Granite & Stainless Steel1

Granite tile countertops are 90% complete, the tile backsplash in the kitchen is started, looks so cool! Sunday was the last day of the appliance sale, so we purchased a stainless refrigerator and range and a black dishwasher to match.  They will be delivered on Feb 8, sounds like perfect timing to me.

Wood and tile installers will be working Monday, should see some real progress now.  Garage door guy coming Tuesday, the garage door goes up but not down!  That won't do!

More later, busy week ahead

Now for the fun part! Putting things back together

Well, Aurora house is finished, talking to cleaning crew tomorrow AM.  The new faucets, fans are installed, someone is going to get an awesome house with a beautiful view of the golf course!

On to the next golf course (gee,maybe we should golf, spending alot of time there)  at Firestone house, the wood flooring installation started today. Dave went over and finished cleaning up tonight , putting all the construction trash, etc in the trailer for transport to the garbage.  Tile guys are MIA today, so our wood guy started without them!  The wood floor looks awesome, so far even!  Granite on counters so cool, can't wait. Found a great deal on a floor model dishwasher last night, the first thing on this project that was less than was budgeted!  Picked out the other appliances,  will purchase this weekend.  Still lots to do to make our February deadline!  More next time.....

Granite and other issues!

Saturday was spent getting the cabinets ready for the granite tiles, squaring up and building the decking with concrete board, as our installer said, it will be good for another 20+ years+!+ House was built in 1983, things have changed and we are going cutting edge!  \The new interior light fixtures are installed in Kitchen and both bathrooms,  the bronze track lighting in the kitchen looks so much better than the fluorescent!  Tile should be finished by Wednesday.  Our wood installation will be around then also.

On the Aurora house, the wood is installed, Monday he should finish up the quarter round baseboard and the carpet will be installed.  I bought a warm silver chandelier light fixture for the formal dining room today, and we added an outdoor fan for the huge outdoor porch/living area which overlooks the golf course.  Hope to get them installed sometime this week and get the bathroom hardware installed, and house should be back on the market by next week!  Yay!

I hope to have photos soon......

Another Day in DIY Paradise!

On the Aurora house, our wood flooring installer is hard at work, lots of that beautiful handscraped wood to install.  He should finish this week, carpet is due in next week I will go shopping this week for some new faucets to update the bright brass ones there now, and a few new ceiling fans for the guest bedrooms.

On the Firestone house, painters finally finished Saturday.  We bought the granite tiles for the countertops, refinished the existing cabinet hardware, and refinished the existing cabinets.  Hopefully the weather will hold out for the weekend, it was beautiful today, as we need to start work outside.  Our tile installers will start this weekend, floors in both bathrooms, granite tiles for all the countertops.  New light fixtures have been purchased, and we will get them installed this week, also.  The cosmetic touches that make such a difference begin NOW!
As soon as our installer finishes the Aurora house he can start on this one. Can't wait!

Full Steam Ahead! On both Projects!

Well, Dave has been working very hard on both houses this week, and has removed the ceramic tile from two houses.  With his new handy dandy electric tool, he has removed about 800 sq ft of tile since last Friday. Alot of folks say demo is the most fun, not where ceramic tile is concerned!  It is a dusty, dangerous(when the chips fly, they are sharp!) job, but somebody has to do it in order to put down the new floor. He delivered the wood today to the Aurora house to acclimate and will meet the installer over there tomorrow to go over final preparations for installation.  On the Firestone house, the painters should finish tomorrow. This week we will begin all the little jobs, polishing the kitchen cabinets and bath vanities. Painting the hardware, etc.  We will have about a week of that, and then we will start the tile and granite installation. More to come, busy week ahead! Now for the fun part!

Our other Home Transformation, Aurora House

A few months ago, our previous Home Transformation was interrupted when we were about 60% complete because someone wanted to buy it and finish it themselves. Well, it didn't work out so now we get to finish it the right way!  We had already done the hard part, removing dated wallcovering and window treatments, carpet, painted and put porcelain tile in the three bathrooms. Now, new hardwood in the great room area, including a formal dining room, den, living area and foyer. Some of that great Mohawk SmartStrand carpet with a lifetime stain warranty in the bedrooms. New light fixtures in the two bedrooms that we didn't get to before, plus a new dining room chandelier.  The owners are not sure they want to sell it now, so we will be preparing it for sale, or for the homeowners to move back in as their primary residence out of state has sold.

All the bright brass is gone, replaced with soft brushed nickel fixtures.  This was truly a diamond in the rough, and the results are amazing!

Progress on our latest project

Well, the refrigerator has been moved, popcorn is off the ceilings. Tonight the painters are texturing and getting ready to put a fresh new coat of lovely Sherwin Williams Kilim Beige on the walls, Pure White on the Ceiling and woodwork.  We decided to paint the brick fireplace, and it will be a few shades darker, Latte.  Now the fun part is next.  The painters will probably be there for about a week, so I will begin picking the light fixtures, and gathering all the material for the next phase.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, they say that whatever you are doing on New Year's Day, you will be doing throughout the year. I hope so, because we are working on our latest house transformation.  We are taking a small golf course view home that needs TLC and transforming it to an efficient, comfortable and functional home for someone. This weekend we have removed the tired carpeting and vinyl, to be replaced by new hardwood, porcelain tile and carpet. We are transforming a tiny, poorly planned kitchen to an open concept.

Our New Year's Resolution is to update this blog regularly with our progress on this project. We hope to finish by the middle of February, and will be posting pictures in an online album, will post a link shortly for that.  We hope you will follow along, and find some great ideas, as we are doing what we love to do.

Our son, Matt, is a great help in these projects, and is also helping us to open a shutter and blind sales office in the greater Houston Texas area, where he and his family live. More on that later.

Again, Happy New Year and we are looking forward to a great 2011!  2010 was great, 2011 even greater!

See you soon,
Teresa