Life during the reno...

So our cabinets were installed at the end of April, and we have been waiting for our countertops since then. It is going on 7 weeks now.

Our counter top guy is having a few issues. There have been a lot of reasons, but mostly I think he has bitten off more than he can chew. He's a one-man-show who has taken on a few more jobs than he can handle right now and is apparently getting so busy that he's not paying attention to little things like measurements. He has made them wrong twice now, and I'm currently waiting for my third set or counters.

We decided to go with this guy because it was something different, he does concrete overlay and solid concrete. And so we decided on the overlay because you get the look of stone for the price of laminate. I'm not sure that was such a good idea any more.

I know I've mentioned it before, but E is a climber.
And since she's mastered climbing the bunkbed ladder, she decided to start climbing up the end of the beds. She'll play for a while, then sit at the top of the ladder yelling "Maa-Maaaa!" until I come get her down.

Here's a first for me.
I made a wedding cake.
This is just the practice cake. The actual cake was delivered this past weekend.


This is how it turned out. I was happy with the results, but it sure was stressful.
I made the cake Friday, then transported it to Winkler. I was going to deliver it that evening, but took a look at it when we got there and the fondant along the side was totally droopy. So I called the bride and let her know that I'd drop it off the next morning. I ended up peeling off the entire layer of fondant and redoing it the next morning. I was very happy to hear that it all stayed in place the second time.

E helped herself to a little snack

Celebrating my dad's birthday at Montana's

Pointing at the airplane
(one of her best words)

Another one of my monkeys

L's preschool spring concert audience

Now that indoor soccer is over, Spring Mini-Soccer has begun.

She is constantly clunking around in anyone's shoes but her own

Beauty and the Geek

My child who loves pickles so much he requested them on his morning pancakes.
(But he won't eat them in a burger)

Kitchen Renovation Saga Pt. 4- The Cabinet Installation

So I think I should get a certificate or something in "Cabinet Assembly", I could do it pretty much in my sleep by now. The nice thing about IKEA is that they are all put together exactly the same way. So once you do one, you're good.

Nath working on the plumbing while under supervision.
I really should have picked a better picture of my dad working, because he really did work hard, and I wonder how wonky our kitchen would have looked without his help.

This is the new wall of cabinets. This is where the eat in kitchen used to be.

Here it is with all the doors on

This is our new built in pantry, where we previously had a closet.

And these are the beautiful pullouts in the pantry.

The cabinets for the main U shape of the kitchen were the last to go in. There was a small glitch in the first set of cabinets we received. (One cab was 2 inches too wide). Resulting in returning 4 cabinets and reordering 4 more. So we had to wait for the new ones to come before proceeding. Then when we finally received the shipment, it was completely messed up and we didn't get a few things, and got extras of a bunch of other things.

So we were left with this opening, which Em quickly claimed as hers. We often found her sitting in there singing a little song or talking with one of her dolls.

K R Saga Pt.3 Construction, Paint and Flooring

So now the fun starts. Let's start out with a happy picture. Em being cute.

Now for the not so cute...

Taking down more drywall and prepping for the new kitchen exhaust fan.

A nice view of new drywall.

L's face says it all here. This is our dining room.
Fun right.

And this is our Living room. Nice and Cozy.
We basically lived in the basement for about a month and a half.
We had a little kitchen set up down there with pretty much everything except an oven.
We were sure glad when we could get out of there.

E was constantly climbing ladders.
Even the 6 foot ladders, she loves climbing.
She also loves tools. We were often looking for tools that had been rearranged by her.

New subfloor installed

Mudding and painting done. What a mess that mudding is.
So glad to have it done.

No the pictures are not in the wrong order.
When Nath rechecked the box of tiles we were going to lay, he noted a small warning on the box:
DO NOT USE MDF SUBFLOOR
Guess what we put down. Yup. So about 10 hours later of pulling up and chipping away, we were ready to install a second subfloor.

Moving the plumbing for the sink from below the window, to overlooking the dining room.

New subfloor in, and putting down the first tile.
They are a solid vinyl peel and stick tile we found at Home Depot.
They were super easy to install and we were really pleased with the outcome.

Have I mentioned how fun it is to renovate with a 1 year old around.
These tiles also worked like fly paper for toddlers.

Installing the first cabinet for the sink.
This one caused us a fair bit of grief.
Here's a tip: Don't choose a 30 inch sink cabinet if you have a choice.
I didn't realize it wasn't a standard size and it is really hard to find a sink to fit in it.

Rolling the floor. Very important to keep the tiles stuck down and in place.

Finished floor. I love it. It has a bit of a sheen to it to, and really hides dirt nicely.
I'm just so happy to get rid of my hunter green floor. The kitchen feels so much brighter now.

Kitchen Renovation Saga Pt.2 (The Demolition)

Why can`t it be just as easy to put something back together as it is to take it apart
March 2nd we started by pulling off a few of the cabinets ourselves.

Note the original peachy colored paint inside the cabinets.
That`s vintage!

Then we called in the professionals to make a real mess of things!

And a what a mess they made.

But by the end of the day I had a couple of lovely new cut outs in my walls!