Kitchen Cabinets part 1

 For this project, we hired a real professional cabinet maker to work with our son. That way we could do a custom kitchen but cut costs a bit. It was a blessing throughout this house build to find pros who were happy and willing to help us learn.

Cabinet bases. 

Our in-house carpenter working on the cabinet backing. 

The pesky corner cabinet. I decided against a lazy Susan corner because it promotes dropped-and stuck items. We'll just put in special sliders so we can access the back.

Mr. Fix-It 

We bought higher quality plywood and really good hardwood for the trim or faces (I forget the term now), but as the kitchen is heavily used it was important to have durable materials. This was one reason we went with DIY with the kitchen cabinets. No MDF backings here.

It was about this time, in looking at the excellent job that had been done, that we suddenly realized that due to some hiccup in the plan markings, the cabinets were all built to standard size. We had actually intended to have extra-deep cabinets. Our sink purchase and other items were drawn our for the extra-deep cabinets, so that meant some adjustments for the rest of the kitchen. It also meant more work, which would not be welcome news. We managed to retain our carpenter despite this news (whew!). You have to be careful with these in-house construction guys; they might go off and get paying jobs and then there goes your best help. 

On our way to a real kitchen at last. 

Sorta Moved In...

 Let me wrap up the year of Construction photos I have been posting... it has taken me so long to blog all this that I am quite behind!

There came a point at the end of that year where the major structure was done, wall board up, flooring up, electricity and plumbing mostly done. Most of the light fixtures were in, smoke alarms installed. We lacked built-ins, floor trim, shelving, and some doors. The bathrooms were in progress; the kitchen one big bare room waiting for cabinets. 

The "living room" was really just the garage. 

But on the other side we carved out some civilization in the dining room!

We had a temporary kitchen set up in the laundry room including a fridge. We had heat in the house, lights in the house, and spent most of the day in the house doing school and work. It just made sense when it was below freezing outside to plop a sleeping mat on a nice, warm floor in a structure that had 8" of insulation. The RV was handy for hot showers, but I wasn't going to haul dishes down there anymore. I boiled water for dishes and put my washtub in the laundry room sink. 

Home sweet RV was fast being abandoned to memory...

Another Crazy Idea

While floors were being tiled, kitchen cabinets planned out, and work deadlines were being met, time marched on. It was yet another winter and another Christmas was coming soon. My husband and I went to the Big City to get some presents for the children. 

We shouldn't have done it. 

We "enable" each other when we do Christmas shopping together. This time turned out to be the worst "enabling" yet. 

We did have a list; as a matter of fact one of our children wanted to learn to play the piano so we already had a portable keyboard in mind from a craigslist ad. It would be small, lightweight, and have headphones so he would not bother anyone when he played it. With construction still going on at the house, it was important that we did not bring in "clutter" or big items that would be unmovable or in the way all the time. We lived without furniture for that reason. 

On the way to pick up some other items, we stopped in at ReStore to look at appliances.

 

It was so small, so sweet in tone. We don't need it. But wouldn't it make us happy? We don't need it. Walk past it. Walk past it again. Oh look, it fits in the van...

Yes, we knew it was a bad idea to put a piano on its back. We risked it.

Yes it was also a bad idea to put a Costco haul on the piano that was on its back. We risked it. Later we put that craigslist plastic keyboard on top of all this, too. The seller said "You shouldn't have a piano laying on its back like that." We know; we risked it.

Our older boys never knew what they were going to have to haul up the three-story driveway by hand. In the dark, too. 

A piano at a construction site... just another one of our crazy ideas. 

Master Bath Hexagons

Upstairs in the master suite, we went fancy. We chose a hexagon tile for a vintage look, throwing another "learning curve" at our handy tile-guy.

First, the Tile Guy had to level the space.

 Then, he had to fit the tile. The little tiles come on a mesh, but there are all kinds of spaces to work around and special shapes that need to be cut. 

There is always a "dry run" that you have to do to make sure it will all fit and lay the way it is supposed to. 

Then it is mudding, setting (or whatever they call it!) and trying to get it level. These little tiles were harder to get perfectly flat than the big ones! 

Light grey grout finished it up. I really like this floor! It is beautiful and brightens the room.