The (semi) finished product

The granite was installed while we were at a wedding - so we couldn't even validate our decision until well after it was installed. Thanks to Steph's mom, we got frequent updates throughout the evening. Thankfully, when we came home we were VERY happy with what we saw…


A beautiful stove that is just WAITING to be used…


Even the floor is accentuated by the new colors.


We have no idea what we are going to do with all the cabinets, but I am sure that we will fill them with something!


The double-oven… so… beautiful…


Beautiful running water…


I think I'll boil some water…


And make some delicious breakfast!






We even got the under-cabinet lighting hooked up! So much light!!


We still have a fair amount of work to be done - we need to install a hood, put up crown molding, put down baseboard, touch up painting, pick out and install a back-splash, and so much more - but we are so happy with how everything has come out so far. Now its just the "little" things… yeah right…

Building the kitchen.

We started this whole house "project" with a new kitchen as the cornerstone of everything. Steph and I love to cook so despite the fact that our bathroom doesn't have molding or baseboard, we are still using our basement and future bathroom as a pantry, and we don't have deck rail up, we knew that as long as the kitchen was done, we would be happy. In case you forgot, this is what our kitchen looked like when we bought the house:


We had a dream, and it is finally coming together…

After weeks of meticulously planning every last detail of a kitchen that was going into an addition that was not built yet, months of waiting for drywall, insulation, electricity, etc, and using a utility sink as a kitchen sink for too long to be proud of, it was time to begin work… We started with the "easy" stuff - no problem here….


This is going to be where our beautiful double-oven will go. We just hope it fits…


Next, we had to start to work on the top layer of cabinets. Steph's dad had a spacer to ensure that the height of the cabinets was uniform. This thing must have been 30 years old (unfortunately no picture :( but envision a Gandalf-esque staff with a piece of carpet on the top), but it worked!


Always have to start with the corners.


After we were all done with the top, we had to start working on the bottom - this is always fun when your floors aren't 100% level. We had to cut this cabinet from 3/4" to nothing to be sure the countertop would be level.


The view from our kitchen table. Its starting to come together…


Don't mind all the wires hanging down. Our electrician forgot to factor in that we were installing a floor when he measured for under-cabinet lighting so everthing is about 2 inches short. Oh well - whats a little more spackle.


We were seriously concerned that everything wouldn't fit, but in the end we were able to squeeze it all together (after shaving a few cabinets and using a whole stack of shims)


After all the cabinets were installed, the next decision was the granite - and it was a big one. We were going back and forth between black granite (either honed or polished) and a more "traditional" granite look. We spent a couple hours in the granite warehouse going over different options and ultimately settled on "Steel Gray." The 2 weeks it took to get delivered was very nerve-wracking. All we had done was look at it in a huge room with other slabs - we had no idea if it would fit in our kitchen. There was no turning back now…..

The two-toned house

I know it has been a while since we have posted anything, but we took a little bit of a hiatus from anything house-related to regain some sanity (and get some sleep). It is my job now to get you caught up on the work we did before the break! As you may or may not remember, on day one of renovations we took large chunk of siding off the back of the house where the new addition went. Now we had to replace it...

We had a ton of conversations about what the best way to attack our siding problem would be. It came down to the following three options:
1. Match the new siding with the existing siding.
2. Re-side the whole house
3. Re-side only the back and the side where the new addition is.


We quickly crossed off option 1 when we realized it is VERY expensive to get aluminum siding (and most places don't even carry it). There would be no way to match the same color using vinyl siding, and we didn't think the current yellow color would be in the long-term plan for the house. We would have loved to go with option 2, but alas time and monetary constraints kept us from going down this path. So we were left with the third option.

We picked out a color that we could see ourselves liking long-term and wouldn't clash too much with the current color of the house - after all, its only the back. We went with Savannah Wicker - we are thinking that this color will go very nicely with black shutters and a black door and some white trim (but that is all down the road).

As you can see, we only did the lower portion of the house. Here, you can see the contrast between the two colors. Surprisingly it doesn't look bad!


On the side of the house, you can see the difference between the new and old siding. We were just happy that the new addition was perfectly square - it made for an easy job lining up all the pieces!


Since we just did the back, the view from the front and side is unaffected!


Well… almost ;)


From this view, it almost looks like a new house!




This was definitely the hardest part of the siding. We had a huge window where our future bathroom is going to be. We had to re-use aluminum siding to patch this space up. It took a lot of patience and persistence…


I am not sure if we will reside the whole house ourselves when the time comes or if we will just hire someone. It definitely wasn't a "hard" job, but very time-consuming. The real question is how long can we live with a two-toned house…

Landscaping... oh my...

We still don't have a completed kitchen, baseboard in the bathroom, a deck rail, or siding on one wall (or C.O. for that matter - don't tell the town)… But we decided that it was a good idea to make our yard a bit more aesthetically pleasing. Luckily, Steph's dad has a tractor at his disposal, so he brought it over and we went to work.

First order of business was straightening out the shed in our backyard. There are some massive roots in our yard and a bunch of them were under this shed. Using the tractor we lifted the shed up and started to clean out the mess that was underneath - roots, cement, blocks, dirt - it all had to go.


The main root was about two feet thick so we had to dig around it and chop it out with a chainsaw.


Next we used the tractor to clean out all the ivy and trees that were growing everywhere…


I thought we just got this mess cleaned up!


Cleaning up by hand seems so… manual… guh… But Steph was employed to clean up the more "delicate" areas.


The benefit is that we find lots of little suprises… like this little guy!


We also found something a little less "cute" - a partially decomposed squirrel… but I'll leave that off this blog.

Look at these monster roots that came out - Thank goodness we had Steph's dad's truck and a couple chains to get these suckers up.



It looks nice and bare… and ready for improvement!



Steph and her mom planted some amazing knock-out rose bushes out front… at 8:00pm. This is serious business!


And don't forget the fern, of course...


In the end, it came out really nice for a start, though.




And this is just the front!


Originally we were just going to have to bring in "a few yards of dirt" to grade - no problem, right? Ha! Due to a slight "misjudgement" with the height of our deck steps, we needed just a little more… try 13 yards. Our neighbors love us.


What are we going to do with all this dirt!?


So we decided to cover our whole backyard with topsoil and grade everything. It probably would have been nice to do this piecemeal, but it will be awesome to have a level yard!


We had to put fertilizer and new seed down. Our lawn is going to be so plush!


But now I have to water it...daily - which might be the scariest thing I have ever had to do. I feel like if I cannot get this grass to grow I will fail at being a man and will be forever shunned.

As of this blog post, nothing has sprouted up yet… but there is still time… I hope.

And the best part of summer will be....

GRILLING! Living in an apartment for the last 4+ years has left us with a void in our lives. There has been a serious lack of deliciously grilled meat and charred veggies. We always had a grill pan, but its just not the same… While the purchase of a grill was certainly not a "necessary" one, after spending a month with very limited cooking resources we decided it was time to shake things up. Lowes had a great deal on a beautiful Chargriller with both propane and charcoal options (the foodies in us love the possibilities). We had gotten some money back from various returns so we decided to jump on it.

Now, they offered to put it together for us, but it would have taken about 4 days… and we just couldn't wait. I got this…. No problem...

I spread all the tools out that I would need… a knife and a screwdriver. This should be "easy"…
On step 4, I realized that there were no washers in the box. Luckily Steph was at Home Depot and picked some up for me. I was about to have to use this knife for evil… whew. Crisis averted…
Well… its starting to look like a grill… why do I have so many parts left? Hmmm
So many screws… so many…
My dad looking on and "supervising"… no doubt remembering many a time when he had to put up with similar situations. This time, he is not getting involved. Smart man…
Ain't nothing going to damper this guy's spirits… and yes, I look like a orphan. "Can I have some more (grilled meat), sir?"

Two day's work and a few mistakes later, we are ready to grill. Fire up that chicken! Too bad we have to grill by flashlight since we don't have outside lights yet… Oh well… baby steps…

Bring on the summer!