Part 17 - Cabinets

The cabinets arrived on Monday, and the guys didn't waste any time getting them installed.  They are 36" cherry with a cranberry stain and black glaze.  The drawers have self closing hardware which is nice feature.  We opted for cherry to provide a nice contrast with the light pine ceiling.

Here's what the crown molding will look like once it's installed and dusted :)

Here's a shot of the 2'x4' island still in the box.

We haven't decided on the counter top yet. We will likely hold off on a decision until after the tile flooring is installed so that we can choose something that coordinates.

Part 16 - Tile options

When we started this project I had envisioned using hardwood flooring for a big portion of the house.  People that live in the area started telling us that we were crazy to use hardwood.  The soil in the area is very sandy, so sand would be constantly be coming into the house.  Sand + hardwood doesn't make a very good combination.  It took some convincing, but I finally agreed.  We decided to go with tile instead.

The tile stores near the house consist of Home Depot and a couple of smaller tile/carpet shops.  We were looking for 16x16 tile, so that limited the selection even further.  I started out looking for tile in the Twin Cities to try to get an idea for price.  After nearly a million trips to tile stores, I came across an 18x18 discontinued tile at Home Depot that I really liked.  The price was right and the color was nice.  We called the Home Depot closest to the job site, and of course they didn't have any.  The closest store was 70 miles away and they only had 350 sq/ft, but we needed ~500 sq/ft.  We decide to buy what they had and pick up the rest in the cities.

At the store they wrapped up the 19 cases and my dad took them home.  When he unpacked them he discovered that 8 of the 19 cases were damaged.  Every tile in 8 of the cases were cracked.  Apparently a fork lift driver dropped them or something.  He called the store and they agreed to take back all of the tile (at the original store 70 miles away).  We took this as a sign that maybe we needed to look for a different tile.

Hopefully we'll find something soon, because we were hoping to start tiling next week.

  

Part 15 - Paint

Lots of progress since the last update. Check out the pictures below:

Guest bedroom (above) - Living Room (Below)

The picture below is a view of the kitchen and hallway leading to the back of the house.  The walls are primed and the tongue and groove pine ceiling is installed.

Here are some shots of the finished paint.  The pine ceiling also has 3 coats of poly.  The color is Glidden summer sandcastle.

Painting the closet.  Looks like fun.

View of the kitchen.

TOSCA Kitchen Faucet Giveaway

Interested in a fancy new faucet? If so head over to the One Project Closer blog for your chance to win one. All you need to do is post a comment in the article for a chance to win a TOSCA kitchen faucet valued at $129.24.The blog features a variety of helpful home improvement ideas along with a bunch of useful product comparisons.

Part 14 - Ready to tape

With the drywall installed, the interior is coming together nicely. Everything has been cleaned up and they are ready for the taper to come this week. The timing is perfect since the carpenter\contractor (my dad) is on vacation this week.

Choosing the cabinets has proven to be one of the most difficult decision thus far. After much debate, we finally settled on cherry cabinets with an island. We thought that cherry would bust our budget, but by choosing an affordable door style we were able to keep the cost down significantly. We settled on a cranberry color with a black glaze which should provide a nice contrast to the light pine ceiling. We still need to pick out the countertop and flooring for the kitchen/dining room. We plan to use tile, but we haven't decided on the size/color as of yet.

The photo above is a view of the entry way into the house from the garage. We ended up making this area a bit larger than we had originally planned. Opposite of the door is a large coat closet. The entryway leads into the laundry\mud room.

Here's a view from the end of the hall looking toward the front of the house. The master bedroom and bath are on the right, and the guest bedroom and mud room are on the left.

Here's a view of the living room from the kitchen. You can see that the pine ceiling hasn't been installed yet. The front door in the picture is a temporary construction door. The real door has a glass insert which should provide some additional light. The area for the fireplace has been roughed in. We plan to install a 36"x31" electric fireplace with a stone surround. The area above the fireplace is wired/framed to support a large flat panel TV. We shifted the living room window to the left to give the home owner a place for an small entertainment center next to the fireplace.

The large closet at the end of the hall will house the structured wiring. The house has been pre-wired for ethernet and coax. I will be installing a patch panel once the closet has been painted.

This is a view of the kitchen from the dining room. The window will be above the sink.