This Lo Life

Dear readers (all two of you), my apologies for such a sustained silence since my last posting. In early September, we experienced a kitchen waste water back up and flooding into our kitchen, which resulted in the demolition of approximately 80% of the lower kitchen cabinets. What ensued was a very stressful and frustrating process but it is all working out. Thankfully, we are not bearing all of the costs of the reconstruction of the cabinets and other affected areas. Below are the pictures of the cleared out and cleaned up kitchen area.

We finished painting the bunk bed and we think it looks great! The paint went on really well and it feels nice and smooth. The bunk is held together by 4 inch lag bolts and I was not looking forward to having to wrench down each one of them by hand. So I asked good 'ole trusty Google if some sort of impact driver socket adapter existed. Lo and behold, yes! I found a cheap  adapter at Harbor Freight for $3 and it worked out quite well. I'd recommend getting a nicer one if you're going to be installing as part of your profession but if it's going to be a one off thing then this a great bet. It took about an hour for the four of us to assemble it (yes, I put the kids to work).

The time has come for bunk beds for the kids. E is close to outgrowing her toddler bed so we set out on finding a bunk bed for her and Z. We started shopping around for used beds and  Letgo  led us to someone who was selling a solid wood bunk bed for $50! We checked it out and it turned out to be a good deal. It was 15 years old but made out of solid wood versus the cheaply made, less durable stuff you find elsewhere. We'll take it! We decided to sand it and paint it Marshmallow (Sherwin Williams, white). Now we're in the middle of painting it with the paint sprayer. We're debating whether or not we should bother with putting a clear coat on it. It'll definitely make it look nicer and stand up to more abuse that way. However, it'll tack on a few more weeks before it'll be done. Any thoughts on clear coats? Please post in the comments section.

Allison and I finished painting the doors! It took some time because we had to fix some blemishes but we got it done and they look great! We also fixed our cabinet door problems. We think we installed the corner cabinets upside down, which put the doors on the wrong sides. Allison and I dry fitted the door on the right side and they appeared to work with the other doors. Also, we discovered the new side had predrilled holes for the cabinet hinges so all I had to do unscrew them from the left side and screw them into the right side. We made the switch and reinstalled the doors and voila! It all worked! Praise the Lord! I took the pull that was now upside down and on the wrong side and reinstalled it in the proper position. I patched the holes with spackle and so far, you can't tell there were holes there. We also dry fitted the vanity in the bathroom. Next up, I need to paint a used bunk bed we bought for the kids, buy a vanity top for the vanity, figure out how ...

Clement and Mr. Gee came down again for a weekend to help me with the condo. God bless those guys! We got a lot done in the four days we worked together. We began with the master bath remodel and got so far as to paint it, reinstall the toilet, cut some baseboard and install the flooring. Allison and I continued on the doors. We also painted the master bedroom. Sorry, no pics yet. Mr. Gee and I also installed a lot of the pulls in the cabinets. This was a nerve wracking experience but after we practiced on scrap wood and got going, it wasn't so bad after all. If you ever decide to do this yourself, take your time and practice on some scrap pieces before you starting drilling into your cabinets. That way, you'll have a hang of it and make all of your mistakes on material that doesn't matter. We also put the doors back on the cabinets and everything was going just fine until we got to the upper corner cabinets. We discovered they were too...

I went on a long hiatus from the condo because life got busy. My kids got out of school and summer was on! We celebrated Z's birthday, swam a lot, golfed a lot (I got geared up for our church's golf tournament), went down to San Diego, and had our church's Vacation Bible School. Here and there, Allison and I would work on the doors. I went to Rockler to attend a free paint spraying class, which was helpful. But what was really helpful was talking with the Rockler teacher and getting ideas from the other attendees regarding my predicament. I explained my situation of debris drying on the paint and they all gave me advice. The best advice I got was to take the doors outside and spray them. This made the most sense because it would prevent the wind tunnel effect in the garage but I didn't have much room outside to do this. So I decided to do the next best thing, take down all of the plastic, lay the doors down on the sawhorses and keep them as far from any walls as possi...

Needing to fix the debris problem on the doors, we decided to take this opportunity to add some details to the doors. We decided to continue with the Shaker door style-like our kitchen cabinets. We went to Home Depot, picked out a simple looking piece of trim and ended up buying 10 x 14' pieces. We decided to buy the exact amount of trim and come back for more if we needed it. Thanks to the HD staff for helping me tie it down to our RAV4! Between Allison and I, we calculated out that we had exactly the right amount of trim, with only a slight margin of error. I put together a miter saw station with my newly acquired Delta miter saw, donated to me by one of my brother's friends and got to work. I have to give a shout out to This Old House who had a video on how to cut and install trim. It took me about two evenings to cut everything without needing to buy more. Our calculations were correct, even with a few cutting mistakes. With all of the frames cut and assembl...

The countertops are in! My contractor installed our quartz countertops in two days! It was amazing! They look and feel great. We are so happy with them!

Spray painting for the novice is not easy. It takes a lot of good prep and experience for the best results. We started by putting up plastic all around one of our garage spots to create a dust-less space. That took some time because we had to figure out how to drape it. Then I tested out the sprayer on scrap wood and it seemed easy enough. However, there would be a lot more to it then just that. I did not realize how loud and how much air was constantly spraying through the gun and from out from the turbine. I did not thin the latex primer I'd be spraying because I was told by the customer service reps that it was unnecessary to do so. I would figure out they were wrong about that one. Then, I started struggling with the plastic itself. Some breeze was still getting into the area, causing the plastic to flap (It would eventually stick to one of the newly painted surfaces.) I would discover all of these items would create problems. Everything seemed to be going we...

We fixed the problem with the microwave. We took it back down and I figured out there was an extraneous roof venting attachment protruding from the back of the microwave. I did some googling and decided we didn't need it because we were using the air recirculating feature. We put it back in and now it's level. With the microwave back in, I turned to patching the holes left by the electrical outlets. I was able to patch the holes with a combination of various types of scrap pieces and 20 minute setting compound. It took about three evenings for it to be patched, primed and painted, just in time for the countertop installation.

Our counter top is on the way! My electrician moved an outlet out of the way of the stove back splash making it possible to go ahead with the counter top and back splash installation. I met with our counter top contractor and we went over the project. I have to get him the kitchen sink, order the materials and install the microwave so we'll know where the stove back splash should end. He'll pick up the materials and begin the installation next Thursday. I was pleasantly and anxiously surprised at his quick availability. I was expecting two to three weeks not less than a week! With that, I had to immediately get to work on ordering and working on those items. That same afternoon, Allison and I installed the microwave. I googled some instructions and found something closely resembling our situation. We took our time taking measurements. Finally, it was time to mount it. It went in pretty well; however, once it was in, we discovered it's tilting down a lot. We surmised the...

I've started working on the interior doors, which has proved to be a very dirty job. The old paint was peeling off of the doors so we decided to strip them all down to the bare wood and repaint them. To accomplish this task, I borrowed my friend's 60 year old 3"x24" belt sander. This thing worked quite well but created a huge amount of dust. I've got dust all over my garage now and upon almost everything in there. I regret not putting up plastic around my work area to contain the dust. I also took many precautions. I wore glasses, a mask and hearing protection. A belt sander is very loud! I used that piece of equipment for almost four hours. That's a lot of exposure to a high volume of noise. It took me one hour per door to with the belt sander to strip it down to the wood. I started with 80 grit sand paper, which worked well. I followed that up with 120 grit paper to smooth it out. After that, Joel and I wiped down the doors to check out th...

While Joel and I were working on the doors, Allison was at work on painting the hallway walls and existing cabinet frames.

Allison and I have been working on painting the rest of the family room ceiling and the hallway. I decided to repaint the entire ceiling of the family room because of a host of issues. First, I created streaks or "lap marks" after trying to touch up areas that I had to repair. Second, I noticed the area above the pantries were more yellow than the rest of the ceiling. Allison reminded me that I didn't paint the area above the pantries very well because I thought we were going to install molding above them. However, we changed our mind on the molding and decided to install LED tape lighting to create an up light over the pantries and kitchen wall cabinets. Third, the ceiling paint line between the dining area and the family room looked really bad because it wasn't straight. Fourth, I didn't paint above the front door. Seeing that the ceiling had so many problems and after some research on how to fix streaks, I just decided to paint the entire ceiling again. So we...

When you're filling the role as the general contractor, you need to find subcontractors. For the last few months, I've been searching for the right person to fabricate and install our counter tops. Along the way, I've learned I need to decide on the fixtures and the edge or "profile" of the counter top before I can commit to hiring someone. Allison and I started out with the easiest part, picking the fixtures. They are the kitchen sink, faucet, and water purification system because these items will be installed into the counter top. For the sink, I think I'm going to go with the  Kraus Outlast MicroShield  because it's the thickest gauge sink I could find (16 gauge) so it won't make a lot of noise when being used and it's scratch resistant. We cook a lot at home so I figure this sink is going to get a lot of  wear  and tear so it should be built to last.  For the kitchen faucet, I'm leaning towards the Delta Essa . It's got a sleek look a...

We're on a major home clean out and tidying streak right now and I had to create a system to hang up some items in our garage. Allison and I decided on putting a piece of wood across one of the walls in the garage to hang things from. I settled on a 2x6 because I thought the more wood the more mounting options. However, I did not realize how heavy it was going to be. It turned out not to be a problem with Allison's help. I was about to start fastening it to the studs when I discovered I didn't have long enough screws. So I ran over to Home Depot and got some help in figuring out what kind of screws I needed. I was introduced to lag screws. Lag screws are thicker screws that require the use of a socket wrench. I settled on 5/16"x3" lag screws. These suckers are tough and will not be going anywhere. After some trial and error of positioning the various hooks, it was finally up. I think this project took about three hours to complete.

Today I completed the dishwasher enclosure, installed a tricky filler piece and the end panels. I got ideas on how to complete the dishwasher enclosure from Pinterest and most of all,  Ana White . The dishwasher end panel is secured to the sink base, the concrete floor and to studs in the wall. Fastening into concrete was pretty easy. I just used a masonry bit to drill through the wood and into the floor and then screwed in a concrete fastener. It went in without a problem. This project took me about two hours to complete. The filler piece was kind of complicated because it tapered from the bottom to the top. So I used a tip I got from finehomebuilding . It worked and it fit. Lastly, I got the end panels on. This kitchen is really coming together!

Joel and I went back to work on the kitchen cabinets. After some discussion on ways to remedy the problem with the microwave and stove enclosures, I decided to make an attempt at moving the corner base cabinet further towards the wall. Joel and I made some measurements, dry fitted the cabinets with the doors and drawers on to see if they would continue to be operable with less distance between them. After some struggling with a finicky drawer front and getting the drawers and doors in, everything looked okay so we moved the cabinet over. Again, we took more measurements and made sure the doors and drawers could open without a problem. Everything looked good! Joel had to take off after lunch so I went to work on cutting the filler strips for all of the gaps. I spent some time measuring the various sized pieces I needed cut and then got to work with the table saw. That piece of machinery makes life so much easier. I was able to cut a bunch of pieces without much effort. In the proces...