Affordable Refacing showed up at 8am and got straight to work on removing our cabinet doors, refiguring the cabinets themselves and – eventually – the moment we’ve all been waiting for – they will spend the next 48 hours giving our dark and dreary (but high quality!) cabinets a brand new look. It’s a two-day process and will really look complete after tomorrow when the granite is installed. We timed the installation of the granite so that it will sit perfectly on the cabinets – no shims will be required, no gaps between wood and granite. These guys are great. They’re even going to install the shiny polished nickel knobs and pulls (from Restoration Hardware – I splurged).
Affordable Refacing also plans to layer a piece of linoleum that Chris bought at Home Depot below the sink cabinet to prevent future damage to the wood from drips and leaks. This was Shawn from Affordable Refacing’s idea – and we thought it was brilliant. A good DIY project for people who want to protect new or refinished cabinets - or even to patch up some rotting wood or damage from leaks!
The electricians are also at Salt Wall today installing the recessed lights. With the days getting shorter, it will be so nice to be able to walk around the house with Chris when he gets home from work to check out the progress – without it being so dark. Before that can happen, we’ll need switches, though…which comes after the skim coating. But still – it looks more complete with the recessed lights in!
On the topic of skim coating… In just a few days we will have white walls! Right now, we have blueboard or drywall. Already, the house looks more like a house with real rooms rather than rooms that are framed out with just wood. Now we don’t have to use our imagination as much when we say things like, “This will be our bedroom” and “here is our guest bath.” The photos below don’t properly convey how awesome it feels to have walls up – mostly due to the lack of light. The effect when you’re inside the home is pretty dramatic: Everything feels “closed up” (but not in a small/claustrophobic way), and no longer can I see the guest room through the master bathroom’s closets.
For those not in the know, skim coating is the process of applying a layer of muddy compound to smooth out rough or damaged ceilings and walls - which will happen on the first floor because we've had to patch up a skylight in the ceiling, holes from electrical, plumbing, HVAC and demolition work (e.g., chimney and wall removal) - or to cover up seams in and smooth over new blueboard (which will be what it is used for in the upstairs).
After applying a slab of skim coat, the excess is skimmed off and a second layer is often added. The wall can then be painted or wallpapered without the appearance of dings, paint bubbles, or roughness. Which means it really is time to think about paint color! Of course, the floors will need to be done (tile in bathroom, hardwood downstairs and upstairs hallway, carpet in bedrooms) before we can actually paint…but I’m ready to make decisions on color – with your help, of course. But we’ll save that topic for another blog posting. As an aside, Chris has put a moratorium on me actually talking about paint and breaking out paint samples at home, so the blog is my only outlet on that topic.
Btw, our neighbor (er, my parents’ neighbor) Dave Boucher is doing the drywall and skim coating. We’re hoping to catch a photo of Dave in his stilts during the project. For now, I will leave you with this photo of not-Dave. I may have just found inspiration for a Halloween costume.
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