Update

So one thing I have learned is that major renovations take on a life of their own. Unless you are very experienced, or unless you have an experienced hand helping you plan, things will change. And from what I hear, things change anyway. Things have certainly changed for me recently and I have been set back, but I actually feel better (sort of) and have a better plan.

What happened? It can all be boiled down to two things: The "order of things" and "the kitchen".

1. The order of things. So I thought I was ready to stain my concrete floors after spending over a month cleaning them... Turns out I'm not! Why? Well I guess I could but then it would be a real chore to protect them from dirt/scuffs/etc. while all other things get done in my house. Furthermore, if I stained them now, I couldn't stain everything because the kitchen is not done and portions of the floor currently covered by cabinets and/or the pantry may be exposed later. Also, the guest bathroom is not demo'd because I need an operating toilet while I work. So I can't do those floors either! After talking to some wise renovators, I decided it was best to hold off until my drywall work is done and my kitchen is done and the guest bathroom is demo'd. That way I can stain the entire house and be efficient about it - no putting away the tools, coming back later to stain this or that room. More efficient to stain the entire house at once!

2. The kitchen. So given #1 above, I turned my focus back to my kitchen design, which I thought was about done. I spent weeks drawing it up in Google Sketchup, which is a cool program that let's you see what things will look like in 3-D, and it's free to download! Anyway, I busted my rear, read a book, and figured I could draw it up myself given I'm an engineer and all. I did my best, and I did OK, but I wasn't comfortable with my design because I'm not an architect. And designing kitchens and cabinets is complicated if you are not experienced with it! Therefore, I submitted my design to my good friend Tim Whitehill who is a professional architect and a great guy. After batting it around with him for awhile, he took it on as a extra-curricular project and helped me come up with a solid design. It's not all either of us wanted it to be because of space/layout constraints - but it's better than what I drew up. I'll try to post the designs so you can look at them. By the way, I owe Tim a huge debt of gratitude! He is a bad ass and would not let me pay him for his services - he says moonlighting stresses him out! Hopefully all the beers I bought him suffice - but I also plan to buy him a bottle or something.

Right, so now that the kitchen design is done, it turns out I have no need for ANY of the existing cabinets. That sucks because I had originally planned to leave the existing cabinets, which were well built, in place and have my kitchen contractor extraordinaire build a few custom cabinets around the existing ones. So now that my kitchen design calls for a total revamp, it's time to reconsider that approach. A few custom cabinets is one thing - but all custom cabinets is another because they are expensive! My contractor quoted my at $150 per linear foot of custom cabinet. My design calls for somewhere in the neighborhood of 33 feet of cabinets, which is about $5K just for cabinets!! I knew custom cabinets were expensive, but I thought I'd only need a few. But given the design calling for all new cabinets, pre-fab cabinets seem the most cost effective way go. I hear IKEA and Gold Star are the way to go. Gold Star is like IKEA but higher quality and better service for a bit more money. I am planning to have both (and LOWE's) price out my kitchen.

Also, given the design rendering all existing cabinets useless, that means I have a lot more demo to do! Furthermore I've decided to go ahead and demo the guest BR and either get a porta potty or buy a porta potty from Cabella's. I was talking to my neighbor, who has done a lot of renovating, and he says his guys just pee in the bathtub and go to the corner store if they have to make poopy. Bottom line is I don't want to sacrifice a ton of efficiency in order to have a working bathroom. I'd rather spare the comfort and get the job done quicker/cheaper. Calling your contractor out a second time to drywall the bathroom and doing the floors in the BR after the rest of the house is done is inefficient and costs more.

So this past weekend, I had friends over (Mike Stratton, John McNeal, Jeanne) and we demo'd the entire kitchen (and drank beer and pitched washers). Then, after a kickass and much needed few hours of mountain biking with my good friend Mike Stratton, my dad and I knocked out the hallway closet and hallway header on Sunday . On Monday I hauled all the rubble to the dump - btw it is $47 per pickup load of trash dropped off at the dump here. I didn't get all of it, but think I can cram the remainder into my COA trash can to get picked up every Friday and get rid of it over the next few weeks. Also, I have an enclosed fireplace so I may burn a good portion of broken trim boards, etc. Of course I am saving good 2x4's and such that come out of the walls/pantry/headers/etc. to use on other projects.

Next steps are to finish demo-ing the guest BR and haul off all debris. THEN I will be ready for the drywaller to come in and do the entire house! Oh yeah, and I'm looking into matching the existing texture (roll-on eggshell) instead of having the entire house textured. The texture costs as much ($750) as the drywall ($750)! I'll let you know how that turns out. After drywall/tape/float/texture is done - then comes floors, covering floors, cabinets, master bath vanity, trim, counter tops, plumbing install, interior paint, final coat of floor sealer, MOVE IN.