You guys are my heroes - I can't even paint evenly!

This amazing project needs to be saved in the FKB or FAQ: This is too too cool.

As I read the whole page following all your progress, I kept expecting you to put a post that said "April Fools! This really took a couple of months and here are the workers we hired" (with pictures of tile guy, electrician, cabinet installer etc.) But alas, it's not April, and this is for real...unbelievebly optimistic undertaking and incredible follow through with amazing results. And you're not even done!

I'm w/Claybabe, this needs to be immortalized! This thread can act as part of your journal! You and your DH have done such a fantastic job...and you're inspiring many of us to "take the plunge" to DIY!

Keep up the great work and we're all waiting to hear more as you have the time and energy!

Ah, shucks, you guys are too kind. How do you put things in the FKB/FAQ? (I'm a relative newbie to this site, though I wish I had found it back in April when we started this whole-house remodel thing.)

Today my DH outran me: he taught himself how to stomp ceilings and repaired the part where the built-in pantry was, and was having so much fun he went and fixed a section in our master bath and closet too. He worked on some cabinet aligning and figured out how to attach the crown molding holders to the tight-reach cabinets (with screws), but I had cut the pieces a tad too short, so he didn't actually do it.

When I got home, I attached the valance over the sink, did the section of crown molding over the stove, and was ready to put in the pantry wall portion, but ran out of nails. I couldn't find the box of them upstairs in our "workshop" (this is typical: I organize everything, and DH uses it and puts it somewhere else). I tried to reach him at work, but his cell wasn't working, so I had to humor myself with cutting some pieces of light rail that I'll have to install when he tells me where he put the nails. So no photos tonight. :-( This was so much more productive when we were working 12 hour days together!

The granite people stood us up...don't know what's going on. Tomorrow I need to make a run to HD to do some exchanges: a door that has an unmatching matte finish, a replacement door that's too narrow, 4 pieces of crown and 2 of light rail that aren't glazed. Sigh... We didn't have any problems with our bathroom cabinets; I don't know if this is typical with a large kitchen. Our potfiller arrived, but sink faucet is still AWOL.

Now that you're both back at work, it's still amazing the progress you both are doing. I hate when DH moves my tools! I'm having progress photo withdrawal...

With Kraftmaid and the trim, I think it is normal. We had minor trim issues with our first order but I forget what now. I ordered more trim for the floor between the cabinets and vinyl from HD (didn't get the cabinets there) thinking it would be easier and it took three tries to get it right. The first time the the trim was marked Cherry Ginger Glaze but it clearly was Maple. I had a huge fight with them over the wood - luckily I keep a spare piece of trim and granite in the car so I ran out to get it as they didn't believe me that I knew my color that well. The second was completely scratched up or something - gratefully I forget and I wouldn't accept it. The third try finally worked out.

I think you did great if those were your only problems. Oh, for our main order we also got a particle board for one that was supposed to be plywood. But, Kraftmaid replaced it. If you read on here others have had horrible problems.

Looks fantastic...and you guys never argue while working all day on a project together?

Heck no....she's got a nail gun!

LOL, we don't argue either. My husband knows better - just install what I design and if you don't start the demo, I will . Forget the nail gun (although we have a bunch too) - I got my own crow bar - great for getting projects started. I'm just impressed she does her own molding. I'm not brave enough to do the cuts. That is my husband's job. I did our floor alone but I will not mess with precise cuts - that's my husbands job but I love our miter saw.

Ha ha, no it's not just the nail gun that keeps us from fighting. I'm not sure why we work so well together. We're still relative newlyweds (2 years in Jan), so maybe that has something to do with it.

My DH got the potfiller installed today, but really all you can see is a hole in the wall, because he's doing his famous 10-step drywall finishing. I had to work late and then had an evening commitment so I accomplished zilch, other than phone calls to HD and the granite place, and neither issue is resolved yet. Sigh...

BUT, on the positive side, we've come up with a collaborative solution to getting the crown molding and light rail attached that should minimize the corner gaps. I'm going to try it tomorrow, and then, I promise, I'll take photos and reveal our secret (if it works). In the meantime, I need advice on a few things. I'll post in a separate thread.

Consider this a "bump". I think this thread, and the pictures, is such an inspiration, I just have to hope there will be pictures of the finished marvel. Thanks for the fun and faith, Lynn

i love your transformation - and love hearing other women who can do home improvement stuff. i started renovating 10 years ago - loved it so much i got my GC license. we're on our 6th house. my husband helped with the second house, then decided it wasn't his thing. i've got different crews and subs i use to get most of the work done now - so i'm not as hands on as i used to be (and i kind of miss it). you've done such a great job. thanks for taking the time to share all your pictures with us!!!!

This has been such a fun reno to watch. My hat goes off to you both for taking on such a huge project! The cabs are wonderful. I've seen them at HD and really liked that finish. They look wonderful in your kitchen and I think that the granite you've picked out will look great with them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that the counter issue will resolve itself quickly. Can't wait to see the next pics!

I'm really enjoying this thread. Your kitchen is looking great and your commentary has been really fun and informative. It's good to see another woman that enjoys her tools. I'm having nail gun envy right now!

Just gorgeous!! You are both amazing! I love your bathroom too. Which one of you is the designer or is it both?

Good news on the cabinet front. I talked to HD today and they're having Kraftmaid ship out replacement crown molding, light rail and doors ASAP for the ones that aren't right. I didn't even have to haul them back to the store; they'll make the swap when they deliver the replacements.

The granite place confirmed that someone else is taking the slabs we want. Now waiting for them to tell us how long it would take to get new stuff in, and we'll decide whether to go wait or get the 2nd choice stuff (it's called Desert Brown).

Tonight could be called "fun with crown molding." Since there are a few DIY-ers lurking, I'll toss in all the gory details for your reading pleasure (or pain).

Crown molding is very simple in concept, but (so far, IME) difficult to execute. The simplicity: cut 45 degree angles in the stuff (upside down on the mitre saw), and nail it to the cabinets. But when you're nailing it together, albeit with a fabulous Paslode finish nailer, if the piece you're holding shifts ever-so-slightly, the gap at the corner is magnified and, with all the dimension to it, looks bad. On the first couple corners I did this week, DH took some heavy duty construction adhesive to the gap, smashed it together, and taped it until it dried.

What a pain. So, after bouncing ideas of each other and developing another way, we decided to glue the stuff together at the corners BEFORE attaching it to the cabinets, then attach it as one piece.

Here's my first trial, with some light rail. When it dries, I'll just hold the whole thing under the cabinet, align it like I want, and nail it in.

With the basic concept proven, I moved back to the crown, which is a little trickier, because it has 2 parts, which theoretically makes it simpler to do. Piece 1 is a flat thing that you nail to the top of the cabinets. It has a notch in it that matches an indentation in the crown, so you just nest the crown in it and it goes in straight. The piece on the right shows the flat strip nested into the crown, as it would look gazing upward at it from below.

So I precut the 6 pieces needed for the 54" of cabinet over the sink and the side strips.

Then I nailed the crown to the flat strips in each (way easier to do it on a countertop than balancing on a ladder, holding a nail gun at eye level and trying to keep everything lined up). Finally, I propped it up and glued the corners of the crown together with the construction adhesive. There's a lot of precision involved to get it all aligned (note the 2x4, the shim, and the tape), but it wasn't too hard.

The final step on the tallest cabinets will be to GLUE the whole contraption to the tops of the cabinets. This stuff is seriously as strong as nails, and it's not like people are going to be beating on it or anything. That gluing was DH's idea, and spurred mine about assembling the whole thing before attaching it.

I did the final bit: a corner cabinet, and just as I was gathering up the 6 pieces to bring them down and assemble them, I had a DOH! moment, when I realized I had cut everything on 45 degree angles and the corner cabinet has 135 degree angles on it. ARGHHH!! I had to recut everything. (That's for those of you that think we make it look easy. As DH says, "the way you learn to DIY is to make mistakes and learn from them.")

Anyway, I did finally get everything cut right, and glued together, so here are the two assemblages, awaiting DH's gluing to the cabinets tomorrow.

Speaking of mistakes, DH (who didn't make any progress on his list due to a couple meetings and having to go in early to work) realized he put the flange for the potfiller behind the drywall when it needs to be in front of it (you can see it back on the stove wall in the above photo). So he's going to have to cut a hole and move it out.

I am so impressed with your DIY abilities! No contractor's got anything on you. I just wanted to mention that our contractor assembled our molding before he put it up too. When I commented on how nice the corners look, even on our very tricky angles, he told me his secret.

alku: I don't know whether to feel triumphant that I figured out a contractor trick or bummed that I went through the pain of the first couple installs when I probably could have found advice somewhere to have made it easier. :-)

You kitchen is looking great!

My husband did the same undertile warming system as you did. He laid it himself over a thin layer of cork since we are on a slab. He tested it and it worked. The tile layers laid the tile over it. This was in June.

A month ago we tried to turn it on. It didn't work! He called the company and they sent out a system that could detect where the problem was. Then he had to remove a tile and sure enough, the wire under it was messed up. We think the tilers did it and just covered it up. Anyway, he was able to fix it and all is well now.

The floor is wonderful and I'm sure you will enjoy it.

DITTO!!!!! WOW!!! Great job!!! I predict a call from HGTV in the near future, asking you to do a series. The response here is proof that a lot of people are interested in DIY projects.

Thanks so much for your thread. We are also DIYers, only we are doing about roughly 80% DIY for a whole house......and working. Your post came at a good time for me because last night we were outside with a spotlight in 30 degree weather putting up cedar siding, and I'm thinking what the heck are we doing?? Then today I saw your post and it gave me encouragement to know others DIY too. We are going at a much slower pace than you are. We have a few more years on you guys, 49 & 56. I must say the satisfaction at the end of each phase is fabulous. I know you will be rewarded with that in the end.

We installed our cabinets, appliances and wood flooring. I'm not good at cutting. I leave that to DH. I do some of the drywall taping. Some of that we do contract out because it takes me so long. I do all the painting/staining and hope to master doing trim work.
We don't have our granite yet either. There was a bit of a "Mars vs Venus" thing going on with that so we are at a standstill. I'm in love with Crema Bordeaux. We have a sample and I catch myself fondling it often.
I love the way you staggered the height of your cabs. I wanted to do that but the man from Mars wanted it all the same height....HE won on that one.

GOOD LUCK!!! We are cheering for you.

Thanks for the step-by-step walkthrough on the crown moulding, hadn't thought about pre-assembly before. Crown installation is our project for this week.

Keep the pics and the tips coming!

Its like the really old This Old House - you know the originals - where the owners actually helped out and they were using products that the general population used and they went slow, week by week so you could see how it was done. Not like the DIY shows now where in 30 min you have an entirely new kitchen. I'm enjoying reading along!!

Y'all are amazing. Looks great!

This IS definitely better than TOH or anything on HGTV...LOL

Glad to hear from the other DIY-ers on this board!

Today we finally had a full day to work again. The faucet arrived Thursday, so DH hit the plumbing like a fiend, and when the dust settled, and after two more trips to the hardware store, we now have a working sink, disposal (with air switch) and dishwasher. Yay, we can actually do more than cook microwave food in our kitchen now! He got the hood in and wired up as well.

I set out to work on the desk area. I ripped out--I mean gently removed--the wall cabinet and the desk area, and all the jury-rigging attached. That left some wall damage behind, so I did the first round of drywall patching, but DH will add his finesse to finish it up. I painted what I could, and we'll install the cabinets later. Here's where that stands.

We attached our pre-fabbed crown molding and light rail too (easy as glue). And I spray-painted a bunch of the knobs bronze. This is how they started out looking. The egg-carton painting trick I picked up on HGTV.

So here's one wall, complete with crown molding, light rail, and knobs. We need to add light rail to the cabinet on the right, but we're going to put a tambour in there, and can't do that until the counters are installed, and then can cut the light rail precisely. And we're still waiting for a couple replacement doors. Other than that, this whole side of the kitchen is done!

So now we are quite literally finished until the replacement cabinet pieces come and the granite gets installed. I won't bore you with the saga of where that all stands, but I'm rather frustrated with it all. The important thing is that we can use it now. Oh, and I still have to decide on and order the drawer pulls.

Beautiful! I logged in during half time to see if you had posted an update. It looks great. I know you are frustrated with waiting for the pieces, etc., but man oh man, you should sit back and take in what all you two have accomplished in such a short time! I just moved in to a brand new house 4 months ago and I wish my kitchen looked like yours.

Are you worried about glueing the light rail - we are trying to figure out how to get ours on and I bought a ton of different screws this week as my husband finally cut it last week (I'm not as brave as you to try the cutting). He wants to glue, I want screws. What glue did you use? I worry if we need to take it off, you can't.

OK,

Dumb question- how are you hooking up your sink without the granite in? We are on month 7 without a kitchen cuz we're waiting for the granite to be installed before we put in the sink and thus attach the DW.

pcjs: We used heavy duty construction adhesive (that's what it's called on the tube; you put it in a caulk gun) to glue the light rail together, but nailed the constructed pieces to the cabinet from below.

raehelen: we put a piece of plywood over our sink base, cut a hole for the sink, and dropped it in. It's an undermount sink, but for now we set it up like a drop-in. Then we attached the faucet like normal, as well as the disposal and dishwasher. We'll have to disconnect everything and reinstall it when the granite arrives, but in the meantime it's functional.

What kind of nails did you use to get it on - that is where we are stuck as my husband is nervous about getting it exactly centered. He is pregluing the pieces and using the biscuit joiner to hold them together. We debated between screws which is how the guy helping us recommended, the brad nailer (we have 16 and 18 gauge nailers) or gluing (but he's using wood glues but we have construction adhesive too - we have a mini Home Depot/Lowes downstairs).

It's really coming along! How soon will the granite go in?

I think your kitchen is a perfect example of an okay before kitchen and a fabulous after kitchen. I have seen some pretty awful before kitchens but yours wasn't awful. But you had the vision to see how much better it could be.

This has been wonderful to follow along. We are still in the planning stage. One thing we are trying to decide is how much we will do. Over the years I have become an accomplished tile layer. DH does drywall and somw wiring. We have to run some gas line; ssems we should let a pro do that.

Had not decided about hanging cabinets.

You have obvioulsy put a tremendous amount of thought into your design.Do you have a layout with measurements? How much room do you have around your island? (Your layout looks to be quite similar to one that we are working on, though we have a bit more width but not as much length.)

Thanks Weedyacres,

Hopefully our granite is coming Tuesday, so I won't bother asking hubby to connect sink now- and I think I don't even want to contemplate why we didn't connect it a couple of months ago (but probably cuz we THOUGHT granite was coming any day...SIGH!)

I have one more question- where did you find ORB spray paint? I've looked everywhere- and I'm going to kick myself if it's available at Lowe's- cuz was just there last week, after enduring an hour wait at the border- but didn't think to look.

pcjs: We used 1 1/4" 16 gauge nails. Screws seem like overkill to me, as this stuff isn't exactly load-bearing. Wow, biscuits...your DH must be a real perfectionist woodworker.

happyladi: No, our kitchen wasn't horrible (except for the carpet and the sink), but it was ugly and didn't have enough storage space. I don't know when the granite is coming; we've been going back and forth with the granite place for 3 weeks on what granite is even available. They're 2 hours away, and the original guy we were working with left mid-stream, so we've had to do a lot of starting over and redundant communicating.

dcwesley: The cabinets really aren't hard at all to put in. If you can do basic carpentry and understand how to screw, align, and shim, you can do it. I thought we had put a lot of thought into the design, until I discovered GW and encountered people who planned it for a couple years. Our process started in late August, when we were in HD and the KD, who had helped us with our master bath vanities said, "Wanna buy a kitchen? They're 10% off if you order by Oct 15th." 6 weeks later we were done. I have a design with measurements, but I don't have a scanner to post it. It's 13' wide, though, our island is 24" wide, and right now we have it centered between the walls, with 41" walk space on either side. We're testing that spacing out right now, and will decide whether or not to adjust it before the granite comes.

raehelen: The spray paint is bronze, not ORB, so the sheen is slightly different, but unless you take a knob and put it right next to the faucet, you don't really notice it.

I can't see your pictures. It says 'bandwidth exceeded' photobucket-

help......

Yeah, my free account isn't going to work anymore. I upgraded for $$, so they won't be cut off again.

Well, I got a nice surprise when the granite company called me this morning and said that they had confirmed that the 2 slabs of Terra Brazilas we originally wanted had been unreserved by another customer, and he was ready to come measure TODAY! So he came by, did his thing, and we should have our counters in 2 weeks. Plus it's cheaper than I was ballpark budgetting. A great day!

So we'll probably be kind-of quiet on this thread for a couple weeks, but will resurrect it again when we get our counters.

Yippee!!

He's a perfectionist, which is why everything takes forever and he rarely works on it as we have other things going on and I love buying him tools as he loves tools. :) I needed a present for him and it's one of the few he doesn't have. I figure if he ever gets the house done, he will then need to build some matching furniture.

Congrat's on the granite - I'm impressed on how fast you all are pulling this together.

Weedy,
Fabulous job--I'm another one who can't get a room painted in under a week, so I really am wowed at the amount of work you've accomplished in such a short time.

I have a question about the light rail--are there pieces behind the visible rail or are they attached directly to the bottom of the cabinets?

BUMP!!! The DIYers here on GW all need some inspiration . . . Besides, as someone said earlier - this isn;t a thread to let die.

Our remodel won't be as incredible as yours (nor as fast) but DH is getting out all his hidden electrical and plumbing desires. It's fun to see what you have tackled so successfully.

Keep us posted on the granite.

Cheers!

I intend to bump this again as soon as I actually have some progress to report (waiting for granite, replacement crown, drawer handles), it's just been quiet on the kitchen front.

In the meantime, jesemy, here's a photo of a cross section of the light rail, showing how it gets nailed into the cabinet frame above.

What an inspiration!

BUMP...any updates?

Alas, no updates of note. I ordered the drawer handles, only to find out that they were backordered, so we're waiting on that. One of the replacement doors came in, but that's not a very exciting photo to post. :-) Still waiting on the replacement crown and the microwave cabinet (the one we ordered originally wasn't the right size to put the microwave under, so we're swapping it out). The granite will hopefully be arriving this coming week.

We have determined, after living in our kitchen for a couple weeks, that the island and penninsula placement are ok, so this coming week we'll screw them together and add the trim. That'll be worth some photos. And it should be just in time for the granite....

Okay, I'm going to make you all jealous. The weedyacres crew are related to me, and guess what they're giving me for Christmas? Two days of slave labor! Of course, I'd love to have a kitchen that even looked like their BEFORE photo...but they're going to install new vinyl flooring and we'll see what else they have time for. Maybe we'll start our own thread. :)

A new vinyl floor depending on what is under it isn't too hard - I did mine alone with only minimal help. I'd be jealous, but I have a handy husband! I wish our before kitchen looked like hers too - I wouldn't have been in such a hurry to do ours.

Okay, we're back on track! We had a good workday on Saturday, and knocked off a few lingering projects.

First, we put in the desk area stuff. We took your earlier advice and pulled the upper cabinet away from the back wall by 6", but that added a lot of complexity in fastening it, as it had to be screwed to the side walls. We had to build up about 1.5" on either side, so we did it with plywood and some shaved-down pieces of a pallet. It looked like this:

DH worked for 4 hours on the island electrical. We mused, discussed, and brainstormed to figure out what to do on this. We've got decorative panels everywhere, so an outlet in the middle would detract from that. Plug mold (our original idea) would have required one side of the island counter to be a couple inches more overhand, plus it would cover up the top of the decorative doors. So our KD (thanks, Dan!) had this idea:

We're waiting by the phone with bated breath for our granite guy to call saying they're ready to bring it. They did send us photos of the template, so we know they've got our slabs. Here's one (sorry, don't know how to make it bigger).

And our backordered drawer handles should finally be here on Monday.

Looking good! I totally admire that you guys are doing this all yourselves and you're actually finishing it.

I eagerly await each installment, but this thread is taking FOREVER to load with so many pictures.

Could I vote for opening a second thread?

Good idea. I did that here.