The badly needed kitchen renovation of my New York City apartment continues into day eight. I continue installing our new cabinets from Ikea in the new space.

Here’s today’s progress report:

The remainder of this project will revolve around installing the cabinets, finishing trim details, and hooking up the plumbing and appliances. I’ve got one more day before I have to go back to work. After that, things will slow down a bit as I finish things after hours (but hopefully I’ll be able to rest up a little.)

The Go-To Guy!

Technorati Tags: DIY home renovation, ikea kitchen, kitchen renovation, sears kitchen appliances

The badly needed kitchen renovation of my New York City apartment continues into day seven. I’ve been at it one full week now and today I began installing our new cabinets from Ikea in the new space. Oh, and the appliances arrived from Sears.

The appliances arrived promptly at 8am:

The installation work goes much slower than all the rest of the prep. The hand plastered walls in an older New York City apartment are never square or level, so there are lots of little tweaks and adjustments that need to be made in order to fit everything together. But, things are finally coming together.

Here’s today’s progress report:

Tomorrow the installation work continues.

The Go-To Guy!

Technorati Tags: DIY home renovation, ikea kitchen, kitchen renovation, sears kitchen appliances

The badly needed kitchen renovation of my New York City apartment continues into day six. Today was the mad race to finish patching up all the holes that the electricians and I made in the walls. I also dry fit some of our new cabinets from Ikea to see how everyhting would fit in the new space. The new stove, microwave range hood, and a dishwasher from Sears are scheduled for delivery tomorrow and I got a confirmation call today - 8am!!!

Here’s a progress report for the day:

By the end of day six I had to have the wall repair work finished because the appliances are coming the next morning between 8 and 10 am. They have to go into their final spots in the kitchen, because I don’t have anyplace to put them and won’t be able to move them by myself anyway.

I worked like a madman to finish the wall repair and somehow got everything done. I was able to put up a coat of primer over most of the patches and only have a little work left in the morning before the Sears delivery shows up.

One little bonus today is that I ended the day by dry-fitting a few of the cabinets in place to see how well everything fit. Ellen did a remarkable job putting this all together, because the fit is perfect.

Tomorrow starts very early and promises to be very busy.

The Go-To Guy!

Technorati Tags: DIY home renovation, ikea kitchen, kitchen renovation, plaster repair

The badly needed kitchen renovation of my New York City apartment continues into day five. Today was the day to start patching up all the holes that the electricians and I made in the walls. I also started to assemble some of our new cabinets from Ikea delivered yesterday. The new stove, microwave range hood, and a dishwasher from Sears are scheduled for delivery on Friday.

I spent much of day 5 waiting for the delivery of the drywall and other supplies for patching the holes. While I waited, I put together some of the cabinets.

Here’s a progress report for the day:

The delivery came around 3:30pm. Building supply companies aren’t like Ikea - they don’t bring the stuff inside. The delivery guy dropped things in front of the building (in the rain) and I had to get it all inside myself.

Progress was good today, but I’m getting nervous about getting all the wall repair done by tomorrow. I didn’t factor in enough time for the plaster to dry and to put a coat of paint onto everything.

There’s nothing like the rising feeling of panic to focus your attention and get you working!

The Go-To Guy!

Technorati Tags: DIY home renovation, ikea kitchen, kitchen renovation

The badly needed kitchen renovation of my New York City apartment continues. Today was electrician day and they came to replace the fuse panel and completely rewire the kitchen space. We also got our new cabinets, counters, refrigerator and a sink from Ikea delivered in the  afternoon. The new stove, microwave range hood, and a dishwasher from Sears are scheduled for delivery on Friday.

Yesterday I opened up the walls and pulled the copper tubing for the water supply line to the new fridge. I didn’t have the right kind of gloves to give the grip and flexibility I needed while pulling the tubing and this is the result:

Day four was focused on getting the electrical work done. The electricians were extremely efficient and got the entire kitchen rewired in less than 1 day. The new breaker box is installed and all the outlets are in place. Once I finish repairing the walls, they’ll come back and hookup the outlets and put on the covers.

Here’s a quick shot of the guys hard at work pulling the new wire in the kitchen:

Ikea also delivered the cabinets and sink today. It’s very important to do a complete inventory when you get your order to ensure that you have all of the parts and don’t find yourself in the middle of an installation and missing something important. Our order checked out 100% - very happy about that.

Finally, I also went to the building supply company around the corner and ordered the materials for closing up the walls. It gets delivered tomorrow. While I was there, I picked up the parts to hook-up the ice maker’s water supply line.

When the electricians left I hooked up the water supply line to the main water connection and tested for leaks by running some water into a bucket. No leaks! Everything looks good.

Here’s the recap of the whole day and a look at what was accomplished:

Tomorrow, I start patching up all the holes in the walls and putting together some of the base cabinets.

Stay Tuned,

The Go-To Guy!

Technorati Tags: DIY home renovation, ikea kitchen, kitchen renovation

The badly needed kitchen renovation of my New York City apartment continues. On day three I opened up the walls and pulled the copper tubing for the water supply line to the new fridge. I got a call saying the delivery of the new cabinets, counters, refrigerator and a sink from Ikea will be coming Tuesday afternoon. The new stove, microwave range hood, and a dishwasher from Sears are scheduled for delivery on Friday.

Here’s a little video update of the progress today:

The electrician confirmed he’ll be arriving tomorrow to start work. The debris removal folks came today and took the old stove and all the debris from the demo.

Bummer, the ceiling fixture died today. It’s fluorescent, and I think the ballast went bad. I’ll ask the electrician.

Here’s a video taken at the end  of the day:

We’re still on schedule and on budget. If the electrician doesn’t need to redo the wiring back to the main panel, we’ll be golden!

The Go-To Guy!

Technorati Tags: DIY home renovation, ikea kitchen, kitchen renovation

The badly needed kitchen renovation of my New York City apartment continues. On day two I continued tearing out the old cabinets and appliances in preparation for replacing them with cabinets, counters, refrigerator and a sink from Ikea along with a new stove, microwave range hood, and a dishwasher from Sears.

Here’s a little video update of the progress today:

The electrician coming in to replace the fuse panel and completely rewire the kitchen space on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I want to get as much stuff out of the way to give him clear access to the walls.

Monday afternoon the debris removal people are coming as well. I broke down the old cabinets so that they would take up as little space as possible - the debris removal is charged by the load size, so this will help keep the budget down. I want them to take the stove too, but only if it doesn’t add to the cost. (Sears will take it for free when the new appliances come, but I’d have to wait until Friday.)

This wave of the project is focused on the basics and the electrical work, but I’m already looking forward to dressing things up with a tile backsplash, a new floor, and some under-cabinet task lighting once the main project is done.

The Go-To Guy!

Technorati Tags: DIY home renovation, ikea kitchen, kitchen renovation

My New York City apartment is getting a badly needed kitchen renovation. I’ll be tearing out the old cabinets and appliances and replacing them with cabinets, counters, refrigerator and a sink from Ikea along with a new stove, microwave range hood, and a dishwasher from Sears. We also have an electrician coming in to replace the fuse panel and completely rewire the kitchen space.

This wave of the project is focused on the basics and the electrical work. Later I want to dress things up with a tile backsplash, a new floor, and some under-cabinet task lighting.

This is the before shot of the kitchen. The new fridge is already there, but the rest is heading to the dumpster. I’ve got to box up and clear out all of the contents of the shelves and cupboards.

I spent a few hours boxing up and moving all of the contents of the kitchen into the girls’ room where I’ll leave it until the kitchen is finished. As small as the kitchen is and with as few cupboards as we have, I was a bit surprised at how much we had crammed in there.

Once the contents of the room were safely stored away, I took the doors off of the cabinets and took the wall cabinet and vent hood down.

Here is my progress for the day.

So far I’m on schedule for my expectations on this project. I’ll have all of the demolition work completed tomorrow and be ready to open up the walls a bit to get ready for the electrician. I also want to see if I can pull a water line across the room to connect up the ice maker on the fridge.

Now it’s time for a little rest.

The Go-To Guy!

Technorati Tags: DIY home renovation, ikea kitchen, kitchen renovation