Everythin' and the Kitchen Sink

Matt and I have been kicking around a plan to rid ourselves of our horrible kitchen sink. We disliked the Corian sink for several reasons.....

1. It was stained, very stained.

2. It is a 2 basin sink, and while this is not a deal breaker to most, it is for me.

3. We have a large granite composite sink sitting in the storage room taking up valuable real estate

4. Delta touch faucet, enough said.

So, after work we stopped at Lowes and picked up the needed supplies.

This is the end result. Not the plan, but it works just the same.

Here is what happened. Matt and I have been deep in discussion about under mounting this sink we purchased a while ago and used in our Hendersonville rental. After extensive internet research, consulting three professionals (who all turned the job down), and speaking to 2 different specialists at Lowes, we decided to go ahead and get this project knocked out.

We headed to Lowes after work to pick up the necessary supplies:

1x2 furring strip

Plunge router cutting bit

Edge finishing bit for the plunge router

We headed home and busted out the template that I saved for just this occasion. I used an old wardrobe box to trace the template onto and then cut it out.

After placing the template over the existing sink, we discovered that we had a problem. My sexy granite sink was oddly shaped and not larger than the existing hole in one place. This would result in an oddly shaped and not as attractive undercount sink. 

Back to the drawing board we went.

After 5 minutes of discussion, Matt and I decided that dropping in the pretty sink is still better than this monstrosity.

I headed under the sink to disconnect the plumbing and the garbage disposal. Little did i know that Matt had already turned the water off. Needless to say, when he went under there to remove the faucet, he may have had water shoot out at him.... twice. Oops.

So we cut out the template for the drop in, taped it to the Corian, and then marked the opening with a Sharpie. With that complete, we jumped right in to the routing out of the old sink.... then it snowed Corian... wop wop. 

We quickly turned off the router and took the necessary precautions; we put on safety glasses and headed back into the kitchen shop vac in hand. Safety First! 

We quickly commenced Corian snow, round 2. This time, we limited the floating majestically by sucking as much of it as possible into the shop vac.

Matt made quick work of the Corian, as it cuts like butter when using a new plunge router bit.

What came next would last for 3 days: clean up.

After clean up, I installed the Delta Touch 2O faucet and soap pump. Then we dropped that awesomeness into the sink hole. Then we ran into a problem. the top mount clips did not reach the corona underside. Thankfully, I married an engineer. He cut 4 small blocks from the furring strip and we used this to clamp the sink to the underside of the Corian. Not elegant, but successful. 

I worked some magic with the plumbing, taking it from 2 sink basins to 1 with the PVC parts I had on hand.... and wham, we were done.

Total cost for project:

1x2 furring strip: $3.00

Router bit: $12.00

Edging bit: $40.00 (returned)

Sink: Already owned

Faucet: Already Owned

Total Cost: $15.00

Final assessment: Worth it!

But, you go ahead and judge for yourself. Keep in mind, the large granite sink can soak a frying pan as well as double as a baby bath tub.

From the day we purchased the house

The new sink, faucet, and soap dispenser.

This is a good interim solution. One day we will have light grey/white granite countertops with this sink under mounted. Until then, I am happy to soak the turkey pan while it sits flat in my jumbo sink.

The list for the kitchen is now as follows:

New Dishwasher

New Sink, install faucet

New Microwave Hood

Paint the walls

Bead board the eat in kitchen nook

Upgrade the pendants over the breakfast bar

New lighting fixture

Paint Cabinets

Glass front in 4 cabinets

New Countertops

New hardware on cabinets

Glass tile backplash

New tile floor

Recover the kitchen chairs and bar stools

Under cabinet lighting

Light in the Pantry

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Feelin' postal

I am deep into nesting mode. This has been one very busy weekend for the Burke household.

Saturday dawned early and spurred me into motion at the ripe hour of 8:00 am.

On the list of places to go:

Sherwin Williams
Lowes
Williams Nursery
Bed Bath and Beyond
Marshalls/Ross

It was a successful day.

I started out at Sherwin Williams to purchase the supplies and to tint my previously purchased gallon of paint for Baby Burke's nursery makeover.

I finally decided upon the color I wanted. I chose "cement" for the walls and "silver linings" for the ceiling. I have to paint every ceiling in this house, as the previous owners decided that they would paint every available wall and ceiling the same color. Ugh.

After purchasing a 9 x 12 canvas sheet, 2 rollers, 2 plastic trays, ceiling paint, and painters tape (the wall paint was already purchased a year ago, but left untinted until I decided where to use it) the total came out to $57.32.... Thanks to some sweet coupons like the $10 off a purchase of $50 dollars and a 20% off coupon. I love coupon stacking.

I then headed to the nursery next door in search of some mum plants. Nothing says Halloween and Thanksgiving like mums.

I got some help from a nice salesgirl. She and I were able to find some of the only not open mums in the place. As a note, if the mum plant is already covered in flowers, you only have about 2 weeks to enjoy the blooms until it goes dormant. If there are not open buds on the plant, you extend your life to 6-8 weeks.

I then searched in vain for 120" blackout curtains to replace the hideous ones in my bedroom, to no avail.

Finally, I landed at Lowes, home of Jimmy Johnson and the #48 race team. I was in search of a post, some quickrete, and a finial or light for on top of a 4x4 post. After the nice gentlemen loaded up the Murano, I headed home to Mr. Burke so as to assist me in the mum download.

Mr. Burke was quite busy himself. While I was off galavanting, he removed 2 dead bushes (1 in preparation for the hose post) and 2 Crepe Myrtle skeletons.

The after pictures for the post are below:

I saw the idea on Katie's "bowerpowerblog.com" under the aptly named "Hosed."

Here are the steps to create your own:

Items to buy:

1. 4x4x8 treated lumber post ($7.88)
2. 50lb bag of quickrete ($3.99)
3. Hose hanger (already had)
4. Finial or in my case deck light ($13.36)
5. Oil Rubbed Bronze exterior paint for wooden surfaces (already had)

Total Cost: $25.23 (not too shabby)

Update: The post light at the top is completely functional, added light in our pitch black backyard is totally welcome at this moment

Steps:

1. Dig your hole approximately 1.5 feet deep.
2. Measure from the bottom of your hole to the desired height of the post using a tape measure
3. Transfer measurement to 4x4x8 post and cut to correct length
4. Attach hose hanger to post using screws (attach finial if using one)
5. Apply several coats of paint, waiting 30 minutes between coats to allow paint to dry
6. Place post in hole
7. Open quickrete and pour evenly around post
8. Following guidelines on the side of the bag, add water, mix concrete until correct consistency
9. Using level, ensure pole is level right to left and front to back
10. Allow concrete to dry
11. Cover concrete with dirt and mulch, add hose
12. Attach deck light to top of pole using construction adhesive
13. Stand back and soak in your accomplishment

You would think that I would be done at this point...... not even close bud.... (love John Bender)

In between paint coats, I transplanted my mums into hanging baskets and pretty planters.

Here is a few after shots, because I completely suck at the whole taking pictures of things....

In the last photo you can see my sweet kitty peeking out of the open window.

Cost breakdown:

Mums ($12.99 per plant x 4 plants)
Soil ($0 used the extra soil from the post project)
Pots ($0, already had)

Total cost: $51.96

Is that all? Nope.

I also decided that I was going to start to tackle the nursery painting...

It has gone from this ugly beige monster with builders grade flat paint and drywall pops.

To this. Remember the color is Silver Mist from Sherwin Williams. It makes a huge difference in the space as to the lighting. Whereas everything before looked blah and beige, now things are starting to look very crisp. The ceiling paint from SW is very good and provides even coverage in one coat. You really do get what you pay for in the paint department.

The board and batten will be covered in the next post, but at this time, just a sneak peek of the primed out stage.

I am waiting 24 hours to allow the ceiling to dry before I tape it off and paint the walls. Hopefully by this time tomorrow, all I will have left is painting the board and batten!

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