The Ubber Stove has arrived!

We went to Lowe's and ordered the stove. It was special order (as I knew it would be) but it got here pretty quick. We had to choose out of a catalog, and I think we went a little overboard! Here is a link to the model we bought. Oh well - we'll really get that frozen pizza and spagetti done in a flash!

Oh well - maybe the next owners will appreciate the power of convection cooking!


And here's the beginings of a kitchen island! Only 400 more lock nuts to go!


Also here is a photo of the new living room set. Much to our chagrin our old sofa had a manufacturing defect in the frame and it caused the chaise part to sag and make horrible noises of strain if we sat on it. So we called Harlem Furniture and they sent a repairman , the repair guy dubed it unfixable and said we would get a new chaise (score!). But a week later we got a call from Harlem saying we had 7 days to come get a new set to replace our broken one. What?! OK, great. So we get a zipcar and head over to Harlem Furniture, luckily we looked and there's one on Elston Ave in the public transportation dead zone (no train, no metra, only 1 stinkin bus). So we go in and after much arguing with the sales people - we got this new set. It's a little smaller and a darker brown, but I think it works better in the space. So it was a win win.

The New Floor

By popular demand - I took some photos of the floor. I meant to do it while everything was out - but then IKEA came after the floor had been dry for only 15 minutes! Oh well. You get the idea!

This is where the old hole in the floor was!



This shows my displeasure with the work that was done. The finish is off and you can see marks from the squeegie they put the sealer on with (even though I was assured that this would be a non-issue) ***grrrrrr***



And here are the IKEA boxes! whoo-hoooo! I can't wait to put all this back together!


I ordered a sample door for the custom doors we're getting for the Kitchen. Originally I had changed my mind and gone with solid Birch doors. But apparently with frameless cabinets they discourage you from using solid wood doors because they change size with the seasons. So we're doing veneer. And I guess birch is hard to stain because it's such a hard wood. So I ordered a sample in Alder wood. Here's the link to Scherr's to see the differences. The sample should be here by the time we get back - so we'll see!

Kisses is angry

Kisses (the cat) knows something is up. Her Kitty Carrier is out in plain sight, and bags are being packed. She's going on a little vacation to E's Mom's house for the week. She's been walking around randomly expressing her dislike of the situation. Oh well - all new things to explore at E's Mom's and even a possible kitty friend!


And here's the progress on packing (flight is at 6:10 am tomorrow)

Moving back into your own house

So, now we're moving back in. **sigh** And what a pain! But it's going well, we have our computers back on our desks, and E just got the internet back on. I was hopping onto neighbors wireless, but they've pretty much all kicked me off at this point! We got all the big stuff in, and have all the IKEA boxes organized. So now I'm just putting stuff away and dusting dusting dusting. Although today there was much less dust than earlier. Usually I'll clean all day while getting stuff put back and then the next morning everything has a fine layer of dust on it again! So more pictures soon, as soon as we get this IKEA stuff going full speed. I've put together 3 cabinets and they go really easy so far, so that's good.

No "Sci-Fi Friday" for us

Totally feels like high school to be trapped in your bedroom. Only instead of hiding from parents, we're hiding from contractors! And did I mention there's no TV in here?

:)

True Grit

Big E and I are stuck in our room. Earlier, E mentioned that we were living in a quarter of our place, and right now we're stuck in here. There's no TV so we're watching apple movie trailers and listening to the floor guys sand and vacuum our new floor. I'm enclosing a photo of what the floor looked like before the guys *finally* got here (more on that in a sec). And I'm enclosing a picture of the freakin dust. Mom had soem good dust suggestions, but I think we'll be dealing with it for a LONG time.

So yesterday the floor guys didn't get here till around 1 or so. Apparently the person I spoke to was scheduling someone else's time and that person had just got back from a vacation in Europe. They called a lot and were very appologetic. Then at around 5:30 they ran out of material to level the floor and left (OK...) and then today one of the guys had traffic court in the morning and they said they'd be here at 11 - well they got here at 3:30! They finished the patching and got 80% of the sanding done and they wanted to leave! I told the owner that I had 150 boxes coming the next day from IKEA and that I really needed it done. I know it's kinda bitchy, but they were only here like 3 or 4 hours and they had promised that the job would be done by 6pm tonight (it's now 10pm). But they're still here and committed to working, so I'm glad. The sanding is finished and he's almost done vacuuming the dust (shyeah) and then it's just 2 coats of water based stain and they should be out of here by midnight. That way at least they don't have to come back. **sigh** Like I said, a nightmare!!! Oh well. At least the floor will look brand new!

Eye of the Tornado....

First post.....guess that makes me a blogophobe......

Demolition is fun.
And messy.
(not entitrely unrelated, I s'pose)

Moving most of our stuff upstairs and trying to live in 1/4 of the space we're accustomed to....well....thats not as fun (but we're makign the most of it).

I have some electrical overhauling to do (moving outlets, making outlets, moving switches) in the Kitchen, then I'll patch that up and with any luck the floor will be done and ready for the next phase.......reconstruction.

While we haven't had any break dancing roller disco parties, we are going to take advantage of the emptiness by doing some touch-up work on the ceiling and sectionf of lighting conduit normally inaccessible due to furniture getting in the way.

Past that, I think it's safe to say that we'll be more than ready for our vacation at the end of the month.....

-E

The Echo is back

The guys from Mara's Flooring will be here any moment. E and I miraculously got the condo cleaned out. E was a very good helper last night, considering almost all the furniture was still here and he had a very cranky wife to deal with! But all is well. Here are some pictures of the place. We jammed a lot of stuff up on the loft and our wonderful neighbors loaned us an empty unit 1 floor up they just bought (Thank you very much K & C!!!).

Destruction

The closet that wouldn't die. Stupid closet was built out of particle board and covered with laminate. We couldn't see any screws and it refused to die. But E finally killed it!

new design

Boy - today is post-o-rama! I did a quick mock-up in Photoshop with appliance examples. The silver drawer on the left of the sink is a Fisher & Paykel dish drawer from Lowe's (of course). It installs in a cabinet and we're going to put our microwave on a shelf above it to make more counterspace.

And then right back in - head first!

We went to Sherwin Williams and looked at stain colors. Our cabinet guy uses Sherwin Williams - so that made it easier. We decided to go with Birch wood (although I may see what the cost difference is for Maple). And it'll be stained a medium brown color. Next we went to Lowe's and bought our range and figured out what the dishwasher will need for installation. We upped our budget on the cabinetry so we couldn't get all the appliances at once. So I decided to get the most expensive piece now, and this way I can have the countertops installed as soon as we get back from the cruise. Here is the Frigidaire 30-inch range that we chose - we went ahead and got the convection (now I can REALLY burn dinner) It was only a couple hundred more than the conventional in the same style. We did draw the line at the convection conversion computer that added $500 to the price though! (although reading online, it looks like it has some level of conversion - convection cooks 30% faster, so you have to alter your baking times.... I'm sure it'll really affect the frozen pizzas and brownies!!)

Big E also got the electrical stuff to install in the cabinets - there is a bit of a challege as the electrical comes up through the floor - but I think we have a solution that is both code legal and not too offensive to the eye. :)

Then we went to IKEA to make a decision about the custom door fronts. Turns out she had a list of all the sizes of the doors - we double checked them and they're rounded up an 1/8 of an inch. But, it made us feel more confident about ordering custom doors. We also decided to do the island all in stainless and add MDF end pieces to the tall cabinets on the wall. We will paint these with chalkboard paint - IKEA had new cabinets made from chalkboard material, but they only came in cabinet door sizes. So we'll just go to Home Depot and get 2 pieces cut to size and paint them ourselves. Just that alone will save us $350 on the 2 end pieces. (they're $200 each). We also added a "stainless-look" toe-kick. This is just stainless formica on particle board. We wanted the dark grey, but it was backordered and I didn't want to wait 4-6 weeks to get my damn cabinets (see photo of hole in floor). Here's some photos of the box jungle on it's way to my house. I had to pay $15 extra so they wouldn't deliver the kitchen before the floor was complete (IKEA bastards). So it'll come next Saturday morning, then that afternoon we're due in Huntley for E's Mom's b-day. Hopefully I'll have time to do a quick inventory and then return/exchange any mistakes on our way out there. **sigh** So much work!

A break from the kitchen

Observe the man of the house in his natural environment. Clever monkey!

cabinet doors and old cabinets

SO I emailed the people at Scherrs and got some questions answered. They WILL cut the hinges for me - so that settles that! And they use sherman williams stain, so I have to find a Sherman Williams store and choose a stain. Hopefully they'll also have examples of the clear coats - I can't decide between satin and glossy. hmmm. We were going to go to IKEA tonight and order the cabinets and measure for the doors, but it's snowing like crazy, so we're going to reschedule. We also are ordering our stove for the kitchen soon, hopefully that will be here in a similar time frame to the cabinets so I'll be ready for granite countertops (if I can afford them!)

I posted an ad on craigslist for the old cabinets $100 / OBO and I've had several people interested - some will pay more if I can send better photos - I'll get right on that tonight! Best way to dispose of stuff is craigslist - as long as you have it dirt cheap, you don't have to worry about it!

That's all for now - hopefully by the end of the week we'll have our boxes ordered and stove ordered and I'm hoping they'll come early next week (after the floor guys finish on Friday night or Saturday morning).

That is the next task - trying to move out 70% of our stuff so the floors can be repaired - that should be interesting.

Got a cabinet quote

Searching around, a lot of people recommend scherrs.com so I thought I'd get a quote. So I sent my estimates of the sizes (stupid IKEA doesn't tell you the exact door and drawer dimensions - and I guess this is why). I had them quote a alder wood with a dull finish. And the estimate came back about 2x what I thought it'd be - granted, there's shipping involved, but I was shocked none the less. This goes back to my core problem of being a horrible cheapskate! But, it's still not terrible - I wrestling with the cost now. If I do the custom fronts at this price point, I'll have to wait to buy the appliances - which doesn't necessarily end the world as we know it. But up to now I was pretty much right on my budget. Of course Greenmaker my yet save the day - we'll see what they come up with. Their cabinet manufacturer is in Wisconsin, so maybe that will make a difference?? My main concern is putting too much money into the kitchen. If I were in a house, I'd be tempted to invest more, but since it's a condo, and a tight market to boost - I don't want to go too crazy! I dunno. I'm just rambling now, so I think I'll keep poking around. Maybe my wonderful Mother will come and visit and go shopping with me one day and give me some alternate opinions (hint hint Mom).

IKEA alternative

In the search for different cabinet fronts, I found a company out on Pulaski in Chicago, Greenmaker Building Supply. I went in for cabinet fronts, which they will absolutely do. Although I will have to drill the hinges myself (or hire someone to do it). Or Michelle (salesperson) said that her company is introducing a new product line of modular cabinetry, made from sustainable forest and with no off-gassing VOC or formaldehyde in the varnish and cabinets. She said it is brand new, they haven't officially launched the product line yet, but she has been doing sample orders and the pricing is very competitive with IKEA. I like the idea of a greener cabinet, although IKEA is very concious. These cabinets would be maple on the inside and I chose a Alder wood, which Michelle said is common inside furniture, but is becoming very popular and it's more sustainable than old growth and slow growth trees like Walnut. I'll try to get a link to the cabinet makers site, that will show the door style I chose. It is liek a shaker cabinet only with a 6-8" frame instead of a 2" frame. It makes it look very modern. But it's mostly drawers anyway - which will all be flat-front.

Here are the cabinet styles from Michelle:


and here are the alder stain options - I like the nutmeg I think (3rd row, first example) This company has tons of options... I like the idea of being able to get that custom kitchen look without that custom kitchen price!!

Found a floor guy

Thanks to a recommendation from a friend, we found a floor guy. He came from Angie's List and was reviewed well. The only issue is that he wants to sand the floor in the entire apartment so you won't notice the repair. whoo-hoo! So I think I can pile a lot of the furniture in the bedroom and bathroom - at least that area is far enough a way to not notice too much. Removing everything would be almost impossible. We may be able to put some stuff in the basement temporarily as well. What a total pain in the butt!! I could wait and re-sand the whole place when we sell - but then it'll just look bad until then. **sigh**