The first evidence of a future island has emerged. The pony wall is in place and behind it will sit an island of cabinets as well as a cook top, an oven, and a warming drawer. What you see here is the future counter where a piece of Richlite will span and serve as our surface.
Work continues at a frantic pace as early October is the time when many of the major appliance and cabinets are due to arrive. Because some items were back ordered, we delayed the delivery of the appliances since they would just sit in the garage.
Craigslist helped us unload more of the old appliances. The electric cook top and fan went to a landlord trying to reconstruct a trashed apartment. The remaining cabinets, in the "Free" category, have generated some interest.
With the rough inspection done, the past few days have seen sheet rock going back up and the room looking more like a room. The pantry is taking shape and we can go in and imagine where cans and boxes of food will go.
The lighting is in place but bulbs are still hanging down in "test mode." We should have a full electrical upgrade in the next week moving our electrical system into this century.
You may notice the blue paint samples on the window sill. The next decision is the paint color on the walls.
On Friday, the county inspector spent the better part of an hour going over everything with Joel. The good news is we passed our rough plumbing, electric, framing, and exterior lath inspections. With that out of the way Joel got started on finishing up the walls by adding insulation.
The appliances are scheduled to arrive this week. They will have to sit in the already crowded garage for a bit so I'm posting ads on Craigslist to unload the old appliances. The old oven has already found a new home.
We're happy to report that the old boomerang formica counter top also found a new home. A young couple starting an optometry practice took it to reuse it in their future office. They are trying to establish their practice with all reused and recycled products. They are actually coming by later to take some of the old cabinets as well.
Old kitchen window: 39" wide.
New kitchen window: 66" wide.
'nuff said.
We got an early morning call from the electrician who asked if he could come over today (Sunday of the Labor Day Weekend) to continue his work. We had no plans so we gave him the green light. So it was a lazy day of reading the Sunday paper and napping on the couch downstairs as more sheet rock was cut away and reels of wires were snaked around the rooms. But most of the receptacles are in the studs so now we get a sense of where we'll be plugging things in and turning on lights, etc.
All of the recessed lighting is in place in both rooms now.
With many parts of the room down the studs, it's interesting to see occasional notes in pencil from the original builders on the studs. An "S" on the stud where a switch was to be placed by an electrician fifty years ago.
Our electrician, by contrast, is far more prolific. Soon to be covered by sheet rock will be his many notes to himself, his mathematical calculations, and his measurements. Indeed, at some point in the next century, someone will have fun uncovering all this and finding so much writing in the walls.
The first evidence of a future island has emerged. The pony wall is in place and behind it will sit an island of cabinets as well as a cook top, an oven, and a warming drawer. What you see here is the future counter where a piece of Richlite will span and serve as our surface.
