Another shot with the countertops

Another perspective. We're happy with the way things are turning out. Excuse the cardboard boxes covering up the sink. Should be abel to post a new picture today or tomorrow after they get a little farther. Today: flooring; tomorrow: appliances. Boy, will we be glad to have our sink back!

The kitchen sink

Here's our kitchen sink and the five cutouts that needed to go with it fit the faucet, the hot/cold water dispenser, the air gap (we didn't even know what an air gap was until this remodel), the soap dispenser, and (whew!) air switch which turns the garbage disposal on and off. Just another of the 5 of 10,000 decisions you need to make when you redo your kitchen. :-)

We ended up getting most of our kitchen fixtures over eBay which turned out to be between 20 and 50% cheaper than our local brick and mortal stores. The sink is a Chinese special from an e-tailer who markets on eBay, sells via Yahoo, and ships from Chicago. You gotta love the Web. Who says you can't get everything -- including the kitchen sink -- online?

A special shout out and thank you goes to John and Amy, who kindly donated an extra air switch they had from their remodel. Thanks, guys!

Home stretch...

We're headed into the home stretch of our remodel. The kitchen countertops finally arrived two weeks after they came to make what they called "templates" -- basically cardboard cutouts of where the fabricators would have to cut the stone. We decided on CaesarStone for our countertops. It's an engineered material made mostly of quartz. It's roughly the same price as granite but needs less care (e.g., no sealing), which appealed to our lazy homeowner selves. And I liked the color choices better. Our is called Lagos Blue for reasons we don't understand.

Before...

Alas, we had to replace our French doors. We quite liked their look but the wood had warped enough that it was letting in quite a bit of air from the outside. So after a fairly lengthy investigation, we finally had them replaced by Brothers Home Improvement. It's funny: I saw their storefront nearly every time I came home up 101 (they're off of Industrial right before Harbor Blvd), but we didn't talk to them until the very end. Anyway, farewall French doors and hello to...

...and After

...to our new sliding door. It has slightly thicker "rails" (the white vinyl part) that give it a French door-like look. Or at least that's what the brochures said. But since it's made out of vinyl, it won't warp or fade or crack or chip like the painted wood door we had. Hurrah: no more towels jammed in front of the crack during the winter (to keep the cold air out).

We decided on the sliding door because it was a little more space efficient (the previous doors opened in) and kid-friendly (no risk of them throwing the door open and banging it) and cost effective. As is typical, our remodel is costing more than expected because of unanticipated fixes the contractors are having to do...

Too true!

This photo showed up on a Google blog today, and I thought I'd share. That someone felt obliged to point this out shows the awesome power of Google -- but praise be to our God who created the universe and yet knows each of us by name. For an elaboration, try Job chapters 38-41. :-)

Bathroom is coming along...

Of our two projects, the bathroom has definitely been more of an, um, adventure. But it's coming along finally. Here are the new cabinets covered in dust, awaitng the countertop and sinks and fixtures.

A century!

My grandfather on my mom's side turned 100 this year. Amazing. The entire restaurant sang along with our rendition of Happy Birthday. One person remarked to me, "I can't believe he's 100 -- he looks 80!"

We celebrated at a great Chinese restaurant in Berkeley called Great Wall. Definitely worth the drive: it's got the best Peking duck I've ever had (note: it's a special order item so don't expect to just drop in for it).

The big picture

Here's the view from the French doors. Alas, we're going to have to replace the French doors as well, as their seal has failed -- the wood has warped over time. We're using Brothers Home Improvement after looking at quite a few options. I see them on my commute home every time I take 101, so I figure it if they do a bad job, it will be easy to harass them. Though Angie's List reports generally satisfied customers, so I probably won't have to... :-)

As usual, more pics at Smugmug.

Home stretch

God willing, we are about 1.5 weeks out from having our kitchen done. The structural changes are done, the cabinets and crown moulding are mostly in. Next up: the floor, the countertop and appliances.

Matching outfits

The boys have matching outfits: even down to our Teva sandals!

Princess Katie enjoying her food

Here's Katie digging into her food with gusto, as usual. :-)

And yes, that's a castle!

Michelle made an actual castle out of wood for the party. The kids loved it. As I'm posting this, Katie is sitting by me saying, "daddy, I want you to type princess castle."

Wow: Cinderella!

At Erin's 3rd birthday party, Cinderella came to tell stories, play limbo, blow cool durable bubbles, and do magic tricks. Even the boys were fascinated. Erin here is clutching her balloon magic wand. :-)

Group hug!

Too cute: Cameron wanted to get into the group hug picture after seeing his big brother and sister pose. :-)

The cabinets are here

The cabinets have arrived, and all of a sudden our nice large empty space got a lot more crowded. :-)

Hi!

Why hello: yes, I am having a fabulous time at Pump It Up, even though I wasn't even invited to this party!

Pump it up!

Cameron crashed a birthday party (for classmate Eddie) that big brother Colin got invited to. It was our first time to Pump It Up just down the hill from us. I foresee many parties there -- it's big, well run, clean, and the kids had a screaming good time.

Even Cameron had a fabulous time even though he wasn't even really invited. :-)

The blue carpet

We've encouraged the kids to treat this whole remodel as a fun experience, which mostly they have. Look: we're eating in the living room. And there's a big hole in mommy and daddy's bathroom. And big trucks pull up to the house to haul away trash. Fun!

Here, they are snap, crackling, and popping their way down the plastic blue covering the crew has placed over our wood floors to protect them as people and equipment in and out of the house.

All gone

And here is the shower complete gone. Why yes, Virginia, that is a hole in our bathroom floor that leds to the unfinished basement. In fact, while removing some of the rotted wood subfloor, our poor contractor actually fell through to the rock underneath. Luckily, it's just a few feet and he wasn't hurt. But the whole episode does highlight how much damage there is.

Halfway gone...

Here's the shower halfway demolished...

Bathroom repair

We noticed that our master bathroom shower was leaking, so while we were getting the kitchen redone, we asked the contractor to see if he could fix that. Well, one thing led to another and we're ending up having to replace most of the bathroom. We had always suspected that the contractor who had worked on our house prior to our buying it was an amateur. Now we know for sure: we've got leaking pipes, fixtures that are improperly vented, and our toilet is mounted too close to the shower -- and sitting on a section of the floor joist which the contractor just cut away.

Look: our kitchen is gone!

The kids wander over on day 2 of the remodel to survey the remains of our kitchen.

Kitchen remodel underway!

After 6 years of planning and procrastination, our kitchen remodel is finally underway. Hurrah. See more pictures at Smugmug.

As I'm told is typical, the first few days moved quickly because they were demolition oriented. In one day, they basically gutted the entire existing kitchen. The contractors did a pretty good job of keeping dust out of the rest of the house while they removed the existing cabinets, countertops, appliances, flooring, and plenty of other stuff...

Rocky beach

When the weather cooperates, we do a quick pit stop at one of the many beaches along Highway 1 on the way home from Easter Retreat. Katie hopped out with me (typical!) while Colin waited in the car and Cameron snoozed away. Katie was especially excited about the beautiful rocks, though she did complain about how the waves were "too noisy." :-)

Greetings from the foosball table

I've managed a pretty good smile despite the fact that my feet are cemented together...