HVAC, Cabinets (mostly) Assembled
The HVAC guys showed up at 8am yesterday, so my dad and I went down late Wednesday night (we got in around midnight) so I could be there to let them in and go over a few things. The installation will take a total of 3 days, but only the first two are scheduled so […]
Cabinet Installation Round 2: Hanging Ikea Cabinets
This is part 2 of my DIY Ikea Kitchen installation adventure. You can check out the whole series if you want to see the sausage get made! We made a quick trip down this afternoon so we could help Chris unload the truck he rented to bring the furniture down from the condo (which is now […]
Ikea SEKTION Cabinet Install: Day 1
Over the long weekend we capped off the leaky pipes in the kitchen, nailed down the OSB flooring, and finished painting one of the upstairs bedrooms. Now all we need to be able to sleep there is a bed! On Sunday Chris and Jen started assembling the cabinets for the kitchen while I tried to make […]
Visible Progress, Finally
After a lot of trips where nothing at the house changed much (and a few where they looked considerably worse), we finally had a weekend where it felt like things were moving again. We went down Friday after work and I made a plywood cutting jig, following the instructions in this youtube video (hat tip […]
Permits, Contractor Drama
It turns out I need a plumbing permit for the ice maker line and the new hot water heater. Sigh. On Tuesday I went down with my parents to paint some ceilings and fill out the permit application in person. The office is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30. So of course when I got […]
Lights, Plumbers, and Appliances
Chris and I made a somewhat huge decision about the kitchen and living room: we’ve decided to spring for recessed lighting. It’s a little intimidating (so permanent! so not cheap!) but if we’re ever going to do it this is the time. We definitely won’t ever want to do it AFTER the drywall guy patches […]
Things Crawl Along
Progress on the house continues, but slowly. Appliances are getting delivered next week, cabinets two weeks after that, things are starting to shape up, so I called the gas company to find out when our gas service would be installed… “Early June.” I was warned that the gas company a) takes forever and b) just generally […]
When not to DIY
Everything with the house is two steps forward one step back. We took out the hot water heater and I went to replace the rotten subfloor below it. In theory this is a fairly straightforward process. Remove the old plywood, cut new plywood to fit, put new plywood in place. In practice nothing ever goes […]
More Backsplash Colors
Following up on yesterday’s backsplash indecision: I found some more ideas I liked and mocked them up in SketchUp. SketchUp continues to be a rather poor way to visualize these things, but it’s all I’ve got so I make do. I found this tile on Pinterest and fell in love with it: Once again the […]
Ordering Cabinets, Appliances, and Picking Backsplash Colors
On Tuesday I went to Ikea before work to order cabinets. I wanted to go in the morning during the week because I know that with the current sale the place is a total zoo on the weekends. I also was warned that ordering Ikea cabinets is not a fast process, and to allow about […]