Monday, April 30, 2018

FULL HOUSE Renovation, Part 5

Day 22:  Big changes today - the granite for the kitchen counters was installed!  It was so thrilling to see it arrive on the truck:
We had to make a change from what we chose because the original slab was going to be just a few inches too short thanks to the bigger trash/recycling drawer that we added; while the granite people in Houston emailed pictures of this slab, and we thought it looked the same, it was a relief to see it in person.
 
I thought this was a clever contraption to help bring in the heaviest slab.
The heaviest slab in place, YAY!
 
Coffee station - swear to god, if the outlets had been operational I would have set a coffee maker there and made a pot of coffee right away.

The tile guy was also here, working in the hall bathrooms and then getting started in my office and the rest of the entry area:
From bare floor...
To this!  

Day 23:  Everyone came today - well, not only the original tiler guy, but his uncle and aunt...fun fact, the aunt is the person who tiled our master bathroom five years ago.  The floors were completed:
 I opened my bedroom door mid-afternoon to discover tile!

The shower surround was prepped and readied for tiling:
The orange stuff is a waterproof membrane - oh and check out the niche for shampoo bottles!  

Odds and ends were taken care of, including hanging the microwave back up:
It's starting to look more like a kitchen...

Day 24:  The floors were grouted - you know what this means, don't you?  I can move back into my office, yipee!!!  Here's what it looked like halfway done:
Grout...and no grout.  I snuck in a picture when the tiler was outside getting a fresh bucket of water.

Let me just say that choosing grout colors is so challenging - I had a hard time picking the color for the floor tile, but was able to decide on one before we started this project.  Then a couple days before grouting was to begin, Jeremy brought his grout samples over, just to double check - and he, Jeff, and I dithered for another hour, trying to decide.  In the end we went with my original choice, but it easily could have gone another way.  The main difference is that we went with a slightly darker grout, hoping it would blend in with the tile, plus hide dirt and stains.

Day 25:  Kind of a weird day.  The tile guy arrived to work on the kitchen backsplash:
I like what's there so far...

But as it turned out, the edge pieces weren't in stock, so he had to stop until they come in next week.  I was a little bummed when I came home from the gift shop to not have this finished, as I am so ready for the kitchen to be done.

Speaking of the kitchen, the fridge is back in its place:
The water line is hooked up, so this is done!
Inspector Paco wonders WHY STOVE NOT IN PLACE?  Well, Inspector, that's because A) the electrician needs to finish the outlet behind it; and B) the plumber needs to hook up the gas line.  
It's the dining room, so that means all chairs and tables go here, right?
Paco says DIS BED NOT WORKING FOR ME HEER.
The TV was mounted over the fireplace - and all the stuff that had been shoved into the hallway bedrooms was removed, because tomorrow will be carpet day!

After seeing the finished floors the day before, I have to admit that mentally it was hard to see them covered with boxes and stuff - my orderly brain hates this kind of thing.  But I was able to work on getting my office set up, so at least I had that to show progress.  I also cleaned most of the windows and the ceiling fans - hooboy, there was a thick layer of construction dust on them.  They will probably need another good cleaning, but at least some of it is gone.

Day 26:  The electrician came bright and early - seriously, he was here at 7:45 am...gotta love that work ethic.  First things first - he installed the outlets at the coffee station and I was in business:
That is the inaugural cup of coffee brewing, woohoo!
A quick set up - it's not 100% how I want it to be, but I couldn't unpack everything just yet.  Still, the coffee station is finally a reality!
The foyer light was installed - this is a better size than the first one we picked out.  I found one in this style online and then checked around for pricing - Amazon had the best deal (I paid $69 for it; the next best price that I found was $103)(also that is an affiliate link).  But here's the weird thing - when I got the link for it just now, it's not available in matte black like I bought.  I'm telling you, lamps are a bigger challenge to buy than I'd have thought!
Bathroom lights - these were the first thing we bought for the renovation!  We first saw a similar light fixture, with railroad shades, as this style is called, at a lighting center in town - it was priced at nearly $300.  And because the bathrooms connect via the bathtub/shower room, we felt like the fixtures should be the same, so that meant we needed two.  We found something that was an OK enough copy at Lowes, but then I saw this fixture online at Houzz.com - and it was on sale for $72, which was much more palatable when you doubled it.  

The other exciting thing that happened was that carpet was installed in Jeff's office and the two guest bedrooms!  After seeing how nice it looks, Jeff and I made a pact to not let 18 years go by before replacing carpet again:
The same carpet will go in our bedroom next week!

And that wraps up week 5!  We are getting very close to being finished, hallelujah!

19 comments:

  1. OMG...beautiful!! I really Love everything!

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  2. Wow thisbreally is a whole house make over. Did you save pictures from before so you can do a comparison of each room when they are completed? I had a hard time choosing grout for our time too. There are so many versions of white...haha

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    1. Oh don't tell me that about the white grout - I still haven't picked that one yet (for the tub/shower surround)! Ack!

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  3. How did you get around in your house with all this flooring being done at once? I seem to remember no walking on tile when it's not grouted - or maybe I'm wrong about that. I am sure you are more than ready for all these workers to be OUT. This turned into quite the renovation but the results sure are gorgeous!

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    1. He tiled in sections, so we could still get around, although honestly we didn't have anywhere to go in the house with no working kitchen or bathrooms on the other side. One afternoon I was trapped inside my bedroom, but once the tile has set for several hours, you can carefully walk on it, even with no grout.

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  4. This is all coming together so beautifully!! Where are you staying while all this is going on?

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    1. We are staying in our master bedroom...it's been a bit much, but there's no way we could have afforded to do anything else with the length of the renovation.

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  5. This is so exciting!! I so wish we could do this to our house. Heck I get excited when I buy a new door mats - I can only imagine how exciting it will be for you when it's all completely finished!!

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    1. We bought a new door mat for the front, and honestly, WHY DID I NOT DO THAT AGES AGO?? Sometimes ya gotta wonder...

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  6. Oh my gosh girl, this is SO nice! You have a totally new home! I'm so excited for you! And it sounds like you lived to tell, and your marriage survived it all! Woo! And even Paco seems ok! Just thinking about all the selections y'all had to decide on are making me twitch. So, so exciting! Love it. Chrissy

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    1. We are surviving, although I will admit last weekend got a little rough.

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  7. Wow! That is a lot of progress today! I love the kitchen granite, and THE COFFEE STATION!!!!! I like your backsplash too. Everything goes together so well. And yes, I agree with you and Jeff--new carpet looks so good, and its not THAT expensive. I'm not gonna wait that long for carpet either. I had the same problem with the edge pieces at Lowe's. I finally picked some that were "close enough." It was just for the bathroom, and I still think it looks okay. So, your refrigerator and microwave are actually working now? Soon, very soon, my organized friend will have her house back just the way she wants it!!

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    1. Who knew tile edge pieces were a thing? Anyway, it'll all work out. But yes, the coffee station is as fabulous as we'd imagined it to be, YAY!

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  8. AHHHH! Everything looks SO gorgeous. Love love love it!

    AND THE MUGS! THERE THEY ARE! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

    I feel ya on picking out grout! Your reasoning is sound for going darker - I would too! Grout is a total pita to clean!

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  9. I am SO jealous of your coffee station! Love love love it! I was visiting brother & sister-in-law in South Carolina this past weekend, and they JUST came out with the South Carolina You Are Here coffee mug. I had to really think about it...no, actually not :-) Snapped that puppy up as my souvenir :-) I only have Toronto and LA in this series, and a bunch from prior series, but I do love the colorful ones. Almost done with your renovation and the place is going to be just fabulous!

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  10. Everything looks amazing. You are getting very close to being done.

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  11. Wow, you have a great crew there to get all this done in a month! It took 3 months to get my Dad's house interior just painted. (issues)

    I love your counter-top. I thought I didn't like granite but the honed surface is really elegant. I'm also a huge fan of the subway tile. I used it my bathroom reno and went with "dove grey" grout, which was 1/2 way between the white home depot subway tile and the dark grey/black floor tile which I used on both and I have not regretted it at all. 8 years later, I have only needed to lightly clean it (except for the time the niece came with freshly dyed fuchsia hair. Some of that tinged some of the tile, but what are you going to do, no color would have fought that stuff off.

    I can't wait to see the final reveal!

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  12. Oh Shelley it's starting to look so beautiful and light. Really love it.

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