Marlene, your kitchen looked warm and cozy before, but what a wonderful transformation. You added so much more counterspace--you can never have too much of that! And now you have the perfect "work triangle" with the sink stove and fridge too--bet it feels lots more efficient. Love the rope trim and those pretty tiles you chose. Your husband did an amazing job on the cabinets and that hutch! He is obviously very talented. I can't imagine trying to cut that hutch down like that! Have to ask what kind of saw he used--just curious, I'll never tackle a project that big for sure! LOL You have the perfect dishes to display in your pretty hutch, looks like something from a magazine. And you are getting wood floors too--it's all looking just wonderful and those will be the icing on the cake. The big chick--adds a special unexpected "flair". ;o) Luvs

Thank you all for the nice comments! It feels good to have other people appreciate it too. We love everything and the only decisions we regret are the ones we were talked into by other people at the end of the project and they are all exterior issues: 1. I don't like where the shingle-style siding ends. To me it should be lower. Our contractor talked us out of it. We actually bought extra shingles to fix it, but we haven't done it yet. Still, they all told me, "Give it a month and you won't notice." But you know what? I notice it every single day and it bugs me every single day. 2. The posts and risers on the deck are cedar that is smooth on one side and rough on the other. I wanted to use the smooth side out but everyone told me "No one does that. I've never heard of that," so we put the rough side out. Huge mistake. Dog hair sticks to it like glue. It's a total pain. 3. There was a miscommunication on the back stairs. We wanted an extra step to lower the rise a little for our aging dogs, but two steps were added so the rise is REALLY short and now the dogs hate it even more. Fail.

So we went ahead and managed the project ourselves. Here's an update. Remodel schedule - we generally followed the scheduled I outlined in my original post. Work started on the last week of February and we are now installing the kitchen cabinets. All that is left is for the countertop fabrication and installation of kitchen appliances. We will hopefully be moving into the house in 2 weeks. Overall, the project start to completion is roughly 1 and a half months. Project management - we went ahead and managed our own renovation. My wife and I work full time jobs and with a toddler to look after so it was definitely challenging. We worked on making sure that one would be at the job site at the start of the day and one would go at the end of the day. There were days were we could not be on site but we made sure to call or text the tradespeople who were doing work at the house on that day. Cost - by managing our own renovation we probably ended up in the same price range that the GCs were quoting us but we got more work done for the same price. We initially set out to do the complete kitchen, while house floor refinish and painting but we were able to include a bathroom remodel for 2 bathrooms as well. We also got more work done like a complete rewiring of the house including a panel upgrade, copper repiping as well as a tankless water heater. These things were never brought up by the GCs and we are thankful that we dealt directly with tradespeople since they explained to us the benefits of doing those items before we move in. Hiring tradespeople - this was challenging because there was an endless parade of tradespeople that I had to talk to before the start of the project. We got quotes from 2 to 3 each of people we wanted to hire - electrician, plumber, painter, flooring, tiler, and finish carpenter. Most of the tradespeople where so busy that they don't do advance bookings. For example, the tiler that we decided to go with said to call him as soon I know when the inspection for the plumbing rough in was to be completed so he can come in the next day to work on the bathroom. Same situation with the hardwood flooring guy, I called him up when I knew what day the painters and drywaller where going to finish their work so he can come in the next day to start on the floors. They worked on our project from start to end and they made sure we did a walk through at completion before they moved on to their other clients. Overall, I feel we all got along pretty well with our tradespeople. They did not hesitate to raise any issues with us and they were always willing to answer all our questions. They were all licensed and provided us with a list of previous customers that we can call for references. Inspection and permits - our initial plan was to get the electrician and plumber to pull permits for the work that they were responsible for. But in the end, we decided to get an permit that covered the whole kitchen and bathroom remodel. Lessons learned - there were no major issues during our project but we did encounter minor hiccups. For instance, the demolition guys who worked on the kitchen and bathrooms did not take out the concrete that was under the bathroom tiles. I only realized that we needed them taken out when I was talking to tilers for estimates. It was not a big deal, the demo guys came back and did not charge extra to get it done. Another one was our hardwood floor had deep stains that can't be taken out by sanding. Replacing them would have been too costly because there were too many boards so we decided to go with a darker stain than what we wanted. I know this has post has become a wall of text but I'd like to address some of the responses here that asked to reconsider doing it on our own and that if we knew of tradespeople or if we had construction experience. I feel like this is asking if someone who wants to do an oil change for their car to see if they know of a mechanic personally or if they have experience in automotive repair. What if I need to see a dentist? Do I need to personally know of a dentist and do I have to have knowledge of dentistry before I see one? What if I don't personally know an airline pilot? Do I not ride an airplane just because I don't trust that they will do a good job of flying the plane? Anyway, we're glad we managed our own renovation. We were in control of the schedule and cost and we were also glad that we worked directly with tradespeople since we got to ask questions and we received detailed answers about the job that they were doing.

Play with modern light DIY screens! Check out how I used it in my projects. Literally built my self. Get compliments on them all the time! Carpenter’s wait time and price were a joke. If interested will give you details of the process (3 hours total time :-) One is horizontal and the last one is vertical, separates dining and living. Black defines dressing area from open space loooooong master