Backing Up To Move Forward

   We began our journal-blog five and a half years ago. The original goal was to update and improve our kitchen. Much has been accomplished since we began; a new upstairs bathroom, insulation, a new front porch, and an awesome front walkway. All this in spite of Don’s cancer diagnosis and treatment.

   But, the kitchen remains a scruffy mess! We have decided that the time has come to reach our goal. In those five and a half years some things have changed. We are no longer as able to design the details and carry out the entire project. So, it is no longer a complete D.I.Y. project. Our needs have changed a little too. Our first plan sacrificed space in the main floor bedroom to widen the kitchen. Now we are older and we think we may need to use that bedroom ourselves when stairs become difficult to climb. So we have gone back to the drawing board. To that end we have hired a new architect, because the first one moved to Alaska (the cad!). Together with the new person we have roughed out a new plan. Coming up with the full-blown, detailed plan has had a few surprises. Portland has adopted new tree protection rules which have impacted how things are done (ka-ching!) as well as new seismic rules that impact the permit process and construction (ka-ching!!). Our architect, together with a structural engineer, inform us that new structural supports must be built in the basement, reaching down to the foundation (ka-ching!!). A basement wall must be torn out, a hole cut in the cement floor, columns and posts built and the wall rebuilt. (ka-ching, KA-CHING!!).

  There has also been a lot of back and forth with the architect about how best to get the look and functionality we want. We are finding out that when you pay someone else to do something that you have always done yourself before, there are consequences, in terms of time, money, and frustration.

   So, we focus on what we can do to get things ready for the work to begin; cleaning out the kitchen and dining room, researching products, shopping for appliances, brainstorming solutions to problem areas. We will move cooking and eating activities to the basement while the work is in progress. That necessitated fixing up the basement. More about that next time

Sami is painting everything in the basement so it will be a clean place for our temporary kitchen. When she sanded one of the doors, paint fell off in sheets.

 

Some of the paint contained lead. Removing it wasn't easy. There were at least five layers. The paint from one side of the door weighed several pounds! More backing up to move forward.