A Family Visit and a Working Sink

This is just the first of a few posts for this weekend, which was a special one for a few reasons. 1) my parents and brother arrived Friday; 2) Saturday Dave (with help from his father in-law) successfully (eventually) hooked the plumbing back up and got the sink working (!), and he finished the second coat of sealant on the counters so we could start using them; and 3) this morning Dave's parents joined us for brunch - an even more exciting event with the new kitchen! Whee! Plus, yesterday was the 20th, so I'll have my 20th Project photos to post, as well.

So, this one will be about the sink, I guess. Although I should first point out just how SUPER excited Lanie was to see her adoring Heller family:

(everyone's enjoying this good back-of-the-neck scratch!)

Having installed this faucet once before, as well as the one in our bathroom two months ago, Dave was ready to go getting us all set to use the new sink yesterday. Unfortunately, there were some leakage hiccups, but ultimately, his plumbing skills got everything in order and we're golden:

It's quite an undertaking:

(it's a dirty job...)

(but easier when completed as a two-man job)

(Dave has definitely grown accustomed to climbing into this little cubbie-hole)

(but didn't anticipate the size of the sink making things even tighter under there)

(testing...)

(and we're in business!)

Our beautiful new sink is now successfully working, and also successfully NOT leaking! Dave's the best.

COUNTER TOPS!

Early this afternoon I was sitting in my office and my phone buzzed indicating a text message. I looked down and it was a "multimedia" message... I opened my phone, and it was a "multimedia" message from Dave... I downloaded the message, and found myself weeping. Tears of joy, people! WE HAVE COUNTER TOPS! AND A SINK! (so, the sink's not hooked up to any plumbing yet, but who cares?! It looks like a kitchen again!) Check it out:

(I'm pretty sure tears were warranted)

(beau-tee-ful!)

(look at that gorgeous, shiny, stunner of a new sink! who knew a sink could bring such joy?)

(more pretty!)

(I was fully expecting the counters to clash intolerably with the back splash, but it's not SO bad, right?)

(looking into the Beauty through the new beautiful window. THAT'S a view!)

Clearly, months without a normal kitchen have left me slightly off-balance, but still, come on! That's pretty great, right?! And the timing could not be better... my parents and brother arrive tomorrow for a fun-filled pre-Thanksgiving visit. Can't wait!

What's the sound you hear? Relief? It just might be. Hooray!

Progress Report... Slow and Steady

I need to stop making grand statements of "I will do this big thing" until I know that I can do it when I say I am going to do it. This weekend's goals involved the following for Dave: fix a leaky faucet in the second bathroom; fix the shower pull on the faucet in the second bathroom; put in supports for the upcoming counter installation in the kitchen; spackle some of the odd cuts and cracks in the kitchen walls; and fill the holes from the 800 nails that our unit's previous owner put into the walls of the kitchen (note: this will be a repeating theme as we move from room to room with our renovation/painting plans... she had A LOT of nails in the walls!). This weekend's goals for me involved: a shopping trip to IKEA with my S-I-L to purchase curtains, a mirror, and other odds and ends; another trip to Thybony Paint for kitchen-wall-painting supplies; and priming and painting the kitchen.

On Dave's end, nearly every goal was accomplished. He successfully fixed the pipes and shower situation in the second bathroom, and filled all the nail holes in the kitchen walls. He built and then installed the support pieces for the counter tops (which will hopefully be installed soon; measurements took place last Thursday). And he began addressing the weird cuts/cracks in the drywall, which were created by the electrician we needed in our first week here to put in the new electrical panel (a different size than its predecessor). That is where the kinks in my plan begin.

I did have a successful trip to IKEA Saturday, and soon I'll be able to post photos of our new curtains in all three rooms! I also got some great shelves for the front hall and frames for prints my S-I-L gave me, which I intend to put up in the second bathroom when it's done.

Today, I went back to Thybony, and saw my new best friend, Joe, who was very curious about how our cabinets were coming along (not yet, but they will be, I promised!). I was impressed that he remembered me and our project, especially when he asked if I was there to take care of the wall paint. I was. I purchased a gallon of Benjamin Moore "Ticonderoga Taupe" (the color sample for which I am having trouble getting a good photo, and which I think my father will be very excited about... merely for its name). I also got a roller, a brush, and primer and a good pep talk from Joe.

I taped off most of the room, and was ready to begin priming, but it seems we won't be able to actually do the whole thing until the aforementioned spackling situation is resolved. It's going to take a few layers of spackle to fully cover the cracks and smooth them out so I can paint over them. Alas. So, we are half-primed, and ready to finish the priming and move onto painting just as soon as Dave gets a few more layers of spackle on the wall. This might take a few days, as it takes a long time to dry. Sigh. So, while I proudly announced that I was painting this weekend, I didn't know what lay ahead. I am ready to paint, and will continue my update on that project just as soon as I can. We want to do it right.

No Progress on the Kitchen Tonight because....

WE WENT TO MY FIRST BULLS GAME!

Appliance Update

WE HAVE AN OVEN! IT WORKS! DAVE'S A HANDY MAN! While I was out celebrating the Maceys' baby-to-be last evening, Dave went to work resolving the electric issues I mentioned Saturday. I was almost to Glencoe for the shower, when my phone buzzed with the following text:

"I did it!"

Success! We now have a functioning oven and refrigerator -- the dishwasher is beyond our control, as we'll need a sink with plumbing to drain to before that can be hooked up. But it's feeling more like a kitchen!

(see! it's on!)

Note, I did want to take a victory photo of Dave beside his handy work, but he's not a fan of being photographed, so I'll have to plan a sneak-attack in the future. Victory photo or not, I'm thoroughly impressed with and proud of my husband and his skills!

Stone City Part 2

Earlier today we went to Stone City again, presumably to select our slab-o-Crystal White for the counters, and a sink. Once we got there, and went back down into the warehouse, our sales associate figured out that the Crystal White we had selected was not granite, but marble, not an ideal choice for kitchen surfaces that would get a lot of action. It's softer, wears more quickly, is more porous, and is basically a lot more high maintenance. Not good for us. Dangit. No worries, though, we just went around again and found something else that we like a lot, and that *actually* is granite (you'd think they would have noticed this sooner. Whatever.). We are now going with Dawa Yellow:

I think this also means we'll change the backsplash sooner than expected, but that's okay. On the other hand, though, I don't think it will affect color choices for the kitchen.

Yesterday I got some Benjamin Moore Simply White oil-based paint for wood cabinets. It's a warm white, not bright, with good blueish undertones and a satiny finish. For the walls, we're choosing from a mushroom-y pallate. Here's a paint choice strip I brought home to look at:

(a little blurry, but you can get the gist... we're thinking about the middle three visible choices)

So, I think those will still work nicely with the new granite, which should be installed by or around the time my parents and brother come to visit in a little less than two weeks! Good timing.

We did also choose our sink... but that was much easier! A single bowl, very large, very square... pretty straight forward.

At that paint store yesterday, I also pulled some strips with color choices for the front hall. More on that later.

New Appliances... But Wait!

Our new appliances arrived today! Hooray, you say? Yes, hooray, but a modified hooray. Turns out in a kitchen as old as ours was, it's not just the appliances, counter surfaces, flooring, cabinet hardware, ceiling fan, and shelving that's out-dated. Apparently, our hook-ups are also circa 1962, which means that we have a functioning refrigerator, but our oven and dishwasher are basically just a pretty face for now. We will need to have an electrician come back out to install the required panel we need for the oven, and we can't do the dishwasher until the counters and sink are in place, because there's no plumbing to hook into right now. Duh.

All that said, they are still awful purrty!

So while it appears we still won't have a fully operational kitchen until around the end of the month, our disappointment is only slight. This is still pretty exciting.

I also went to Thybony Paint today, and with the help of our friend, Suzette, and the extraordinarily helpful Joe at Thybony, I am all supplied up to get those cabinets refreshed. More on that tomorrow and next week...