Goodnight, Furnace.

When we bought the house, we knew the furnace was older, and would likely be replaced on our dime. We bought the extended home warranty, and hoped it would happen during that time. Of course not. Sunday, January 30th, 2011, around 3:00 PM, the furnace quit pumping warm air.

It could be several things, and it should be no surprise that we weren't able to figure out the problem, even though we opened the furnace, poked some things, looked around and made a bunch of sounds like "hmm" and said things like "okay, so that goes there."

Looks like it's time to start thinking of how this will work into our eventual basement finishing project. Ugh.

Cutting edge technology, circa 1987:

The question remains: repair, or replace?

Cabinet installation, Phase I

We now have about two thirds of our kitchen cabinets installed. Last week, the base cabinets went in. The counter top folks asked that we not install the rest of the cabinets, so they would have plenty of room to work. When they finished the template, we were free to install more cabinets, though we were asked to hold off on the wall cabinets, until the counter top is installed. That should be this week.

The base cabinets:

Today, the bulk head next to the range (seen above) and the cabinets around the refrigerator went in. The refrigerator is counter depth- our thought there is to open up as much floor space as possible. The cabinets around the refrigerator are the same depth. We have some serious cabinet space there.

The refrigerator cabinets:

I try to keep tabs on what I call our "lessons learned" in home improvement. Do you have any great lessons learned from your kitchen remodel or things you wish you had known/considered earlier?

More dented appliances

We'd been told to open appliances when they arrive, and look for damage. Sure enough, we found a big dent on the range.

Exhibits A and B:

First, we called the store (which connected us to a call center) and were offered a couple measily options (10% off our next purchase... what "next" purchase?). Next, we headed to the store, ready to haggle and show photo-evidence of the damage.

The store employee started talking about replacing the appliance, but I said I'd be happy with a partial refund. He seemed relieved and refunded us about 18% of the purchase price (which was already on a post-holiday sale)! WIN!

The stage is set

This week, the walls were painted, the fridge made its way home, and new cabinets have completely taken over.

Bring on the beige:

The very discounted (and barely dented) refrigerator:

The living room looks like a storage unit:

Next week, the cabinets will be installed and the countertop template can be made. So, roughly, two more weeks of living without a kitchen. Pretty exciting!

Kitchen Floor Finishing

This is where we left off:

With the old floor removed, our good friend and contractor Lee sanded the original fir floor.

Sanding alone was an improvement:

And finally:

This last picture doesn't show much, but the floor looks great. Lee calls it "rustic." It could also be called "way better than what we had before."