Success!

Let's get right to the picture shall we?

And from the other side...

And with Ed.

I always scroll to the bottom of blog posts to see the final picture and then go back and actually read it. I'm impatient like that.

We are really happy with the way our fridge cabinet turned out! Especially since we had to build it from scratch and work around the beam where the old wall used to be. Here's how we did it.

First thing? Come up with a plan. I could see what I wanted to do in my head....but had trouble explaining it to Ed. Of course I expect him to read my mind. To make things easier for both of us, I used Excel to come up with this.

There was a lot of filler involved. And I think the more filler, the higher chance that that "DIY look" will show. Everything had to be exact - which is one of my excuses for why it took us a week (and a half?) to build.

Our over-the-fridge cabinet was way too high for the new plan, so we had to take it down and move the suspension bar down to the right height.

Too high.

We originally put the cabinet at the same height as the rest of the wall cabinets, but it was way too high in relation to the top of the fridge. I didn't want a foot or so of empty space between the bottom of the cabinet and the refrigerator.

We also needed to bump the cabinet out to match the depth of the beam so that the cabinet would have a flush front with the panels and filler. So we added a piece of the Ikea base cabinet ledger behind the suspension bar.

Ed likes me constantly taking his picture almost as much as he likes moving suspension bars. (Which we have done several times throughout this kitchen reno.)

We added another piece of the same ledger to make the cabinet level, and then installed the first panel. 

Before installing we used a table saw borrowed from a friend (thanks Jesse!) to cut the panel to counter depth (two feet). Then we used L-brackets to anchor it to the wall and the floor checking for level the entire time. Can't have a slanted panel!

Putting in the second panel was a little more challenging since it had to be shorter than the other one (beam in the way). So we had to slice off a little with a jigsaw, and then sand it down until it was just right.

There was a little gap along the wall after we installed it. We're not sure if it was a bad cut on our part or if the wall or floor was slightly tilted but...we're putting a piece of trim there anyway so no worries.

That's what trim's for right?

Being perfectly flush at the front is more important than getting it right in the back.

Then came taking the cabinet back down in order to install the filler piece on top. We took that cabinet up and down about....five times? FUN! But it was necessary in order to get the measurements right and then have access to the back of the filler piece from inside the cabinet.

We cut the first filler piece and notched out a place for the beam.

Sadly, the first attempt was a no-go.

It had a gap along the left side...

And I broke it trying to jam it into place. 

Oops.

So we cut another one which worked out perfectly.

We used little baby L-brackets and very short screws (1/2") to secure the filler pieces to the side panels. It's hard working with finished pieces of - in this case MDF - because no screws can poke through the other side. Everything has to be seamless, so the perfect screw length is essential.

Then it was on to the side filler pieces. Pretty much the same process except we used Ikea's "finishing screws"  to attach them to the cabinets - screwed through the side of the cabinet into the side of the filler piece.

Ed choppin' some filler in the workshop.

Sides in...

Add a 2" piece of filler to the bottom (using the little L-brackets again), add a fridge and there you have it!

The same molding that we used for the fake beam will be going around the top of the cabinet so it will have a really built-in look.

We're so close to the end! It's time for countertops, electrical and microwave vent installation. Know what's great about those things? We pay people to do it for us! Nice.

So sssllllooooowwwww

I was hoping to have a completed refrigerator cabinet post for you this morning, but it's truly amazing how long it takes Ed and I to complete a project. Wow.

WOW.

Amazing.

Anyway post will be up tomorrow showing the finished product. It's lookin great so far!

Where were we

Oh yes. Re-doing the kitchen floors. As of my last post, we were still going with tile. This is no longer the case. We had even gone to The Tile Shop and purchased this tile.

"Texas beige"

They didn't have it in stock so we had a to wait a few days for it come in. During the few days of waiting, I found this.

John Bridge's deflectolator! In other words, a deflection calculator. What is deflection? After doing some research, I believe it is a measurement of how much your floor moves up and down. Why is this important? If your floor moves up and down even the tiniest bit, your floor will not support tile. All sources said this is not a matter of how strong your floor is. As in our floor is definitely strong enough to hold up the tile (and not cave in), it's just that the span of the joists (and other factors listed above) allow the joists to move up and down just enough to crack grout and tile over time. 

I would have never looked into any of this if it weren't for a blog I read daily called Young House Love. They are re-doing their kitchen right now and Sherry mentioned in this post that their floor would not support tile. Whaaa?? I had never heard of that. I commented on the post saying I hadn't even considered this and Sherry responded that she hadn't heard of it either until they moved into their current home and the previous owners mentioned that the kitchen floor would not support tile.

Great.

And so started my search to find out exactly what our floor could support. First I thought it was just a matter of creating the appropriate subfloor, hence the ripping out our previously (incorrectly) installed cement board and re-doing it. But turns out John Bridge's deflectolator has this to say about our floor joists (regardless of what we put on top of them):

Umm...

Ok ok! Sheesh!

We'll forget about the tile.

*biiiiiiiiiiiiigloooooooooooongsiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*

Our choices were now wood or laminate. It's not that this was horribly disappointing, it was just one more thing to think about that we hadn't expected (and another week added to the project). At this point, we just wanted to GET IT DONE. So anything that had to be ordered was out. I literally walked into Home Depot and said what can I take home and install tonight. So I came home with this.

Hey now! I like the sound a that!

And lemme tell you. They ain't lyin'. I installed this flooring in an hour or so, by myself. And the good news is - we love it! It looks really good! And I won't wince anytime someone jumps up and down in the kitchen (cause this happens all the time...).

I will mention briefly that we installed 3/8" plywood over the cement board in order to make the kitchen floor level with the adjoining dining room and hallway. Yes that does make our entire cement board installation effort a waste. But we've learned a lot. No, that doesn't make me feel better about it. The only positive thing I can say about any of it is that it wasn't an expensive mistake. We're actually saving money (even with the cement board and plywood) by going with laminate instead of tile.

We bought TrafficMaster Allure laminate flooring sold exclusively by Home Depot. The flooring was cheap enough that I figure if we hate it or it starts falling apart in a few years, it won't be a tragedy to redo it. Let's just hope it lasts at least a few years.

Sadly I did not document the laminate installation at all. I was flying through that stuff! And Ed was watching football. But here is the finished product.

It was peel and stick! Sweet.

It doesn't match the hardwoods around it, but this doesn't really bother me. It's not wood and the plank width is wider than the rest of the hardwoods so I think it's obviously not trying to match, therefore making it look okay? Anyway we like it. I actually think I'm happier with this than I would have been with tile. It's so easy to work with! And most important, we don't have to worry about our floors now.

We have also changed the arrangement of our base and wall cabinets since the last post. Nothing dramatic, we just added some filler pieces. I was watching Holmes on Holmes critique a DIY kitchen on TV and he said a typical mistake is putting base cabinets and drawers right up against the oven and also putting drawers directly up against a wall. We had done both of these things. Since the cabinets were out anyway, we decided to just go ahead and make the adjustments. I'm glad we did because the large drawers in our peninsula were ever so slightly scraping against the wall. That's not good.

So over the last week. We've gone from here:

Not a very show-stopping after shot is it haha. It looks better during the day - and also we need to take the plastic off of the fridge. But all the filler pieces are in, the base cabinets are installed, and the dishwasher and fridge are in the kitchen. Now we're fussing around with how to build a cabinet around the fridge. That should be happening this week - latest next weekend. That is - if nothing else goes wrong.......

DIY FAIL

Epic, epic DIY fail last weekend. It's taken me the whole weekend and the last two days to get over it enough to write about it. We are still recovering...

We were so excited about the progress we have made recently.Maybe even thinking that the kitchen was a couple weeks away from being usable! How very wrong we were.

On Friday night, I got all pumped to finally install my beautiful beige marble tile. "Paradise beige" to be exact. I wanted to begin installation Saturday morning and so I started laying everything out (dry-fitting) Friday night to see how it would look.

And it was beautiful.

I was beyond excited.

Dry-fit complete, I went downstairs to watch YouTube videos on how to install tile. Since my mom was still out of town, I thought I would just learn how to do it so we could just get 'er done!

I found several tile installation videos. The most informative were from Home Depot and Lowe's. Something awful was brought to our attention in both of these videos....

It wasn't the tile installation that went so horribly wrong last weekend. It was the cement board installation. Yes! You're right! We installed the cement backer board weeks ago!! But after watching these videos, we realized that our cement board installation was completely. wrong.

Perfectly wrong actually. 

Let's go over the rules of installation shall we? Brought to you by FloorElf.com.

1. Laying [the boards] down on the floor and shooting drywall screws through them does not constitute proper installation. What?
2. The joints in backerboards should be staggered. Oops.
3. You also want to leave 1/16 to 1/8 inch gap between each sheet – do not butt them together, and around the perimeter. Nope.
4. Beneath the backerboards you need thinset. WHAT???? 
5. Do not screw your backerboard into your joists. No?
6. The last thing you need to do is tape your seams. Tape?

How did we miss these details????????? HOW!!?!? The only thing I had left to hang on to as far as taking this long to complete the kitchen was that we "at least hadn't made any big mistakes." Well I guess it's my fault for jinxing it cause this was a HUGE mistake. 

But wait! There's more!!

We had already installed all the base cabinets, and the peninsula, over the incorrectly installed cement board. 

I should mention that the danger of improperly installed cement board is not that you'll fall through the floor, it's just that the tile you install will begin cracking...probably right away. If the floor isn't stable, tile just isn't going to work. I searched and searched online for a site to tell me otherwise so we could just move forward...but no dice.

So we decided to re-do it. And do it right. 

Mmmmhmm....back to square one.

Ed didn't talk much while we were taking the base cabinets out except to say "I can't believe we're doing this" every now and then. It was a sad, sad day. 

First...we took out ALL the backer board.

Then we applied what we thought was thin-set (apparently it is mastic) and laid the first board down.

We learned last night from the informative salesman at The Tile Shop, that mastic should never really be used. Grrrrr!!! Someone give me a clear process and the materials I need!!! Who knows anymore!??!? You get something different depending on who you talk to. If we went with what we have been told by Home Depot employees, our entire kitchen would probably fall apart. In a nutshell, mastic is tile adhesive and thinset is cement based mortar. So we liquid nailed our cement board down. The real danger here is if it gets wet, then it can deteriorate. I think we're fine since we're going to put down even MORE subfloor in the next few days. Yeah...we're really getting down in the weeds here...

Anyway, we finished up the floor.

Taped the seams.

And mudded them shut.

Ignore the mosaic tile sitting on the floor. We've already decided it's super ugly. Not to mention we were told it's fine for the floor when it's definitely wall tile for a backsplash.  

And this is only half the drama of last weekend. I'll fill you in on the rest tomorrow. It involves returning all of our marble tile. It was almost [beige] paradise.

Stormy weatherrrrr

The weather was awful last night! I do love a good rain storm, but trying to do a window trim painting project during one is a no go. The view out our front door.

Yuck!

Although my pumpkins and mum still look cheery. Thanks to my MIL Joy for my mum! It's very exciting for me to have a front stoop to put seasonal things on.

Tonight, since our kitchen projects have on hold (waiting on the tile guru - my mom - to come back from vacation and help us out....sheesh...take a long vacation why don't you....jeeez...don't you know we have work to do?? GOSH.....also waiting on countertop estimates) I decided to finish painting the window trim in the guest room. That was one of the items on my Labor Day to-do list. When was Labor Day??? Oops. Better late than never I suppose.

Here are some pre-paint window shots.

***WARNING***

The windows are GROSS!!! original to the house. Old, dirty, metal casement windows from 1956. Painted several times over the years too. Here we go...

(oh! and this is after sanding and cleaning...)

Mmmm.....chipping lead paint.

Eewwwwwwwww. Ew.

(we don't know that it's lead paint for sure, just assuming. Ed wears eye protection and a mask while cleaning and scraping just in case)

(I don't clean and scrape)

So we taped them off and started the transformation. And then it started pouring. 

Sideways pouring....into the open window... 

Transforming that window would have to wait. I say that window because there are two windows in the guest room but the other one refuses to open. Refuses! Unlike the other windows in this house that were stubborn at first but then gave in, this one just won't. It's doesn't help that it can't be accessed from outside without a tall ladder - which we don't have. We opened all the others by fussing with the hinges and seams inside and out. So what does that have to do with painting in a rain storm?

We left the first window alone....and painted the second window closed. 

You wanna be closed!? FINE. I'm gonna paint you shut forever!!

haha.

I'm not happy about doing this, but I did it anyway. Things like "well winter's coming anyway, it's not like we'll be opening it all the time" started going through my head. Love it when justifications start popping into your head during DIY home improvements projects. They're terrible ideas, and yet they make perfect sense at the time.

And it looks so much better with a fresh coat of Ultra Pure White Semi-gloss!

We'll worry about opening it in the spring.

A little weekend shopping

We purchased our appliances last weekend!! They're being delivered today!

Here's what we went with (all Kenmore). We didn't have any particular reason to go entirely Kenmore...maybe it's just because there is a Sears down the street....

Oven:

Slide-in range! Slide-in range!

I'm so excited - I think it will look SO good in the kitchen. Look at all those gas burners, I cannot wait to start cooking on them. CANNOT WAIT!

The matching microwave:

Why are microwaves so expensive!?!? There was another matching one for twice as much as the one we chose that was twice as powerful. Do people really care how powerful their microwave is? What are they cooking in there? As long as it pops my popcorn and heats up my leftovers that's good enough for me.

The fridge:

Beautyous!! French doors!!

Because of the size of our kitchen, this fridge is on the smaller side (33 in wide) but that suits us just fine. Also, the smaller doors will make it possible for someone to walk past when someone else has the fridge open. 

Big bonus for a small kitchen!

We also went shopping for countertops. 

We learned a lot of things we didn't know... We went to two kitchen/bath/granite stores and also stopped in at Home Depot to check on their prices. We were really surprised to find that the price range of countertop materials goes like this (at least in our area):

Laminate - $

Granite/Marble - $$

Solid Surface - $$$

Quartz (Silestone, etc) - $$$$

Butcher block  - $$$$$ (WHAT?!??!)

We thought solid surface would have been less expensive than the natural stones but it's very pricey. We were a little discouraged that besides granite and laminate, there were not very many affordable options. Granite is pushing it for us. Oh wait, I forgot one:

Cement: $$$$$$$$$$$

Are you kidding me!? How much did it cost them to make the cement countertop? $10? Crazy.

Our second surprise was that a) marble was the same price - and even cheaper in some cases - than granite and b) kitchen and bath design salesmen are horrified by the thought of marble countertops in a kitchen. They said it stains. So, we were pleasantly surprised by the lower than expected price for marble...but also bummed about the recommendation to never use marble as a kitchen countertop surface. 

One salesman was also horrified by my decision to put white countertops on white cabinets and told me it would look awful and that you needed to have contrast (pointing to the blank granite). I didn't even know that I had hired a designer! Jerk.

Since marble was out, we took two samples of white-ish granite home. I wasn't excited about either of them.

Kashmir White

And Crema Romano

I don't think either of these are ugly by any means. But when you're going for this...

...all of the grays, reds, creams and thick veins of the two "white" granites just wouldn't look the same. I also thought veiny marble floors competing with veiny granite countertops would be no bueno. I couldn't really picture how it would look but....it didn't sound like a good combo. So then we starting thinking about solid surface and were even more bummed to discover it was more expensive than the granite. Not to mention learning that butcher block and cement were the most expensive.

So instead of feeling sad about not knowing what to do next, I turned that frown upside-down and did some more research into exactly why marble was such a horrible choice. Lookin' like a bum in my sweatpants and a huge hoodie - Starbucks in hand - I hunkered down on a bench in Barnes & Nobles and picked up every kitchen design magazine they had. (Barnes & Noble is the same as the library right?) 

And what did I find on every page???

Marble countertops. 

Tons of them. I'm not very original for wanting white marble, but at least I know I'm not crazy for wanting marble in the kitchen!

I also found a pros and cons comparison between all countertops surfaces. Marble was grouped with granite in the natural stones category and both had the same pros and cons. So after aaaalllll that shopping and discussion about what our other options are, we're going with marble. Salesmen be damned!

Side note: We have made a change to the original kitchen design. We are no longer going with the farmhouse sink. Turns out, if you buy countertops, they throw an under mount sink for free. 

Free??

SOLD!

Bye-bye farmhouse sink! Pretty sure you'd look dated in five years anyway. Hopefully the rest of my what's-hot-right-now kitchen will not....hmmm....