Countdown Begins

No, not the ball dropping -- the countdown until we disconnect the sink for several weeks.

As promised, here are a few shots of our latest parts of the project. First, installing drywall to the right of the range (see right). This was actually around 9:30pm the other night -- I figured since the dry wall was already about the right size, it wouldn't take much to get it in the wall. All things considered, dry walling isn't the most fun but it's sure not hard, especially when what you're doing will be concealed by an attractive backsplash. Our new drill made installation generally quite simple, especially once I figured out which settings gave the drill enough power to get through the drywall and plywood behind it without.

On the other side of the kitchen, we had pulled out the dishwasher, thinking that'd be the best way to access and inspect a couple things on that side. Fortunately, Jonathan realized we could do what we needed to with the small power screw driver and that I didn't need to cut a whole in the dry wall behind the dishwasher. Sadly, this realization didn't come about until after I'd pulled out the machine, disconnected the old copper water supply line, and decided that I didn't much like the look of it. We also realized that the old water damage we'd noticed when we moved in wasn't a sink leak but probably a dishwasher leak, given the damage that was hidden by the dishwasher. It's dry now and nothing to worry about, but was a fun archaeological project. Speaking of digs, we also realized our tile floor is laid directly over the old linoleum.

So, here I am trimming the next piece of dry wall... Our friendly dishwasher is keeping me company in the middle of the kitchen. Re-installation proved entertaining -- but that's a story to tell in person.

So, the place resembles a functioning kitchen again -- so much so, we had friends for dinner last night. I do love my particleboard counters.

Tomorrow we'll finally disconnect the faucet and remove the sink. I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to continue using the dishwasher, since I have a cap for the side of the hot water valve that connects to the faucet -- the real question is whether we'll be able to get the waste line to cooperate.

As we look back on our "Christmas Vacation" I think we're both pleased at our success. The kitchen really is ready for the arrival of the template-making people on Wednesday "between 8 and 10 am."

Master Electrician

Here's the kitchen as it stands at this moment. The counters are free of tile, grout, and anything else -- looks pretty good, eh?

Between the door to the pantry and living room you can see a piece of green board, water-friendlier dry wall, which I'll use for patching tomorrow. Though we cut it only to get the pieces in the car, this one is a perfect fit, by width to the wall in the photo at left. Handy! I just have to trim the length.

The sink and dishwasher are still working, and I'm optimistic that we'll continue to have them until at least 12/31. The sink doesn't really sit in a cut out so much as there's particleboard installed around and under its lip, holding it up. There are many gaps, so splashing can make for a real mess.

Behind the sink is the half-wall that will be the base of our new bar, under the pendant lights. The backsplash area there is an example of where we essentially cut the tiles off the wall, rather than prying them off. That's where I'll be patching tomorrow. I think I should be able to get a nice long piece going right across, and I'm pleased that it doesn't have to be perfect since it will be hidden by the granite :)

From our excursion to pick up the new barstools on Friday, we also picked up a couple trivets, thinking they'd be handy and look nice in the "new" kitchen. Little did I realize how handy they'd be in the Intermediate Kitchen (see left and right of stove).

Snuggling with the Counters

Found it! Here's Jonathan, prying tiles off the backsplash, at time more successfully than others. You can see the cleared-off particleboard counters under and behind him.

Josh approves of Jonathan's diligence.

Merry Christmas

On Christmas Day, Josh, AKA Master Demo, made a repeat appearance. He and Jonathan actually removed all the remaining tile counters and backsplash. Sadly, photos with St. Nick won't download from my phone. Sorry, folks. But we can tell you all about it:

At the suggestion of Kent, our electrician, we took the "easy" route to the backsplash, scoring the dry wall with the intent of prying it off. Great, except that it turned out it wasn't so hard to remove the tiles... so in the end, we made some more dry wall practice for myself. The wall behind the stove received Jonathan's Royal Removal Treatment, and save for some torn drywall paper, is just fine. There's a great photo of Jonathan mounting the cabinets to yank at the tile on my camera...

This isn't the cleanest process, but with diligence, vacuums, and a lot of swiffer wet clothes, we managed to clean off the counters and floors so well we even had Mark & Etta for dinner on Wednesday night.

I'll be patching tomorrow, behind the sink and the wall perpendicular to the stove. We'll take action shots of the holey wall before I get started.

If I'd known how much I'd like particleboard counters, I might have suggested we do this long ago!

Goodbye Tiles, Hello Particleboard

Tile Demolition, Day One.

Josh came over Friday night... little did he know what was in store. I think we all got a little excited about the prospect of assembling the bar stools Jonathan found and that took us to Kitchen Demo for Saturday morning.

Here, we see Josh, smiling for the camera. He did a great job leading the demolition effort. During this time, I was hanging from the ceiling (okay, not really hanging) patching the aforementioned hole in the dry wall. No photo as yet, but all things considered, I did a good job! Proof to come.

We did think of a few brainy things, like cover the appliances with towels and linens (don't worry, we'll wash them before we have guests again) and moving the new stove out of the way of flying porcelain.

At left is yours truly, posing (so as not to send debris flying toward the camera), but pretty much, that's what demo looked like last Saturday. It was remarkably slow going, as the tiles are set into what I'm calling concrete (it seems much thicker and stronger than joint compound) that had a layer of chicken wire in it for strength .

As you can see, we started trying to remove tile and then jack up the concrete. It was certainly slow going!

Later, Jonathan took a front row seat in the demo process, and he and Josh were a great team. I retired upstairs to do s'more dry wall repairs.

Kitchen Demo

We've officially started on kitchen demolition. We can't seem to find official "before" pictures, but here is the best we've got -- with one particular incarnation of pendant light, which we've since replaced.

The hole in the ceiling was an access point for wiring the can lights that I installed over the summer. The raised ceiling there is where the original fluorescent light fixture was.


The pendants hang where a cabinet once did -- that came out in the spring.

Please notice existing counter tops -- white tile, with grey grout.