Tuesday September 8, 2020
Today we ordered (and paid for!) all new cabinets for the Kitchen and Bar, plus a new refrigerator, stove top, built in oven, and overhead vent. We had to do it in two purchases because our credit card could not handle it in one go, and I did not want to miss out on all those points. We have been promised 4 to 6 weeks delivery. The cabinets in the kitchen will be white, and "natural" in the bar.
(I have an image of the plan view but the system is fighting me (and winning) so that will have to wait,)
Monday September 14, 2020
I have about 4 weeks to get the kitchen area ready for the new cabinets. The new plans involve moving the refrigerator and the sink locations and cutting a 36" pass through that will make the sink area an "island". Creating the "pass through" involves removing about 18" of a wall and 18" of the existing counter top.
Last week I cut some "peep holes" into the wall that I plan to remove, and discovered that all the existing plumbing, plus a bunch of the wiring, happens to be located in that piece of wall. That has caused lots of chin scratching.
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| Look at all those pipes and wires! Damn! |
Tuesday September 15, 2020
In order to move the plumbing and electrical it will be necessary to get into the ceiling and the floor (thru the ceiling in the garage below!). So today we unpacked one of the overhead cabinets and removed it to give me access to the ceiling plus the back of the wall section that will be removed..
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| Access into the ceiling |
Wednesday September 17, 2020
Today we drove up to Black Mountain in NC to have dinner with one of our long term friends that we had not seen for 6 months. We stayed the night in a hotel and drove back today thru the remnants of "Hurricane Sally". Back to work tomorrow.
Monday September 21st, 2020
Since Hurricane Sally passed thru the south, the weather has taken a turn for the better. We have been enjoying temps in the low 80's and high 70's and cool nights, and have been able to turn off the AC and open the windows. The kitchen job is basically on hold now until we get a hard delivery date on the cabinets.
My lawn is starting to recover from the "buuug attack", and I am seeing new green shoots appearing throughout.
Friday September 25, 2020
Kylies 38th birthday was on Wednesday. Hard to believe, seems not so long ago she escorted me home to Australia for Mum's funeral. She brought Mike (aka "tall and bald") and the kids over on Friday for dinner. We ended the evening with an all out wresting match which ended successfully (meaning no one was crying.)
Monday September 28, 2020
Met with the plumber and the electrician last week. The plumber agreed to do his part in exchange for my "old" motor bike, that I have not ridden for about 8 years. As we were deciding which part of the ceiling I had to tear down, he had noticed it sitting in the garage, slowly rusting.
The cabinet installers were meant to call me last week to set up a planning meeting, but that did not happen. Our "cabinet lady" at Lowes in on vacation until Wednesday so I am sitting on my hands until then.
We have bought tickets to fly to Houston for 5 nights over the second weekend in October. We are flying in/out of Jacksonville, FL because there are no nonstop flights to Houston from Charleston these days, but there is one from J'ville. We are a bit apprehensive, but we want to see the kids.
Tuesday October 6th, 2020
We finally received a delivery date for the cabinets on Friday - of Thursday October 15, 2020. So over the last two days I have (I hope) set up the following plan:
Thursday October 15th: Cabinets arrive
Friday October 16th: Installation crew inspect the new cabinets and remove the existing cabinets
Saturday & Sunday 17th and 18th: ROB works on preparation
Monday 19th: Plumber plumbs!
Tuesday 20th: Electrician wires!
Wednesday 21st: Installation crew installs!
Thursday 22nd: Countertop people measure & Drywall guy repairs damaged walls. ROB installs temporary countertop and temporary floor, installs stove top and oven and microwave, and finishes the new passageway,
Friday 23rd: New refrigerator delivered and installed.
Today we selected two slabs of "River White" granite for the countertops. This is one of them.
We have also purchase three "pendant" lights that will hang over the new island counter.
Tuesday October 13, 2020
Back from Houston family visit. All good.
Wednesday October 14, 2020
The cabinets arrive tomorrow so I need to get busy. We moved the refrig, removed the old sink, dismantled the old bar top and removed the drywall surrounding the old kitchen. I also removed a cabinet to expose the new location of the microwave. Does not sound like much, but I sure made a mess. (I am trying to be tidy for Deidre.)
Had a little bit of trouble when I shut off the water to "cut and plug" a couple of pipes and I ended up a bit damp, but otherwise OK. No flushing toilets tonight while we wait for the glue to cure! We went out for dinner.
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| Exposing the island-bar wall |
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Turned the water back on the AM and we had showers with warm water.
Cabinets arrive about 8:30 AM and filled the living room.
I removed a couple of the old cabinets and the associated drywall to fully expose the plumbing and electrical work that has to be redirected. Does not sound like much, but I sure made a mess, again.
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| Opening the new pass thru |
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Friday October 16, 2020
The appliances arrived early. The guys were kind enough to move our old frig. and the drop in stove down to the garage. I had advertised the "as new" stove on Craig's List and had a buyer waiting. The new 'frig is now operating in the living room.
The installation guys arrived a bit late after lunch. The unpacked the cabinet delivery and sadly found one damaged cabinet that will have to be replaced. Then they removed the remainder of our old cabinets and loaded them in their truck to be delivered to "Habitat for Humanity".
Once they had left Deidre and I started working on the damaged walls and painting over the old red wall paint (applied by a tenant in the past, probably Kylie and Ryan!)
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| Primer over the old red |
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| Mess of cabinets in the living room |
Saturday October 17, 2020
Much progress today.
- Finished painting with the primer. Tomorrow I expect we will be able to apply the final color
- Repainted the crown molding (AKA "cornices")
- Opened up the new walk thru space
- Repaired parts of the hard wood floor
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| I hate painting |
Sunday October 18, 2020
Drove over to Lowes to buy grey paint. I had no idea there were so many "shades of grey." After much discussion we selected a shade and headed home to paint. We only needed to paint "where the cabinets were not located" so that did not take long. I think we are happy with the color.
Monday October 19, 2020
The plumbers arrived on time and were finished by lunch. I called Adam the electrician and he arrived by 1:00 PM and we worked steadily to about 6:00 PM. I worked as his helper to help his progress. I had obviously underestimated the time that the electrical work would take, because we were way from finished. Every run seemed to involved cutting more holes in the walls or ceiling. We made progress, but did not have much to show.
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| The Master and the Apprentice |
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Adam was back at work before 10 AM and we worked steadily thru the day until about 6 PM. I was feeling a bit of pressure because the cabinet installers were due in the AM. All the electrical seemed to get done, but I had a lot of holes in the wall to resolve.
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| Can you see Deidre? |
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
I worked after dinner last night and after breakfast this AM and finished "rough" patching the remaining holes. Its now about 4 PM and the installers have made some good progress. We have a potential issue with the oven/hot top installation (There is no way it will fit per my tape measure) but time will tell.
There is one damaged cabinet that will need to be replaced, and that will take a couple of weeks. Plus there are a few bits and pieces that are missing.
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| Starting to take shape |
Thursday October 22, 2020
The installers were back today. Their solution to the oven space problem was to cut the base out of the beautiful new cabinet and build a false floor a couple of inches lower. I was not happy to see this brand new $800 cabinet hacked into, but apparently this was a "typical" solution. Why GE and the cabinet people can't figure out a standard size?
The granite people came and measured today.
Friday October 23, 2020
Now that the cabinets were in place, I could finalize the precise location of the new walk thru and complete the framing and general woodwork. Done.
With the walk thru complete, the area of the "extra" kitchen floor is now apparent. Its only about 12 square feet, but installation of the new yellow oak tongue and groove boards will be a bit tricky because it is surrounded by the existing oak t & g floor. It will be hard to get a contractor to do such a small job, especially when the end result might be a bit in doubt.
I had kept a bundle of the yellow oak boards that were left over from the reception/laundry project. Also, I could get at the floor from underneath and avoid the need to rent a special air staple gun that the contractors use. So I decided to do it myself.
Saturday and Sunday, 24 and 25, 2020
The next project was to cut down the "island wall" so that it was just high enough to block Deidre's view of any untidiness on the island bench, and to get it level. (Currently it was 7/8" out of horizontal, end to end.) I had promised the granite people that the height would be 5.250" plus/minus 1/16".
Monday October 26, 2020
Adam the electrician arrived about 3 PM. Although he seemed to want to avoid it, his main task today was to install 220V outlets for the oven and the hot top. Apparently he had a space problem. He fiddled around with a few other items but eventually he came up with a plan for the 220V. Once done, we were able to load the oven into the cabinet. All went well, although Adam cannot actually connect the oven until the granite is in place.
Tuesday October 27, 2020
Busy start today. I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that I had made the mistake of arranging for Curtis (the drywall guy) to start that morning. He would be repairing all the holes in the walls and ceilings, including the garage.
But I still had the last hardwood board to fit in the kitchen floor (which is the hardest one!) and I needed access from underneath. So I was up early and ran around like a crazy person until I had jammed the last board in place and secured it from underneath. It took a few hours, but fortunately Curtis was held up by traffic on the I-526.
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| Not a bad job for a novice. |
I also had to add new insulation in the kitchen floor/garage roof before Curtis could start in the garage. I had saved insulation from the reception/laundry expansion and now that is in place and out of the garage. All good
Adam the electrician arrived about 10 AM and he is busy hanging the new pendant lights over the island bench and installing outlets under the sink, over the microwave and elsewhere. All good. Maybe I can have some breakfast now.
Deidre headed of to the granite vendor this morning to supervise them laying out the patterns on the granite slabs. The granite will be delivered & installed on Thursday November 5, 2020. (So no kitchen sink for another 10 days!)
Problem: The glass in the new pendants does not match! Damn.
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| Note the oven in place, temporary countertop, ceiling repairs underway. |
Three reasons why Deidre should be happy:
1. The motor bike is gone from the garage - swapped for work with the plumber
2. The bundle of oak T&G stored behind the love seat in my office is (mostly) gone
3. The stack of insulation stored in the back corner of the garage is gone
Now, if I could just figure out what to do with my "spare" front door!
Thursday and Friday October 19 and 30, 2020
How time flies, its now Saturday evening, and there is not much to report. Thursday Deidre drove around town looking (unsuccessfully) for tiles (for the back splash) and I worked at my desk. That afternoon we picked up the grandkids and had them till about 9 PM.
On Friday, based upon a suggestion from our tiling contractor, we "found" a new large tile warehouse and we are now confident that once we "see" the countertop in place we will be able to find the right tile. The countertops will be installed this coming Thursday, the Tiler arrives the following Tuesday.
Saturday October 31, 2020
One of my political jobs is as the Editor of, (and major contributor to) the ISLE OF PALMS DEMOCRAT NEWSLETTER, that has been issued each Saturday for the last eight weeks. This morning I really wanted to paint, but had to work on the newsletter until it was released. Today was the last edition!
I was able to start painting in the kitchen about Noon, and work at least until 3 PM in order to clean up and pick up the kids at 4 PM. I had also planned to install the microwave and the dishwasher, but that is now penciled in for Sunday. At least the painting is basically complete.
Sunday November 1, 2020
Woke up "early" because we turned our clocks back last night. Crazy business. Out for breakfast.
Installed the microwave and the dishwasher today. The MW works, but the DW is waiting for the plumber. Did a little touch up painting.
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| Looks OK? |
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| Also looks OK. The cabinet installers will trim the bottom/front |
Monday November 2, 2020
Don't remember. Maybe I tidied up my workshop?
Tuesday November 2, 2020
Something distracted me today so no work was done.
Wednesday November 3, 2020
I continued to be distracted for most of the day, although I did manage to demolish and remove the counter in the Jack & Jill bathroom upstairs. Our garbage can is going to be very heavy on Tuesday morning.
Kylie called after dinner and complained of a stomach ache.
Thursday, November 4, 2020
The counter tops were delivered and installed - exciting day! The 3 guys - 2 Brazilians and 1 Mexican - worked hard and efficiently all day and did a great job. They chatted away in Portuguese, Spanish and then English when I was involved. Quite amazing. We are delighted with the final result.
About 11 AM Kylie called and said she was leaving work and going straight to the doctors. The doctor said that she had a tummy bug, that he was seeing 4 or 5 a day just like her. Nothing he could really do except recommend an anti nausea drug and Imodium (An over the counter drug for upset stomach)
Kylie called us about 3 PM and told us she was on the floor at home, in #10 pain, throwing up. Deidre drove straight over and took her to hospital where she was admitted. Initial diagnosis was a combination of UT infection, kidney infection, possible blood clot, and possible kidney stone. They gave her morphine for the intense pain and an antibiotic for the infections, took a CT scan and kept her over night.
I picked up the kids from school and took them home - fed them, bathed them, let them watch TV and put them to bed (Good Grandpa stuff!) Deidre arrived home from the Hospital about 11 PM
Friday, November 5, 2020
We gave the kids breakfast and took them to their respective schools. The Taylors arranged to pick them up after school and take them for the weekend.
At the hospital more of the same, more tests and CT scans, but no positive diagnosis. Deidre was in and out, delivering clothing and food. Kylie was feeling less pain, but obviously not out of the woods.
Meantime, back at #21, the plumbers came and stayed all day. I was very pleased that I was not paying by the hour. But they did finish, and now we have a working kitchen sink, a working dishwasher and new taps and drains in the Jack and Jill bathroom upstairs.
Its always taken an age for the hot water to reach the kitchen, so they installed a pump that pumps the cold hot water into the cold water line until its hot. (A week later its still not working, but at least its in place.)
Saturday November 6, 2020
Spent an hour or so at the tile warehouse and brought home 1/2 dozen "possibles" to help us make a decision.
Deidre was in and out of the hospital again today. Kylie still does not have a definitive diagnosis.
I spent most of the day attempting to install "crown molding" (i.e."cornice") in the new part of the kitchen wall. In the USA crown molding is made from two pieces of milled wood. Its complicated, because the angles have to be cut upside down on the chop saw. I filled my imperfect cuts with "plastic wood" and it looks OK now that it is painted!
Sunday November 7, 2020
Kylie was discharged around midday. She is feeling better, but run down, and has no definitive diagnosis. She is still on pain pills and blood thinners for the clot. She has appointments with three different specialists over the next couple of months.
I don't remember what I did, but I am sure it was important.
We spent the evening with her, made dinner, cut the grass etc.
Monday November 9, 2020
Deidre slept over at Kylie's and took the kids to school. For such little people, they start so early. I think its nuts.
We finalized our back-splash tile choice over the weekend so drove over to the warehouse and picked up three boxes. I send a message to the tile guy and he responded by telling me he would be another day late.
Tuesday November 10, 2020
Successful day today.
I was up at 6 AM to drive to Kylie's and take the kids to school - Mason at 6:55 AM and Audrey at 7:30 AM and then home to pick up Deidre leaving Kylie to snooze and generally take it easy.
My objective today was to find some "interesting wood" to install on the Living Room side of the Kitchen island." The finished job would be about 36 square feet and I guessed I would need about 50 square feet of the raw product. I had identified three lumber distributors, one woodworking shop and one lumber mill, all a bit inland of Charleston. But our first stop was on the way in Summerville for breakfast.
The first place turned out to be a modern business that did not really have what I was looking for and was way over priced. The second was the woodworking shop owned by a genuine craftsman with a couple of "shortened" fingers (like Dad's) and an impressive wood shop and a lot of raw wood inventory. Also way too expensive.
The next place was in the middle of nowhere and a remnant of pre war South Carolina. It was an old saw mill that had definitely seen better days. (I have to go back and I will take a photo) They must have been collecting logs and reclamation wood for a hundred years. The place had not seen a paintbrush in my lifetime. They had an ancient accumulation of milled wood and logs, stored in large dilapidated buildings.
The proprietor was a friendly young man, and he had exactly the sort of thing I wanted. (I did not know specifically what I wanted, but I thought I would recognize when I saw it!) He showed me a small stack of 100 year Cypress "sinker wood" that had been ripped into planks 6" to 8" wide by about 9/16" thick. The "figuring" on the wood was very interesting. We made a deal on the spot - $192 for about 50 board feet! What a deal! We can pick up our order "sometime next week."
Its called "sinker wood" because in the old days when they were cutting lumber in the Cypress swamps they would float the tree trunks down the rivers to the mills. Cypress is quite heavy wood, and so if it was left in the water too long it would sink to the bottom. Many of the logs have been rediscovered as the rivers and canals have been dredged.
We were back in town in time to pick up Audrey and take her to Hip-Hop, only to discover it had been cancelled because of a possible Covid issue.
The tiler called with a change of plans - "See you tomorrow!"
Wednesday November 11, 2020 "Armistice Day"
Chris (my favorite tiler) arrived at 7 AM. Its now 4:30 PM and the job is done. Our choice of tile was "conservatives" and the result looks "nice".
While Chris tiled, I entertained myself by painting the west wall of our living room. I will try and do a wall a day. But tomorrow I focus on installing the new flue.
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| New Tile Backsplash |
Thursday November 12, 2020
Adam, our electrician turned up today (after only a few prompts) and completed the electrical work. Deidre's hot-top and oven are now operable, as are all the outlets and the power source for the new flu. I believe his work is now complete.
I spent most of the day painting in the living room and completed another wall and a bit. The remaining part of the room is around the TV (and where the rest of the homeless kitchen clobber is stored) and that will be messy. But tomorrow is "flue day".
Kylie went to work today and seems to have survived. It has rained cats and dogs all day, more wind and rain tonight as hurricane ETA. passes off shore.
Friday November 13, 2020
We took a large load of detritus to the dump today. We loaded the Jeep first thing this morning, but as we set off red lights on the dash told us we had a flat tire, so we had to unload the whole lot to get the spare out, change the tire, and then load it again. But it was a good load and its really satisfyingly to get rid of stuff! I purchased two new tires that night.
On the way back from the dump we arranged lunch with Ky at the local hardware store that have an interesting little casual outside café. It started off selling hot dogs and now the food is quite good. Kylie seemed in good spirits.
When we eventually got back to #21, I installed a new light in the bar and had an initial "go" at the new exhaust flue. Next step for the flue is to drill a 6" hole in the side of the house.
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| The hood base is now in place, I think that will be the easy bit. Note the cardboard protecting the new glass Hot Top in case I dropped a tool. |
Saturday November 14, 2020
Deidre has packed most of the new cabinets and the living room is looking civilized again. However the refrigerator is still waiting to move to its final location, and that is a bit of a spoiler. We have received the replacement cabinet, but the installers have not identified a date to finish the job, and I am starting to get aggravated. More pressure next week.
Today I finished painting the Living Room walls, touched up paint around the house in general, and finished a bit of woodwork. Mark and Donna came over for dinner - we ate out in the screened-in-porch.
Sunday November 15, 2020
Bit of a lost day. Started to put the living room curtains back up but bailed when we decided the rods were now the wrong color. Re-sanded and varnished the coffee table. Did a little bit of tidy up woodwork. Kylie was at work so we picked up the kids from the Taylors about 5PM and played with them until Kylie arrived home from work at about 7:30 PM. Watched the Space-X launch.
Adam and Kathy are driving down for Thanksgiving - arrive Tuesday and leave Saturday. Deidre is starting to plan.
Sunday November 22, 2020
Bit of a lost week. The parts to finish our kitchen were MIA all week, my relations with Lows started to see some strain, but the parts turned up on Friday and will be delivered Monday. Too late to get installed by Thanksgiving, but better late than never.
Deidre and I drove back to the sawmill on Tuesday to pick up the "sinker" wood. I was a bit disappointed in the quality, I will have to do a lot of cutting our flaws, so I asked for another 4 planks and hope to pick them up next week.
Kylie called on Wednesday and reported a possible flea infestation. So Deidre and I jumped into action and purchased a bunch of flea stuff and headed to her house. Kylie had the day off so we three spent the day vacuuming, stripping the garage (where the cat is fed), washing sheets, treating upholstered surfaces and etc., but never saw a flea! The lease may never have been there, but her house is now extra clean!
Thursday I started working on my "sinker wood". First step was to cut off or strip out the bad parts, and ended up with 22 pieces of various widths but all 42" to 44" long.
Our kitchen "island" has two nominally 45 degree corners (actually 41 degrees and 49 degrees) and so the next step was to strip a pair of boards to 20.5 degrees and another 24.5 degrees and glue them to "make the turn".
I spent most of Friday cutting "ship lap" configuration into the boards.
Monday November 23, 2020
Continued cutting and installing, the vertical planks were about 90% by the end of the day. Adam and family are scheduled to arrive late tomorrow, so all tomorrow will be devoted to getting the house ready.
The installers called at about 5 PM and offered to finish our job first thing in the AM.
At about 8 PM we heard that Adam and family were already on the road.
Tuesday November 24, 2020
Up early and polished off my job list ASAP. Deidre gave me permission to head out to the lumber yard and pick up my extra 4 boards as soon as the installers had arrived and were settled. They were a bit late (10:30 AM) and so I did not get onto the road until 11 AM.
Adam and family arrived about 1:00 PM. The installers were still on the job, and now had a compressor in the Living Room. Kathy, Indy and I went for a bike ride to the beach and on to the market. Adam went for a run. The installers left about 3 PM. Kylie and the 2 kids arrived about 5:30 PM. Deidre made a big lasagna and salad for dinner.
Our house is a bit small for 4 visitors. Adam and Kathy had a bedroom each (the rooms are small), Ruby had a bed in the laundry and Indy had a bed in my office. When Mason and Fiona spent the night, they slept on the floor in our bedroom. Its a bit messy, but who cares? Ruby and Indy are relaxed kids. But I would like a bigger house.
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
The weather was being very kind to our visitors - today was another perfect fall day, about 75 degrees and no wind. We packed a picnic and drove north to Awendaw for a hike and picnic. Deidre dropped us of at a trail head on the Palmetto Trail and continued on to our picnic spot at Buck Hall. Adam, Kathy, Ruby, Indy the dog (Leo) completed the 6 mile walk along the Arwebdaw Creek in about 1 1/2 hours.
Leo the dog is a "lap dog" and I suspect he does not see much of the outside world. Kathy let him off his leash and he dashed in and out of the bush as we walked along the trail, obviously enjoyed every moment of freedom, and arrived covered in mud.
Upon arrival at the park we got the fire going and cooked the hamburgers. Unfortunately we had not anticipated an issue with bugs, but sadly the no-see-ums we out in strength and made it a bit miserable. Adam found a tap and gave the dog a wash, to discover that he was "covered with ticks". They purchased "flea and tick" on the way home, and by the end of the day removed over 20ticks!
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| The Cleveland Blackmans crossing a creek |
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| Impressing the kids with my picnic party trick |
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| Kathy on the floor playing fiddle sticks with the 4 kids |
Kylie had to work in the morning (6 AM to 3 PM) and we needed to deliver the kids to the Taylor's by 4 PM so we celebrated Thanksgiving Lunch and not Thanksgiving Dinner.
It was a perfect day, warm enough for the beach.
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| Ruby and Indy |
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| Audrey |
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| Kathy and Adam |
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| The minute Audrey arrived at the beach she needed to pee. So Kathy took off Audrey's bathers to make it easy. Apparently wet bathers were too hard to put back on. (She wont have any trouble meeting new friends on Ellwood Beach) |
Of course Deidre worked her butt off in her new kitchen (at least the refrigerator was now in the proper spot) and lunch was great. and we all ate too much.
After lunch Ky took the kids to the Taylors and went home to sleep, Adam and I did a long bike ride. The weather was prefect.
Friday November 27, 2020
Another perfect weather day. I had made arrangements for a family kayak adventure in one of the local Cyprus swamps. A large amount of the SC "low country" is dominated by tidal marshes and Cyprus swamps that I think will be fun to explore. The local "Francis Marion Forrest" is named after the famous general AKA "The Swamp Fox".
Sunday, December 6, 2020
95% finished the island wall today. I am now looking for the right oil to finish the surface. My current preference is Danish Natural Oil. We picked up the kids from the Taylors and fed and bathed them until Kylie arrived home from work t about 7:30PM
The kitchen is now basically complete, except for some final details. It was tested out over the long weekend and seemed to "pass". Here are some photos.
Sunday December 20, 2020
Not much to report. I did not stain the new wood facia because the end color would look too similar to the floor. The floor is "red oak" and needs to be refinished, so we are going to get that done first so we can have contrasting tones of wood. We think we will go "Scandinavian" on the floor, but we have to decide upon the color and get thru Xmas first.
Saturday, February 13, 2021
Today I have decided to declare our new kitchen project as "Complete".
The last job was to stain and seal the "sinker wood" on the front of the island and then install the quad trim around the perimeter.
