The tile and finishing cosmetic touches...

Ok so 3 weeks later and we've finally got the tile in/grouted/caulked/sealed, the ceiling fixed & painted, the walls painted, the quarter-round/toe-kicks on the bottom of the cabinets, the crown molding back up at the ceiling, the floorboards in the couple missing spots, and now all that's left is to clean!!!  So here go the pictures in order of oldest to most recent.  BUT FIRST, a couple funny pictures of Rob/Chris/Me from the demo that I didn't find until now:

Ok now onto the real photos.  First up, the tile selection.  This is the tile we decided on, these are from tileshop.com - I asked for a 15% discount (to match lowes) and they obliged.

Now the fun starts.  I hired somebody to install the tile for me, being that it was the last cosmetic piece and I didn't want to screw it up, and I wanted it done within a week, this seemed like a logical choice.  He did a great job, here's some pics (you can see some backboard that was used wherever we didn't have drywall - it was just broken up plaster before... as well as some of the ceiling patching here too):

Then the grout was in. Also some primer starting here:

And finally.... here we are!  Not clean yet though.  Sorry, I tried to organize these in order from left to right, but Blogger.com is the worst. thing. ever.  I got it in a right to left then back to left to right, as best as I could.

And there ya have it.

Counters first look - anndddd we're up and running

The counters came in about a week ago.  They look great.  Green Gold was the color, they are granite.  The countertop guys literally installed it in about an hour with 3 guys, and did a pretty solid job doing it.  Here are some pics.

Next thing to do is get the plumbing and electric hooked up for the dishwasher, sink, and stove.  The stove was super easy, just a 1/2" flex hose connection to what the plumber had roughed in already - they sell them at lowes/etc.

The dishwasher and sink I had a plumber take care of, along with the disposal.  Again, fairly simple, but leaking water is something I didn't want to deal with.

After he was finished, I terminated the wiring onto the dishwasher, and installed a switch for the disposal, and all is good to go, here's the final product:

Now, it's all cosmetics after this, finally, here's the to do list:

1. Install the tile backsplash.
2. Prime and paint the walls after tiles are picked out.
3. I have some rehab to do on the ceiling, then prime and paint that as well.
4. Quarter round at the base of the cabinets.
5. CLEAN.

But, the kitchen is officially usable!

More sweet home renno blogging

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http://andigal321.blogspot.com/

Microwave and Dishwasher

Mounting the microwave, let me tell you, you wouldn't think the tiny little bracket that is supplied with the thing would hold the microwave up, but it does a good job.  It's actually pretty simple: screw into at least one stud, put some toggle nuts into the end of the bracket, and put that bad boy up on the wall.  Two screws into the cabinet stop it from tipping over as well.

I didn't make the screw holes in the cabinet perfectly, so you can see they are a little bit at an angle, but no biggy.

All in all I'd say it looks pretty good.

Also got the dishwasher placed in there.  Take a look at the first pic, you'll see the floor is actually lower where the dishwasher will sit.  So, I drilled a couple of 1x3's into the floor there to shim it up to where the rest of the floor is.

After the counters are installed, I'll wire it up, hook up a few water connections, and call it a day.  Should look good... more pics next week.