Thread: How I spent my summer vacation.

Part of my curriculum growing up was the fall summation of the summer's exploits in essay format. Hated all those kids who went to Disney world, btw...

Thought it would be a neat idea for a thread and didn't see it already started so with feigned humility and probably more pictures than any one post should, I offer up my own summer exploit for the amusement and edification of my fellow shaver..

Our house I have been slowly upgrading over the seven years we've owned it.
Kitchen was really the last big project aside from ongoing yard work.
So to have at er.


A tired laminate floor, and faded California drop ceiling really had to go. Everything else just sort of happened. Figured I'd save money and just put ceramic to the original cabinets and reface the cabinets.

Decided, nope. They gotta go as well.
Opted for a faux wood ceramic floor tile in an 'offset by a third' pattern which worked out well. I figured the room width, then dropped to a 1/4" grout spacing as opposed to a 3/8" and avoids cutting any side tiles as the room totaled to the exact width of the 6"wide tiles.
Say goodbye to my original "nutone" intercom mono am/fm radio, which I actually had working again when we first moved in.
Was a silly system really, as you pretty much had line of sight to every receiver in the house except the basement and pool area.

They went in pretty well. And once I had the math figured out, wasted very few stones.
Then I tackled the drop ceiling hoping it was just a bunch of headers inside the dry walled kitchen.

Nope, attic insulation came raining down once I busted up the headers so I spent a bunch of time rolling around in fiberglass. Can't tell you how much fun that was so I rearranged all the electrical ceiling fixture drops while up there.

Then new drywall across the whole shebang.

Next, off to Ikea for lots of stuff.. Lots, and lots, and lots.

Hard to fit it all in my car.

I'm kidding of course, not my car but in the lot so I had to be a fanboy!

Anyway, lots of assembly using ikea's new sectional installation system, which is like a din rail kind of thing that you lag to your studs and in turn hang the cupboards from once assembled. Was pretty slick really as it ensured perfect parallelism to the cabinets, assuming the din rail is installed straight.

Then the door faces, and sides to bring everything to a nice rich oak tone. And I added crown and base moldings to the 40" tall upper cabinets to eliminate the slight gap at the ceiling and hide any under cabinet lighting transformers.


I added a glass mosaic backsplash under all the cabinets, as well as a stainless steel 'buttons' backsplash behind the stove and a corner shelf for cooking oils and such.

I also built a shelf near the window out of scraps from the project for the kitchen radio, as well as added some funky undercounter led lighting.

Color changing yet, hehehe.

Anyway, cashed in two weeks of my vacation and spent every waking day around it working on it for just shy of 50 days, or 250 man hours, but my wife is happy.
Haven't been on here much at all for those same 50 some odd days and plenty of projects backed up I cannot wait to get to.
Fun projects, manly shave type projects that the wife and children have no interest in, or desire to remind me, constantly it seemed, that I'm not done yet, and we are tired of living without a kitchen, and stop making so much noise, and why are you so grumpy, and,,,, oh wait, this is a positive post! Just kidding,,they were awesome during the upheaval.

Thanks for reading my biggest single post, feel free to add your own
'Homework assignment, once completed and enjoy the rest of your summer as I most assuredly intend to.

Ps, you can only add 15 pict to a post...
And now we all know...

It looks nice. Good for you.

What make and model was the car?

Beautiful work, Mike! You will enjoy it for years to come!

'Twas the new BMW electric I8. Beautiful looking car but really? IKEA? The only thing they sell you could fit in the cars trunk was maybe some placemats and a box of Swedish meatballs.
I can say I have now been to every ikea in the southern Ontario area. We went with a cabinet style that was being discontinued and was on sale for 50% off "while supplies last" so as the kitchen came together I changed my mind on a few things along the way and had to frantically hit the various stores to get what I needed before other cheap so and so's beat me to it from the ever shrinking stocks. I went with high end everything, on sale, so really didn't have anything specific in mind at the start.
The granite counters, from Brazil, on sale thanks to an Olympic event at the counter installers, and everything else on sale at various outlet and supply stores in the area.
Aside from the counters, I did all the other work myself and am happy I got it all done, and with the results actually.
Thanks gents.
Tom, I know you've been doing some non razor work this season,,,,,

Mine is a friggin laundry room. Looks good, though! I will post some silly pics tomorrow.

I thought the blue light was a fish tank & I could not find the fish.

I did that too! For just a second!

Great job Mike!

Nice job Mike. It reminded me of getting to be home for Christmas one year and the wife wanting the kitchen and dining room floor replaced. So Christmas morning I was leveling the floors in preparation for laying tile. It was mayhem for the whole time I was home, but everything got done. Beautiful gloss on your counter tops and the stainless button by the stove look great too. It's not easy to get a big job done single handed while living in the house. You have a brave family.

All that work... and no outlet covers?!

In all seriousness, excellent work. Puff out your chest and be proud! Now, lets see some shorties!