Sofie's Tricks. And Fears.

Sofie attempts to overcome her fear of the camera while completing feats of wisdom and dexterity.

New Roof

We replaced the roof on our turret thingy. The shingles were literally (and I mean literally literally, not literally figuratively) disintegrating. We also got a new gutter on the back and some chimney caps. Looks like a real house now, eh?

For anyone in need of a new roof in the DC area, I fully recommend Adam's Roofing at 703.392.9091.

Ireland

We went to Ireland and Scotland for Annie's spring break. See pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035516&id=27001092&l=401b56f5da

It's a girl!

Dog, that is. Her name is Sofie. She's a border collie mix and is pretty much the best dog ever. See?

Kitchen Remodel

In November of 2008, we took on our biggest remodel project to date: the kitchen. Our old kitchen featured an odd, inefficient layout, cabinet doors that wouldn't open, a washer/dryer, and tile countertops that couldn't be cleaned. Our mission was to rip out and replace everything... and do most of the work ourselves. More pictures of the house's original condition.

We started by sketching out ideas for what our new kitchen might look like. The big challenges in the design phase were finding a way to remove the washer and dryer from the kitchen and moving the other appliances around for optimal cooking efficiency. Below is our old floor plan followed by a floor plan that closely resembles the one we chose to build (except for the location of the W/D and fridge will later be switched).

Demolition started in early November with the removal of portions of the tile. I tried to keep as much of the kitchen in tact for as long as possible. Eventually, the countertops had to be removed, followed by the cabinets.

After demo, I got to work building our two biggest enhancements (outside of new cabinets, countertops, etc): the bar, and the wall that separates the W/D from the kitchen. The picture to the left shows both. You can also see the original color of the kitchen (pinkish?).

Building the bar was an interesting learning experience. It involved far more than just framing a knee wall. I installed 3 new electrical outlets, and moved the gas line to run through there (our new kitchen design has the oven against the peninsula). Another related project was installing the vent shaft and venting fan for the new downdraft oven. We had a brick guy come and punch a hole in the wall and install the outside vent. I ran the remainder of the duct to the location of the fan and hooked it all up.

After that, it was time to put in the tile. Not at all my favorite part of the remodel, but I think it turned out alright. There's a few uneven spots I'm not happy with, but no one else seems to notice.

Cabinet installation was next! Turns out it's not impossible or unreasonable to install cabinets yourself. Not sure I'd call it easy, though. By the way, we went with a chocolate stained Cherry wood for our cabinets. Installation was relatively smooth. I only ripped them out and put them back again about 4 times before I was happy with how level it was. Things are a little bit more difficult to make square and level in our 100 year old house.

We had the counter top company install our granite counter for us. That's a little much for me. And after that, I got to put back the appliances and we had a working kitchen! I still had a lot of finishing up to do, but eventually I got it done. We had a kitchen warming get-together in mid-February. Only took 3 months!

For those interested, we started with a crazy, unrealistic budget of 10K for everything (cabinets, counter, floor, installation, and oven [we already had a new dishwasher and fridge]). When we went to see our cabinet people, I could tell the saleswoman tried not to laugh. But, after some negotiations and doing most of the work ourselves, we got it close. Still haven't tallied the final numbers, but it looks like our total cost was right around 14K. Finished product: