Safari So Good

Happy Days are here again!! Renocation 2015 is complete (well, undercabinet “pucks” or little lights, a telephone jack and 3′ of baseboard notwithstanding)!!! It has been exciting and challenging and, unfortunately, fattening. We did so well the first two weeks — eating upstairs in our quasi-kitchen; cereal and fruit for breakfast and salads for dinner. Then something happened that I cannot explain — or maybe I can — I have spent a life-time soothing my heart and soul with food. While extremely temporary, it is a very effective remedy when one is tired, stressed, anxious, etc. So when the workers arrived at 7 am, it was not uncommon for me to jump in the car and make myself scarce for most of the day, which included breakfast and lunch out, sometimes even at those dreaded fast food places.

I am so tired of eating out or eating out of paper plates at home or occasionally (read seldom) skipping meals. And, no, that does not counter overeating or fast food; it just means I ate more to make up for the skipped meal. This is NOT a diet plan.

So, here are pictures of our beautiful kitchen. Full access takes place Wednesday, after the undercabinet lights are installed! Special thanks to Eberle Remodeling;whose workers were polite, clean, and hardworking; and who kept very close to the original schedule – an overage of 2 1/2 days; and whose project manager, Shannon, kept us informed and coordinated everything to a tee.  I recommend anyone who is considering a major renovation to use this skilled group of experts!

Before

After

Before and after shots of right corner and range/hood.

On the left – Living room paint and floor changes; on the right is a shot of the old corner cabinets where our new drawer microwave now sits.

Old island, new island (left) and old pantry, new pantry (right). There are roll-out shelves in the pantry. Love them!

Get a load of this gas range – isn’t ‘t she a beauty? Someone needs to do some serious cooking now!

This post was drafted about 10 days ago and I am just now getting around to publishing it.  More pictures from our trip to Yosemite will be posted in a day or two.  Kitchen renovation is moving along on schedule.  Granite today, appliances by the end of this week.  I see the light at the end of the tunnel (oh please don’t let that be a train)!!

A year ago, when Michael made reservations for a 2 night stay at the Ahwanee Hotel in Yosemite National Park, we had no idea we would be in the middle of a major home renovation.  The mini-vacation was a birthday gift for me!  (How nice to have a husband who not only wants to give me something I really want, but who also plans ahead).  Getting a room at the Ahwanee takes planning – a year in advance, in fact. So, when the contractor was ready to go in April, we moved forward, not thinking about the impact to our Mini-Vacation in May. When I realized 1) we would be traveling during renovation and 2) Lexi could not dog sit for us at the house (what with no kitchen and no furniture and construction debris all over the place); I actually considered asking Michael to postpone our trip. However, knowing that probably meant postponing until 2016, we decided to just make it work. Frankly, it made me a little nervous — we had never boarded the dogs overnight and I wasn’t sure what the contractors might need from us. As the date drew nearer, I realized this mini-vacation was just what the Dr. ordered! At this point we have had no couch or our overstuffed chair for almost 2 weeks. Each night, we bring in lawn chairs and put the dog beds on the floor and try to watch a couple of hours of TV (while Chewie practices bark echoes in the room with the 20 foot ceiling). So here we are, in the incredibly beautiful Yosemite Valley staying at the luxurious Ahwanee Hotel. It is a bit cold, but our room is warm and there is a couch AND some chairs — what a treat!

There are lots of black bears around here, so we were required to remove ALL food items from our car and place them in a storage bin provided in the cabin.  Our cabin is a bit of a walk from the main hotel, so it was a little scary walking to dinner after dark — I kept listening for the rustle of bears in the woods.

Our cabin – it is large inside, with a big bed, couch, a small table and chairs, along with a separate bathroom.

The view from the entrance to our cabin.

The granite cliff face behind our cabin. You can tell we are in a deep, narrow valley.

Everywhere you look are large Dogwood Trees blooming with hundreds of these white flowers.

What a beautiful place!

The streams were empty, but there was plenty of water in the river.

This young buck was feasting on leaves right outside our cabin door!

Look – a small black bear. Our shuttle driver spotted it during our ride through the park.

One of several beautiful waterfalls in the park!

The Awanee Hotel

We are about half-way to completion. Thanks to assistance from my boys, Rob and Brian, our bottom floor living space is completely empty. The carpet and baseboards have been removed down to the concrete slab and the rooms echo with every little sound. Chewie loves the sound of his own bark with the accompanying reverberations! Michael and I do not love it as much as he does.

Each night, when Michael gets home from work with the pups, I put their cushions on the family room floor and we bring in two lawn chairs and a side table. This is where we sit and watch TV until time to go to bed.

This inconvenience is because we chose to have all the carpet replaced with hardwood and all the walls repainted at the same time as the kitchen remodel. As I watch the painter at the top of the ladder, which is on top of the scaffolding, I am ever so grateful that we made this decision, in spite of the inconvenience.

I am posting some before pictures of the living room and family room — and please note, I did not paint the walls this brick color or the sponged yellow — so you can appreciate as much as we will, when it is all done.

I probably will not post any more pictures until it is finished, so we can do a “Big Reveal”. I am getting so excited to see the end results – should be all done by May 27th.

Family Room with our lawn chairs, like camping indoors!

A view from the front door. The carpet is still in. You can see the family room through the arches.

The opposite view – looking at the front entryway. The two-tone would not be so bad, except they weren’t consistent at the top.

The stairs going up to the Bonus Room and two bedrooms.

OMG – he is on a ladder which is on top of the scaffolding! That’s 20 feet high.

A couple of nights ago, I woke up at 4 in the morning, realizing that I requested the POD we reserved (to be delivered in two days) be placed on the far left of our driveway.  It is a 16′ metal box that is huge, heavy and stationery, once placed.  So, at 4 in the morning, I’m thinking – wait, if the giant POD is on the side of the driveway closest to the front door, how are the contractors going to bring in cabinets, slabs of granite, and boxes of flooring!  Holy crap, I need to call the POD people right away and have that order changed, so that the POD is placed on the far RIGHT of the driveway!  At this point I am fully awake, thinking, “now don’t forget to do that when you get up” over and over in my head.  It’s too early to get up and I’m still tired, but I can’t get back to sleep because of the POD people – I must remember to call them.  I can’t sleep because of the POD people – Yikes, it’s just like the 1956 movie — Invasion of the Body Snatchers, if you fell asleep the POD people would invade your body and you would become an alien.  Great movie, by the way.

Honestly, the details involved in overseeing this process are innumerable.  Arrange for the grandfather clock to be picked up before they paint, have the baby grand piano picked up and stored for a month, schedule the POD to be delivered (oh yeah and don’t forget to ask the boys to come help move the heavier furniture into the POD – and out again in three weeks), etc.  And, while the piano guy was moving the piano, it occurred to me that if we want to put an area rug down in the living room (I don’t mean a small one, I’m talking 10×12), which we do, I need to find one I like and have it delivered AFTER the floor is installed but BEFORE the piano comes back, since the piano will be sitting on it.  Thank goodness that detail popped into my head now and not the day the piano was due back.  I have looked for a rug for hours on-line, but with this new deadline looming, I decided I needed to step up my effort and drove to the Macy’s Roseville store (located on the opposite side of the Sacramento metropolitan area from Elk Grove, don’t you know).  They have lots of wonderful rugs to look at and I was able to fine one that I think will look great, so I ordered it — it will be here in 2-3 weeks.  Wow, what luck — that is exactly the right timing.  Whew!

Anyway, the POD people came (no worries, I was fully awake and have not been overtaken by aliens) and the POD is on the correct side of the driveway!  Watching the POD placed in the driveway was fascinating, so I took lots of pictures — check it out.  Also, all the sheetrock is in, unfortunately, while I was talking to the Project Manager about which walls should be painted which color, not realizing the spackle was still wet, I stuck my finger in it!  Oops…

Sheetrock done, walls spackled

Driver backing the POD into the driveway.

The POD is lifted off the flatbed of the truck.

The driver then pulls the flatbed out from under the suspended POD.

The POd is suspended by a free-standing motorized lift that operates just like a vehicle.

The lift is moved back onto the flatbed using a hand-operated steering mechanism.

I find myself exhausted by the end of each day and wonder why.  Then I go back over the last few days and realize I have packed up 8 boxes, painted the master bedroom (which included cleaning all the furniture as we moved it back into place), cleared out old clothes and linens enough to fill 3 large yard bags, removed most of the wall hangings, and run errands every day to Weave and Goodwill to donate all those clothes and linens. Whew!  Michael, of course, must get up each day and take our 3 pups to Doggy Day Care (there is NO way they can be at the house while the workers are here), then work all day and stop to pick the pups up from day care and bring them home — so he, too, has a full day (11 hours including the commute)!  So, no pictures of the kitchen — not that exciting, but here are pictures of the bedroom and our pups — enjoy!

Obi gets close to the camera while Dali relaxes in the background at Local Bark.

Dali,  Obi and Chewie at Local Bark (doggy day care).

Chewie with his little tongue sticking out!

Master Bedroom after painting – the wall behind the bed is a darker teal and the rest of the walls a very light teal.

Same corner, before painting.

This last week, all the work completed has been mostly behind the scenes, such as electrical wiring, plumbing, and the layout for the cabinets and appliances.  At the same time, Michael and I have been arranging to have the piano picked up, restored, tuned and stored during the time the house is painted and floors installed; as well as  the Grandfather clock (well it doesn’t need tuning, but it does need to be oiled).  I am slowly getting everything off the walls and have packed the China Cabinet (8 boxes full)!  We have made meals simple by having mostly prepared salads for dinner and cereal with fruit for breakfast.  By incredible luck, we have some wonderful neighbors next door that, when they learned we would be without a kitchen for 7 weeks, offered to have us for dinner each week!  It is so nice to have a hot, home-cooked meal and then just walk home afterwards (especially given that dinner involves wine). The bonus is that we really enjoy their company and have such a nice time visiting with them.

We’ve been lucky so far that we have had no major problems — only two issues to date — 1.  A two by four will need to be replaced because the original builders failed to place it flush against the wall, causing the sheetrock to bulge slightly. And 2.  The circulating pump we wanted at the sink (to provide hot water on demand, thereby saving gallons of cold water washing down the pipes while we wait for hot water) cannot be installed due to the fact that we have KiTech pipes, which were involved in a class-action lawsuit.  The contractor cannot cut into them due to liability (major leakage issues at risk) and all other options won’t work with these KiTech pipes.  Disappointing; but certainly not as bad as it could be, like dry rot, termites, mold, etc!  I, for one, can live with these minor set-backs.  Oh, yeah, we had good news, as well – passed inspection first time around and don’t need another inspection until we are done!

Next week, things should get more exciting, as they begin to put the kitchen back together, beginning with sheetrock.  Stay tuned!

Our temporary kitchen in the bonus room upstairs.

Electric & plumbing done; appliances and island locations painted on floor.

Scavenger Hunts

In preparation for having no kitchen, I set up a quasi kitchen in the upstairs bonus room.  We have a game table, so I put a table cloth on it; moved paper plates, napkins, silverware into the linen closet up there; put the coffee pot, toaster, microwave, blender, quesadilla maker, and electric griddle up there; as well as crackers, cereal, and a few other dry goods.  We already had a small dorm-size frig up there; so milk, yogurt and other breakfast foods are also up there.  The refrigerator in the garage holds the rest of the cold food, we have a small chest freezer that is holding all the items from our freezer, and the remaining dry goods are on the shelves in the garage.  So, a typical meal goes something like this:

Grab the salad from the frig in the garage and head upstairs.  Realize that black beans would be really good in the salad, so head back to the garage to get the black beans from the garage shelves and head back upstairs.  Iced tea would be wonderful with dinner, so I head back down to the garage to get the ice out of the chest freezer and the tea out of the frig.  Back upstairs to look for the silver salad bowl — oh, that’s right, it is in the box of “stuff” I put in the guest bedroom (at least it’s upstairs).  Mix the salad and look at Michael with my saddest eyes, “Poo! The dressing is in the garage fridge.”  “I’ll get it” says my patient and thoughtful husband.  By the time we actually eat, I feel like I am back in the 70’s, when Scavenger Hunts were very popular.  Unfortunately, I no longer have the energy or physical ability to play this game!

Chaos

And, my house looks like it was picked up along with Dorothy’s in Kansas, only after twisting around for a while (displacing everything in the living and family rooms) we landed back in Elk Grove, not Oz — not sure whether that’s good or bad.  I guess I should at least be grateful I don’t have to kill the Wicked Witch of the West and take her broom back to the Wizard!  I could take that last statement and really run with it, but I think I’ll just let it go and stay out of trouble!

The hardest part of this renovation to date (acknowledging that we are all of 5 days in) has been making what seems like thousands of decisions. From the very beginning, where we started with “Yikes, look at the linoleum – it’s lifting. We need to replace the floor” to “maybe since we need to replace the floor, we should get rid of the tile, too and get granite” to “well we might as well make a few other changes at the same time” to “let’s take the pantry out and replace it with cabinets” and “this island needs to be extended” etc. After looking at dozens of kitchens on an app called Houzz, I found exactly what I wanted. Michael got right on board when he saw that my plan included a six-burner plus griddle with a 1 and 1/2 oven gas range!  He was hooked.  But before we even got a bid proposal, we had to decide on what changes we wanted to the pantry, the island, the cabinets, which appliances we wanted to replace or add, lighting (under cabinet and ceiling), plumbing fixtures and sink, tile or engineered hardwood or laminate, granite or marble countertops, and granite or tile backsplash.  Most of these decisions came pretty easy and Michael and I agreed on most everything, which has really made the decision making process so much nicer.  But even within each category, the details were, at times, daunting.  For example, Cabinets — painted or stained? Frameless, face-frame, or flush inset? Door and drawer style? Knobs or pulls and which style? Concealed door hinges? White or maple print interiors? Fortunately, we worked with Kent’s cabinet guy, Jerry at Kings Cabinets!  He was very patient and showed us real-life examples (as opposed to pictures) of every detail.

Now that we have a signed contract and the work has begun, the next decision is paint colors.  As easy as all the other decisions have been, this one is proving to be the most challenging and I am surprised.  I rarely have difficulty making decisions, but this one has been a struggle.  Michael is leaving the “aesthetics” of the remodel primarily to me.  I have engaged my youngest son Brian (a VERY talented cabinet maker and VERY artistic) and his lovely wife, Natalie (his muse) to give me input.  With their help, we have made a final decision!  To get to this point, I purchased samples of the colors I liked, brought them home and painted various walls to see how they will actually look (which is often very different than they look on the little strip at the paint store).  Now remember, we are painting our kitchen, living room (with 20 foot ceilings), family room, and hall.  Oh, yeah, and the cabinets against the walls in the kitchen will also be painted; while the island cabinets will be stained.  I purchased a total of 13 sample colors!  Now that I have figured out which walls are going to be what color, I plan to mix 8 of the samples together and paint our bedroom – so happy to be able to use most of the samples (which were 30 ounces of paint each and not free).

As week one comes to an end, the project is on schedule, the kitchen now consists of four walls and nothing else, the trash trailer is gone, my walls have 13 different colors painted on them in strategic places around the room, and we have survived!  One down, six more to go.  The good news is that when you are old, time flies; so six weeks will be over before we know it.

Beige,, taupe, blue, or teal? Yikes!

Look, Ma – no pantry!

End of day 1 – Tear Out!  Kent, Shannon (Project Manager), and two workers showed up at 9 sharp.  So far, everyone has been on time every time; which for me is huge.  I believe the first meeting is like a first date – this is when people show you the best they have to offer.  If they are late the first time, it’s only down hill from there.  The first appointment with Kent was for 10 am.  I had another contractor come out a few days earlier and he arrived almost 30 minutes late, without calling, and thought he was here just to measure the countertops and said the designer would have to come out to discuss remodeling.  Needless to say, he did not get a call back.  The morning of my appointment with Kent, I was waiting for him to arrive and as our Grandfather clock struck 10, the doorbell rang.  It was love at first sight (okay, not literally, but keeping with my first date analogy).

I was dismayed to learn that when they paint, we will have to remove EVERYTHING from all the rooms being painted!  That’s our living room, family room, and master bedroom.  We have 20′ ceilings in the living room, so they will have to put up scaffolding.  When I said I didn’t know what to do with all my furniture, Kent suggested a POD.  I checked it out and we have a POD coming April 25th.  We will be without furniture on the bottom floor for approximately 3 weeks (first painting, then 2 weeks later, the new floor is installed).  The whole thing was a little disconcerting, but it really makes sense, so I guess I have just been in denial (where one protects onesself from reality – not the river in Egypt).

Anyway, after making sure the guys were good to go, I made myself scarce for the day.  I just couldn’t watch the chaos.  When I returned late this afternoon, I was shocked to see the amount of work completed in one day.  In addition, it did not look like a bomb exploded, which is what I expected.  It is relatively clean and I noticed a sign that they had taped to our sliding glass door, pictured below.  I knew I picked the right guy!

Every workplace should have a sign like this!

It’s SO CLEAN!

Renovation is a lot like moving — to Europe — in a row boat — since we won’t have a kitchen for 7 weeks. Although we moved into this house only 5 years ago, it is still surprising how much extra stuff we have that we don’t need. Going through every cabinet and drawer in the kitchen has allowed us to take another look at whether we really need all this. Turns out we don’t need 6 sets of free chop sticks, 500 coffee mugs (seriously, only a slight exaggeration), olive oil spritzers we have NEVER used, etc. My favorite conversation, which was repeated many times over, went like this: “Do you know what this (unrecognizable) thing goes to?” “Nope” “Well, we probably don’t need to keep it, right?” “That is correct.”
So, Stage 1 – kitchen clear-out in preparation for T-Day is complete. Stage 2 involves preparing the rest of the bottom floor for painting, but we have 3 weeks until painting and after all, tomorrow is another day…

Ready for Tear Out!