No end in sight

There is no end in sight to the shopping for this renovation.

Saturday I went over to Bray and Scarff in Arlington.  I ordered this and this.  They will be delivered Friday, June 25.

From there I drove out to the Lowe's in New Carrollton, Maryland to see my kitchen designer Charles.  I had to order a new wall cabinet due to a last minute change in the design. 

I was also over in Georgetown at Restoration Hardware to pick out pulls and knobs for the cabinets.

I scored these for the drawers:

and these for the cabinet doors ...

These will go great with the focal point of the kitchen.

$$$$

Money is flying out of my checking account like it's Christmas.

I just bought this and this. 

They will be delivered on July 9!

(Most of) The cabinets are in!

Jason and his crew did a great job this past week. He and his crew showed up on-time and everyday, they were professional and their workmanship was excellent. 

They started on Wednesday morning, showing up at 8 am and stayed until about 6:30 the same evening to finish the ceiling soffit framing and hang the drywall.

On Thursday they taped and mud the drywall.

Then on Friday they sanded and primed the new drywall, and painted the ceiling, installed a few extra 4-inch recessed lights into the new soffitt over sink wall, and installed the utility and wall cabinets.

Since the refrigerator was scheduled to be delivered in the early afternoon, they started with the uiltity cabinets on the fridge wall.

Here's the old refrigerator and Jason's crew nailing the cabinet moulding to the top of the cabinets.

The guys from Sears unpacking the new refrigerator.  It's a Jenn-Air counter-depth.

The new refrigerator in place.

And then the wall cabinets went in!  They look great!

A close up of the doors at the end of the cabinet run. It's a wall message center.

... with space for keys, a magnetic pen holder, a board for writing notes, and little shelves for odds and ends.

Here's a view from the kitchen looking out to the living room and front door.

 Coming soon to this wall:  a JennAir slide in range and chimney style vent hood.

Next week on Friday, Jason and his crew will be back to install the base cabinets.

Jason

A couple of weeks ago I ended up in the ER and the doctors quickly figured out that I had gallstones. If you have never had them, thank god.  If you have, then you know they hurt like hell. 

So I had to have a surgery and spent a night in the hospital.  The good news is that I'm feeling much better. The bad news for my DIY renovation is that it is now no longer a DIY project.  On doctors orders I cannot do any work on the kitchen for several weeks.

While at home in recovery this week, I brought in three contractors to give me estimates for completing the job.  I signed a contract with Jason, who came recommended from one of my co-workers.  Jason will finish up the framing, drywall, and install the cabinets.

He starts next week and should be here for about 3 days.

Soffits

Finally!  I made some progress on the soffits today.

Some bling for the kitchen

I love this pendant light from restoration hardware! 

So I bought 2!

Mister Sparky

It has been a busy week!  I finished most of the drywall demolition on the kitchen walls and ceiling.  And then Mister Sparky was here. These guys did a really good job.

I partly opened up the ceiling so they could come in Wednesday to run the circuits for the new refrigerator and microwave locations.

Then I opened up the rest of the ceiling so they could come back Friday.  It only took about 15 minutes to take the ceiling drywall down.  I don't know what I would do without my reciprocating saw!

They spent almost the whole day re-routing all the wiring for switches and outlets that were in the walls and ceiling.  Once they moved everything, it was all clear for me to safely dismantle the drop ceiling and wall studs.

The electricians left me one switch for the only ceiling light near the kitchen.  Here it is resting on the back of the medicine cabinet.  The bathroom is on the other side of that drywall.

Yesterday I hauled five huge contractor bags full of drywall debris to the DC dump, which is by the way the best public service offered by the District of Columbia. I also went to Home Depot and Lowe's to get supplies and the new recessed lighting fixtures for Mister Sparky's next visit. 

Here is a shot from today, in the middle of me dismantling the ceiling and walls.  The whole process start to finish took about four hours. 

After: the dropped ceiling and studs are down!

Here's a view from the living room.  And yes, it is a mess of a construction zone at the moment. Do you like the toaster on the chair?  I have random kitchen items like that strewn throughout the apartment.

And this is a view looking out toward the living room.  The stove and other big items are beign hauled away by this outfit:  http://www.removethatjunk.com/.  The guy's name is Mike and he's supposed to show up first thing in the morning. 

So after today's demolition, all I have left that is functional in the kitchen is the sink. 

Next on my DIY list is finish off the demolition of the sink wall this week and start framing for the soffits.