Last weekend I bought a new self-propelled Honda lawnmower with the intent of teaching my oldest son how to mow. He was quite excited about getting to mow for the first time. It took him a couple of laps to get used to the mower. The first couple of rows it looked like the mower was dragging him around the yard becuase he didn’t know how to control the self-propelled throttle. While mowing he asked me, “Is this the kind of fun that wears off?” LOL!

Anyway, he did such a good job that I decided to let his younger brother give it a try. He did a great job too so now I have two lawn dudes! I have to say it was quite nice being able to edge and trim while one of the boys mows. I could definitely get used to this!

All of this leads me to a question for AFM readers:

I’m thinking no for the following reasons:

1. They each get a pretty generous allowance of $10 per week.

2. They don’t have a lot of chores in the first place.

3. I don’t want them to grow up thinking that they should get paid for helping out around the house.

That said, I’m still a bit torn. If I do end up paying them for mowing the yard, I may cut back on their allowance but pay them extra for mowing.

I’d like to know your thoughts on the topic.

Anyway, here are some new pictures of the kitchen and family room:

Notice the gaping hole where the range should be.

The countertop isn’t as black as I thought it would be. I like it but it does look different that what I imagined. Of course it is hard to imagine an entire countertop from a 2 X 2 inch sample piece.

I’m VERY happy with the bookcases and TV. The HD channels look awesome on the TV. I just wish there was more of them.

Both my wife and I are very pleased with the outcome. I would highly recommend our contractor! The entire project took about 6 weeks, which is pretty good in my opinion.

Here’s some fresh pictures I took this afternoon:

What do you think?

Well, after 4 weeks, the kitchen remodel/renovation is finally wrapping up. The tile floors are being installed as I write and should be done tomorrow or Monday. The appliances will be delivered on Monday and the Silestone countertops should be installed on Tuesday. Then all that will be left is the tile backsplash and finishing touches. By this time next week, we should be able to use our kitchen! NO MORE EATING OUT!

I’ll post the final pictures as soon as the project is complete.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I still haven’t bought a TV yet.

Here’s the view when you enter the family room from the entry way:

Before:

Now:

The New Fireplace Almost Finished:

New Kitchen Cabinets in Process:

New Pantry:

Wrap-Around Bar:

The View From Where the New Kitchen Sink Will Be:

The New Built-Ins In Process:

That’s a big hole I’m gonna have to fill with a new TV!

As you can see, they’re making significant progress. It will probably take 4 or so more days to get the staining all done, then they’ll install the flooring. Countertops should be installed sometime next week. Then all that will be left is touch-up and waiting on the appliances. WOO HOO!

Still left to be done:

• Paint the ceiling and walls
• Install the built-in cabinets in the family room
• Tile the floor
• Install the countertops and sink and fixtures
• Finish staining the kitchen cabinets
• Install the range and microwave

I’m sure there’s some other stuff left to do but I can’t think of it right now.

All I can say is I’m ready to get this thing done. Overall it is has gone pretty smoothly but I’m still getting tired of washing dishes in the bathroom and eating out most nights. I’m also tired of all the freakin’ dust! There’s dust everywhere!

More pictures to come soon.

We ordered the range and microwave last week. The range should arrive in 2 or 3 weeks. My wife decided (I had nothing to do with the decision) to go with the brand new GE Café Series Duel-Fuel Range (info and pictures) and microwave to match. We’ll eventually change out our refrigerator and dishwasher so that everything matches but right now that’s not a priority.

Finally, the attached family room looks really good. They are building the built-in bookcases for us right now. By taking out the corner fireplace, we gained about six feet along that wall. Although it seems silly to move a fireplace, I think it was a good move. We’ll get a lot more enjoyment out of the new fireplace and it doesn’t take up nearly as much space!

I’ll try to post some more pictures later today.

It all started several years ago. We bought our house in 1999 and almost immediately we started dreaming about the stuff we wanted to do to it. Our house is nearly 50 years old and nearly every room needed some type of work. I knew that a lot of the projects were going to be way out of my league so I started thinking about a contractor (keep in mind that this was seven years ago). Anyway, I started seeing signs in different yards and all of them were for the same contractor (his name is Fred). I made a mental note of it but never made any calls.

Fast forward to 2007…

After we paid off our credit cards in 2006, we started saving money for a remodel. Then earlier this year we went to Home Depot to start to get an idea of how much our kitchen remodel was going to cost. After visiting with the Home Depot guy we got cold feet and decided to put it off for a while.

Then a couple of months later, both my dad and my father-in-law suggested we refinance our house and use the equity to finance our kitchen project. In Texas, you can’t refinance for more than 80% of the value of the home, so that you at least have a 20% equity position based on market value (yes, there’s some risk to this but that’s not the point of this post). Anyway, we decided to do this and met with our bank. Our appraisal came back pretty conservative (meaning it came in for less than I thought the house was really worth), which made me feel comfortable with the refinance. We refinanced and received our funds back in early August, which I immediately rolled over to our GMAC Bank account.

Once we had the money in hand, we decided to pursue a contractor. I called a friend of mine who works with various contractors and asked him for some names. He recommended a few that I wasn’t familiar with so I asked him about Fred. He told me that Fred was really good, but that he wasn’t cheap. He also told me that Fred had crews to do different tasks, which makes his projects go a lot faster.

My wife called Fred and scheduled a meeting with him and two other contractors. Fred really impressed us. He was older, had been doing remodels for decades, and had a good reputation. And, he would do everything. A big plus in my book.

The next guy was also qualified but left us with the impression that we would have a lot more responsibility. For instance, we would be required to hire a cabinet maker, plumber and electrician. Basically, we would be the contractor for the deal. I wasn’t comfortable with this at all. His bid came in a LOT lower than Fred’s but it didn’t include everything, so it was really hard to compare.

The third contractor never called us back and we found out through my in-laws that he was really slow. So, he was out. We didn’t want our kitchen out of commission for six months!

We called Fred back out to our house to answer some more questions and decided during that meeting that he was the man for the job.

Everyone I talked to before hiring Fred had nothing but good things to say about him. That, and the fact that I saw his signs in lots of different yards over the years, made the decision easy for me. I also liked the fact that Fred didn’t require a draw (access to our funds in order to complete the project). My big fear was a contractor running off with our money and never completing the work, which seems to be rampant in the contracting business. One lady I know hired a contractor who gutted her house and then took off! She’s out some money, has a gutted house, and now has to find another contractor to come in and finish the job.

Our job’s still not done but I can tell you that so far I have been extremely impressed by Fred and his crew. They come to work. They don’t lounge around – they work! I don’t think I have ever seen one of them standing around unless they were on a lunch break.

So, that’s my experience.

That’s my son’s hand sticking out from behind the plastic and my daughter’s yogurt sitting on the floor. The big hole in the ceiling is where they inserted a huge beam to support the ceiling since they took out a load-bearing wall.

Here’s a before picture of the family room, which is connected to the kitchen:

Although we loved the fireplace, it was too big and took up too much room. It also made it hard to arrange the furniture. So, we decided that since we were in the midst of a remodel that there would never be a better time to take it out. So,… we did!

Taking out the fireplace gave us an additional 6 feet of wall space to work with. On that wall, we will put built-in bookcases with shelving for a nice-sized flat-screen TV. The fireplace will be moved to a spot in between the family room and the kitchen, which will help tie the two rooms together and make for a really nice atmosphere. I’ll post more pictures later.

This is going to end up costing us a lot of money but I think it will be worth it.

How it looks right now:

Isn’t it lovely?

Today they busted up the concrete so that we can run the plumbing to the other side. Most of the wall that you see on the right hand side will be removed, allowing the kitchen to overlook the family room. It will be MUCH more open and it will be nice to able to be in the kitchen and still be in the family room at the same time. The kitchen sink will look directly at the wall that will house my TV so that I can watch football while doing the dishes. YIPPY!

Oh, and that window on the left wall looks into the garage! We’re pulling it out since that’s where the range with an overhead microwave will go. It seems silly to have a window look out into the garage. My theory is that our floorplan offered a carport and people could upgrade to a garage. A window looking out to a carport makes more sense.

I’ll post some more pictures as the project proceeds.