Metamorphosis

met·a·mor·pho·sis

 [met-uh-mawr-fuh-sis]

–noun, plural -ses [-seez] Show IPA.

1.

Biology . a profound change in form from one stage tothe next in the life history of an organism, as from thecaterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adultbutterfly. Compare complete metamorphosis.

2.

a complete change of form, structure, or substance, astransformation by magic or witchcraft.

3.

any complete change in appearance, character,circumstances, etc.

Well, it has been an interesting week at our cottage. Deirdre, Samson and I rolled in hot to Oscoda (technically, Au Sable Township) last Saturday and we were blessed to have fantastic weather each and every day since. We have spent many hours lounging at the beach, interspersed with a few brief shopping trips and a couple of visits to the VFW Post 3735 in Oscoda. What is not to like of dollar drafts of Killian's Red in a frost mug at our private club?

Our aptly named cottage, East of the Equator, has been undergoing a metamorphosis since we purchased it last year. This cottage, which had never been sold or on the market since the original family member built it, needed a lot of work. Most of the windows were original issue, as the wind seemed to blow right through the place. One of the original doors to the cottage had long ago been nailed shut and aluminum siding placed across it. In the Spring of 2010, we replaced most of the windows, tore out the old nailed shut door and installed a sliding glass door for access to the small patio facing Lake Huron. We also replaced all the flooring with tile or carpeting. We were making this place our own.

Then there was the kitchen. Like the windows, it was original issue. The cabinets were small, the sink was shallow and the place just did not work for us. Here is what the original kitchen looked like before we bought the cottage:

From Cottage Kitchen

It had a very rustic look and it was not too functional. The window over the sink was almost impossible to open, and it also had some of the ugliest window treatments imaginable. After the capital expenditure budget for 2010 was allocated and used, we decided to upgrade the kitchen in 2011. Our builder, Rick, helped us pick out cabinets, a countertop and hardware, and on the Saturday before Easter we made our first payment towards the kitchen. Rick placed the order with a local supplier and he was confident that the cabinets and countertop would arrive in a few weeks. He was so confident that he ripped out the old cabinets before the new ones were in hand. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, wrong it did go! The cabinets were not properly ordered, and when the order was placed, one of the six cabinets ordered did not arrive with the other five, so the work was delayed once again. Undaunted, Rick installed a temporary sink for us to use while we waited for the complete order to arrive. Here is an image of our temporary (some called it Redneck) kitchen sink:

From Cottage Kitchen

Fast forward to the end of June and all of the cabinets are installed, as well as a shiny new GE dishwasher. Now, the only work remaining was the backsplash. We picked out the tile and the grout and yesterday Scott came by with his assistant Chris and he spent the day installing the backsplash. Here are a few images of his work:

From Cottage Kitchen

From Cottage Kitchen

From Cottage Kitchen

Here is the backsplash of the corner of the kitchen:

From Cottage Kitchen

Similar perspective later in the day:

From Cottage Kitchen

Here is the almost finished look:

From Cottage Kitchen

From Cottage Kitchen

From Cottage Kitchen

Scott and Chris completed their work around 4:30PM, so all that needs to be done now is for the grout to be laid. Normally, Scott would have been at our cottage on Saturday (today) to complete the job. However, he has a fishing trip planned and he asked if it would be OK if he could come on Sunday morning to complete the work. We completely understand Scott's needs for some R&R, so we will look for him ~0930 on Sunday morning to grout the tile. That's how we roll here in Oscoda!

Now the kitchen is complete

For frequent readers of this blog, you know that are aware that we recently remodeled our kitchen. The change has been nothing short of fantastic, but we were unable to order the window treatments until the hardware of the kitchen was completed. Thus, in late September we ordered window treatments and on Tuesday, they were finally installed. We also ordered a custom made sign with the words "Cead Mile Failte." That phrase means "100,000 Welcomes" in Gaelic. We thought it was a fitting phrase to have in our kitchen, which is the heart of our home.

Hansome or handy...

There is a philosopher who lives in Canada and his name is Red Green. He is in charge of the Possum Lodge and he is full of such wit and wisdom as the subject of this post. Over the course of the past few weeks, I like to think that I was pretty handy in supporting our kitchen remodeling project. As followers of this blog can attest, I spent some time staining all the trim that was used in the aforementioned kitchen. The remaining stain was to come in handy as I still had to stain the following:

1) The handrail leading to the basement
2) The pub table
3) The stools
4) The door to our main bathroom

When we had our main bathroom remodeled last year, we had the professionals at HWC Homeworks replace the door. The extant door was old and tired and needed to be retired. Well, the new door was installed, but it remained unfinished. I kept thinking to myself, "I need to do something with that door." With all the new found staining knowledge I gained working on the trim, I felt that now was the time to take the door off its hinges, stain and then seal the door. Since Deirdre was going to be away for a couple of days for a conference, the timing to stain the door could not have been better.

I removed the door from its hinges and started to stain it on Friday night. Since I had to stain both sides of the door, I projected that it would take me 3-4 days to complete the task. It would take this long because I needed to stain one side of the door, let it dry (which usually takes 24 hours), then stain the other side and let that dry. Once the stain was dry I could apply some clearcoat polyurethane to seal the door. Well, the weather the past few days was quite supportive of this project because the stain dried very quickly and in a little more than a day I was ready to apply the clearcoat. I am happy to report that the door is back in place and it looks great.

On to the other staining projects. As part of the kitchen project, we replaced a swing door with a pocket door. The installation of the pocket door required that a new handrail be installed. The new handrail looked great, but it, too, needed to be stained. The morning I removed the handrail, took it into the garage and went to work. The handrail has essentially two sides, so completing this project is also probably going to take me 3 days. The weather is currently quite amenable for staining outdoors as the high temperature here in the western edges of the Enchanted Mitten was 81F. I plan on using the garage to complete the staining and sealing of the handrail. If everything goes as planned, the handrail will be installed on Tuesday before Deirdre returns.



The final part of my staining evolution consists of the table and chairs that will fit nicely into our breakfast nook. We purchased the table and two stools last week at the Wood Source, and they were unfinished. The table is made of adler and the stools are made of parawood. I did a little prep work to rough up the wood for the stain and I applied the first coat of stain to the top of the table and the stand. I will have to flip over the table top and stain the underside of the table. The wood seemed to take the stain well and I am hoping to have the table completed in a couple of days. My plan is to start on the stools tomorrow.

Yep, as Red Green says, "If the women do not find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."

The Kitchen is done!

I am happy to report that the kitchen is done. Jim finished putting grout on the backsplash, installed the cabinet hardware and nailed in a few remaining pieces of trim.










































Yeah, we know that the fridge looks like the Tot has been here, but in the course of the next day or two we will get ahead of all the smudges on the stainless appliances. Dee and I will now spend the next few days moving stuff back into the kitchen. We are trying to take a very Zen approach to the move of the plates and pots and utensils. We are going to have to let the chi move around a little as we slowly put things away. We have a brand new kitchen with a completely different fit, form and flow than our old kitchen. Life agrees with us.

The Kitchen

The kitchen is not done, yet, but it is operational. On Friday, Roper Electric hooked up the dishwasher and the disposal. I cannot tell you how great it is to no longer have to do the dishes in a deep sink. Roper Electric still has to work a few finishing touches to some switches. Persnickity Jim still has to grout the backsplash, install the door hardware and a few pieces of trim. Jim hopes to be done on Monday. Later today, we will head out to pick up a few things for the kitchen. Our next assignment after Jim completes his work will be to move the plates, cups, pots & pans from their current locations to a new spot in the kitchen.



Again, the transformation of our old nasty kitchen to what is looks like today is nothing short of amazing.

Countertops

Today was a major moment in the remodeling of our kitchen. The quartz countertops were installed. The countertops are actually about 95% natural quartz, with the remaining 5 percent color flecks and a binding agent. The countertops were measured, molds made and then a quarts slurry was poured into the mold and allowed to harden. They are amazing.











Jim continued to work on trim and he started to tile the backsplash. The plumbers from Grandville Plumbing also installed the sink and hooked up supply and return lines to the dishwasher, as well as the disposal.

Jim has a few more days of tiling to do, along with some final trim work. On Monday, Roper Electric will return to finish their work on the puck lights, dishwasher and disposal. The transformation is almost complete!

GE Profile Appliances

Today was a big day in the remodeling of our kitchen. Jim installed three of the remaining four appliances. He took the appliances out of the boxes in the garage and he installed the fridge:









The range/stove:











And last but not least, the beverage fridge:








The pictures for not do justice to how the kitchen looks. Tomorrow, Jim will grout the tile in the Mud Room, then work on more of the finish trim. Each day we are more and more impressed with Jim's craftmanship and the quality of his work.

Simply amazing...

The photos speak for themselves. Each day we come home from work, the kitchen looks even more amazing than the day before.









That is Persnickty Jim in the image to the left installing the tile. On Friday, he will grout the tile. Today Jim put the trim around the breakfast nook. The pictures do not do the work he did justice.










Jim also installed the pocket door:












And Roper installed all of the lights in the ceiling and a few under-counter lights. Amazing.