Sunday, August 31, 2008

Wine Rack

Though the kitchen project still has another 2 or 3 weeks to go until it is finished, we decided to at least try out the wine rack. I think that this feature will come in handy!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

FIRST APPLIANCE WAS BEEN INSTALLED!


I am happy to report that the first appliance has been installed in the kitchen. Specifically, a GE Profile Convection/Microwave Oven Model JVM1790SK01. We used it for the first time this morining to cook a couple of breakfast sandwiches. This oven is nothing short of amazing. There are all kinds of features to it and I will need to study the owner's manual to realize the full potential of this appliance. Truth be told, I did not realize how useful this combination convection/microwave oven is going to be in our new kitchen.

The plan for next week is for tile. Lots and lots of tile. Monday is a holiday, so Jim will be back at it on Tuesday. Once the tile is down, then the rest of the appliances can be installed. With a little luck, we might have a fully functioning kitchen in 10 days or so. Updates to follow as conditions warrant.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Allie

It was a year ago today Allie left us. She was able to spend the last few weeks of her life at her favorite place on Earth: On Lake Michigan running after birds on "her beach" and chasing her Frisbee. There was nothing we would not do for her, but in the end, there was nothing we could do for her, other than kiss her goodbye and make sure that she knew that her last moments with us that she was surrounded by love. She was kind, gentle and a little mischievous, but a better dog you will never know. Allie, we miss you every day, but we know that even now, you are keeping the birds off your beach.


"Grieve not,
nor speak of me with tears
but laugh and talk of me as if I were beside you...
I loved you so...
'twas Heaven here with you"

Isla Paschal Richardson

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Photos













OK, ok, I have been a slacker. After painting and staining and sealing for well over a week, I took a few days off from work and blogging. A
lot has happened in the past few days in our kitchen project. Cabinets are now in place, and a few can lights are now in the ceiling. Our craftsman, Jim, is going to hang the microwave tomorrow and next week he will put down the tile. Hopefully, by the end of next week, the appliances will be installed and the kitchen will be functional. The final part of the project will be the installation of the quartz countertops. I have some more priming and painting to do in preparation for Jim's installation of the trim work. The transformation has been amazing.

Monday, August 25, 2008

OK, I am a little behind in my updates...

I will be the first to admit it. The past few days I have spent most of my free time staining and sealing the trim, priming all the new drywall, painting the ceiling, and tonight painting the kitchen. Deirdre took some great photos of the past few days and as soon as i have the energy to get them uploaded with some text.

I will tell you that Jim installed all the base cabinets today. These are the cabinets affixed to the floor. Deb and I painted the walls a color names "Churchill Hotel Wheat," using Valspar paint. The kitchen is now starting to look like, well, a kitchen.


Thursday, August 21, 2008

Battle of the Bulge has been won!

Once again, Jim's superb woodworking knowledge and craftmanship shined as bright as ever today. Jim worked to remove the bulge from the ceiling in our kitchen. With a small hydraulic jack, some two by fours and a little brace work in our attic, the bulge was removed.






Jim then spent the rest of the day putting up another coat of mud in the kitchen along dry wall sea
ms and anywhere a fastener was located. Tomorrow he will add a finish coat of mud, sand a little and then Deb and I will be cleared to paint the ceiling over the weekend. Deb also came by and helped me stain the trim as well as a couple of the doors. Tomorrow, we will apply some clear coat polyurethane.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Day 8: Mud, Tape and the Battle of the Bulge

Today much progress was made on the kitchen, though there was a slight set back. First, the good things. Jim taped and mudded a lot of the new dry wall. He also filled in some more dry wall where the pocket door will go. Here are a few photos:











Now for the set back. After Jim installed the dry wall to the ceiling, we noticed that there was a slight bulge along the one of the seams. Upon further investigation, Jim found that a non-load bearing joist in the ceiling needs a little tweeking. Tomorrow, Jim will work to minimize the bulge and then finish taping and mudding the rest of the dry wall. In preparation for next week, I started staining
the pocket door with the assistance of our friend Deb. We applied a couple of coast of stain to one side of the door, and tomorrow night we will stain the other side. Once that stain is completely dry, I will apply a couple coats of polyeurothane to give the door a finished look. I will also start staining and sealing the trim over the course of the next few days. Little by little, our new kitchen is starting to take shape.






Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Drywall


Today was a day when it did not appear much was done. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Jim installed some furring strips along the walls, but the "heavy lifting" was the installation of the drywall on the ceiling. For any of you who have ever hauled, moved or otherwise hung dry wall, you know what I mean.

Tomorrow, Jim will work on the detail dry wall work, patching holes and repairing damage done when the trim was removed. Samson had to take a look at the today's work, too.

Each day brings us a little closer to the finish line.

Monday, August 18, 2008

3 for 13

As I mentioned in a previous post, the past week has been one of reflection for me. I thought about all that had happened in the course of the past year. I reflected on our fortunes of the past year and then it hit me: I have spent more time under the same roof as my spouse in the past 12 months as I had done in the past five years combined. I lived in New Orelans from 2003-2005, and then Chicago from 2005-2007 as a geographic bachelor. Sure, Dee came to visit, but only for a few weeks, total. I then started to think about how long I had been a geographic bachelor prior to my retirement. I became a geographic bachelor in the fall of 1994, so for reference purposes, call it January, 1995. I came home for good in August, 2007. The only time I co-habitated with the spousal unit was from May, 2001-June2003. Thus, in the span of 13 years, from 1995 to 2008, I have only been home for 3 of those years. I hope that this time I will be able to stay home for a bit longer!

Day 6: Appliances, windows and more electrical


Today was a day when little appeared to have been done in our kitchen project. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Jim's major task today was to wrap the four kitchen windows with coated aluminum. True to his persnicketiness, Jim was careful and thorough during his work on the windows. He also discovered that the the frame for one of the old windows was not mechanically attached to the house. The window was held in place by the friction generate between the window and the frame. Needless to say, Jim rectified that problem and affixed the window frame to the house. Yep, we are still finding little gremlins left behind by the previous owners.

Back
to what else happened today. At 8AM my cell phone rang and it was the delivery truck from the GE Store. They told me that they would arrive in about 20 minutes to deliver our appliances. True to his word, 20 minutes later the GE truck arrived and they offloaded the fridge, range, dishwasher, beverage fridge and microwave. Our garage is slowly filling up with the appliances that will give our kitchen life. Paul the master electrician returned today, along with his son Matt, to do more work in roughing out the electrical fixtures and switches. There are also yards and yards of electrical wire in stuffed into the overhead of our basement, which Paul & Matt have carefully laid out for when they do the finish work in a week or two. I spoke to Paul about a couple of electrical issues and he seemed pleased with how the job is progressing. He said to me, "This is a large project and I do not want to get behind Jim's work."

Of course, Samson had to check things out during the work today. I took personal day today so I could be here
for the delivery of the appliances. To be honest, I could have gone into work this afternoon following the delivery, but I was able to catch up on a few projects that I had been meaning to do for a while. Since I was taking today off, we did not take Samson to doggie daycare. In order to keep him out of the builder's way, Samson will spend the day at Whiskers any day during this project when neither Deirdre or I are home. Today, I kept Samson with me, and I put him in his crate the two times I left the house to run errands. Samson happily went into his crate each time I told him to go there, but the puppy treats helped, too! When I was home Samson had free run of the house and he kept out of the way of Jim and Paul, though he wanted to supervise the work going on in the kitchen. It is just a manifestation of one of his primal GSD instincts: standing guard. Jim and Paul were well supervised as you can see from the photo to the left. It is always good to have a GSD keeping watch on your home.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Time flies...

A year ago this weekend, I had my retirement ceremony from the U.S. Navy. It seems like the ceremony and subsequent party at the Boat House was just last week. The past twelve months have been a blur for me. A few days after my ceremony, the movers came and packed up our belongings at the Beach House, and I came home to EGR. Almost as soon as I returned home, Deirdre and I had to say goodbye to Allie, our trusted and loyal companion of almost 14 years. A week later, my knee was scoped and as soon as I recovered from that I took a road trip east to see my siblings and my roommate from my first ship.

Soon after I returned from my road trip, we began our bathroom remodeling projects. Well, technically, all we did was provide the funding, the professionals at HWC Homeworks did the heavy lifting! We celebrated my actual retirement date (1 November) from the Navy with a trip to Lake Huron, and then we did something we had never done during my entire 22 year career in the Navy: we were able to spend consecutive Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays together in our own home. That accomplishment might not seem like much, but when was the last time you were NOT able to spend the Thanksgiving and Christmas in the same year with your family? Just before Thanksgiving, we adopted a rescue dog. We were still mouring the passing of our beloved Allie, we also knew that we had room in our hearts to give a home to a wonderful dog whom we named Samson. It was a rough couple of weeks with him at first, but he has evolved into a goofy, lovable companion who is nothing but 95lbs of fur and love.

A few days after we celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary on New Year's Day, work began on our second bathroom project. Lots of dust and entropy later, that project was completed and I looked for my next adventure. In March, I decided to start to look for my first post-Navy job. I was interviewed for positions with the American Red Cross, the U.S. Department of State, a local District Court, Gentex, General Electric and a few head hunting agencies for executive management positions around the country.
I thought that it would take 6-10 months to find a position that matched my knowledge skills and abilitiesHowever, I was off by a factor of 6-10. About a month after I started my search, I was offered a position with General Electric, working for GE Aviation here in Grand Rapids.

Deirdre and I have settled into our rhythm together with both of us working, providing a home to Samson and generally getting on with our lives, post-Navy. We recently began our next home remodeling project, a kitchen where we are looking forward to making new memories with our friends here in the western edges of the Enchanted Mitten.

To say that the past twelve months have is an understatement. We never could have imagined our good fortune to have such a great year, and we are looking forward to our next adventure.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Day 5: Windows

Today was a day when it appeared that not much happened in the kitchen project, but in actuality, a lot happened. Today Jim installed the windows in our kitchen nook, as well as the window over the sink.
















T
his weekend I will stain and seal the pocket door and some of the trim which will be used to finish the kitchen. This week was pretty much consumed with demolition. Next week, we will start to see the kitchen really take shape.





Thursday, August 14, 2008

Day 4: Subfloor and Ohm's Law


Today was a major day in the genesis of our new kitchen. Jim finished installing the new subfloor, which is a precursor to laying the new tile, which leads to installing the cabinets... you see where this is going. Here are a few photos from Jim's work today, as well as a sample of the stuff that is starting to accumulate in our garage.















Now, on to Ohm's Law. For you social science majors out there, Ohm's law states that across an electrical circuit, voltage is equal to the product of the resistance and the current. Ohm's Law is in effect when you flip on a light switch or use your iPod.


Today, Ohm's Law was used by our tried and true electrician to start to rough out the new outlets, switches and lights for the kitchen. Paul from Roper Electric was back and his son assisted him in the first day of work for him to remove the old electric outlets and install the new lights and power sources for the kitchen. Paul is a diminutive man, who works quickly and professionally. I managed to make it home a little early from work today, so I was able to go over the plan for the lighting and electrical outlets.

Below are a few photos from Paul's work in our kitchen:















Tomorrow, Jim will return to start work on the drywall. The entropy meter here on Argentina Drive SE is pegged, but each day we are getting closer and closer to our new kitchen.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Day 3: Flooring and Puppy Day Care

Work in the kitchen is progressing accoring to plan. Jim finished taking up all the old flooring and he began to install the new subfloor. Here are a few photos of his work today:








And a few more images...

















Though it might look like little was accomplished, putting in the new subfloor is a major part of the project. Until the subfloor is done, not much else can happen.


Deirdre took Monday and Tuesday off so she could he here for the first days of demolition. However, today she went back to work which left us with the issue of what to do with Samson. Samson is such a mellow cruiser; he just loves to meet everyone and play with any dog who will return the favor. However, we did not think that it was the right thing to do to leave Samson here with Jim if neither one of us were home. Enter Whiskers. It is a very well appointed place to board your pet. It offers not only overnight
boarding, but puppy daycare as well. Today Samson's first visit to Whiskers and it was an unqualified success. Whiskers is literally on my way to work, so I dropped him off at about 0715. I took Samson inside and he was immediately interested in the sounds of the other dogs there. The tech behind the desk took some information from me about him, I signed a few release and notification forms. Part of the process of boarding there, your dog is accessed for tempermant with other dogs. When I dropped him off the tech said to me, "We will evaluate Samson and see just what kind of other dogs we can let him play here during his visit." I handed Samson over to the tech, and he immediately tried to nudge her and lick her face. I was pretty confident that he would be found to have a great tempermant with other dogs.

Fast forward to late this afternoon and I picked Samson up. I asked the tech how m y dog did today and she said that Samson did just great. I asked how his tempermant test went, and she said to me that she would get check. A moment later, another tech came out and said to me, "Samson is such a sweetie. He has a great tempermant. He played hard today! He made freinds with a Lab who was here for the first time, too. They just played and played all day."

I was then handed a "report card" that said the following about Samson's visit:

"Today I played very hard."
"Today I met lots of friends."
"Today I felt great."
"Today I was a perfect angel."
"I hope to make more friends and come back often."
"My playmates today were Teddy, Ginger, Remy, Rylan."

We were confident of Samson's great tempermant, but it is nice to know that the kennel where he will be staying on and off the next few weeks thinks so, too!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Day 2: More Demolition

Demolition of our kitchen continued today at quite a clip. Jim and his able bodied assistant Caleb resumed their work removing what remained of our old kitchen. The focus of their efforts today was removing the tile in the kitchen and the mud room. The tile int he kitchen was replaced by the previous owners at some point, and in 2001, we had the tile in the mud room replaced along with the door to the garage and the outside. At one point, Jim was so interested in how the tile was coming up that he called for Dee and said, "Deirdre, you gotta come see this. Bring your camera." Jim wanted Dee to see how the tile in the floor had "bubbled up" when he applied the force of a jack hammer to it.



Jim also noticed that when the kitchen was last remodeled, the flooring placed over the base flooring was installed improperly. The base floor boards were installed at a 45 degree angle to the floor joists, as is customary. However, usually any flooring installed on top of base floor boards is installed at a right angle to the base boards, which improves structural strength. The previous remodeler of the kitchen installed the new boards along the same line as the base flooring.

Persnickety Jim was none too happy about this, and he assured Deirdre that he would not repeat the mistake of the previous remodeler.

Tomorrow will most likely be a little more demolition involving
the trim along the doors, and perhaps the installation of the new base flooring. What has been the most pleasant surprise is how well the plastic sheeting has contained much of the dust and dirt that positively invaded our home during our bathroom projects. There have been no structural surprises, the demolition has gone according to plan and in a few short weeks all disruption and dust will be but a memory and our kitchen will be ready to fill our lives with new memories.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Day One



Work began today on our new kitchen. It seems like we had just finished finding and removing all the dirt and dust generated by our last remodeling project. All the work that Deirdre and I did over the weekend in preparation for the first day of demolition paid off as today came and went pretty quickly and there were no major surprises. As I have learned in our previous remodeling projects, you never quite know what you are going to find when you tear out a wall or rip up some tile. Jim did find some water damage underneath the sink, which we sort of expected. In Jim's persnickety way, he was troubled that the last time this kitchen was remodeled that the damage was not repaired. Now, he will have the chance to make things right.

The kitchen is sealed off with plastic sheets and blue duct tape. It is goin
g to take a few days for our chi to resettle as we try to find our path with this major disruption to our lives. However, you cannot make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Over the course of the next few days, a lot of eggs will be broken. Look for updates daily.