitchen, we had to frame out our master bath extension at the same time (so we did not destroy the new kitchen in the near future). So, we hired some framers to do the rough frame out and extend out master bath out a few feet:

In looking at these pictures, I am confirmed in our decision that there are certain tasks we HAVE to hire out. No way could we climb up there!


It is now wrapped in Tyvak and will get windows early next week. After the windows are done, we can have the siding done.

Demolition

We have decided to renovate our kitchen. We have talked about this for a long time and have finally started. Sept. 17 was "D Day," or the day my husband and father demolished the entire kitchen. Down to the studs.


Here is my Dad standing inside the dumpster which sat in our driveway for 2 weeks.


We have since even removed those studs, believe it or not. That is a load bearing wall, so we had to hire some rough carpenters to put a beam in the ceiling.

Helping Daddy Paint

We have been installing hardwood floors in our house lately. As part of that process, we have had to do some touch-up painting on the walls. The girls always want to help with everything we do. As much as we love that character trait, it is hard to find helpful tasks for children their age. This time we asked Catherine to look around at the walls and point out spots and stains on the wall which needed to be painted. She was great at this task!

Robby's New Obsession

One of the best qualities about Robby is how passionate he gets about certain projects. Right now his obsession is HARDWOOD FLOORS. He is madly laying hardwood floors all over our upstairs. Once that is done, he will move on to the downstairs floor.

Don't they look great?