Handy Dave...and Kitchen Update

Lately, I've been appreciating Dave's handyman skills more than usual. 

I gave Dave an extra project to work on this last week.  I had a little run-in with the planter boxes by our driveway and bent a few rods under the car so the back left tire was crooked. 

Our car is old enough that Mazda doesn't make the parts that we needed anymore.  Dave tracked some down at a junk dealer in Albuquerque.  We drove down there and picked them up.  Then he replaced them.  Now he has his car back.  And...I'll be more careful when I backup.

We've been finishing off our kitchen.  The tile has been done for a couple of months now and I'm enjoying being able to sweep and mop it.  We recently bought new doors that go into the laundry room.  And Dave put up new baseboards and trim. 

 The tile color looks a little weird in this picture...

Now all we need is to replace the kitchen window and the kitchen will be finished! 

 Here's a little flashback of what the kitchen looked like last summer...

 Now...
 Thanks Dave!

In with the new...

Grandpa Judi came last Sunday (October 7th) to help us with our kitchen cabinet installation.  Monday was Columbus Day and so Dave and the kids were home from work and school, so they got started on the cabinet installation. 

The rest of the week Dave went into work early so he could come home early and work on the cabinets. 

Here's how our week went...

Monday -- they installed the bar base cabinets.  They had to do some plumbing work since the sink is right there.

Tuesday -- they finished installing the rest of the base cabinets.

Wednesday -- the countertop guys came and reinstalled our silestone cabinets.

Thursday -- they hooked up the sink, so no more washing dishes in the bathroom!  They installed some wall cabinets. 

Friday -- they moved the washer and dryer back into the laundry room.  I celebrated by washing six loads of laundry.  The previous Friday I washed two loads of laundry at my friend, Juli's house.  They installed more wall cabinets.  I picked up Marianne from the airport and brought her to our house.

Saturday -- They finished installing all the cabinets.  They hooked up the oven and pushed the fridge into its hole in the cabinets.  They hung up doors and put in drawers and shelves. 

 We still need to install handles and door stops on the cabinets. 

 And put up trim and tile the floor, etc. 

And install the laundry room cabinets.  Quite a few of the laundry room cabinets were damaged, so we have to wait until they deliver new ones. 

Thanks to Vaughn for all of his help!  The kids loved having Grandpa around all week.  He played with them lots!  After Marianne got here Kate spent the weekend snuggled up by her on the couch reading. 

Hole in the Floor

We had to repair some old water damage in our laundry room (from the roof leaking when the previous owners lived here), so Dave replaced a lot of the crumbling, rotten subfloor.  The boys loved helping Dad in the big hole.

Out with the Old...

Our original plan of just replacing the tile in the kitchen has led to replacing the cabinets too.  So, last weekend, we got rid of the old kitchen...

We had a stone company come on Friday and remove our silestone countertops, since we want to use them again.  Dave was flying home from Australia, so I got to make sure that it got done.  Our friend came over the night before and disconnected our kitchen sink so it was ready for the countertop removal. 

On Saturday, Dave forgot about jet lag and ripped out the old cabinets. We threw them in the back of the truck and took them to the dump. The cabinets were actually homemade (we assume by the first homeowner). They were over 35 years old and ready to be retired. 

Here's our current kitchen...(taken after the first visit from our drywall guy)

 I'm happy to have a working fridge and oven.

 The pantry side of our laundry room. 

The kitchen side of our laundry room (which looks a lot better after some work from Dave and the drywall guy -- we had some water damage from the previous owner's not taking care of a roof leak)

A few weekends ago Dave replaced our door that goes to the garage.  I didn't realize how much I hated the old nasty brown door. 

So, for now, we're doing the dishes in the bathroom, which isn't too bad if we use paper plates and bowls, so I don't have to wash so many dishes.

We had food in boxes stashed in different places in the house.  And most of our kitchen stuff is boxed in the kitchen. 

It works.  I miss the sink and the microwave the most, but it'll be worth it.