oooh - pretty

So the granite guys are the coolest guys ever. We called them Friday during the dishwasher debacle and they hadn't cut the sink hole (by 20 minutes!) in our piece yet. Had they cut that hole it would have become a unique piece of stone and ours to keep. Since we got a common stone, they are able to use that piece elsewhere and have a leftover piece from another job that will be long enough. E's solution is to simply build a new bottom and shelf for the IKEA cabinet to make it 1.5" wider. All this for an inch and a half. **sigh**

BUT - they went ahead and brought the island piece this morning. So hopefully E can get the new cabinet built after he gets back from New York for his meeting.

And maybe we can have the new piece early next week and then, joy of joys, we'll have a sink and running water and everything! We also learned from the dishwasher debacle that you can't turn on a dishwasher with your sink all disassembled (the installer wouldn't have been able to test it.)

Here's some pictures of our island victory!

fucking fuck fuck fuck!

Sorry - those are the only words that acurately describe my emotion at this moment.

All granite is stopped - E is thinking of a solution.

Lowes = bastards.

The Closet Fairy

Boy - I should leave town more often! I went down south last weekend to visit my parents and E stayed home to work on the closet. I figured he'd get it all framed and then wouldn't be able to do the drywall by himself. Well lookie lookie - a complete closet! So this weekend I plan on getting it finished with the mudding and then I'll paint next week. Also yesterday our faucet was delivered and I just scheduled our granite install for Monday! I'm so excited! E will be out of town for work, but as soon as he gets back he'll be able to hook up the sink and we'll have a fully-functional kitchen! Yippeee!

it's larger than it looks! the closet is big enough for a stacked washer/dryer (should we ever be allowed to install one) and I designed it to have bi-directional doors so we can access the full closet. We'll run to the depot this weekend and buy the doors and closet bar and shelves.

the final kitchen layout - as soon as granite is in we can install the tall cabinet on the left

the new sink in person

Granite in motion

The installer was over last night to make the template for the granite (Granite Design of IL). I didn't understand this process previously, I just thought they were way better with a tape measure than I am. Turns out he brought these 4" wide white plastic strips and literally made a template. Our island does present them a problem since we have that cutout for the pop-up hood. (Speaking of, AJMadison has never responded to our requests for a replacement part since the hood was damaged - so don't buy from them - just print out the page and Lowes will match the price!) Since the hole is so narrow the granite guys don't really have a saw that can do that (they don't cut with water) and they can't get inside it to polish - but you'll never see down in the hole since the hood will be there and the top cover panel is .25" larger than the hole. He said they'll do some crazy notch on the underside - whatever as long as it works!

updates updates updates

OK - busy busy busy! We went on Saturday to our granite guys shop and looked at a slab of granite. The guys are very cool and met us at 8 am on a Saturday. Whoo-hooo. The piece is very pretty and I think it'll be gorgeous in our place. We also picked out a undermount sink that isn't perfectly square, but will be a little more modern. I also ordered the faucet today from homedepot's website.

And we're still working away on doors - I'm almost ready to

put pulls on now though. We had a problem with the gigantic cabinet over the fridge - the doors looked like a couple of drunks - so E finally figured out that the cabinet was out of square in the front. We couldn't deal so he took it back down, removed the back panel and re-squared and re-nailed the back piece on (if you ever do IKEA anything that back piece of particle board is apparently very critical to the overall structure and stability).

After visiting our granite on Saturday we went and ordered our remaining appliances. Except that our fridge is out of stock. But we were able to get our dishwasher - and we're having it installed by a professional (oooooh). E didn't want to mess with electricity and water (can't say I blame him). That should be here in the next week (I hope). We also swung by a tile store and got our backsplash material. Originally I was going to go with a matte white marble in 1 x 2 inch bricks. But once I got there with a sample of the cabinets and the granite - the marble didn't look so hot. E found some stainless bricks in the same size - they were 2x as much, but we only needed 8.5 sq ft so we really didn't break the bank. We got a black grout to use with the stainless... it should look hot!

Our granite guy will be back tomorrow night to make his template then we should have a sink and countertops (that aren't plywood) in 10 days! yipee! It almost looks like a kitchen!!! Enjoy some progress photos. (oooh, plywood and undercabinet lights - how chic!)

:)

OK - we are officially over budget

We met the granite guy this morning. I was hoping we had a small enough area that we could get away with a remnant... well with the range hood and the additional cabinets we added to the back of the island - no such luck! We have a little over 40 sq. ft. of counter space! wow-eee. I just ran the basic numbers and by the time we order our appliances on Saturday we'll have basically spent our budget. Now the granite is $1,000 more than I thought it'd be (granted, I thought it'd be $800.. ha ha ha ha ha). But I guess in the end the granite will be the most resale bang, even though I thoroughougly disagree with the carbon footprint of granite (jerks) it's a real-estate consipiracy I tell you! Although really we're doing pretty well considering the disaster with the floor and the custom cabinets. Oh well - what'cha gonna do?

image of the budget breaking granite

Ugh - who's idea was this anyway

OK - we got the door fronts over the weekend and they are gorgeous! Also E got the stove working and the structure built for the hood and the island basically together. We also got the cabinets up and level (no small feat). Base cabinets are almost attached to the wall (ran out of anchors). And we have a granite guy coming tomorrow morning to give us an estimate.

Tonight: Operation find the floor and put some crap away.

:)