The week before we went to Montreal, Mike and I ripped up the tiles and took down a small wall separating the pantry from the rest of the kitchen (it used to house the washer/dryer we relocated to the basement and I put pantry shelves after they were moved). This will increase the square footage of the kitchen.
Pulling up the tiles was noisy work and the disposal wasnt fun either. We had about 10 large contractor bags which we (as per usual) fed out slowly to the garbage guys every 2 days (it would really annoy them to take them all at a go - as it is, I will have to give them a big tip for Christmas). We also pulled out the appliances and created a makeshift kitchenette in the living room for making tea & sandwiches and I re-purposed the pantry shelves there for the microwave and toaster oven. We also bought a grill for the patio and with the use of the basement kitchen were able to live fairly comfortably for the next 2 months.
Ikea delivered the cabinets and everything we bought including a new hood - we bought them so early because of the 10% discount and even also prepaid for the counter. So we have a million flat pack boxes in the living room too which is one reason why the dining room is out of commission (it is also adjacent to the kitchen making it a workspace too). Since we were doing a lot of the work ourselves, we got higher end Ikea cabinets and an expensive counter top. Using the Grays' budget as a guideline ($15,000) we are currently at about $11,500 ($7,500 for materials and $4,000 for labour). It isn't exactly the same kind of renovation since they moved their kitchen but it is very similar as we have almost identical sized kitchens and counters. They also went to Ikea but they have 2 new appliances (Ikea has a tie-up with Whirlpool). We decided our appliances were new enough and didnt really need upgrading. I thought a long time about getting Ikea cabinets but I decided for this starter home that we intend to sell after a few years, there's no need to get the dream cabinets i've always wanted. it wouldnt make financial sense. We can do that for the next house.
After our Montreal weekend, we had 1 day before i left for Germany so Mike and I ran some electrical conduit for the lights I intend to put in the floor molding for the dining room. This had to be done first while the breaker box is still open and exposed. We also made sure we had sockets for the new location of appliances (dishwasher is moving to the island and 'fridge is also moving).
While I was gone, Mike's brother came and taught him how to frame walls and sheetrock. They made great progress especially up above the island (or peninsular as we are calling it as there is a wall it is attached to). The contractor had merely removed the wall so all the finishing work had to be done by us.
This past weekend, Mike and I finished the peninsular wall which took a really long time because we're novices. But I think it turned out well. It is also the wall with the breaker box so it's very tedious involving small cuts of sheetrock and patching it like a jigsaw puzzle. The other 2 sections will go much faster as they weren't as torn up. The other 2 sections are the wall across from the island (the other side of the wall that the contractor pulled down) and the pantry wall we removed will also have to be finished.
We are headed to Thousand Islands this weekend to hang with Mike's dad and Ann (they rented a place for the week) it's Father's Day and I think it would be nice for us to take a break especially now that the Vu-Lees aren't returning till 22 July, our deadline has relaxed substantially. They had intended to come back June 11 pushed to July 9 and now July 22. My niece, Serene comes next Monday but she can stay very comfortably in the basement and we can cook our meals and eat them down there as we have been doing. The Vu-Lees left all their furniture including the 42" tv so I havent really felt very put out by this renovation.
My plan for the coming weeks:
July4 weekend - it is a 3 day weekend so day 1: finish the other 2 sections, day 2 & 3: start mudding the joints between sheetrock. Mudding and taping the joints requires time to dry between coats so we can still take Serene to bbq or just explore in the afternoons. I don't think we will work all day. If we do, it would only be day 2 as it would need time to dry.
July 11 weekend - day 1: painting all kitchen walls - just a neutral colour and a quick job, nothing fancy. Day 2: prepping floor for tiling. This is going to involve some research, a trip to Home Depot and a dry run of laying tiles out to see if we like the aesthetics. I doubt we will actually do it till the next weekend
July 18 weekend - day 1: tiling. Day 2: moving appliances back - at least the oven. This will give me back use of my kitchen even if I have nothing else I can cook. The Vu-Lees will be back and I would have run out of time otherwise!
July 25 weekend: assembling cabinets and putting the kitchen together
The plumber comes tomorrow to move the plumbing for the dishwasher and sink (we weren't going to tackle that ourselves - it's worth the $750) so that's also part of the plan...
I expect a few delays because we have Serene and we might want to bring her around the first weekend just so she can find her way but I don't expect it to delay us more than a week. Besides there are things I can do on my own during the week (like mud joints and paint) which could save us a precious weekend day when both of us are available to do other more important things.
The end is in sight I think. I will breathe a sigh of relief after the plumber is done because that means all the actual construction work is done and things like finishing walls and tiling is really considered 'finishing work'. Unfortunately I have realised, Mike and I excel at demo & construction and really suck at finishing work - detail oriented things that people actually notice. This is good for next time when we renovate again I will pay someone to come and do all that kind of stuff.
Mike and I have surprisingly managed to work quite well together. We hunker down as a team and work problems out together. It is quite gratifying to work with our hands together although there are bouts of frustration (mostly from him because he is much more of a stickler for perfection). But we handle it well and as long as I keep us both well fed it works out. We only ever really fight when we are both hungry.
ocking has been fun. I do all the measuring and cuts and Mike installs it. It's been a good system dividing a very un-fun task and I find that I have a good feel for it. It's not an exact science since cuts are in all sorts of shapes & sizes. You can just make out in the picture we had to do a scalene triangle sized cut in the ceiling which was a huge challenge and I think it came out ok! (and even if it didn't, no one's ever gonna get close enough to find out!)
