11.5 months later...

Steph and I are happy to report that the crown mouldings have been installed! After 11.5 months, the kitchen is now officially complete!

I'm just happy to have an excuse to write another blog post. I sort of missed the self-endulgent newscasting night after night, but somehow this doesn't feel fair. I didn't do anything this time. Steph's other friend (not also named Steph) installed them and did a great job! Maybe that's what it means to move up in the world. Stuff gets done while you sit on the couch, but then you get to brag about it.

At least this is proof that the sink didn't fall through the counter, the cabinets stayed on the wall and doors didn't fall off, right? I regularly ask Steph if all of these things are still in place. 

Well it's been a hoot. If anyone knows anyone who needs a new kitchen built from scratch for free, just send them my way. J-U-S-T  K-I-D-D-I-N-G.

Here is a goodie of Steph and I enjoying not working on the kitchen a year later. 

Holy Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we have a kitchen!

I have good news for all of you stephsfirstkitchen followers out there (and especially good news for both Stephs). We have a kitchen! 

Yesterday I boarded a plane home to Toronto approximately 75 minutes after driving the last screw into the kitchen. Packing was frantic, and driving was reckless. 

Here I am on the plane trying to figure out what the hell just happened:

I didn't even have time to shower. I literally emptied my drawers, cleared the top of my dresser straight into my bag and ran out the door. Picture drug dealers banging on the door because you owe them money you don't have. It was like that except I escaped from the front door instead of the bathroom window. 

Before you get your hopes up, let me say that there are a couple of things that were not completed due to severe time constraints, but their absence does not detract from the essence of the kitchen. Therefore, to my mind, the kitchen is complete. Steph will get that stuff done in the next couple of weeks and I will post a follow-up post. 

The first thing left incomplete were the crown mouldings. Holy Jesus, Mary and Joseph, those things are a mind bomb when you are running on empty and it's 6 o'clock the night before you have to be finished the kitchen. Just look at the confusion in my face (not to mention the endless number of cuts I made trying to understand what exactly I was doing - I never did understand).

Instead I gave up. I think that's the first thing I actually gave up on over the course of this whole project. I figured it was one of those standard jobs that an experienced finishing carpenter could do MUCH faster than me (by the way, props to the finishing carpenters out there who can do crown moulding - I underestimated the skill - and yes I googled how to cut it, but it still wasn't easy). Also, it isn't something that requires our vision, so I decided Steph could hire someone to do it later.

The other things left undone were painting and one light fixture.

So without further ado...let me talk about the last few days. (I wish I could truly create suspense, but I know you can just scroll down and see the final result)

I believe it was Sunday morning that I woke up to find frost on the back deck. Shudder. Our outdoor workspace was going to be slippery and cold! Why was this our fate?

But wait it gets better. Check out our fate on Monday morning - the last day in April!

Let's recap here. Steph was on call Friday night (that's an 8am to 8am shift), she then returns home to work a 12-hour day in the kitchen on Saturday (see previous blog post), after which she is on call once more on Sunday. This picture was taken on Monday morning - our last day to work on the kitchen before I leave - and Steph is going to pull ANOTHER 12-hour day. And it snowed. Bravo Steph.

The only way to combat this impending hell was to make a list that made us laugh:

Get it? Both our names are Steph! Haha. That still makes us laugh even though we have known each other for 7 years.

Here is Steph at the end of the day on Monday:

Here we are both, looking pretty overwhelmed, sad, exhausted, etc. (that's Em in the back doing dishes):

But guess what? It was ALL worth it! Now we have a brand new, ready-to-use, kitchen. Ta-daaa!

(I photoshopped the wall colour and light fixture into the picture - but that part under the light fixture should be white, I just didn't have the PS skills to do it)

It's not even that bad without the crown moulding, and a spitting image of my original 3D computer rendering:

So here is the BEFORE AND AFTER montage you've been waiting for:

Ok, enough of the befores. Here are some more details that didn't seem as interesting before:

I took these pictures in a mad rush. 

And of course, this is me "after". Sitting on the couch, maxin' and relaxin' today after a long push.

Hooray! Stay tuned for the even more completed kitchen when Steph sends pictures.

Another 12-hour day

So, here's my advice: don't give yourself 6 weeks to build a kitchen. Make it more. UNLESS you have the following things: a shop with tools (throughout the duration of the whole project), a helper (throughout the duration of the whole project), or a desire to hate life for 6 weeks (well maybe just the last 4).

I have approximately 65 hours left in Newfoundland, but I am still keeping my fingers crossed (aka working my ass off) that I will be able to see some semblance of a finished product before I leave. I also think Steph might appreciate it too.

The good news is that we are at this stage:

Not bad...still have upper trim, grouting, gables, baseboards, hardware.....etc. etc...oh and Electric Dave is coming in on Monday, so we will no longer need to look at those saggy lights in front of the window.

E-Dave also needs to install the hood-vent.

The old hispter coffee station is looking A LOT more yuppy. Steph finished all the tiling today. She was on call last night and is on call again tomorrow and she STILL managed to squeeze in a 12-hour day to work on the kitchen.

There are still a lot of filler strips to install. Also, the butcher block is upside for oiling, hence the imperfections.

This list is stressing me out...let me talk about what I don't have to do again.

Here's what we did today:

I laid out all of the doors to spray. Then the sprayer didn't work, so we painted the doors with a roller. I DO NOT recommend this. The finish is less that ideal and it takes FOREVER!

At the beginning...

Near the end.

Notice the change in temperature, light and general happiness.

Oh this was fun. We decided the butcher block needed sanding at 10pm and Steph is on call tomorrow, so it had to be done tonight because I need help moving it.

On to the final push!

Almost there!

Have you ever seen Steph look so excited?

This is right before she tiles behind the stove. Who wouldn't be excited?

Heavy concentration to nip those tiles.

Final product before grout! (And before the rest of the backsplash gets tiled)

Steph also finished all of the framing and strapping for the "addition". We'll drywall it as soon as Electric Dave installs the pot lights in the bulkhead.

In the meantime I sanded many many doors. Not much to show for it, but just wait for tomorrow for your mind to be blown. The doors are really the piece of resistance, as they say in French.

Here I am drilling the pockets for the Euro hinges with a drill...on the deck...using my feet as clamps. Very professional.

This took me approximately 30 minutes for 15 doors. With a drill press it would take me about 3 minutes AND my drill wouldn't be recovering in the ICU with a Forstner-induced coma. I'll try to go easy on her tomorrow, but she's pretty vital at this stage.

Hey, notice anything different in the picture below? Notice the not-hideous new fridge!?

Recall the old fridge:

What a piece of garbage! Steph doesn't understand why I hate it so much, but I really do. In fact, when it arrived a few weeks ago, I was really saddened by its short, boxy demeanour. To tell you the truth, I thought it would ruin the whole look of this kitchen. You can't tell in the picture, but it is also encased in what looks like a heavily textured skin rash. Superficiality aside, the freakin' fridge doesn't come with a freezer shelf! Look at the size of that freezer! Now picture opening it. Now picture all of the stuff in your freezer falling out onto the floor. Now imagine that some of the bags in your freezer aren't closed and that some of those bags contain blueberries. What a disaster. All to say, Steph leveraged the freezer shelf issue to get a new fridge, and I was very very thankful that the fridge didn't come with a freezer shelf.

Anyway...here is where we are at with the kitchen. Completion is imminent. (Except for Steph's "addition", we will not make any promises about that. And by "we", I mean "I").