Yesterday was busy!

[posiepurrs]

As some may remember I had knee surgery for a torn meniscus back in June. I still have problems with it and this morning it is SORE! Yesterday we started painting our great room (family, dining and kitchen combined) in preparation of remodeling the kitchen part. We have ordered all the cabinets, flooring and accessories. We got the ceiling finished last night. We didn't start until late because of ordering everything.  We have to get the walls today because tomorrow I have to get the cats ready for the show this weekend. I know it will probably be a few months before everything is finished but now I know it is really going to happen I can't wait!! While picking everything out my husband deferred to me and told me to get it just like I wanted, no matter what it cost since this is the last time we will do this. We are both in our 60s and the kitchen we have now is 25 years old so the new one will probably out last us.

If we decide to move south after retiring, a little more upscale kitchen will add value to the house. I think he knew I wouldn't go crazy anyway - I am the frugal one. I just upgraded the cabinets to ones that aren't veneer, added crown molding, more efficient storage, a new dishwasher and an over the range microwave. I did go with vinyl flooring instead of ceramic tile (my first choice) because I feel that the vinyl makes more sense given the number of animals we have that are messy eaters. Vinyl will be easier to keep clean. The counter top I fell in love with I could not get though. I found out it was unsuitable for kitchens so had to go with another granite.

We at least live close enough to the quarry that they told us we can go actually pick out the slab there.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Tough surgery. Take care of yourself. My daughter went through that and things can get nasty.

Congratulations on the new kitchen. I would love to have some new counter tops and a new floor. When we built the house, I chose a vinyl flooring. I didn't like it then and don't like it now. They did a crappy job installing it. Some kind of stain came on it under the dining room table. The folks from the manufacturer came and would not honor their warranty. They sent me cleaning supplies and told me my floor is dirty. It was supposed to be a no wax type, but I have had to wax it. Now all that wax needs to come up and I am just too old to deal with that. I want a new floor. :lol3:

 

[betsygee]

I'd like a new kitchen floor, too.  When we bought this house we didn't have money for much upgrading so we got tile that was inexpensive.  It's a light color and has sort of a beige grout that really shows the dirt and takes a lot of effort to keep clean.  We could afford to replace it now but I've been putting it off.   

It's also in the dining room and laundry room, so we'd have to tear up three rooms to get rid of all of it.  I just hate the noise, dust and chaos of remodeling so for now I've got lots of area rugs 

 and am just dealing with the tile.

Have fun with your remodel, @posiepurrs, be sure to take lots of photos!

 

[AbbysMom]

I would love having new countertops and cabinets. I wouldn't like the price though. :lol3:

 

[posiepurrs]

Hubby and I talked more about the flooring and did decide to go with ceramic tile.  Why spend the money on upgraded cabinets and put in a cheap floor? The designer is probably ready to kill me because I changed the counter top to a different granite (more expensive). I promise no more changes, unless I find the faucet I really want. I settled for one in store, but it isn't exactly what I wanted.

 

[AbbysMom]

At this point, I would find the faucet you really like. :nod:

 

[posiepurrs]

We hit a HUGE GLITCH! We went to sign the papers and order everything after a second visit to measure. The labor estimate that they gave us was double what we had been led to believe it would be.  One of the things they said they 'had' to do was change all of the outlets in the kitchen. We had all the outlets in the house replaced last summer by a licensed electrician so I don't understand why this has to be done, other than to pad the bill. I cancelled the deal. I love the kitchen we designed, but not enough that I can't walk away.  I think that they thought we were so excited about it we would just 'lay down' and do anything we could to get it. I think $6000  to tile a 16x13 floor is excessive - and that isn't including the tile. A friend who is an independent designer in another state told me that Lowes and Home Depot are known for padding the labor bill. So, we are back to square one - guess we will do it ourselves after all. We can do it, but we were hoping not to have to.

 

[Winchester]

When we redid our kitchen, we were lucky. We went with an independent dealer for our floor and his guy was simply super. I originally wanted ceramic tile, but I have a lot of leg problems. And since I can spend hours in the kitchen baking, it wouldn't have worked out for me to be standing on ceramic all day long. esp around the holidays. Anyway, the guy was wonderful and he did a fantastic job laying our floor. I can't say much about Home Depot, but we've had a lot of problems with Lowes and I wouldn't recommend them for anything big. Oh yes, we'll go there to buy things like pool shock, or wood or screws, things like that, but I doubt we'll shop there for appliances anymore.

I'm sorry you had to stop the deal, but I don't blame you at all. You'll get it done.