This Lo Life

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...