I haven't forgotten about this!

The Kitchen remodel is still putting along.  I didn't post for a long time because most of the work that was done was little stuff (like finishing the sheet rock behind the fridge, removing cabinet doors, etc.) that wasn't really interesting.  Now, we are finally in the homestretch.

The kitchen was painted a couple of weeks ago and it didn't go swimmingly.  I think perhaps my expectations were too high, you be the judge.

When it came to painting the cabinets, I decided to call in an expert for a few reasons.  First, I know how long it takes me to paint and I knew that a professional could get the job done more quickly.  Second, I wanted the super smooth finish of an airless sprayer.  These tools are awesome pieces of equipment that require experience (that I don't have) to operate.  Third, by the time I rented all of the tools and masked everything off, it would be worth my time and money just to hire someone.

Expectations:  I got a couple of estimates from guys with good reputations. (All of the painting done on my house had been performed by me up to this point so I had to rely on other people's experiences for guidance.)  I ended up hiring the less expensive guy because he was more confident that he could get to me in less than 6 weeks.  (Apparently the painting business is good right now.)  I expected the results to be better than something I could have done myself.  I expected a near flawless, glossy, smooth finish.  I expected that they would do all of the necessary prep work (which I had pretty much spelled out when the estimates were written).  I expected the job to take about 3 days (less than 8-hour days) of work.

In order to avoid going into every detail, they didn't prep nearly as thoroughly as I do, used equipment that was in need of repair and consequently had to basically start all over.  They had to sand through the paint, primer and previous finish to get down to bare wood in many spots because they hadn't prepared the surface properly.  The work took over a week to get finished because of all of the extra work that had to be done.  The cabinets didn't come out as well as I had hoped.  I am now having to come behind and touch up (something I was really hoping to avoid.)

Things the painter did right: he was good about staying in touch with me and communicating his plan.  He never ducked my phone calls and was professional about everything.  In the end he knocked $100 off of his original estimate because he was disappointed in how the job went.  I'm pretty sure he ended up losing money on the job as a result.

Is this a case of if you want the job done right, do it yourself?  Should I have used a different painter?  Should my expectations have been less lofty?  The short of it is that I have been mulling this over for a while and I still don't know.  Everybody has a bad day, I know that.  This guy didn't react badly when things didn't go his way,  which is something that many contractors do.  He lowered the price in the end because he knew that he and I were both disappointed in the job.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he also painted the sheet rock I had just finished, the trim I had just installed, the pocket door to the laundry room and the sheetrock on the bar/peninsula; all things that were not included in the estimate.  Also, don't get me wrong, the pictures will look good.  The flaws are relatively small but numerous and noticeable close up.

By the way, I'm better at finishing sheet rock that I thought.  It did take me considerably longer than it would a professional, though.

Don't forget to check out the pictures on Picasa.

First major delay...

Well, I guess it was bound to happen, we have hit our first setback.  Sure, we have had little bumps here and there, but this is a guaranteed, one-week set back.

When you are reflooring the spine of your ranch-style home, there are lots of things that you have to prepare for.  We will have to spend a couple of nights out of the house so that the tile can set.  We can't stay here because we wouldn't be able to get to a bathroom.  One of the other little things is that our washer and dryer have to be moved.  In preparation for this task, I did a massive amount of laundry yesterday so that anything we could possibly need would be clean and available.  There were a few other things to do before calling the tile mason to get him out here.  One of these tasks was installing a lower cabinet that we have had for a couple of weeks now.  When I went to set it in place, it was a half inch too short.  The cabinet guy didn't account for the overhang of the Formica (yes, it is technically a proper name) countertop when he measured the cabinets.  Now I have to get it back to him so that he can take the front face apart and make two new stiles and a new bottom rail.  Although this will probably not take more than an hour or two, it is not his main line of work, and I have to get it to Ponchatoula via Plaquemine (he's a coworker of Jenny).  I realized the mistake yesterday, will get the cabinet to him tomorrow, he will fix it over the weekend and get it back to Jenny on Monday.  This means the earliest possible day to start the tile is next Tuesday.

I guess I have to do another round of laundry.  Oh well.

In another matter, I also realized that installing the cabinet would cover up the receptacle that was previously used for the refrigerator.  After brainstorming a bit with Nathan over the phone, we realized that the refrigerator was probably on a dedicated circuit and that I could use that wiring to install two new receptacles in the backsplash on that wall.  I am really glad that this thought occurred to us.  That wall would have had no receptacles if it wasn't for that epiphany.  I also used the 220-volt circuit that previously powered the oven to create a 110-volt outlet for the new refrigerator, thus creating a new dedicated circuit to power the new refrigerator.  It blows my mind that so far Beau the electrician has fared better than Beau the plumber, but c'est la vie.

In other news, Jenny and I went appliance shopping (success) and countertop shopping (abysmal failure) on Monday.  Jenny gets a discount on Whirlpool family appliances through work, and we managed to get a locally-owned appliance store (which I have worked with in the past) to give us very competitive prices.  We will probably end up purchasing the appliances through the local guys because they have a good service department, the sales people have been very nice and helpful, and it never hurts to support a local business, right?  Here's our dilemma: we are looking at two gas slide-in ranges.  They are both good units that retail around the same price point.  The one that we both really like is the slightly more expensive one (obviously because otherwise there would be no dilemma).  The slightly less expensive one we can purchase for around $1500; it retails for $2049.  The one we really like is $2199 and there is no haggling or deal-making to be done.  The manufacturer forces its retailers to sell it for the price they set.  This means it is the same price everywhere (even on the internet).  So, if it were a matter of $150, it would be no contest.  $700 on the other hand, is a pretty nice chunk of change.  Advice/Donations are welcome.

Progress is being made

Sorry for two posts in one day, but they are pretty unrelated and occurred days apart but didn't get blogged about because things have been a little hectic.

Sunday afternoon Nathan and I set about modifying the cabinets to suit our new kitchen plan.  We will be installing a slide-in range where the cooktop previously resided.  In order to make this happen, we needed to cut the 30" hole in the cabinets where the range will go and then remodel the remaining cabinets on either side.  

I removed the cooktop right before Nathan arrived.  First, we set about removing some of the Formica countertop.  Nathan hates Formica.  I only included this because I think this fact came up about 2 dozen times.  It was removed pretty much without incident.  

The next step was to cut the cabinets.  We brainstormed a little bit and then came up with a system/jig to promote straight cutting and clean edges for our cuts.  The cuts were made with a circular saw, which worked well except that you can't cut all the way to the floor with a circular saw.  The front edge of the blade is recessed a few inches short of the front of the tool.  

As we had anticipated this problem, I borrowed a handy tool from Mr. James to help us out.  If you are into home improvement or tools in general, one of the new tools to hit the market is these little oscillating multi-tools.  You'll see commercials where they use them for cutting, scraping, sanding, etc.  The often have a little triangle-shaped sanding pad or other attachment affixed to the front.  This is one of those tools that is a jack-of-all-trades and master of none.  I dare say that there is a better sanding tool, scraping tool, and cutting tool out there, but this little guy is mighty handy.  He allowed us to cut pretty much whatever we wanted, wherever we wanted.  We used him to cut a lot of parts that were hard to get to.

We then set about building the end pieces for the new cabinets.  We used a table saw that I had been given a while back but never really used.  The next part is really a bit embarrassing.  The saw was not cutting very well and creating a bunch of smoke.  Twenty minutes or so into using it, Jenny rolls up and says: "Um, is the blade on backwards?"  Yes, yes it was.  It is really annoying when engineers do that.  90% of the time they make the job harder than it has to be, ask 1400 questions and provide little to no help.  This time, Jenny was absolutely right and we hadn't even considered that particular source of our troubles.  TO OUR CREDIT, the blade was installed backwards when it was given to me.

After flipping the blade around, the saw worked much better and without smoking us out from the burning plywood.  Ugh.

Anyway, after an hour or so of ripping down plywood on the table saw, we had the sides and stiles cut for the cabinet.  I have to finish nailing it all together since the hardware store was closed by the time we got to that step.  All in all, it was a very productive day and Nathan was once again quite helpful.  

I uploaded a few new pictures to the Kitchen Remodel album on picasa (link on the right.)