Kitchen build..... My wife keeps me busy alright. FINISHED !

[eamarquardt]

I'm impressed with your planning. The work you did when you replaced the "cooker" was planned so that it would seamlessly integrate into your ultimate plan.

Good planning and good execution.

Cheers,

Gus

[mikeschn]

Hi Grizz,

That looks great. And you guys cranked it out in no time at all.

When I did my kitchen it took many many weeks. But then I had to build the cabinets, which took time.

Good job! Time for a beer!

Mike...

P.S. Are you converting your whole house to LED lighting?

[sagebrush]

WOW!! Your kitchen looks FANTASTIC!!

Lisa

[S. Heisley]

[grizz]

Thanks for all the compliments everyone.

Last photos of the completed job.

These show it as we will live with it until she has a bee in her bonnet again (hopefully not for 20 years)






FINAL COST ??

Including everything new, excluding the cooker and its splashback tiles.....

New switches, plugs, lights, fitted. Plastering, cabinets, worktops, tiles, paint etc.....

I did all the fitting etc, except when Nicola helped and Goose came around to insist on helping with the tiling (rather than explode at home) so fitting costs were "Free"

Lets see who has some idea.

Answers on a post card.

[grizz]

Just a few pics of todays endeavours....

Had to chop up the left over units from the kitchen.

Some were really disgusting and rank to be honest.

Still, they will go to good use in the fire place..... Nicola does love a good fire.

Where I started.




Almost done. Almost dark too.




Pile of kitchen. Need to cover it all over more successfully so that it will burn once inside the house.

[grizz]

Typically, the boss wanted the perfectly fine guest bathroom done over too.....

So I dismantled it this morning, stripped the few 150x150 tiles in there, then redid the tiles with 200x200 mm ones.

I then repainted all the skirting boards, thresholds and doors downstairs.... coz I can.

Then an undercoat on the dark wood of the bathroom.....

Had dinner, watched some telly till 9.30 when Nicola went to bed.... then started on the second coats etc.

Just done painting the top coat of the guest bathroom bottom half, and the undercoat of the top half....

Grouting tiles quickly in the morning, then topcoat the top half and re-assemble bathroom..... Job Done !

[S. Heisley]

Typically, the boss wanted the perfectly fine guest bathroom done over too.....

So I dismantled it this morning, stripped the few 150x150 tiles in there, then redid the tiles with 200x200 mm ones.

I then repainted all the skirting boards, thresholds and doors downstairs.... coz I can.

Then an undercoat on the dark wood of the bathroom.....

Had dinner, watched some telly till 9.30 when Nicola went to bed.... then started on the second coats etc.

Just done painting the top coat of the guest bathroom bottom half, and the undercoat of the top half....

Grouting tiles quickly in the morning, then topcoat the top half and re-assemble bathroom..... Job Done !

What? No before and after ???? Where's the "feast" for our eyes? You've got us spoiled, ya know....

[eamarquardt]

Grizz,

My offer and an a ticket still stands, ha.

Cheers,

Gus

[grizz]

Typically, the boss wanted the perfectly fine guest bathroom done over too.....

So I dismantled it this morning, stripped the few 150x150 tiles in there, then redid the tiles with 200x200 mm ones.

I then repainted all the skirting boards, thresholds and doors downstairs.... coz I can.

Then an undercoat on the dark wood of the bathroom.....

Had dinner, watched some telly till 9.30 when Nicola went to bed.... then started on the second coats etc.

Just done painting the top coat of the guest bathroom bottom half, and the undercoat of the top half....

Grouting tiles quickly in the morning, then topcoat the top half and re-assemble bathroom..... Job Done !

What? No before and after ???? Where's the "feast" for our eyes? You've got us spoiled, ya know....

AAAAAHHHH YE OF LITTLE FAITH.......

Does that mean that you want some photos and narrative??

Never fear young Sharon.... As one of the Starship Enterprise members would say "I will make it so"

Went to bed at midnight, woke at 4.30 with Harley chasing Tabitha around the house with associated hissing then got up at 05.00 to make us a cuppa tea. Now sitting in bed with iPhone surfing the web, Harley curled up between my legs, SLEEPING and Tabitha sitting purring on Nicola's head while is sleeping.

Will upload pics later today abd give you your fix.

[grizz]

Grizz,

My offer and an a ticket still stands, ha.

Cheers,

Gus

Gus, I think if it depended on me, I would happily have popped over to experience " The world of Gus" for myself but have to considder my UK unemployment status.

I had a great first, job interview on Thursday. Lets hope they liked what they saw.
I also have another first interview on Tuesday.

I would not ever want to be employed by you, but being your " hands and feet " could be fun.

I am sure I could collect a container load of "stuff" while there.

You know I have been looking at buying a late 40's early 50's pickup truck in decent condition for sensible money for some time. So a roadtrip with you could be good.

[eamarquardt]

Grizz,

My offer and an a ticket still stands, ha.

Cheers,

Gus

Gus, I think if it depended on me, I would happily have popped over to experience " The world of Gus" for myself but have to considder my UK unemployment status. [*]I know that is a factor. I think we might get away with telling the government that you were conducting an intense job search in California. That would be our story and we'd stick to it.

I had a great first, job interview on Thursday. Lets hope they liked what they saw. I think you ought to rely on your brains, your track record, your drive, your knowledge, and anything but your appearance. Just a thought. You have my best wishes behind you.

I also have another first interview on Tuesday. Our hopes and thoughts are with you.

I would not ever want to be employed by you, but being your " hands and feet " could be fun. You have that all wrong. You don't want to be employed by "Uncle Gus". The real "Gus" is a pussy cat. One of my engineering aids/associates once made a moderate mistake. Our "customer" blew it all out of proportion and got their knickers all in a twist. My associate was mortified and, I'm sure, waiting anxiously for my reaction. After the dust settled down a bit I moseyed over, smiled, and remarked: "Well, we won't do that again" (end of discussion). You should have seen the wave of relief that washed over her, ha. She was really a good aid/associate, her work was generally well above average, and I'm not sure what she was thinking (perhaps just a bad day with something distracting her) but "yelling" about it would have caused more harm than good. See, I'm a pussycat (until provoked). In addition, our working together would be a "labor of love", not an employment arrangement.

I am sure I could collect a container load of "stuff" while there. Nah, you wouldn't be able to help yourself and you'd get two or three containers full.

You know I have been looking at buying a late 40's early 50's pickup truck in decent condition for sensible money for some time. So a roadtrip with you could be good. Give me more specifics and I'll begin a search. Cars and trucks are often advertised (elsewhere) as "California Car" because California cars are, typically, rust free.

I looked into tickets and they are right about $1K London to LA. Suzy can afford it and I can "embezzle" it without much chance of her noticing from our "secret stash". If that plan fails, perhaps I could get some of that "Obama money" that comes from his "stash".

Keeping my fingers and toes crossed that your interview pans out, the job comes with 12 weeks paid vacation (isn't that the law in the UK?), and you can then afford to pay your way over here. A win/win.

Cheers,

Gus

[grizz]

Looks like you have used your military roots to establish all parameters of risk and gain....


Some photos just for Sharon on this thread.


Anyway, thought I would post up a few pics taken at "Stupid=O=Clock" this morning, when all three cats made their pitches to rule our world.

I woke at 04.00 and by 05.00 I had gone to the kitchen to make some tea for us both.

Once Nicola had her tea, she went back to sleep, in the part of the bed Tabitha would allow her onto.......



Harley made herself comfy between my legs while I sat in bed surfing the web on my iPhone (I do love technology)



After a while I went downstairs to start on the final top coat of the green section and to grout the few tiles I had done yesterday.

Marmaduke (Dopey Dukey) hijacked me before I could get to the work....

He loves to lay in your lap in the morning, so we have a routine, which includes what is in the pic below..... allowing him to dribble and purr madly.

[grizz]

Right, just for our young friend Sharon.... after her request for a few (quite a few) photos and a quick report on a short job.

OK.... so the kitchen is completely wrapped up, so what next ??

Had a first interview for a job on Thursday, I hope they liked what they saw as I would love a second interview and would love the job as it is right up my alley with niche specialization.

On Friday I decided to quickly give the guest bathroom a make over as Nicola has been hinting and I would like it lighter than it was.

Started out with this.....



Inside.



Too much dark wood though and outdated tiles.



In all my years it never ceases to amaze me that people will paint and not remove furniture or mask off areas.



I decided to replace the very dated public toilet style 150x150 tiles with less dated 200x200 public toilet tiles..... the space is so small, so large tiles just would not work there.





On Friday night at 22.00 when Nicola went to bed, I started the first undercoat to cover over the dark wood,and also gave the copper pipes a first coat.



This morning I was awake by 04.00 , cuppa tea by 05.00 and up and painting and grouting by 06.00

By 08.00 the job was done and I made Nicola a second cuppa tea to wake up to......

Refitted the bathroom and we were out the house by 10.00 as she had to go to work to let someone visit his deceased wife for the last time.



Looking into the bathroom now.... nice and light, feels good being in there, the dark wood was always a bit clingy and closed in.



When we came back from shopping I light a massive fire to dry out the whole BBQ area as all the rain we have had recently has left everything quite damp.
I ran all the tiles and rubble from the kitchen and bathroom tiling jobs up to the farm, to add to their road building rubble pile.
Then back and started to cook our dinner on the coals.



In the mean time Nicola had started a fire indoors too....

By the time we had had our dinner, Harley made herself very comfortable in front of the fire.



I will now try to do nothing for a day or two.

[eamarquardt]

...........................I will now try to do nothing for a day or two.

I don't think you can "do nothing" very well at all.

Cheers,

Gus