Weekend Warriors: July - September 2011: If You Can't Stand the Heat, Stay Out of the Kitchen

And staying out of the kitchen is what we did for a lot of the Summer while the kitchen was being remodeled. We just weren't feeling the mid-1990's honey oak cabinets, white laminate countertops, and white ceramic tile backsplash anymore. The new granite countertops, granite composite sink, and oil-rubbed bronze faucet were the first to make their debut. Just these improvements made a big difference. But we weren't even close to being done yet.

To be green (and save a lot of green), Casey sanded down the cabinet bases and doors and finished with a liquid deglosser just to be safe. Then, the beautiful new countertops were covered up for about three weeks while Vince primed and painted the cabinets with oil-based paint in "Greek Villa." Vince created "the bubble" so that he could try to contain as much of the paint into the kitchen as possible. Still, Casey had to vacate the house on spraying days because the fumes made her dizzy and nauseous.

Two coats of primer and one coat of paint later, the oak grain was still too noticeable, so we had to put the project on hold and temporarily dismantle the bubble while we waited for grain filler to arrive in the mail and be applied. The result made the wait--and the inconvenience of having the oven and dishwasher in the living room for two weeks--worthwhile, as the grain was significantly less noticeable. Then, Vince rebuilt the bubble and primed and painted several more coats. When the countertops were unearthed and the cabinets reassembled, we were wowed with how things turned out.

Finally, the backsplash. After ordering tumbled scabos travertine from an online retailer in California and receiving a 10-minute lesson on tiling from Vince, Casey went to work. 4 weekend days, 2 buckets of thinset mortar, and many backaches later, the tile was installed and sealed. The sealer definitely made the tiles more vibrant, as the before and after pictures demonstrate.
As with any project, things took a lot longer than we had expected. But if we were ever crazy enough to commit to redoing cabinets again, we would hope it to take a lot less time.

Before sealing:

And we couldn't seek relief from the disassembled kitchen outside. We had almost 3 weeks of 100+ degree days. Thank goodness we hired out the siding and painting of the exterior so Vince didn't have to work in those scorching conditions. Losing the 25-foot Bradford Pear tree in the front yard from a strong Summer storm was a blessing in disguise as the front of the house (and all the hard work that has been put into it) can now be seen.

We also spruced up the landscaping along the front of the house with hydrangeas, hostas, boxwoods, spirea, and an arborvitae. We converted the round bed in the middle of the yard to a longer berm and filled it with a rose of sharon tree, fescue grass, and plants with pink flowers that Casey cannot remember the name of. Buried under the dirt are tulip bulbs that will hopefully bloom in the Spring. We took the daylilies and ornamental grasses that were in the original round bed and replanted them in the backyard. The day after we finished, we discovered that Belle had tried her own paws at landscaping and had dug up several of the plants in the backyard. The orange fencing has managed to keep her out of things for now.

The exterior facelift finished just in time for Fall, and we're so pleased with the result.

Vince's current project is to replace all the water lines in the house. The house had polybutelyene lines that, if installed incorrectly, would burst without warning. Vince welded a copper manifold that all the new PEX lines will run to/from. Next, he tore down most of the ceiling in the living room and kitchen and demo-ed the wall behind the pantry to access the current lines and run the new lines. The master bath shower was the first line to be connected, and we've thankfully had no troubles since its installation.