New Fish!

Ok, I couldn't wait to get fish, so I got two little guys. They are called Pearlscale goldfish, I guess as they get older they will get really round like golfballs and they have pearly scales. They seem so happy in this huge tank.

Reilly has also discovered them and it is his new obession. He never seemed all that interested in the reef tank, but he loves the goldies.

New French door

The french door got put in today. Here is the before picture. I took the second slider off on Sunday so this is just the original door.

It looked really weird to have no door in there.

Here is the door without the lockset on.

Here it is all installed but without trim.

Fish tank decor

I got some plants, rocks and decorations for the tank over the weekend. I planted the plants in little clay pots.

Bud is back in his usual spot on top of the tank. I am still waiting for the tank to cycle before adding fish, hopefully it will be soon.

The tank is back up!

I got my fish tank put back in. I have decided to go with fancy goldfish, I just don't have the time, energy and especially money to keep a reef tank right now. I just filled it up with water and I will have to let it cycle before adding any fish, that's the hard part, waiting. I have missed my tank through all of this remodeling but there was just no way to keep it going during the remodel. As far as the remodel goes, I got the oven wired in last night and it seems to work fine, we are going to finish installing the dishwasher the rest of the way which will be nice because right now when I load and unload dishes I have to hold it up so it doesn't tip forward. Stay tuned for more remodel progress..............................

Now we're getting somewhere!

Craig got all of the cabinet fronts put in, he will have to take them down to get them finished but it sure looks good even unfinished. We put the oven in its spot but it isn't installed yet, either is the stove top, we still have to make the opening for that and of course put in the countertops before that goes in permantly. The pantry pull out just has its front sitting there because Craig doesn't want to install that one at all until it is finished its a little trickier than the rest.

I also temporarily put up the undercabinet lights with double stick tape so I could play around with placement. I ran about 5 loads of dishes in the new dishwasher, we bought all new dishes and silverware and I got it all put away along with all of our food and we are now back to using only one fridge, yay! Carina has decided she wants a lot of our old dishes and silverware for when she moves out, so that means a lot less trips to the Goodwill, she thinks she will move out this summer, we'll see!

Ok, this isn't happening fast enough for me!

Well, the fridge is in and working, I got it all plumbed earlier in the week in fact I put all of the shut off valves on under the sink, that was not fun, I hate plumbing, Craig and I spent all day fiddling with them trying to get them not to leak, but I decided I like the crawlspace under the house better than the attic, it's a lot roomier. We ended up having like 1/16" to spare on either side of the fridge. So far the fridge just has milk and pop in it, I am going to transfer all of the rest of the food from the old fridge to it today.

The microwave was a bit tricky, the instructions weren't really clear, Craig spent a long time trying to figure out where to drill the holes for it. I ran to Lowe's and bought some duct work while he was working on the hole drilling, but we finally got it in and it actually works. I still have to get back up in the attic to finish the duct work and hopefully I bought the right stuff for it. He will be putting in some filler strips next to the microwave to give it that more built in look. This microwave is also a convection oven and it is our exaust for the stove top and it has lights under it as well, I really like it.

As you can see the rest of the kitchen is a mess, I have the dishwasher just sitting in its spot, but it isn't yet plumbed or wired in, that's today's project as well. Craig will have to put on all of the door fronts to make sure they fit well and do any adjusting that they will need then he will take them all off and bring them back to work for finishing, he also will be putting on the end panels today hopefully. It is such a slow process, but I keep telling myself that it will be worth it in the end.

The cabinets are going in!

We spent all day working on the cabinets, it took about four trips to Craig's work to pick them all up. Here are the toe kicks.

Bud was having fun checking out all of the cabinets. We got almost all of the upper cabinets in place.

We have the lower cabinets just sitting in their positions, they aren't screwed in yet. I temporarily double-back taped a couple of my undercabinet lights in place just to get an idea of how they will look, when we put them in permanently they will be recessed in a light valance. Tomorrow we are putting in the appliances and will hopefully get the bottom cabinets in place permanently.

The floor is complete!

The floor is finished and we are ready to start putting the cabinets in.

They were able to get some of the finishing done on our cabinets so Craig is off to work to pick them up.

I can't take the mess anymore, but at least it is feeling like we are making progress.

The rest of the flooring is going in!

I am plugging away on the flooring, hopefully I will get it done by tonight. Tuesday I got the entire hallway finished and that was the hardest part because of all of the cuts involved.

I also got the trim put up on the pocket door, it turned out so nice. I also got the trim put up on most of the doors in the hallway. You can see our temporary kitchen in the picture below, the fridge is in my craft room on the other side of the pocket door.

Another tricky part of the flooring was going around the new wall, but it is done now and should be much easier from here on out. We are hoping to get some cabinets put in this weekend, unfortunately the finishing department at my husband's work is really busy and they haven't had time to finish them, but we should be able to put a few in. I at least want to put in the fridge and dishwasher.

Just one more blog for today

Yesterday I got all of the painting finished for the most part. I also got our new light fixture hung in the kitchen. I took the picture with the lights off because it shows up better. We aren't painting the kitchen except for the ceiling because it will all be covered up with cabinets and what isn't covered in cabinets will have tile on it.

This is such a fun light, I used paint cans to bend it into this shape.

Here is our new wall all painted and looking pretty. I am really pleased with how it turned out, drywalling and joint compound are not my thing so I had a few moments of panic that it wasn't going to turn out well, but luckily my husband is great at sanding.

Chicago trip

I went to Chicago on Thursday for a certification class for work. The weather was about like at home, cold and drizzly. The trip was a lot of fun though. These pictures are from my hotel window, I was on the 21st floor and apparantly close to a hospital because I could hear sirens all night long. I only stayed one night and was back home on Friday for our 21st wedding anniversary.

Life goes on.......

Well somehow I managed to keep going and actually got a lot of work done on the remodel. The new wall got built and I got all of the switches put in place along with an outlet. We also got the outer wall all insulated and the drywall up.

The pocket door also got patched back up.

Here is the new wall with the drywall up.

Craig is working away putting the drywall up, it took several nights after work to complete.