Kitchen remodel: Recap

Watch 60 days of work in about 60 seconds by viewing this slide show. Just set the speed to 1 second per frame.

Days 61-62: Kitchen remodel

The kitchen is open for business. We had a big welcoming dinner Saturday night with the Robinwoods. Main course: Curried lamb popsicles, inspired by our favorite restaurant, Vij's in the other Vancouver.


Jack gave it all his stamp of approval.


Erik took our picture as I helped Amy melt some chocolate chips for dessert. Later, after our friends had gone home and everything was cleaned up, I came back downstairs and realized Amy had been sitting in the nook for more than half an hour just gazing around the room, taking it all in. She's happy. Which makes me happy.


We did dinner in tonight. Grilled shrimp pasta and a nice salad. I'll leave any further descriptions of the food to Amy on her blog.



The guys are back tomorrow to do a few final things. Soon, even the Port-a-Potty will be gone from the driveway.

Days 58-60

For all intents and purposes, it's done. Everything is hooked up. The appliances are all in their proper places. Faucet is installed.

The floor, which was resealed today, is curing for 24 hours. We can walk on it in socks tonight and in shoes by tomorrow afternoon.

They'll be back next week to do a few minor things -- some trim pieces, maybe adjusting a few drawers. Meanwhile, we're moving all the dishes and food back in tomorrow, doing some touch-up painting and having dinner at home tomorrow night.

Cheers

R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut

So it goes. Sadly, so it goes. He was my all-time favorite.

" 'God damn it, you've got to be kind.' "
- Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007

Day 57: Kitchen remodel

Lots of progress today. All the appliances are in, which means the living room is clear again. The section of the backsplash by the fridge went up, too. That leaves just a little piece that will go over the sink.


All the lights are up.



Knobs and pulls are in as well. Plus, the furnace is fixed, meaning it won't be 58 degrees inside when we wake up in the morning like it was today.

Tomorrow, we should get the duct work under the stovetop, the trim pieces where the floor meets the baseboard and some other odds and ends. Then faucet and a thorough cleaning Thursday, floor finishing and re-sealing Thursday and Friday. And, if we're lucky, moving back in Saturday.

Sunday dinner, anyone?

Day 56: Kitchen remodel

Good news: The cooktop is now in place, as is the microwave. Also, the plywood that blocked the dining room door for the last two months is gone, so you can walk room to room uninterrupted now. Minus the new fridge still sitting smack in the middle of the living room.



Bad news: Electrical and plumbing still aren't done, a whole lot of other minor work remains for tomorrow ahead of Wednesday's scheduled cleaning. Also, somehow the furnace has been knocked out during the time the new gas line was run to the island. Luckily, it's not all that cold, so the house is tolerable.

Not that I'm getting edgy about Saturday's hoped-for move-in. No, nothing like that at all.

Faith in travel, II

The New York Times has a great story and photos up today (Sunday in the print edition) on Fez, one of our favorite cities from the trip we took about six months ago to Morocco.

It includes this passage:

Fez seems to have stopped marking time several centuries ago (cellphones and occasional soccer jerseys aside). And like the water clock, this mazelike city of minarets, shrouded figures and forgotten passages can seem impossible to decipher — yet tinged with a deep enchantment.

“It’s a mysterious place,” said Abdelfettah Seffar, a craftsman and cultural entrepreneur, as he stood on the roof of a beautiful but dilapidated 18th-century Moorish estate that he is restoring into a vast guesthouse and arts center. “It’s even a mystical place.”

Mysterious and mystical, indeed. Our friend and fellow traveler Jim Torson opened his show of Morocco-inspired paintings last night in Vancouver. It captures about as much of that essence I imagine is possible to do on canvas. (If you're a Vancooterite, or even live just across the river, it's worth a trip to Northbank to check it out. And for those who may have seen his Springbox show in the Pearl last month, I have to say, this one is even better. Many more pieces of his work.)

Nice to catch up with many of our friends from the trip, drink a lot of mint tea, nibble some of Fatna's real Moroccan cookies and do a wee bit of drumming. (Hope there will be more of that as the weather improves.) But the best part, in my book, was seeing so many people pour through the gallery over the course of the night and find connections to that stunning and magical place half a world away, all through the beauty of a Jim's art and Abdul's generosity in putting the trip together in the first place.

Faith in travel

A year ago this week - La Semana Santa, or Holy Week, as it's known here - we were backpacking through Mexico. And a year ago last night - Good Friday - we stood mesmerized among the throngs lining Alcala Street in Oaxaca following the Procession of Silence.

Here's how it looked then:



Makes me wonder how it went last night, in the aftermath of all the unrest that city has seen in the past six months or so. How it looked passing this church, Santo Domingo, which was has been damaged since we were there.

Hope it was as special as last year. Hope some other lucky travelers stumbled into it unknowingly. Hope the pageantry and passion of the place are still creating such wonderful memories.

Day 53: Kitchen remodel

No pics from Friday, but the sink was fully installed (previously it just sat in the hole), the disposal was hooked up and some other minor stuff got done.

Monday and Tuesday should be a blur of activity -- rest of electric, plumbing, cabinetry tweaks, appliance installs and so on before the big cleaning sweep on Wednesday. Then Thursday and Friday are scheduled for floor work -- final patching and staining, followed by two coats of a finish.

This time next week, we hope, to be having breakfast in our kitchen for the first time in a couple of months.

Day 52: Kitchen remodel

Most of the lights are up, as is the grout on the backsplash and the glass doors at the top of the cabinets. Body of the oven went in as well. Rest of the appliances now sit - where else? - smack in the middle of our living room.



Tomorrow, electrical wraps up and plumbing begins.

Day 51: Kitchen remodel

Backsplash is up. Grout goes in and all electrical wraps up tomorrow.

Day 50: Kitchen remodel

Sink and countertops - though still very dusty - are in.


The sink is big and roomy.


Backsplash goes in tomorrow.

Day 49: Kitchen remodel

OK, I've gone back and recounted the days, including the weekends this time around. Although at first I was just counting contractor work days, it's now clear the more important count is D.M.S., or days minus sink. So rather than being Day 38, this is actually Day 49.

Not that anyone in this house is counting.

Nothing today. Counters tomorrow. Pictures soon. After the counters go down, things really should start rolling through quickly to the finish line.