A Long, long time ago

We have run out of funds once again. The new refinance should go through fairly soon so we can finish. Just one cabinet and a backsplash to go....

Wow, we've been working

Work has really progressed. We've got a kitchen almost totally done. Touch up painting needs to be taken care of and we can't decide what color to paint the trim around the doors and windows. Or what to paint the doors and windows. Then there is the problem of having to wash all these doors and windows before painting them. And do we use the same color through out? Change a lot? Change a little? So many decisions, I just want everything to get put away. Here's some new photos

A Kitchen in the making

Wow! the kitchen has walls and a ceiling. It looks huge! and echos. Really wild. Taking out the pantry was a great idea. Mainly because of all of the floor space it wasted for so little cabinet space.
The new cabinets have been in my garage for almost 2 months just awaiting installition. Looks like that day is finally getting closer.

I realized in looking at a way to set up these slides, that there aren't any good pictures of the way the kitchen looked before. I was sure I took some, put they aren't any where on this computer.
Merry Christmas

New Toys

I found out about this web site slide.com from my cousin's blog; http://scrappycat.blogspot.com/ she uses it on her blog. Anyway, what a cool way to share photos, so I'm trying to get more pictures of the work showing

how we are progressing. Our bedroom is basically done. We could technically be sleeping there, but the only working bathroon is upstairs. So we're waiting until our bath is done. Our bath is taking longer than any of us expected. I got a little creative with it. Donovan and Pete are following through with my ideas. It's really going to be cool (I Hope!) when finished.
Can't wait to see it all done. With Christmas one week away, we are so hoping that we can sleep in our own bed. The boys will be home for the weekend. The oldest has shot 3 geese so far, so we're having goose (geese) for Xmas dinner.
The nicest thing about working for a school district is the time off. I'm getting two weeks to start cleaning and putting some things away. We only offically get one week, but I'm taking the second as vacation. Hope any and all have a wonderful Holiday Season.

Busy, busy

Well, we have been shopping. Geeze is it easy to spend money. After spending time looking on line we ended up going to Lowe's. Husband was very happy with our salesman. So we got a washer, dryer, cooktop, oven, microwave, 2 fans and lots of light fixtures.
I'm a little upset over the oven. Not having ever done something like this before, I really planned for the wrong size of oven. The opening is only for a 24" oven. There are only 2 makers that make ovens that small, and both are basic models. I really wish my kitchen person would have caught that and talked me through it. We have more than enough room. I could have had a convection oven, which don't come in 24". Nothing arrives until November 21, so I'm thinking I might not do Thanksgiving dinner.

Our bedroom is really getting into shape.
A new area rug is replacing the old one (that was literally 100 yrs old), the old one needs to be cleaned and have some resewing done to it. I got some bright colors to paint the background of the bookcases. They will be moved into place next week. Still have to figure out window treatments. The original plan was for me to sew new curtains. I am so over that. The neighbors on both sides feel that flood lights are needed every night, and of course, they shine into our room, so we need something for night. But we have this great view. Really would like drapes, for easy opening and closing... who does drapes any more? Thinking of thick curtains that could be tied back very easily. After picking the new rug out, finding curtains or even drapes that look good with the rug is going to be harder. Kind of did that one backward. Also looks like we will need another smaller rug in the area where the closets used to be. Another mistake was not getting both at the same time. We went to a shop in Gilroy called "Home --" something. They had some really great rugs in two sizes. I was more than willing to return the new rug and purchase two matching from this place. But, he really likes the rug we already picked out.

Not much is happening to the kitchen, at least appearance wise. The crew is doing some outside finish work and getting the plumbing laid out. They really want us to move back downstairs to our bedroom so they can work on the kitchen. Why that ties together? The pipes to the upstairs bathroom run through the middle of the kitchen. And two of the pipes leak.

Can't do the kitchen until the pipes are fixed. Can't fix the pipes until the downstairs bathroom is working. We are in a circle waiting for one or the other to be finished. I planning on tiling the downstairs bath myself. I've got 5 days off starting Friday to do it in. Hopefully the guys will have the 'greenboard' in place by then, so I can start.

My oldest son had his 26th birthday this week. We are really quite boring when it comes to birthdays and other occasions. I think Christmas is the only thing we get into any more. And even that, not so much. Last year, the Christmas tree was a one of a kind. I'm hoping that we can avoid it this year and maybe go a little more traditional. I still can't believe that last year's tree made the "Ugly Christmas Lights" web page. This is a real fun page to get you ready for the season. Our personal favorite is 'divorced santa'

Various thoughts

People have stated that us Californians haven't any reversations about discussing issues that are better left unsaid. Money in particular. What it cost, what it's worth, etc. In that vain, I thought I would throw out some numbers. If any one actually reads this, and begins to worry about how much they're spending on a remodel.
Look at my numbers, and feel relieved.
For lifting up my house and holding it in place, it costs $20,000.00, which was the best deal we got.
For digging out the old foundation and replacing it with a new one, we paid $42,000.00. Still feeling pretty good about the price; it was a lot of bricks to move, dirt to dig, wood to cut down and concrete to pour.
For attaching us back to the foundation - $63,000.00. I'm not sure if this was a very good price. Especially when you consider that it turns out several walls were NOT reconnected. One of the places that was shored up, wasn't suppose to be shored up, wood in the wood floor was pushed out of place, and there is still a lump in my floor. This was the contractor we ended up firing.

Since then, we've spent $115,000.00. That was to build a staircase to the 3rd floor; finish attaching the house to foundation; new porch deck; 2 new outside sets of stairs; taking down to frame my bedroom, bathroom and kitchen; removing the very ugly kitchen floor and sanding the beautiful wood floor we found underneath it; plywood, sheetrock, insulation in my bedroom; building a sweet outside cooking area with lots of new cement; six new windows (that all work!) and a door for my room; three new windows and a door for the kitchen. That's all I can think of at the moment for that money.

It cost $27,000.00 for the new cabinets by KitchenMaid bought from Santa Cruz Kitchen and Bath.
$10,000.00 for ordering the Corian countertops, and I'm hoping and praying that price includes installation.
Anyone figured out the bottom line to date? Well, it's not over. We still have to built the kitchen and intall the new cabinets; (which arrived on time!) paint all of it; move some odds and ends; build my new closet; build the half bath for downstairs; replace the very old sewer pipes under the house and in the kitchen ceiling, new carpets for at least one room; oh and the biggies - new appliances: cooktop, oven, microwave, washer, dryer, dishwasher, and maybe a refridgerator.
I've been having two reoccuring dreams; we run out of money or I drop dead the week before it's done.

A humorus note to finish on. To replace to old kitchen door and put the new one in a different place, we went a night without a kitchen door. The cats were confused and very mad. I would go the the front door or my new bedroom door and try to beg/plead them to follow me inside. No way! All three, Marley, Rocky and Pie, wanted to come in the door that wasn't there. We finally ended up opening a window and they came in it.

Another day, another $20 thousand

So getting home from work yesterday,
Pete greeted me with a worried look. "Gee, we've uncovered termite damage. Looks like it might even be active. What do you want to do?"
"Well, gosh Pete, just cover it up. Why waste an extra thousand fixing and replacing the wood? I mean, we've only spend 100 thousand so far."
So any way, rude as I was, he got the point. Damaged fixed today. Needed a couple of new pieces of wood for the framing of the floor. Also ended up cutting a hole in the floor near the new doorway. So now we have to figure out a way around that. Was going to do linoleum, but the first cost estimate was $2700.00. We're going to sand and varnish instead. Now with the new hole in the floor, we have to figure a way out that will look cool. Eric, our master carpenter, has some good ideas.

Speaking of Eric, he asked us to tape out the floor plan for the bathroom. Got a call at work, what's up with the tape? Husband decided to move everything to different locations. Now the guys have to move all the plumbing to meet his plan. At least with a wide open basement and lots of head room, it won't be too bad.

Love this part... my kitchen designer, who happened to get hurt snowboarding (a concussion), made a mistake in the measuring. Length off by ~10", width off by 6". She had to reorder a cabinet and I'm getting a smaller sink than originally planned. We think the length won't matter, as most of it can be absorbed by the kitchen table. It did cause a few tense moments.
Our bedroom has walls! and is so much warmer than before. I need to pick a paint color for it soon. What excitment! Think I'll let the husband decide this room, as I have real strong opinions about the rest of the house.

One other note, behind the big cabinets, behind some slats, we found another wall. Must be the original dining room wall from 1880. It was so beautiful!!! We had to cut it out, but the guys did a nice job and we have it saved. I have no idea what to do with it, but am including a picture of it also. Keep in mind, when viewing this; it is redwood, painted to look like oak.