The first of many cabinets have been installed. I was glad to get this one early, since it gives me a good idea of how the kitchen cabinets will look. You can see below the before (nothing) and the after of where this cabinet is going. (It was swapped from the hallway into the bathroom behind the door.)
Before and Now:
Since removing the hall closet into the bathroom and doing a built-in was my pet project idea, I was really excited to see it work out so well.
The cabinet’s knotty alter wood also has a very warm appearance to it. I think it will look nice in the kitchen with the wood floors and granite counters.
So it was quite the task to find a wood floor in such a short time. (Note to self, pick out and order in advance). I tried many different places, but finding a wood that was both right for the space (from a design standpoint) and available in both my time frame AND in my budget was quite the task. I ended up ordering an oak solid wood floor from the The Wood Floor Warehouse in Orem. Keith there was very helpful, and their selection in-stock was quite good. I’m going to pick up the lumber tomorrow so it can sit in the space for the next week before installation. Here’s a quick picture of the samples:
I’m excited to see this in the space! I ordered 580 square feet. It’s pre-finished, and 3/4 inch thick. This wood will last longer than I will. Oak has never been my favorite of woods, but the price, color, and timeline was right.
Last weekend we unloaded the garage of all of its contents, including rocks from the fireplaces, old tile and grout from the bathrooms, various drywall pieces, studs, old torn up and damaged carpet, etc. We filled up the bin in just over 4 hours to equal over 4 tons of waste. Here’s what the pile looked like before we started. (It was pretty late, so I didn’t get an “after” picture. The big pile barely fit in the dumpster) 
I’ve saved the lovely retro orange carpeting, it was in such good condition I thought someone who likes retro stuff would appreciate and use it.
I went over to RC Willey on my lunch yesterday and found a great deal on an appliance package. I really like the look of stainless steel, but after having it in my house for some time, I know how hard it can be to take care of. I had heard of new types of stainless steel looking appliances like this “clean steel package” from GE.
I’ll order these in about a week to make sure they are there for the cabinet installation (and granite measure) to avoid any problems. The only difference from this picture is I’ll order the gas stove.
I haven’t posted for a few days, and there’s been a lot of things going on at the house. The electrician wrapped up, so did the plumber (who also ran the gas lines), and the drywall is up and ready to mud. The upstairs construction should be wrapping up this week. Here’s a few shots I took tonight to show the progress:
Here’s one looking toward the kitchen.
Here’s one looking toward the hallway. You can see the new cans in the ceiling, the covered up closet (moved into the bathroom), and the new utility closet with washer/dryer hook-ups a the end of the hall. The swamp cooler hole in the ceiling had also been filled in.
Here’s one showing the plumbing in the hall bathroom, as well as the can light above the tub area.
Here’s the master shower plumbing.
Here’s another couple detailed shots, starting with the can above the kitchen sink, and some of the TV and telephone wiring in the kitchen. (Cause who can live without TV in the kitchen these days?)
Utility closet inside, and then showing the bedroom where we took 15″ from the closet. Not too shabby.
Master bedroom cans lights (and fan hook-up), and master bath fan/can.
Some new plumbing and gas lines in the basement:
So I had mentioned in a previous post about the cabinet guy I was going to use to furnish cabinetry for the house. I took some time on my lunch today and ran up to see a sample of the cabinets and meet with him about my order. I really liked what he was offering, made some slight changes to the order and am putting the deposit through tonight. Since the pantry/towel cabinet in the hall bathroom (where the closet was moved out of the hall) needs to be done before the drywall is wrapped up, I’ll pick up my first cabinet tomorrow. The rest should arrive in just over a week. I grabbed a couple shots from his website of a kitchen that has the same cabinet finish (and granite) that I’m doing in the 70’s house. It’s a natural finish knotty alder.
Since I’ve removed the sofit in the 70’s house, the top cabinets will have a nice 3″ crown around them, rather than how they are pictured here.
For a nice contrast, I’m having the island in the kitchen painted black. I’m also having the vanity in the master bathroom painted black as well. It mixes things up a bit. Here’s what the black finish looks like:
So I was watching HGTV the other day, and noticed in a promo for their Green House where inside they had used a new kind of trim instead of a standard crown moulding. I haven’t seen this type before, but thought it might look good replacing the more decorative crown that was in the living/hallway of the 70’s house. Here’s a shot of what it looks like:
It will be a couple weeks until we’re putting up all the trim (texture is suppose to be the end of this week, or beginning of next). Hopefully it’ll make it look just as fancy as these pictures do. I am also going to add this crown trim to the master bedroom, to set it apart from the other two bedrooms upstairs.
Oh, and I love those walnut floors they’ve put in the HGTV Green house… but thought they would have used cork or bamboo, it being a “green house” and all.
Even though work on the basement won’t start until things are finished up on the main floor, I continue to fill at least my Saturdays doing demolition in the basement. My friend Abraham and I made some great progress in the former orange carpeted room. Here’s some “before and now”s: (As always, click on any image to see larger)
Before and now…
Before and now…
Before and now…
And believe me when I say, that barn wood on the walls was meant to be a PERMANENT installation. It had lots of nails in each board!
I grabbed a couple pics of the electrical getting underway in the house tonight (it’s not as exciting from a picture point of view). I’m sure it will take another couple nights before it’s completely wrapped up. Other than moving a few plugs, putting electrical in the utility closet, and adding about 12 cans and 2 pendant fixtures, the electrical is pretty simple for upstairs.
Here’s a before and now:
And here’s some new cans in the living room. Lots more light than previously. The two nearest the fireplace will shine light on the fireplace.
