Alan created a cool slide show of all the rooms, before and after.
Click here to see the slide show.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
We Did It!
I moved all the food into the pantry, Alan made a delicious meal in our new kitchen (especially enjoying his old favorite pan that had been stored away), we ate in the dining area, I washed the dishes in our new dishwasher, and put a lot of things away in our new cabinets.
Note, I did not say, "put everything away in our new cabinets." We have many boxes of kitchen stuff still to be put away. Not a problem, because we have SO much space. But just not tonight. I'm done.
Today's discussions included exactly how to load the dishwasher, whether to rinse or just scrape, what soap to use.... We are very easily entertained these days. I went back to this favorite website to re-visit such things ideas as:
DON'T RINSE YOUR DISHES
Only the engineers who designed it, really know how to use your dishwasher, the rest of us are idiots to varying degrees. So don't feel so bad.
- In dishwasher culture as many of you know, there can be only one person per household, the Dish Master, who can operate the dishwasher. This Dish Master must learn the ways of the dishwasher, gain the respect of the dishwasher. When others attempt to load the dishwasher, the Dish Master must respond by sneering at and ridiculing said trespasser for his or her dishwasher incompetence. Passive-Aggressors need not apply. The Dish Master, once chosen will be responsible for dish loading until he or she dies. Though maybe this is just my family.
- Perhaps this sounds obvious.....but read the freaking manual. All those engineers spreading their collected wisdom. It's like an oracle. Worship the manual. It has the answers even before you have the questions.
- Fill out and return your warranty card. It's really not as hard as it looks.
DON'T RINSE YOUR DISHES
STOP RINSING YOUR DISHES: Dishwashers are designed to clean dirty dishes.....it's right there in the manual. We are not making this up.
Step 1: Don't Rinse Your Dishes. About 1/2 the country rinses their dishes and are idiots for it. You need not be one of them.
-Your dishwasher is your most complex major kitchen appliance, with heaters, moving parts, rubber seals, electronics, and 42 million gallons of municipal water held back by a $3 valve and $4 hose.
-Cheap ranges cook. Cheap fridges refrigerate. Cheap dishwashers do not wash dishes. Do not be a cheap bastard when buying a dishwasher.
etc etc Well worth a read.
Note, I did not say, "put everything away in our new cabinets." We have many boxes of kitchen stuff still to be put away. Not a problem, because we have SO much space. But just not tonight. I'm done.
Today's discussions included exactly how to load the dishwasher, whether to rinse or just scrape, what soap to use.... We are very easily entertained these days. I went back to this favorite website to re-visit such things ideas as:
DON'T RINSE YOUR DISHES
Only the engineers who designed it, really know how to use your dishwasher, the rest of us are idiots to varying degrees. So don't feel so bad.
- In dishwasher culture as many of you know, there can be only one person per household, the Dish Master, who can operate the dishwasher. This Dish Master must learn the ways of the dishwasher, gain the respect of the dishwasher. When others attempt to load the dishwasher, the Dish Master must respond by sneering at and ridiculing said trespasser for his or her dishwasher incompetence. Passive-Aggressors need not apply. The Dish Master, once chosen will be responsible for dish loading until he or she dies. Though maybe this is just my family.
- Perhaps this sounds obvious.....but read the freaking manual. All those engineers spreading their collected wisdom. It's like an oracle. Worship the manual. It has the answers even before you have the questions.
- Fill out and return your warranty card. It's really not as hard as it looks.
DON'T RINSE YOUR DISHES
STOP RINSING YOUR DISHES: Dishwashers are designed to clean dirty dishes.....it's right there in the manual. We are not making this up.
Step 1: Don't Rinse Your Dishes. About 1/2 the country rinses their dishes and are idiots for it. You need not be one of them.
-Your dishwasher is your most complex major kitchen appliance, with heaters, moving parts, rubber seals, electronics, and 42 million gallons of municipal water held back by a $3 valve and $4 hose.
-Cheap ranges cook. Cheap fridges refrigerate. Cheap dishwashers do not wash dishes. Do not be a cheap bastard when buying a dishwasher.
etc etc Well worth a read.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Appliances In
Not final, cause there's nothing on the countertops (except construction junk and dust) and no furniture in the rooms, but having the appliances in does fill the room out a bit. I haven't had time to get better photos, but I wanted to at least get a few up there.
We're still schizophrenic, running back and forth from the temp kitchen, where all the stuff is, to the new kitchen, where the fridge and sink are. The hard work started tonight with cleaning and moving. Such a relief to begin. We've been obsessively using the Roomba to keep the floors clean (it's still awful cute) and using Bona after, wiping down the countertops, wiping up drops of water on the floor. Wonder how long we'll keep this up!
We picked out carpeting for the stairs and upstairs too, so we'll have that in a few weeks! Yay!
We're still schizophrenic, running back and forth from the temp kitchen, where all the stuff is, to the new kitchen, where the fridge and sink are. The hard work started tonight with cleaning and moving. Such a relief to begin. We've been obsessively using the Roomba to keep the floors clean (it's still awful cute) and using Bona after, wiping down the countertops, wiping up drops of water on the floor. Wonder how long we'll keep this up!
We picked out carpeting for the stairs and upstairs too, so we'll have that in a few weeks! Yay!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
99% Done!
Yesterday the appliances were installed, the electrical stuff finished, and now it's just a few last small things like door knobs and door stops and drawer front adjustments. The appliance guys scratched up the floor a little, but maybe it will buff out.
I'm alternately thrilled and depressed, excited to move in and exhausted. After spending so much energy on all of this, there are bound to be a few disappointments and inevitable moments of coming up short. At the same time, there are more projects to continue to work on - carpeting the stairs and upstairs, re-doing the bathroom, choosing stuff to fill the new rooms.
This is when I wished I love to shop and had better taste (with more money to go with it). I won't go through the things I don't like - I'm grateful for all that we have, and on the bright side, the stove fits exactly into the space allotted, there's a ton of storage, I love the cabinets, sink and floors, and I can't wait to stop washing dishes in the bathtub. It will probably be this weekend that we start using the kitchen more fully, as work is very time-consuming right now. I'll be glad when Ethan can move out of my office and into his room, and hopefully he'll find the time to help us out with all the stuff that needs to get done.
I'm sure once we move in stuff and start using everything it will all feel fine, and life goes on. I'll post photos later - there's no way of getting a photo of the whole thing, because of the long narrow shape of the kitchen, so you'll just have to come over. July 5th party? We hope!
I'm alternately thrilled and depressed, excited to move in and exhausted. After spending so much energy on all of this, there are bound to be a few disappointments and inevitable moments of coming up short. At the same time, there are more projects to continue to work on - carpeting the stairs and upstairs, re-doing the bathroom, choosing stuff to fill the new rooms.
This is when I wished I love to shop and had better taste (with more money to go with it). I won't go through the things I don't like - I'm grateful for all that we have, and on the bright side, the stove fits exactly into the space allotted, there's a ton of storage, I love the cabinets, sink and floors, and I can't wait to stop washing dishes in the bathtub. It will probably be this weekend that we start using the kitchen more fully, as work is very time-consuming right now. I'll be glad when Ethan can move out of my office and into his room, and hopefully he'll find the time to help us out with all the stuff that needs to get done.
I'm sure once we move in stuff and start using everything it will all feel fine, and life goes on. I'll post photos later - there's no way of getting a photo of the whole thing, because of the long narrow shape of the kitchen, so you'll just have to come over. July 5th party? We hope!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
What Is This Man Doing?
You got that right! He is actually washing dishes in a sink! Remarkable, I know, but it's really true. We cooked in our temporary kitchen, but we celebrated the plumber's visit by doing dishes in a real sink. Alan even used the dispos-all, a new experience for this kitchen.
We experimented with our new towels when we dried. That would be microfiber towels and flour sack towels, which we discovered on Gardenweb, our reno-bible. They worked. Amazing! Here's a close up:
Yup, really works. I'm so happy. This means appliances aren't so far away.
So get ready for 99.9% DONE photos!
So get ready for 99.9% DONE photos!
Light at the End
Monday we spent 10 hours going to L.A. to shop (no IKEA or Crate & Barrel here) and it was, well, excruciating. This may be hard to understand for those of you who like to shop, but that describes neither Alan or I. Malls, stores, parking lots, lines, decisions.... we'd rather not do it, but if we have to, we'd rather do it on-line. So between feeling exhausted by the enormity of it all, it was just so hard to make a decision. We've made so many decisions since February, we've just run out of decisiveness.
We had a mega-list, found every home decorating store in the Topanga mall, and came home with a tiny percentage of our shopping done. Most important was a bed for the guest room/Marina's room/Adrianna's room/front room, that we had seen at an IKEA in Palo Alto, so that is done. And since shopping at IKEA is kinda like getting beat over the head (in a sorta fun way), you keep putting stuff in your bag just to move along and make the pain stop. Mostly what I like about IKEA is that they have twine in the loading area so you can tie things down in the car.
There was a reward when we got home though - the electrician had been there, and we have light. Yay!! Well, mostly. He didn't do it all.... But I think part of the process of remodeling is driving your expectations lower and lower as the weeks progress, so that by the end you are grateful for every 5 minutes of work that gets done.
OK maybe that's an exaggeration. We're excited for the light because we can actually go in there in the evenings and see the progress. (Hmmm, is that also part of the plot, to keep us in the dark so we can't actually see what they've done?)
We hope to have the electrician over again some time soon to finish it all off.
Family/Dining Room:
Kitchen:
We now have 2 porch lights so it actually looks like we are welcoming people to a front door. For some reason one isn't lit, but you get the idea.
We had a mega-list, found every home decorating store in the Topanga mall, and came home with a tiny percentage of our shopping done. Most important was a bed for the guest room/Marina's room/Adrianna's room/front room, that we had seen at an IKEA in Palo Alto, so that is done. And since shopping at IKEA is kinda like getting beat over the head (in a sorta fun way), you keep putting stuff in your bag just to move along and make the pain stop. Mostly what I like about IKEA is that they have twine in the loading area so you can tie things down in the car.
There was a reward when we got home though - the electrician had been there, and we have light. Yay!! Well, mostly. He didn't do it all.... But I think part of the process of remodeling is driving your expectations lower and lower as the weeks progress, so that by the end you are grateful for every 5 minutes of work that gets done.
OK maybe that's an exaggeration. We're excited for the light because we can actually go in there in the evenings and see the progress. (Hmmm, is that also part of the plot, to keep us in the dark so we can't actually see what they've done?)
We hope to have the electrician over again some time soon to finish it all off.
Family/Dining Room:
Kitchen:
Marina's Room:
We now have 2 porch lights so it actually looks like we are welcoming people to a front door. For some reason one isn't lit, but you get the idea.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Close to Done???
Finally, the painter has removed the last of the dropcloths, the paint smell is receding, and now we just hope for a quick in and out with the electrician, plumber and appliance installer. And a few last minute details. Then on to the next project - NO WAIT! Can I at least spend a few moments kvelling in my kitchen before the next project???
We're picking out some rugs (looks like Pottery Barn will be our source), Monday we'll go to IKEA for at least a bed/couch for Marina's room, and to Crate & Barrel perhaps, and see whatever else we can find.
Anyhow, here's what it looks like this morning -
We're picking out some rugs (looks like Pottery Barn will be our source), Monday we'll go to IKEA for at least a bed/couch for Marina's room, and to Crate & Barrel perhaps, and see whatever else we can find.
Anyhow, here's what it looks like this morning -
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