Welcome to week three of the renovation challenge that I’m partnering with Jeffrey Court to share with you! If you’ve been following along, you will know that we are “renovating” (more like building from the ground up) our kitchen in our new garage apartment house for this six week challenge.
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And if you haven’t been following along…let’s get you up to speed. We are “renovating” the kitchen in our new garage apartment house in six short weeks! And that’s it in a nutshell 🙂
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In my first post here, I shared the before, the future plans and the long to do list for this kitchen space.
Last week, I shared about the ups and downs of the electrical, what we have finished so far, and the things I added to the to do list just to check off to make me feel more accomplished. Don’t act like you don’t do that, too 😉
This week, let’s talk about how it’s halfway through the renovation, and I’m already starting to freak out. Oh, and we will also cover things like insulation and drywall and new deliveries that have arrived this week that I can’t wait to install *all the heart eyes*
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First thing is first. Let’s review the original to do list:
Install divider wall to separate kitchen and bathroom
Get electricity to the space
Wire light fixtures, outlets, switches
Finish plumbing
Insulation
Drywall
Paint
Build cabinets
Finish (paint and poly) cabinets
Install cabinets
Install appliances
Install countertops
Trim out window
Install tile backsplash
Build dining table
Move in 
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As you can see, after week one, only two tiny things had been marked off the list. HOWEVER, cut me a little slack here because wiring the entire garage house took SEVERAL days and getting in the service panel took another couple days. Since we are just covering the kitchen here, it seems like we are slacking, but I assure you, we aren’t. I’ve literally ached for days from running wires. #outofshape.
Anyway, with week one over and not a lot to show for it, it was time to get in gear and start making some major progress. My plan for the second week was to have all the drywall hung and finished. I’d like to tell you that’s what happened and we were super productive. But, that’s not what happened. Instead, we waited several days on the electrical inspector.
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And legit, that was basically the whole week. Danny got the service panel installed on a Friday, but not in time for the inspector to come. Nothing can be covered (so no insulation or drywall) until the inspection, so the weekend was useless. To pass time, I insulated and drywalled the bathroom (since the wires could be inspected from the other side of the wall), but couldn’t do anything with the kitchen.
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Monday, by the time Danny called, the inspector was booked for the day, so that was another wasted day. But, finally, Tuesday, we got the inspector out and we passed our inspection. HALLELUJAH!! But that pretty much ended the second renovation week, soooooo there we were. Not a lot closer to being done than after week one.
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I was determined that week three would be a major comeback.
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In week three, we got a new well dug (we hired that out, but it was exciting because now we can get water once we get power), still don’t have any electricity (UGH and it’s 130 degrees in here!), and got insulation, drywall, and paint finished in the kitchen. We also got a delivery of tile that I can’t stop staring at, ordered our appliances, and started building kitchen cabinets!
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First was the insulation. All my clothes are in storage, so I didn’t have any long sleeves. But, FYI, pants work as sleeves when you’re in a pinch 😉 haha. Here’s a look at the wall with the insulation installed.
But let’s go back to the no power thing and the drywall. I finished the entire garage drywall with only a little bit of daylight from the windows and the flashlight on my phone. Be impressed. Also, don’t look too close at it 🙂 Since the entire kitchen wall will be covered by a combination of appliances, cabinets, and tile, I wasn’t too concerned that it was finished PERFECT. I just made sure it was sealed and pretty smooth and flat.
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During the week, I also had a couple small freak out moments after realizing that we are at the half way point. HALF WAY! This is a 6 week (SIX WEEKS!!!) challenge. So my kitchen has to be finished in THREE MORE WEEKS. At the start of this, I never doubted this was doable. Today, well, I’m really starting to think I must have been crazy when I signed up for this. Do you see all those things on the to do list that still need….DOING??!
As many things that might seem overwhelming right now, there were some exciting things happening this week, too. Like….we got a delivery of tile from Jeffrey Court and I CANNOT wait to get it on the wall. It’s going to look so good with our color scheme–dark grey and natural wood. I also ordered some black stainless appliances this week that I think are also going to look awesome in this space, too. Stay tuned 😉.
Lastly, let’s talk cabinets. I’m building my own kitchen cabinets. We are doing a very modern style with no face frames and full overlay doors. Without power still (apparently they are scheduled to get us power from the provider tomorrow…we will see how that plays out), I can’t use many of my tools to help me get the cabinets built. BUT, I do have a few battery powered tools and I’ve been cutting down sheets of plywood into manageable sizes to work with. I’ve made a couple “cabinet carcasses” to help me visualize and lay out the space.
But, fun fact: the garage builders got our window 6″ off what I had told them. No big deal EXCEPT now I have to come up with a solution to still keep the appliances where we already put the outlets for them AND a way to keep the sink centered on the window at the same time. Why am I just now measuring to figure this out??
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Send prayers…and chocolate (for the stress relief 😉 haha). We are full force ahead to get cabinets built as soon as we have power, finish installing all the outlets, install the ceiling, window trim, tile, countertops….basically ALL THE THINGS! Tune in next week to see what we get done and how far behind we are when we get to the TWO WEEK LEFT MARK. (I’m hyperventilating over here, you guys.)
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Before I sign off, let’s see what we can check off the to do list after the half way point:
Insulation
Drywall
Paint
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*Cue panic attack* I gotta go…I’ve got a kitchen to finish! Check back next week for a week 4 update!
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Until next time, happy building 🙂
