May 31, 2010 -- Day 270 -- Lots of progress

We've been busy! Well, James has been really busy and I've been a little bit busy.

Above is the tile for the tub surround in the bathroom. It's far from finished, but this picture gives an idea of what it will look like. The subway tiles are a gorgeous tan/cream/brown marble and the accent tile is a geometric gray pattern.

James has installed and painted all of the kitchen cabinets. The cabinet above is where the stove and microwave oven will go.

This is the cabinet where the fridge will live. We bought a stainless steel side by side fridge for a great price. Here's a tip-go fridge shopping in April, when last years models are deeply discounted. We saved hundreds of dollars this way and got a nicer model than we had planned.

We're currently shopping around for countertops for the kitchen. We plan on using a black granite and want to find the best price and the best fabricators!

More soon.....

April 27, 2010 -- Day 234

Yesterday, we bought our kitchen cabinets! We bought directly from a supplier called HD Supply so the price was incredible! Half the price of a typical kitchen cabinet remodel. The cabinets are being delivered in a couple days and then James will install them. It took a lot of work to figure out the exact layout, especially for me, because I can't picture things unless they're right in front of me. Thank you, ISFJ. Fortunately, James made a drawing for me so I could see exactly what we were doing. He's such a Picasso.
We've chosen unfinished maple for our cabinets and will be painting them white/off-white. We love the look of wood cabinets but the finishes that are in style change every few years. In the 80s and 90s, light wood was stylish, right now dark wood is more stylish. We hope that white cabinets will always be in style so we won't have to remodel in 10 years. We're putting glass doors on a couple of the cabinets, to add to the style and interest of the cabinetry.
We're getting closer and closer!!!

April 22, 2010 -- Day 229

The walls are back in! We're a day away from the drywall installation being finished. The difference is unbelievable. I'm really able to picture what the house will look like now, as opposed to a week ago where it was all exposed wood and wires.
Also, big news, we bought our kitchen appliances and they should be delivered on Saturday. We chose all Frigidaire appliances. A side by side stainless steel fridge (the most grown up fridge I've ever owned!), a gas range with a convection oven and a microwave and dishwasher. The fridge was last years model that will no longer be sold, so we got around a $400 discount. In addition, there are all kinds of rebates that we're going to apply for. We're so excited about our new appliances. I even got misty-eyed in the middle of Lowe's.

April 6, 2010 -- Day 213 -- Inspection Passes!

I had no doubts James' work would pass inspection, it was just a matter of getting all the loose ends tied up and getting the inspector out. Our electrical, plumbing, gas line, framing, mechanical all passed inspection. The next step is getting our PG&E account set up so we can apply for some rebates. Also, getting the walls put back up!

April 2, 2010 -- Day 209 -- The weeds, the blasphemous weeds.

Above is a picture of our yard with lots and lots of weeds growing. These weeds grew up upwards of 3 feet tall in only a few months! James and I pulled them out and then covered the ground with plastic. We read about this technique for getting rid of weeds in an organic weed removal book. What should happen is that the ground will heat up to 120-130 degrees and kill all of the remaining roots and seeds. We'll be leaving the plastic on for a few months

to get the roots good and burned up!

April 2, 2010 -- Day 209 -- Some more progress

Here's our drywell. The drywell was built to help drain the water discharge from our water softener. First, I used the jackhammer to break up some concrete from the walkway, then James and I dug down about 4 feet. James then installed the drain pipes. The next step is to fill it up with small rocks and cover it with soil. The water will drain from the softener into the well and then dissipate into the surrounding soil. It was a lot of digging. A lot.

March 1, 2010 -- Day 179 -- Furnace work

James has spent the past few days working on installing the duct work for our new furnace. The old furnace was in the floor, in the middle of the house, with 2 vents coming up from the floor. This isn't a very efficient way to heat the house because 1)it's a very low efficiency furnace and 2)if you want to heat a room, the door to the room has to be open. Either way, the furnace was no longer functional so we had to replace it. We decided on a forced air heating system, with the furnace up in the attic. This means installing ducting in the attic and making cut-outs in the ceiling of each room for the air ducts.
We should be ready soon to have the furnace installed up in the attic!