The kitchen begins to take shape

Now that the floors are done, the kitchen cabinets can start to be assembled in situ.  Unfortunately we were slightly delayed by the onset of some seasonal rain, which meant that the guys didn't want to transport the cabinets on the open backed lorry.  Thankfully the usual sunny weather returned to LA and the cabinets started to slowly arrive and the kitchen begun to take shape.....

First the shells were installed:

Somehow all of these drawers will fit into the kitchen:



and the new walk-in closet doors.....

Then just a couple of days later the guys come to install the closet doors:

doors closed

doors open

Then we just had to make a decision on lighting - track lighting or recessed lighting.

In the end we decided on recessed lighting and we are very pleased with the results:

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Although after weeks of anticipation it didn't take us long to fill the space:

Seriously - thank god for the guest walkin wardrobe too!

After going backwards and forwrds between track lighting and recessed lighting, we finally decided on the recessed lighting and we are so pleased we did:

The walk-in closet arrives!

So it seemed like many months ago Brian and I had chosen the closet wood colour and hardware.  Now was the day of reckoning when we would see how it actually would pan out in the flesh.

This was the space we started with - incuding a new floor!

and within just a couple of hours, it became:

Chocolate Pear with Brushed Nickel hardware

We both love the fact that the rails actually curve around the corner units.

Utilizing the space....

The open space also gave the guys a place to store all of their tools and provided a great space for painting the doors!

Caesarstone

Today we are having to decide which edge to have on our Caesarstone countertops for our kitchen which is going to be installed this week.  With our mocha caesarstone topped island, and shaker style cabinet cupboards, I think we like number 5 above - the bevel square.

This cool tool helped us make the decision:
http://www.caesarstoneus.com/products/edge-options/

Jane and Brian's Bathroom Project - part II

So whilst the rest of the house was being torn down at the rate of knots, we felt that we needed to add our own sweat equity to the project and get our hands a bit more dirty.  Pedro's team were swiftly breaking down walls, removing the appliances and old cabinets, and demoliting tile but we also wanted to get in on the action. 

We had been back and forth on whether to completely remodel the master bathroom, when Jennifer suggested that we could give the tired painted vanities a new lease of life by stripping the paint and revamping the bathroom that way.... and so we did!

The white painted vanity units

After the first coat of paint stripper.

and another!

Chosing a shade of stain!

 To be honest we haven't got much futher.....

 

Flooring

You might have seen from some of the earlier posts but most of the first floor had wonderful oak wood floors.  It's just that neither of us particularly liked the shade of stain that had been used.

And as you may recall the kitchen had some seriously hideous tiling.   

With the demoliton of the kitchen, the tile was removed and then came the matching of the wood floors.  New oak floors were installed where the tile had been and then the whole of the first floor was resanded and then all restained so it would all match throughout.

The new wood laid.  You can see the old colouring.

Then the sanders came in....

it was a pretty dusty day:

The camera picked up all the dust in the air

Sanding took the old colour off the wood.



That's a lot of dust!

Jose Angel and his team did an amazing job, it just took us a little unaware that we were not going to be able to get back into the ground floor of our house whilst he was working on the floors.    This caused a little problem considering we were only using one room to live in and that was upstairs!

Brians ingenuity overcame the issue, as he worked out that getting upstairs just meant climbing a ladder to the first floor den, and then balancing on a beam to get across the newly stained floor to the bottom of the carpetted stairs, which we could walk on!

Our escape route:
from the Den on the right over the plank and up the stairs on the left....

Unfortunately I didn't get back quick enough to be able to get a picture of newly stained floors before we had them covered over again to stop them getting nicked by the cabinet installers or splashed with paint.... you'll just have to wait and see!