PDA

View Full Version : Cabinets!!!


Judy G. Russell
August 26th, 2007, 08:01 AM
So... the walls are up, the ceiling and walls have been painted, the floor is in... and today, oh yes, today, lovely day today... the cabinets are being installed as I type. It's beginning to look (http://www.pbase.com/jgr/remodeling) as though maybe, just maybe... I may someday have a kitchen again!

Lindsey
August 26th, 2007, 09:15 PM
So... the walls are up, the ceiling and walls have been painted, the floor is in... and today, oh yes, today, lovely day today... the cabinets are being installed as I type. It's beginning to look (http://www.pbase.com/jgr/remodeling) as though maybe, just maybe... I may someday have a kitchen again!
Your contractor works on Sundays? Good gracious! I'm glad things seem to be coming to a conclusion. Your cabinets are gorgeous!

--Lindsey

Judy G. Russell
August 26th, 2007, 10:24 PM
Your contractor works on Sundays? Good gracious!Don't be impressed. This is a sub who works for my contractor as a moonlighter for the place where I bought the cabinets. So he ONLY works on weekends. Which means that because the contractor didn't have everything ready for him by the 11th and he was away last weekend, this was the first weekend he COULD install things. Sigh...

I'm glad things seem to be coming to a conclusion. Your cabinets are gorgeous!Thanks! I keep wandering down to the kitchen to look at 'em... sure beats the heck out of what I had there before!

Mike
August 27th, 2007, 01:13 AM
So... the walls are up, the ceiling and walls have been painted, the floor is in... and today, oh yes, today, lovely day today... the cabinets are being installed as I type.
Cool!

I can't remember... did I post any photos of the kitchen Brent and I were doing in our Sacramento place?

Judy G. Russell
August 27th, 2007, 09:07 AM
I can't remember... did I post any photos of the kitchen Brent and I were doing in our Sacramento place?I thought so, but now I can't find 'em!

Lindsey
August 27th, 2007, 10:34 PM
Don't be impressed. This is a sub who works for my contractor as a moonlighter for the place where I bought the cabinets. So he ONLY works on weekends.
Oh, I see! Ugh -- yeah, you wouldn't exactly be at the top of anyone's priority list that way. But I think it seems to have moved along pretty well in spite of that. I have heard far worse horror stories!

Thanks! I keep wandering down to the kitchen to look at 'em... sure beats the heck out of what I had there before!
They remind me a little of the cabinets that my mother put in her kitchen when she had it re-done, probably about 30 years ago now. Hers are maple, I think, about the same color stain that yours appear to be, and a similar design. What she had before were your standard white metal cabinets from the 1950s. The wood cabinets were a definite improvement! (And after 30 years, they still look very nice.)

--Lindsey

Mike
August 28th, 2007, 01:01 AM
I thought so, but now I can't find 'em!
<making note>

Judy G. Russell
August 28th, 2007, 09:16 AM
Oh, I see! Ugh -- yeah, you wouldn't exactly be at the top of anyone's priority list that way. But I think it seems to have moved along pretty well in spite of that. I have heard far worse horror stories!I have, as well, which is why I'm not entirely outraged... a little frustrated and occasionally annoyed but not outraged.

They remind me a little of the cabinets that my mother put in her kitchen when she had it re-done, probably about 30 years ago now. Hers are maple, I think, about the same color stain that yours appear to be, and a similar design. ... (And after 30 years, they still look very nice.)These are oak, and if they look this nice for the next 10 years, I'll be happy (considering that I will have retired and moved before then -- I hope!)

ktinkel
August 28th, 2007, 01:45 PM
They look great.

Funny, I was just wondering how things were going. Glad to see the project is marching along.

Judy G. Russell
August 28th, 2007, 04:51 PM
They look great. Thanks. I keep occasionally wandering into the kitchen and just staring around!

Funny, I was just wondering how things were going. Glad to see the project is marching along.It isn't quite going to make the Labor Day deadline I'd kind of set in my mind. They took the template for the countertops today, which means it won't be until after Labor Day (probably a week or so later!) that the countertops are in and then there's still the backsplash that can't be done until after the countertops are done. But at least once the countertops are in, I'll have a sink and running water downstairs!

Lindsey
August 28th, 2007, 11:35 PM
These are oak, and if they look this nice for the next 10 years, I'll be happy (considering that I will have retired and moved before then -- I hope!)
I thought the grain of that wood looked like oak, but sometimes photographs can fool you.

They should certainly add to the resale value of your house.

--Lindsey

Judy G. Russell
August 29th, 2007, 06:09 PM
I thought the grain of that wood looked like oak, but sometimes photographs can fool you. They should certainly add to the resale value of your house.Considering the condition of the kitchen before this renovation, plastic boxes might have added to the resale value of the house! It appeared to me that every single thing in the kitchen had been done by one (or more) of the previous owners, and not very well!

Lindsey
August 29th, 2007, 09:31 PM
Considering the condition of the kitchen before this renovation, plastic boxes might have added to the resale value of the house!
Oh, I think you were a bit above plastic boxes! But the wood cabinets are unquestionably handsome!

--Lindsey

Judy G. Russell
August 29th, 2007, 11:12 PM
Oh, I think you were a bit above plastic boxes! But the wood cabinets are unquestionably handsome!The old wood cabinets were themselves decent boxes. But there was more than a foot and a half of wasted space above them, an entire wall where no cabinets could be placed because of the window placement, nothing (and I mean NOTHING) in alignment...

Mike
August 30th, 2007, 01:51 AM
It appeared to me that every single thing in the kitchen had been done by one (or more) of the previous owners, and not very well!
I'm trying to remember... is it your old kitchen that had a commode in a small closet over the basement stairs?

Did it go away as part of the renovation?

Judy G. Russell
August 30th, 2007, 09:45 AM
I'm trying to remember... is it your old kitchen that had a commode in a small closet over the basement stairs? Did it go away as part of the renovation?Next to the stairs, not over them, and yes, it's now a lovely pantry.

Mike
August 31st, 2007, 12:21 AM
<applause!>

Judy G. Russell
August 31st, 2007, 08:50 AM
<applause!>In defense of the poor woman who owned this house before I did, keep in mind that she raised five sons here. If I were the only woman in a house with five sons (and, presumably, at some point, a husband), I'd have put in a commode somewhere too!

Lindsey
August 31st, 2007, 10:02 PM
In defense of the poor woman who owned this house before I did, keep in mind that she raised five sons here. If I were the only woman in a house with five sons (and, presumably, at some point, a husband), I'd have put in a commode somewhere too!
One where you wouldn't constantly have to be putting the seat down!

(It occurs to me that you would never be able to raise five daughters with a single bathroom...)

--Lindsey

Mike
September 1st, 2007, 02:21 AM
...I'd have put in a commode somewhere too!
Heh, one of the features of this house that made it attractive to us is that it has two bathrooms. There are only two of us. We're both men.

The only bad thing is that both bathrooms are upstairs. OTOH, there is a laundry sink in the attached garage...

Judy G. Russell
September 1st, 2007, 08:57 AM
One where you wouldn't constantly have to be putting the seat down!Exactly!

(It occurs to me that you would never be able to raise five daughters with a single bathroom...)I still wonder how my parents managed to raise seven children in a house with one bathroom...

Judy G. Russell
September 1st, 2007, 08:57 AM
Heh, one of the features of this house that made it attractive to us is that it has two bathrooms. There are only two of us. We're both men. The only bad thing is that both bathrooms are upstairs. OTOH, there is a laundry sink in the attached garage...The laundry sink won't work for most women...

Mike
September 2nd, 2007, 02:09 AM
The laundry sink won't work for most women...
I guess you'll have to continue to go upstairs.

<g>

Judy G. Russell
September 2nd, 2007, 08:01 AM
I guess you'll have to continue to go upstairs. g>I had planned on it.

earler
September 2nd, 2007, 11:16 AM
Most women? Which women will it work for then?

Judy G. Russell
September 4th, 2007, 12:29 AM
Most women? Which women will it work for then?Ones with more flexibility and less modesty than I...

ktinkel
September 4th, 2007, 02:54 PM
Heh, one of the features of this house that made it attractive to us is that it has two bathrooms. There are only two of us.Jack and I are worse than that — we have two bathrooms (two toilets, two sinks, two counters) in our master bedroom suite (as realtors call it).

I would hate to ever have to give that up (though I would give up the house itself in a heartbeat).

Mike
September 5th, 2007, 01:37 AM
... we have two bathrooms (two toilets, two sinks, two counters) in our master bedroom suite (as realtors call it).
We could live with that. But 1920s homes don't have master bedroom suites. <g>

ktinkel
September 5th, 2007, 03:26 PM
We could live with that. But 1920s homes don't have master bedroom suites. <g>This is a 1929 house, but the master (and the kitchen beneath it) were part of a 1970 addition. The original house has lots of pleasant detail, including many wonderful paneled doors. The addition does not. It is quintessentially 1973.

Our neighbor across the steet lives in a 1927 Sears Roebuck house. I have modernist taste generally, but houses of that really sing to me. And boy, are they well-built. Nothing creaks in the old part of our house. Everything does on the newer side.

Mike
September 7th, 2007, 12:30 AM
The original house has lots of pleasant detail, including many wonderful paneled doors. The addition does not. It is quintessentially 1973.
Our house has a lot of detail, too, although the bathrooms and kitchen have been remodeled in the past (and we'll be attacking them soon enough, too). One of the bathrooms had been a balcony originally, and was enclosed about 15 years ago.

Nothing creaks in the old part of our house. Everything does on the newer side.
We have some creaks--just the hardwood flooring in a few spots.

Of course, one of the spots is right where I need to plant my foot when I'm opening the door to the bedroom on my way to bed. Where Brent is already asleep. Until I plant my foot to open the door. <g>

ktinkel
September 7th, 2007, 01:44 PM
One of the bathrooms had been a balcony originally, and was enclosed about 15 years ago.That sounds interesting. Maybe you will be able to do something interesting with that.

We have some creaks--just the hardwood flooring in a few spots.

Of course, one of the spots is right where I need to plant my foot when I'm opening the door to the bedroom on my way to bed. Where Brent is already asleep. Until I plant my foot to open the door. <g>You could move the door? <g>

I have seen explanations of how to fix some of those squeaks. Maybe even on Ask This Old House, or some other TV show. But the fixes never worked for us.

And it doesn’t work to pound nails here and there in the floor, which is what a former owner did here in a couple of spots.

Lindsey
September 7th, 2007, 05:39 PM
I still wonder how my parents managed to raise seven children in a house with one bathroom...
Oh, my! I shared one with my sister, and that was hard enough!!

Then again -- I recently finished listening to Frank McCourt reading "Angela's Ashes." For the house in Limerick were he spent most of his early childhood, thre was one lavatory (the hole-in-the-ground kind, of course) for the entire street. (And it was right next to their kitchen...)

--Lindsey

Judy G. Russell
September 7th, 2007, 09:43 PM
I recently finished listening to Frank McCourt reading "Angela's Ashes." For the house in Limerick were he spent most of his early childhood, thre was one lavatory (the hole-in-the-ground kind, of course) for the entire street. (And it was right next to their kitchen...)Summers at my grandparents we could have as many as 25-30 people out at the farm... and an outhouse out behind the barn.

Mike
September 8th, 2007, 02:01 AM
[Balcony->Bathroom]Maybe you will be able to do something interesting with that.
Actually, that bathroom is lowest on the list, and needs the least amount of attention. The mirror and vanity have some frou-frou tile around them, but the rest of that particular bathroom actually is very functional and useful.

I have seen explanations of how to fix some of those squeaks.
The OSH commercials here have shown people rubbing talcum powder into the cracks/crevices between the slats, but we haven't gotten around to trying that yet.