Detour...

After almost four weeks of mudding, sanding, mudding, sanding and more mud and sanding, the walls/ceiling are starting to take shape. Here's a shot of Dad helping out before he got smart and went home. Even an unlimited supply of beer couldn't convice him to stick around for this phase.



The project is starting to look like a room again...not a kitchen yet, but a room.

After getting some primer on the walls, I spent a week preparing the subfloor for tile. Put down 5/8" ply over the original 3/4" T&G subfloor, then 1/4" HardiBacker. 15 sheets of HardiBacker...in thinset. After the first sheet of HardiBacker I realized I was going to need alot more thinset...and a power drill. I also wished I just screwed it directly into the ply. But at that point I was committed and I'm not about taking shortcuts. Oh well, just another trip to "Big Orange." Thanks to the guys at the www.floorstransformed.com forums for great info on preparing a subfloor for tile. Check it out if you are planning to tile.





Not sure how many batches of thinset I mixed, something like seven bags I think.


That bit of open wall is for running the wiring for the floor heat mats which will go down this week.

Now for the detour...
Then after some more thinking and encouragement from a friend, we decided to remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room. I didn't think of it earlier, but I like the idea. It will really open up the kitchen to the rest of the house. I wish I had considered this earlier.... like before the drywall was up!!!

Here is a shot from the dining room before surgery.

Once the wall was down, I needed to reroute the electric which will be a pain now that the drywall is done. Looks like I will have to punch some holes in the ceiling that I just finished....And after...The plan is to put in a compact food service/eating island.

Another roadtrip to IKEA is in our future to pickup the cabinets that I am going to use for the island.Here is a quick sketch of the island design. Specs are: size will be 24x48. Tall wall cabinets on each end and a custom wine rack in the center.