Kitchen Progress. Done. For Now.

Mom left this morning.  Jake actually woke up at 6:00am to give her a kiss goodbye.  I was dead asleep... 

Although we didn't finish the kitchen entirely (I still have 6 doors in the basement waiting for the 2nd coat on front), we did hang all the doors on the right side. 

Hallelujah.

Here's where we started yesterday morning.

Above the stove

I was scared to death about hanging the upper doors.  Everything is off.  Every single door and opening is the opposite of square and level.  How the heck do we make it look somewhat normal???  Well, start with finding the center.

Center

I measured the width of the cabinet opening and taped where the center was.  That way, even if the doors are off, I could make the seam between them true. 

My mom and I hung them one at a time, lining the door up with the edge of the green tape.  We screwed in one screw at the top hinge (make gravity work for you) and double checked the hang before screwing in the bottom hinge.  Then the other door went on.  Same procedure. 

Wouldn't you know, it worked. So. Well.

Lookin Good

In fact, we were able to hang 7 doors before George got up from his nap.  Amazing.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), when I was painting the 2nd coat of grey on the right side of the upper skeleton, I got a splash of liquid on my face.  Yup, found a leak in the ceiling inside the cabinet.  Above that cabinet is our bathroom. 

The bulkhead that runs up the corner of the wall -and inside that right cabinet- houses a main drain.  It's the top corner of the bulkhead that is wet, ripped and bulging.  I'm not happy that I found it, but I'm happy that I found it now so we can address it. 

The door won't be hung on that cabinet until the plumber has come and gone.  I'm already worried he's going to wreck the new paint job.  Why throw a freshly painted door into the mix?

So...aside from the 6 doors still curing in the basement, the drawer handles that are "in the mail" and the leak in the upper cabinet, the kitchen work is...done.  For now. 

Here are some semi-reveal shots until it's complete (hopefully in the next 10 days).

Before: Yellow walls and Country Blue

Very Blue

Ready?

After

The view from my table

I'm really happy with it.  It was so much work and I am still so exhausted.  But every time I look at it, I get that warm fuzzy feeling.  Love.

My favorite part?  The fact that we were able to straighten out the bowed/warped doors as much as we did.  It's nothing short of a miracle.  I mean, look at the crazy spaces between those blue doors! 

I see plates

Not anymore

The color is beautiful and the knobs are sparkly. 

Can't wait to finish it off and share every inch of my "new" kitchen!


*Thank you to mom and to Steve for your manual labor and childcare.  Without you, we'd still be seeing a whole lotta blue.*