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Friday, September 27, 2013

The ReModel, Part 2- 4 Days of Transformation!!


First off, I want to Thank Jody and Stan from over at Rooted in Thyme for featuring my post,
 Tea in the Garden, from last week's Simple and Sweet Fridays party!!
Thanks so much, Jody and Stan!!

And I want to Thank Kathe over at Kathe with an E for sharing the same post, Tea in the Garden ,
on her facebook page!!
Thanks so much , Kathe!!

Please take some time to visit and link up to these great parties!!


The Re-Model.......4 Days of Transformations!!

Day One, Monday September 23. 2013

This is what my tile foyer looked like with the carpeting.
This Italian Ceramic Tile came right from Italy when I special ordered it about 15 years ago.

They will be squaring it off because they can't round it with the strips for the flooring.  I saved several tiles in case one cracked for some reason so they will be using them to do so.
Here is the Living Room with everything moved out except the sofa and the ottoman before they came in the morning....
Bye Bye Carpeting....
This is Mark of  J & M Construction.........
He is modeling their shirts!!  LOL!!
  And there is my new flooring!!!!

I love this great saw that they are using.....
They use it only for flooring and it is attached to a vac so they can cut here in the house with no dirt and dust!!!
It cuts the flooring from underneath so the finish on the planks does not get ruined.....
When I bought my carpeting 18 years ago, I had a friend's Dad , who I went to High School and Nursing School with,  install it.  He was a great little Italian guy who had a Carpet Business for 50 years and he was a true craftsman.

He installed a double row of tack to hold the carpet in place and in 18 years, it never moved or bubbled as some carpeting does.   He also impressed upon me that even though we bought top of the line carpeting at the time, that the way to prolong the life of your carpeting was to invest in the best padding.

We took his advice and bought the top of the line Life Time Warranty padding.
When they ripped the carpeting up, much to our surprise,  the padding looked as if it was brand new!!  
And since our house is  on a concrete slab with no basement, they decided to leave the padding in place and put the flooring over it ,even though the Pergo Max, which is the top of the line, has padding attached to the bottom of it.

The floor is now nicely cushioned and will be much warmer with the extra padding.....

So I am still getting my money's worth out of buying the best padding 18 years ago!!

You all know that I am a bargain hunter but when it comes to things like this, you DO only get what you pay for.......

See where they cut out the 2 tiles and will be replacing them to square off the tile for the foyer.....
And here is my new flooring.....

Pergo Max Burnished Fruitwood.. ....
Here is Jim and Mark working together......

Hence, J & M Construction!!
Jim is originally from Long Island and has been in construction for over 25 years and Mark has worked in construction for 13 years.  They worked for another construction firm that went out of business so 3 years ago, they formed their own company and have been working non stop since.
Jim and his wife decorate their home for Christmas close to what I do, I am told, and Jim , who goes by Santa also ( wonder why...LOL!) , plays Santa to needy children at Christmas time!!
Here is the Living Room flooring done .....

You can see Jim and Joe surveying the situation.... or at least you can see the back of their heads!!
Here is Mark putting pads on the furniture....
We bought a bunch of the recommended pads.....
Joe, taking it all in.....
I love the look.....
Starting the DR......
They were moving at record breaking speed!!  They have put in about 60 floors and very few people pick the Pergo Max even though this is what they recommend.
Because it is top of the line, it is easier to install and has a Life Time Warranty.
Two of my neighbors had this installed last year by Jim and Mark and love it....

Looking down the hall way....
They actually got the DR finished too!!
Joe, checking it out.....

I am so loving it!!
DR , finished!!
I love this pic of Mark, finishing the DR and Jim, finishing the Hall Way.....
They ran it in the closet too.....
Looking so good!!
That was the end of Day One....

For Day Two, I had to clean things out of the Powder Room......
And the Kitchen!!
I worked until 8 pm and there is no room to spare to put things anywhere in the house....
Bye Bye 27 year old flooring in the Kitchen and the Powder Room!!!
This is what my Den looks like!!!!
Thank  God I did not decide to get the Den done now!! 

  Hopefully, that will be next in the Winter....

We can't even get out  the back door!!
Jim and Mark could not believe that they got the LR , DR and Hall Way done in one day!! They said the flooring went in better then it ever has!!

They are true professionals and made precision cuts and I am so thrilled that they are my contractors !!!

And I am so glad that we did not attempt to even try to install this ourselves!!

Day Two..... Tuesday, September 24

 They started early, around 7:30 am and Mark started in the Kitchen......
 What a difference!!
 Again they were using the saw with the vac attachment....
 Have I told you how much I am loving this floor????
 Moving refrigerator out and back in again......
 Stove was also moved out......
 And back in again......
 You can see that they removed the counter bar that held my Microwave so they could put the flooring under it.......
 White molding will be going under the cabinets.....

 View into the Kitchen from the LR....
 There's the counter bar , upside down......

 I love having the same floor right through....

 We were able to move the hutch back in after putting felt protectors on the bottom of it......
 It really will make my Kitchen look more Country Victorian now......
 While Mark did the floor in the Kitchen, Jim was working in the Powder Room.......
 I kept telling him that he was praying to the porcelain God!!    LOL!!

He lifted the toilet up, laid the floor and put it back.......
Every time Jim saw the flash of the camera, he chuckled!!

See the twinkle in his eyes??? No wonder why he plays Santa!!! LOL!
This small room did NOT  make it  an easy job......
Especially when Jim had to move the washer and dryer to lay the flooring......
Again, I am recommending these guys to everyone!!
You can see there is not much room in the Powder Room.....
But he got the flooring down......

Some day, I will paint inside this washer and dryer closet....
God love him for working in such tight quarters.....
And look!! No more green floor!!!

 I am loving this floor too!!
 Very neutral looking!!


And he finished with the wood strip at the door way......
They put down the metal strip to finish off around the tile......
They will be putting in the 2 tiles tomorrow.....
After Mark finished the Kitchen floor, He got busy outside painting all the molding that will go around the walls......
They just look at me taking pictures and laugh!!
Thanks Goodness we are having nice sunny weather and there is no rain predicted until Sunday!!

They were doing some cutting outside too......
So for Day 3, they will be putting in my new Kitchen countertops.......

So one last look at these lovely harvest gold counter tops!!

LOL!!
And my new sink and faucet will also be installed.....
Here sits my new E-Granite sink and faucet, waiting for Day 3......

And they will be putting all the molding around......


The molding is in the Colonial Style with a nice bevel on top.......

I can not believe that they have got so much done in just 2 days.

They take no breaks and Jim runs for lunch and Mark keeps working. They only take 15 minutes to eat and are right back to work....

I LOVE these guys!!

Day 3, Wednesday September 25.......

They came in the morning with my new Counter tops.....nice neutral ones in shades of brown and beige......
 This is the stock laminate from Lowe's called Milano Amber.....
 Here is Mark working on getting the counter top off.....

Notice I have no back splash on my current counter top....

That is because the cabinets were put in so crooked that they could not fit the counter top on so the original builders just cut the back splash off!!
Jim decided to rebuild the top of the cabinets so that I could finally have my counter top with a back splash!
 He added several pieces of lumber.....
 And now I have my new counter top!!
 See all he added so that it would fit right???
 He laughs every time he sees the flash from the camera!!  LOL!!
 Looks great I think and finally my harvest gold counter tops are gone!!
And I like my back splash!!
I love how it looks with the floors.....
And there is my new E Granite sink!!

The valves blew when they went to shut off the water so I have new valve now too!!   LOL!!
 And my new faucet.....
 It is a very deep sink......
 Loving it!!  But they still have some work to do with the pipes underneath so I am without a sink for tonight.....
 This is my other counter bar that they took out to put the floor in so this will be going back in with a new counter top on it tomorrow.....
 While Jim was working in the Kitchen, Mark was finishing up the tile foyer....
 Look the wood molding around it.....
 He put the new tiles in and will grout it tomorrow.....
 Looks good to me.....
 You would never know this was rounded originally.....
 Then Mark got busy installing the new molding all around......

This is down the hall way.....
I like how the white molding defines the flooring....
 They suggested the white molding and I listened to them and now I am so glad that I did.....

 Looking down the hall way and into the Powder Room.....
 Did some of the molding in the Kitchen.......
 And around the corner into the Dining Room.....
 And part of the LR......
 This is what my LR looks like at the end of Day 3.......
Tomorrow they will be finishing the molding, finishing the sink and the Kitchen counter bar, installing new hoses on my washer and doing all the molding in the Powder Room.......Maybe they will finish tomorrow.....

So far, so good...

By the way, see the new area rug for the LR I bought today?????

Day 4....the Final Day!!

Yes, you are reading that right!! They took only 4 days and I am thrilled since I do not return to work until Monday night, I should be able to get the house back together by then......

Okay, Day 4 started with Jim hooking up my Kitchen sink .  Since the drain on the sink was toward the back more, he had to change the pipes around a bit.......
He still chuckles every time a flash goes off!!  LOL!!
Here's Jim working on putting my counter for my microwave back together.......

I have no idea what Joe was doing there.....
Back in place with new counter top on it!!
There was a piece of counter top left over and Jim asked me if I wanted it so I thought about it and asked if it could be cut to fit on the microwave shelf and Presto!! There it is!!!
Looks good.....
While Jim was working in the Kitchen, Mark was finishing all the molding and let me tell you, he was a perfectionist with it because the molding came out beautiful!!

The corner in the LR.....
Precision cuts here.....
Also in the LR......


Here is Mark working in the Powder Room.....

I originally had the rubber/vinyl type of molding in the Kitchen and Powder Room but they said that there is no way that they were putting that in this house so I now have all beautiful wood molding even in the Kitchen and Powder Room!!

Mark worked meticulously on this corner of the sink cabinet......
And look at how it came out!!
Perfection!!

Love it!!
And wood molding under my Kitchen cabinets too!!
And around the counter bar......

Now I thought that I would have to do a lot of touch up through out the house after the molding was done but I only have to touch up a bit in the Kitchen around the Counter Bar!

And after moving some of the large pieces of furniture back in place, Jim and Mark had completed the job!!

And what a job they did!! Joe and I could not be happier about the quality of their work and how everything looks!!

Not only will J & M Construction be our Contractors for as long as we live and/or they are in the Business but Jim and Mark are now life long friends of ours and will be invited to one of our Christmas Open Houses and Jim is coming dressed as Santa!!

They will be doing our Den in the Winter with the same wood laminate and what is left over from the Powder Room will be the block when you first walk in my back door!!

So around 2:30 pm, Joe and I got to work......

I started to damp mop the floors with the recommended solution of Vinegar and Water to clean them and I moved some things back into place and put my new carpet and padding down......

Looking into the LR......
Yes, Joe is thrilled that he has his TV back.  He kept falling asleep watching TV upstairs in bed.....

And the LR as it looks  at the end of Day 4.......
Is this my house??????
My new rug that I bought at Lowe's!!

I did not want it any bigger as I did not want to cover up my beautiful new floors......

Looking into the DR......
Down the Hall Way....
Looking in the LR from the DR.....

 While I was busy with that, Joe bought Peel N Stick tiles at Lowe's for 88 cents each and put them under the sink.......
 

 And he put them on the bottom shelf on the counter bar.......
 Almost matches my counter top!!
I did put some of the things back in the Kitchen.....

I want to show you my E Granite sink made by Elkay.
 It is very deep and only takes soap and water to clean......
 And my new faucet which has a sort of vintage look.....
 And I put some things back in the Powder Room....
   
So that is how my Remodel progressed over 4 days and what we managed to put back in place before our neighbors started coming over to see!!  LOL!!

Over the next few days we will be putting the house back together so again, I may be missing in action for a bit......

If you missed Part One of the ReModel, Please click HERE

 I will be linking up to these great parties this week:


SATURDAY
From the Farm Blog Hop
Pink Saturday
Party Junk
 Strut Your Stuff Saturdays
One Great Idea Saturday Party
 Finding the Pretty and Delicious Party
Saturday Show and Tell
    Serenity  Saturday
 Saturday SHOW-licious Craft Showcase

SUNDAY
Seasonal Sunday
Bouquet of Talent Linky Party
That DIY Party
Inspired Sunday( Formerly Vintage View Sunday)
Submarine Sunday
Share It One More Time Sundays
DIY SHowcase 
 Clever Chicks Blog Hop 
Sunday Showcase 


TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY 
Wednesdays Make, Bake and Create party
 Fluster's Creative Muster Wednesday's
Wow Us Wednesday
Sizzle into Summer Party
Wednesdays Adorned From Above Linky Party
 Home (Work) Wednesdays
 Lovely Ladies Linky Party
What's It Wednesday
Wonderful Wednesdays
 HOME Party on Wednesdays
Creative Wednesdays 
Rednesday

THURSDAY
Treasure Hunt Thursdays
Home and Garden Party Thursday
  Homemaking Weekend Link Up Party
Time Travel Thursday
 Open House Party
Share Your Cup Thursday
Vintage Thingie Thursday
Transformation Thursday
Inspired Creations Linky Party
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop
  Grace at Home Party
All Things Pretty Thursdays
Create it Thursday 

FRIDAY
Home Sweet Home Friday
Be Inspired Fridays
Thrifty Things Friday
Simple and Sweet Fridays
 Show and Tell Friday
Tickled Pink Party
 Flaunt It Fridays
 Fabulously Creative Friday Linky Party at Jennifer Rizzo's
 What To Do Weekends
 Feature Friday Free For All 
 TGIF Link Party
Inspire Me Please Weekend Blog Hop
 Inspire Me Fridays 
 Anything Goes Linky Party 
Ladies Only Blog Share Linky Party
Anything Blue Fridays
 Weekend Blog Linky Party
Friday Flair Link Party
Friday's Five Features Party
Friday Favorites
Let's Get Real Friday Party

Please take some time to visit these terrific hosts and all those joining in on the fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and every day that you take the time to visit with me!

Hugs,
Debbie
at

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