After Hurricane Irene

We made it through with minimal damage.  Some large tree limbs, and we are going to have to take down the rest of the tree.  Some shingles.  That's about it.  No flood damage.  No windows or siding.  We didn't lose power.  We sure were protected!  Thank you, Jesus.

Hurricane Preparedness

So, after I remodeled my kitchen, we had a catastrophe. No, not the earthquake, it didn't cause any damage. No, not the hurricane, yet. We had a bad leak, caused by one of my wonderful, new LG appliances.  More on that later.

Meanwhile, pictures of the prep we are doing for Hurricane Irene.  (we are supposed to get hit starting tomorrow at noon.)

We started on the deck.  Cleared off all the plants, the table and chairs, the grill and toys.

Moved on to the hot tub.  We have a strap system set up, attached to the stakes you see.  We just took it apart so it can be used tonight before the storm.

See all the stuff in the garage?

We had to come up with a good plan for the chicken coop.  It's just a shed set on cinder blocks, a flying kite.  We didn't want to have to try to drag it and my chickens from the field on Sunday, so we anchored it.  Steel cable and huge spikes.  It's pretty strong, we hope.

My husband is so smart, look at the system he designed to tighten the straps.

We cleaned the gutters, yucky.  There were a few crepe myrtle branches hanging over the front, trimmed them off.

And, we removed all the hanging plants, potted plants, bird feeders and bird baths.

I picked all the ripe tomatoes and hope to either can or freeze them tomorrow.  And, I dug a few potatoes to have fried up for breakfast or something else delish.

So, we seem to be prepared.  What I'm mostly concerned about is the chickens, never had to protect something living outside in a storm before.  And, I'm pretty sure we will lose power.  Not too bad, except it's hot and muggy and my family is spoiled by AC.  And...I have a freezer full of stuff like blueberries, corn, venison and I would cry if it spoiled.  I plan to plug it into the car periodically if I have to.

(Is it too hokey to say, "Come On, Irene"?)

A Quick Kitchen Remodel

Well, it happened quickly.  But, I've been planning it for a couple of years now.  Started back when we owned land and planned to build a house.  I've been saving ideas in my red 3-ring binder for a long time.  I finally got to put them all to use!

Just a note, we are not done completely.  We still need to add things like trim , cabinet backs, etc.  But, it's functional and T needed to get back to work, so, it'll do for a little while.

Here's the before pic.

Our house is a pre-fab built in 1981.  Pretty sure the kitchen hadn't seen any updating since then.  except the removal of some pretty swell wallpaper and addition of some pretty awful laminate floor.  (I despise laminate floor.)  Please ignore the new white cabinets as you drool over my former kitchen.

Day 1
Tear out.  Completed while I took the girls off to buy flooring, I think.  I went somewhere, anyhow, and came home to see it all done.  Whew.  Although it's hard to tell, got the floor, walls and ceiling patched.  Didn't get the popcorn down, that's a winter project.

Day 2
Final coat of mud.  Most of the flooring down, (just doing stick-down tiles for now.  Couldn't make up my mind on what I wanted permanently, so we went for the cheap but nice in the meantime.)  Plumbing and electrical also done.  Mostly...

Day 3
Wall painted.  We are tiling the window wall, so it's going to be ugly for a while.  Wall cabinets hung.  The others aren't attached, just set into place.  Flooring nearly done, all except for under the fridge.  More electrical done, had to move it quite a bit.

Day 4
Base cabinets attached.  Floor finished.  It took a long time for those base cabinets.  Our house is really crooked.  Yes, that's a level in the floor.  I insist on perfection.  Do you believe me?

Day 5
This day, I had to make the trek to Ikea.  All the cabinets, the sink and countertops are from there.  But, the store is nearly 2.5 hours away.  So, it truly does take a day.  Especially when you have to stand in line for an hour for returns, then stand in line for an hour just to get started with  kitchen designer who is necessary to use to purchase your cabinet products.  Then, another hour or so with him turning down his up-sells.  Oh, and 15 minutes waiting for the guy in product pick-up to acknowledge you and give you your cart of stuff.  I'm so glad my friend went with me to help out!
Anyway, gas was run today, so we have a stove!  No oven, er, actually, no oven racks.  So, if I want to bake, have to use one of the burner grates until we can find someone to fabricate a track for the racks.  This stove came all the way from Michigan.
Plumber hooked up the sink and dishwasher.  Unfortunately, the drain line leaks, so we have to run it pulled out with a bucket underneath.  LG is sending a new one.  Seems this is a common problem.

Day 6
Nearly done.  Have to add the sides and bottoms to the wall cabinets and the sides and back to the base cabinets.  We have hung the sink light since this pic.  Have to change the fan out for something else.  Have to find a hood.  Have to tile.  Add kickplates.  Probably going to do these things in the winter.

So, there you have it.  I'm using Ikea Akurum cabinets with Stat doors for the base and Lidi white doors for the walls.  Pragel black stone effect countertops.  My stove is a very old Viking 48" with 6 burners and a griddle, (which I love!).  Sink is from Ikea, Domsjo farmhouse - very nice.  The faucet is by Koehler.