Walls and Floors: Reno Week 5

Another week has brought more changes to our front room.  We are still cooking out of our pantry, so Mom Judd did us a huge favor and invited us all over for Sunday dinner last week.  We met Megan's friend Patrick, who used to be her home teacher (until home teaching was abolished).  He was very entertaining.  So nice to be in a kitchen!  Even doing dishes in a real sink was a novelty.

The big news this week is that we finally got an appointment with the city planner, who looked at our photos and listened to our explanation about wanting to cover the patio .  After consulting with the lawyers, he approved our plan to build a roof 10 feet out from the house, whereas the earlier decision would have only allowed 5 feet.  So we are back on track for the backyard.

This week was painting week!  The chickens in the pantry were evicted, and the pantry shelves were cleared with everyone's help.

 Painting day brought a new level of inconvenience, so we are glad it only lasted a day and a half.  These pantry shelves had been holding all the essentials from the former kitchen cabinets, but now we were limited to the three shelves and cupboards-- everything else went downstairs.  Gonna feel like a lot of room when we can expand again!

At one point several doorways were sealed off and the fridges were wrapped in plastic.

We are a little clueless in the paint department, so we outsourced.  A crew came in and whisked through the job.  First, white flat paint for the ceilings and white semigloss for trim and closets.

Then, it was time for the moment of truth.  We had sampled a few wall colors but hadn't settled on anything--we were looking for a light tan, but the samples all looked too green or too blue or too gray (see below).  Thanks for those who voted last week, but we went with e) none of the above.  We realized we wanted lighter and brighter, like the top left choice (Intricate Ivory) but not so rosy.

 While looking through my conference notebook, I saw a tiny color swatch I had picked out months ago of a nice pale tan called "Meetinghouse White."  (Yay for conference notes!  Yay for Meetinghouses!)  At the very last minute, I switched to this lighter color for all the walls, and we have been very pleased with the brightness.  It is close the the previous wall color but a little cooler, and the white trim gives it more contrast.

The doors and closets got a makeover.

The rough block wall used to be almost salmon.

 Still waiting for backsplash makeover!

 Then the disc lights were installed Wednesday, as well as drop lights over the island.  We put in a simple chandelier to match.  We really like the daylight LED bulbs and the bright, cool tones.

We had a forecast for rain and snow, so we carted the sofa, shelf, and dining room table to the garage.  Good thing, because the wind that accompanied the rain would have blown off the tarps.

The electrician who installed the lights saw Frank's Kawasaki Vulcan for sale and offered to swap it for the work he had done on the house.  Frank had posted the motorcycle on KSL and had some inquiries, but no offers.  After deliberating over the electrician's offer (it was quite a bit lower than he hoped), Frank decided to make the swap.

 The flooring was installed on Thursday with some touch up on Friday.  This is called Adura Max Sausalito Sunrise, and it looks like seasoned wood but is actually vinyl planks that snap together.

The installers "scribed" the planks to fit right up against the zig zags of the fireplace and wall.

It's starting to feel like a home again!

Welcoming entrance...

 There is a wonky return air vent in the middle of the new floor, one of the last vestiges of the old wall.  Switches, outlets, central vac, and phone from the old wall were moved elsewhere, but this vent, we are told, just needed to be in the middle of the room.

We are getting used to dusty footprints on the dark-ish floor.  And it is not 100% scratch resistant, we found.  But the floor looks distressed, so the scratches hide pretty well.

 Emily was happy that she can slip around in her socks on the new floor.

I am happy that our furniture was safely in the garage (not the back porch) when we woke up to 4 inches of snow this morning.

Frank is happy that the kids all pitched in to haul furniture inside.  Yay for family members with muscles!

We actually ate dinner at our dining room table today and read scriptures in our living room!  And our fridge is no longer in the dining room--although that was actually very convenient.

Funny story during scriptures: we were reading in Alma 62 about how the tribulations of war caused some hearts to be hardened and others to be softened and humbled.  Frank asked why that was important.  Lisa said, "Sometimes you just have to humiliate yourself!"

Tune in next week for more metamorphosis!