The Kitchen Continues

After concentrating solely on the bathroom the past week or so, it was finally time to try to take the kitchen the rest of the way. We needed a carpenter for the crown molding, as we couldn't get it up fitting just right and didn't want to risk ruining the molding. It took about 4 hours or so to get it all up by a professional, so it likely would have been twice that for us. I'm really happy with how it came out though.

We also mounted up the rest of the cabinet doors. The glass door cabinet's shelves were surprisingly a pain to get in.

I also put up the hanging light above the kitchen sink. Unfortunately it uses "candelabra" lights, which of course no one would keep handy. I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks lit up.

Finally, and probably the biggest piece of progress, is I picked up a few of the countertops. I went with Absolute Black granite. We cut them ourselves to save cash, and as it turns out the granite really isn't that expensive, almost all of the big expense in getting granite put in is the labor. We only got some of them up, but I'm pleased with how everything looks

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Bathroom updates

A lot of good progress this weekend in the bathroom. All the grouting was finished, which is a huge relief. I chose to use an epoxy grout, which is impenetrable and maintenance free, it never has to be sealed. The problem is that you have to be careful using it to make sure no residue is left anywhere, because after 24 hours it basically becomes permanent. Luckily I didn't have any issues.

I also picked up a Kohler toilet that was on sale at Home Depot. There is new trim on the floor, and new heating covers on the baseboard heaters. I straightened out the fins so hopefully it will keep it pretty warm in there. Also began the installation of the shower fixtures. That's a pretty simple job, but I didn't want to make a 5th trip to Home Depot for the day for the missing part that was needed.

Shower tiling finished

The tiling is finished in the shower. I put an accent row in of smaller porcelain tiles to break up the 20"x20" porcelain tiles on the rest of the walls. There was an unlevel area, and using the big tiles would have been difficult, so it was as much for function as it was for aesthetics. I'm happy with how it came out. Now onto the big project of grouting this with my first try at epoxy grout.

Bathroom floor tiled

The bathroom floor has been tiled. I can't say how glad I almost all of the tiling is done in the house now. All that is left is the entrance way to the house, which isn't a big area. Now all that's left for the floors is to grout them, but I'll be waiting to do it all at once with the shower.

Shower Tile Started

Bathroom updates

It's time to start tiling. The sheet rock is all in place, joint compound applied and sanded, and Redguard rolled on to waterproof the shower.

Tree Removal

Time to get rid of some trees that were hanging over my roof, and make the yard a little bigger. My insurance company had me in a higher premium because of potential branches coming down on/through my roof. I had four trees total removed, including one big oak on the side of the garage that isn't pictured.