THE KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!

After being without a proper kitchen for over a year, the pieces are finally coming together and the end is in sight. Electrical and plumbing connections are happening in the next three days and we will soon be able to enjoy the luxuries of a double sink, proper taps, a dishwasher...

Regarding the taps I have posted about the Kohler Karbon set before but the image below shows it in all of its glory. It truly is a unique designed piece.

The Quartz Countertops were installed on Thursday and are as Christy keeps saying the frosting on the cake. The simplicity of the white counters is making us re-think what we want to have as a backsplash.

Missing from this image are the light fixtures for above the breakfast bar. We haven't found the right lamp yet but I am sure we will know when we see it. Does it have a splash of colour? clean lines life the counter, a white shade... only time will tell.

Exterior Finishes

It's not a dramatic change but the cedar style shakes on the top of the "Jetson Wing" almost make the house look smaller. It yet again defines the angles of the house and provides another unique finish on the house. I will have to retake this shot with the sun at a different angle.

Below the red barn is taking on some colour. The red siding will eventually wrap around the full of the house but for now this is it. The transition between the siding and the shakes is on the second floor only.

Finally below is a close up that removes the brightness of the sun so you can see the full colour of the siding materials..

Bedroom No 3 - The Home Gym

The last flooring material went in this week - 3/8" Replay Rubber Sports Flooring from Johnsonite. It is a 24" x 24" interlocking tile that fits together like a puzzle. Joshua enjoyed putting the floor down - though all the puzzle pieces came together the same way. The floor is comfortable on the feet and will be a great floor for working out on.

Below is a close up of the floor.

Water Leak fixed

Turns out the drain to the tub was not tightened 100%. Go figure, why would we want to tighten it all the way. Much more fun to the homeowner when water presents itself where it isn't supposed to!! We now have a new access panel in the back of Sarah's closet so that we can access the tub drain as required (hopefully never).

Upstairs bath tub, Downstairs shower

The upstairs bath tub is in. The tiles are set and grouted, the floor is finished, cabinets installed, toilet works... WE ARE READY!!! Only issue now is that when the water is run in the bath you can have a shower in the Kitchen below. Is it because the drain is not connected? Did one of the water lines come loose? Is a connection not set? Only way to find out is to rip open the walls and take a look. Ideally it is the drain as we can access that from the Bedroom closet behind. If it is a pipe connection - that means that we have to rip up the tiles and redo the bath tub.

I am not impressed.

Upstairs Bathroom

This is it - Phase I must be livable this week. We are having company from Calgary this weekend and the Bathroom and guest rooms MUST BE READY. Not like adding additional stresses and pressure to a project that has taken extra time already. Today the tile installer was here until 9:00 pm trying to get the last tiles in the bathroom so he could grout tomorrow. He didn't make it but came close. The results are spectacular - and this is the KIDS bathroom! When we redo the main bathroom we will have to find something as flashy. A picture is worth a 1000 words so I'll quit typing and let you look!

Full bath - it is 36" wide and 5'-6" long. A typical tub is 30" wide and 5'-0" long. It is also 18" deep - a few inches deeper than a regular tub.

We also have the full 8'-0" height in the tub area itself. There is a little black dot (or what looks like a dot) where the shower head will come out. This is at the 6'-6" height.

Originally the wall behind the toilet was just to be painted. When we found this wall tile however the decision was to TILE THE ENTIRE WALL. It really makes a statement.

This final shot looks back at the vanity counter and you can see all of the colours and finishes in the room. The tile just ties everything together.

Kitchen

It's the final push but as always this feels like it will never be completed. We will be celebrating the 1 year anniversary of starting the demolition and 9 months of actual renovations. It is amazing what happens when you have Contractor issues..

The kitchen is almost completed. We are waiting on the Quartz countertops right now. The company was supposed to have someone out to template the base cabinets last week but their installer had an accident so it has screwed up the time lines. I am hoping that today or tomorrow might still happen but we shall see. It won't take long once they template things, it is just the wait on this.

In the meantime everything is coming together in the kitchen. The flooring went in on Tuesday, the rest of the pieces (handles glass doors valance etc) should be done this week. Then we wait until the counter. Until then...