Renovation Diary: Part {Week} 2

Week Two

Day 8 (March 24) – We think that the news about the cabinets may have lit a fire under the contractor's butt to start getting things done.  Crew showed up at 8:30 and started knocking things out (and down).    JD went over a few questions for the contractor and I think we finally have things squared away.   When I get home from work, I can see they have been busy.  The door and windows that were in the kitchen are now gone and we have a huge hole in our exterior wall.  They are still working too.  A good sign, especially since storms are about to roll into town. 

Well, we did want 'open'

Today, JD and I also worked on a project ourselves for the kitchen.  We bought some butcher block countertops from IKEA and while we liked the look, we wanted something a bit darker.  JD sanded, and stained these bad boys until they were ready to be sealed.   But before he sealed them, we knew we wanted to put a little different touch on them.  Just a little something to make them unique.  We scoured the internet and Pinterest for different ideas, and we found a lot that we liked.  But we really wanted something specific to our neighborhood.  Finally we decided to put the logo of a local brewery on one corner of the butcher block. 

I got a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas and have not had much time to play with it.  But I saw a tutorial where someone made a stencil.  So, I thought ‘hey, I can try that’ and if I screw it up, then we just cut off that part of the countertop (since it is too long).  I found the logo and used the PicScan mat to upload it to my Silhouette Studio, then used the trace feature to trace out the words.  Now, since this was going to be a one-time use stencil only, I didn’t want to spend the big bucks on the stencil material that was suggested.   Instead, I used Target shelf liner aka contact paper (and saved some $$).  I positioned the contact paper on the cutting mat and let the cameo do its job.  I have to say, the stencil came out really nice. 

Once the stencil was made, I transferred it to the butcher block.  I used the scraping tool to make sure there were no bubbles and that the stencil was really secured.  I then used black stain and a sponge paint brush to apply the stain.  I let it dry and pulled up a corner of the stencil, not dark enough.  I ended up doing 4 coats of black stain to get the look I wanted.  A couple of corners were a bit smudgy and I blame myself for peeling up those corners to see how it looked…guess you could say I am a bit VERY impatient .

Proud of my work!

Can't wait to see it in the pantry

Day 9 (March 25) – I had to be at work early, but JD says the crews showed up at 0830 and started working away.  I was able to get some photos of the progress and the new door and new set of three windows have gone in.  Thank you Jesus, progress!!!  We were told that the cabinets would be installed on Tuesday….can’t say I’m holding my breath even with the recent progress.  Call me realistic or call me pessimistic. 

Love our new windows

and our new door 

So much brighter now, even with the tarp.

JD bought some awesome stools today for the new kitchen bar areas.  I saw some I LOVED from Ballard Designs (here and here) and bonus they were all on sale.  Once I added them to my cart and the shipping and taxes calculated, it was $100 more! Um, no, not cool.  So I decided to call a couple of Ballard Design stores in the Atlanta area to see if they were in stock or if not, if we could ship to store and at least save on shipping.  Store #1 had them in stock.  Awesome.  But we also have a Ballard Design Outlet Store…yep, hoping they would have them and that they would be cheaper.  BONUS!  Not only did they have them in stock, but they were %50 off of the online price!!!!! So what would have cost us around $650, ended up costing us only $311.  I’d say that’s an awesome score.

Day 10 (March 26) – Well, well, well, they showed up bright and early this morning at 8:30 am.  And the normally don’t work on Saturday’s, so we are thankful.  We left for breakfast around 9 and then took CJ to gymnastics.  When we came back from our errands, the wall between the kitchen and the dining room was gone AND wall between the midget bathroom aka butler’s pantry was gone too!  Now, I’m a bit confused as to why they took down the entire wall between the butler’s pantry and the kitchen, when all we wanted was a doorway…..hope we are all still on the same page or our kitchen just got a lot bigger. 

and the trash pile keeps growing!

We decided to stay the night at JD’s parent’s house to avoid the extra dust hanging around today, plus Sunday (Day 11) was also Easter and JD’s mom’s birthday.  So some family time was in order.

Day 11 (March 27) – Easter – He is risen!  No work today, crew is supposed to come back on Monday.

Day 12 (March 28) – Cabinets delivered today!! Since it’s actually Friday (April 1) while I’m writing this, I forget what all actually happened on Day 12.  I do remember they were prepping for the cabinets to be installed.  I think they did some framing and insulation, but other than that, I’m drawing a blank.

And now we have cabinets...EVERYWHERE

Day 13 (March 29) – Cabinets started getting installed bright and early this morning.  I had an unexpected trip to Nicaragua today and get back tomorrow.  JD sent me some progress pictures.

new siding, makes me want to do the whole house

Day 14 (March 30) - Two weeks in!  I get back from my short (but quite the opposite of sweet) trip expecting much more to be done.  All the walls were drywalled at this point, cabinets had been installed under the microwave and the sink wall and peninsulas were done.  The hutch base was completed, but nothing else. 

Can't wait to see my beloved farm sink here

The base for our custom hutch

Here's how the rest of our house is looking:

Sorry for the dim picture, but this is our current dining room, everything covered in plastic

and our hallway...with a little plastic barrier that doesn't do much

That's it for now.  Can't wait to update you on the progress next time!

Not sure if JD will have much to say tonight, but I did threaten him to proof it or else he doesn't get his pedicure.  That's a true story, and you can see as proof of me proofing this blog, the bright red comment I made.  LOL.