Week 21: Granite Installation & Dumpster Diving

It’s been an exciting week at the house this past week.  The granite was installed last Friday and those folks did a fabulous job.  Couldn’t be happier with it.  I’ll share my source in Alpharetta below when I get to the pics.

We also had a dumpster brought in and it was finally time to de-clutter the crap of building debris and junk that has accumulated over the last 5 months of this house renovation.  I was really happy to see this day come too, as looking at all the junk makes me crazy.  All in all, it was quite a productive week.

I’ve still got some work to do on the stairs. As pretty as they look, I still have to caulk all the cracks and nail holes and touch up the paint before they will be finished.  Then, the last step will be getting the runners installed, but I’ll probably wait until after I move in to do that. I don’t want the moving guys messing up my stair runners.  I think stapling them in will do the trick.

So, let’s take a look at this week’s progress, shall we?  Many of you have asked when I’m moving in.  I wish I had a definite date, but since there are still a lot of little details to finish up, like painting the bathroom countertops and walls and cleaning the whole house from top to bottom, we still have a ways to go.  Not to mention, tiling the kitchen backsplash and adding quarter round to the baseboards, those 2 jobs will be a week’s worth of work at least.  But, I’m getting a whole lot closer to moving in.  I’m really hoping to be in by mid-October.  I don’t have to be in a hurry, so I want to get all those little things off my to-do list before I start moving furniture in. I know how much easier it is to do things before all the stuff goes in place, so I’m trying to be patient.

It’s hard though!

We’ll start with the dumpster diving.  I planned ahead and had it scheduled to come in for 3 days so we could get busy and fill it up.  Dad took control (as usual) and wouldn’t let anyone else in there to mess up his plan. 

He flattened all the boxes and put them on the bottom and then we started stacking all the old carpet and carpet padding.   It was nice that the door swung open all the way and it was easy to get stuff in there.

The day happened to be my parent’s 59th wedding anniversary, so I had them pose in the dumpster just to document the day.  They are such good sports and didn’t mind working on their big day.  Mom came over to help and she and I hauled stuff to the wall so that dad could load up the dumpster.

We had plenty of debris and I actually got a too big dumpster, but when you’re looking at piles of junk for a long time, it seems to grow and magnify, so I wanted to be sure we had enough room to get it all in there.  And we did.

All of this went in.

And all of this went in.

Except for those bifold doors. I’ve got big plans for them to be a screen out here on my porch, once we get started on that project.  I’ll go ahead and move in before we get going on the porch and not sure how far we’ll get before cold weather hits this year.  It might be a spring project, we’ll see.

All clean now!  I did go ahead and rip out all the old screening and rotten boards on the outside of the porch, so it will be ready go.

Dad got that dumpster all organized and filled up.

This pile got thrown in, all except those white shelves. I took those out of the den and he insisted on taking them home.  My mom is going to be so excited to see that.  She has lived with his hoarding all these years.

The dumpster could have been a bit smaller, but it’s hard to tell when you have piles of stuff around.  We actually threw in an old mower too and Dad took off the wheels before it went in here. I wish I would have taken a pic of that.  The reason it was no good anymore is because one of the old wheels fell off and broke apart and so he couldn’t throw it away without taking off the other 2 large back wheels before it went in the dumpster.

I said, what are you going to do with those?

Keep them, he said!  That’s my dad. 🙂

After putting the kitchen together and having the living room act as the staging area, it was a mess to clean up.  I got rid of all the cardboard boxes that we had all over these floors and it’s starting to look like a real house now.  YAY!

The living room and dining room are looking so much better after getting all the boxes and dust off the floor.  I’ll still have to do a big deep cleaning before I move in, there’s so much sawdust and stuff around on everything.  Can’t wait for that final cleaning!

My very nice next door neighbors, David and Kim, who live in the house through the window, have been awesome.  They are excited that I’m moving in the house and have been very supportive along the way.  Two years ago, they put in an Ikea kitchen too, same cabinet style that I chose and I’ll be photographing their kitchen soon to share on the blog.  David used to be a high-end cabinet installer for many years and knows all the tricks of the trade for putting together a beautiful kitchen.  I was very excited that they ended up choosing Ikea, since David has seen all price range cabinets and chose Ikea for his own home.  That said a lot to me!

David was nice and volunteered to come over and help me install all the hardware and he did it so much better and faster than I could have ever done.  They both really helped along the way, when I had questions about parts and pieces of the Ikea cabinets and drawers and how it all went together.  I would have been so stuck without them right next door.

David build these jigs to measure where the hardware would go. This helped place them all in the same place.

I have 3 different types of hardware, all from Ikea in the same black finish.  You’ll see where they all go in a minute.

David went through them all and asked me where I wanted them placed.  I listened to him on drawer placement for the large handles, since he knows what the pros do.  He measured to find center and then the jig helped him know where to drill the holes for the hardware.

Each corner of the jig was the correct placement for the screws in the hardware.

Measuring the bin pulls.  These were the most challenging as the holes are not centered on the back, but inset a bit.

Measuring and marking for the drawer pulls.

He drilled holes using a piece of wood at the back to keep the drill from damaging the back of the drawer.  So, are you ready to see it all in place along with the new granite?

Here’s what you see when you’re standing in the dining room looking in.  This is not a huge kitchen, but I have maximized the space to the fullest with this layout, I think.  The big pantry sort of blocks the view when you walk in, but it is worth it to have that big bad boy to load up with stuff.

Left side of the kitchen with my beautiful new granite Blanco sink.  I ordered this sink online and took a chance on the color and I’m SO glad I did.  I had a black sink like this in my old house and loved it, but this time when I saw the color, Metallic Gray, I just knew that was the right one for this kitchen.

My granite, Kashmir White, was bought at Legacy Granite in Alpharetta (678-867-0100) and total cost was $1300 (they have no idea I’m a blogger, but I loved the company and would highly recommend them).   I was thrilled with the care they took and the installation was perfect.  It is a lighter whitish granite, with black and gray and a little bit of warm tones too.  I think it’s perfect for the look I wanted in this kitchen.

I chose knobs for the doors, simple and black.

Right side of the kitchen, with the new Magtag stove (bought at Brandsmart for around $600).  I shopped around and got the best deal I could find without hunting down a scratch and dent deal.  One of the things I liked about Brandsmart is that they delivered for free, installed the new appliance and hauled away the old one.

Those beautiful Ikea Adel drawer with their chunky handles. Love them!  I can’t wait to use these drawers.

Tucked in the corner is another granite piece, with corner carousels above and below.  That pantry takes up most of my space on this end, but I’m so glad I got it.   I know it will come in big-time handy.  I used those big handles on both pantry doors too.

You can see here the placement that David suggested on the big drawers.  He told me to place the handles where I thought they should go.  Of course, I placed them in the middle and he suggested we do it like this and I love it.  He told me that the kitchen designer that he worked with always placed them like this.  A little different from the norm and they will be easier to grab since they are a little higher.

He gave me suggestions on all the placements and we talked it through.  I’m really happy with how it all came out and David did a fantastic job. I told them I’d be cooking them dinner once I move in. I shared the dumpster too, since he was cleaning out his garage and I had plenty of extra room inside.

No, my stove is not blue, that’s protective film. I’ll wait until we are completely finished with the backsplash before I remove all of the film on the appliances and the ends of the cabinets.

My sink, my sink, oh how I love my sink.  This is the Blanco Diamond Super Single Silgranit sink in Metallic Gray.  So happy with my choice and I bought it online here.   If you’re in the market for one of these sinks, research prices before you buy. They are all over the place!

This is a very deep sink and will be hard working.  I decided on one big deep bowl this time around.  My sister has one like this too and loves it.  I’ll get the plumber out next week to finish up all the plumbing details.

I opted for an oil rubbed bronze halogen track light in my kitchen (from Lowes).  The nasty ceiling fan came down, thank goodness.  I decided that this style would work well for me and I had one in my old kitchen and really liked it.  I‘ll have a pretty pendant over the sink.

I’ll do a complete post on the kitchen once we are finished and I’ll do the entire cost breakdown on all the details!

So, that’s another week on the ole’ house renovation.  You can bet I’m chomping at the bit to get this thing done already.  I am bound and determined that September is the month to get everything done and I want to be moved in by mid-October.  Hoping that my plans work out and the rest of our projects are smooth.  It’s the punch list thing that can slow you down sometimes, but so far everything is moving along well.  We really haven’t had a lot of glitches with this house reno.  I’d say putting together and installing the Ikea cabinets was the hardest part and after it’s all said and done, I’d do that one again too.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by and for all your support.  One day really soon, I’ll be moving in furniture an unpacking those boxes and that, my friends, is going to be a red letter banner day for sure!

Praise the Lord for his mercies are new every day.

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