mike gastin | iconoclast, demagogue, swell guy

We approach the home stretch. Tiles are installed and appliances are delivered!

Tile work.

A little fun! Bob got down to adjust the refrigerator a bit and decided to give up the fight. Truth be told, Bob has been working some long hours to get this job done. Most days he is in before 8 AM and does not quit until after 8 PM.

Here's Josh having a little fun. I think he likes this pose as I am seeing it in a lot of our pics lately.

And here is the patient woman of the house. Lyds has been a champ among all the chaos and upheaval. I have not heard one complaint from her the whole time and she has had to make some serious adjustments.

And now for some really cool shots!

Hardware goes on tomorrow and then we are 99% done! I'll try to post as soon as the handles and pulls are on.

More pictures because the people demand them!

First stop: counter tops. We had them made by local craftsman and business owner, Kurt Ouwenga. Kurt owns Classic Woodworking on St. Paul. He was awesome in helping me figure out what I needed and getting the pieces fabricated quickly.

Josh and Bob installing the main counter.

Once the counters were in Bob covered everything in cardboard to protect them. Of course, that created free expression zones! Don't believe the hype!

Bob found another artifact! Larry Csonka! Remember that name? Lol! If we could just find an HR Puff & Stuff lunchbox I'd be really happy.

There was a metric ton of drywall repair that needed to happen. Bob did all the mud work the previous week and then hermetically sealed himself in the kitchen to get the dirty work taken care of. The ceiling and walls look fantastic now!

Here we are taking a break from PB&J or hotdogs on the grill.

New lights! They look swanky after dark.

Today Bob laid the cork flooring. Feels nice underfoot and should be warmer than tile in the winter.

All this work is making our straw boss quite tired. I can't blame the little guy for having a quick kip.

OK kiddies! I have a lot of pictures for you. Of course, most of them are just ancillary, but I provide them in an effort to give you a greater context. One can't just look at a couple shots of cabinet doors and feel like one gets the whole of the matter. No! One needs photos of the home owner smoking and drinking to get the full effect. And so, let us begin, but not with the homeowner just yet.

Here we have a couple shots of Bob at work. He seems a bit concerned about his photos going public, so as any good friend would, I am posting his pics first and often. Besides, looks at that smile!

Bob spent a few days constructing, hanging and then tweaking cabinets. Almost all of them are in. We are waiting on a couple more from the manufacturer to replace two that were shipped the wrong size.

Zach watching the action.

On Saturday I was really tired from all the work that everyone else was doing. So, I decided to have a beer a little early. Sometimes I can just feel that pressure coming on. Whew! Don't tell the pastor.

I also thought maybe a quick cigar was in order. I look like a dope, but I'm not certain the cigar has anything to do with that, really.

Bob found some old documents, scraps of paper, coupons and the like buried behind an old base cabinet. They were from the early 60's it seems. The following tiny cookbook from Lipton has very cool typography and illustrations. Check it out!

Today Bob installed the sub floor. I think it's the sub floor. It's the floor that goes under the final floor. Yeah. Anyway, that's in. The product is pretty cool as it is pre-marked with rows of x's so that you just have to line it up and zip screws into the floor joists with ease. OK, none of this work happens with ease, but you know what I mean.

That's it for now. Thank you for visiting. Please send money.

Progress. Day three Bob ripped-up the flooring, taking it down to the base. He also did some drywall work. Day four he decided to give his knees a rest and assemble and hang some cupboards. He wanted to keep going on the drywall work, but the mud was not drying. Here are a few pics.

Here is the first one going up! Riley is happy to be a part of the whole operation.

At the end of the day we went to my sister, Lisa's for dinner. Everyone feels bad for us because we have no kitchen! Lisa took the gloves off and laid out a rockin' lasagna dinner! Thank you!

This on Lisa's bookshelf. I snapped it while waiting for dinner. That is a serious shirt collar.

And the obligatory shot of the gang eating.

Bob roughed-in the new opening between the kitchen and dining room, did a lot of the wiring and messed with the floor. We also took delivery on the cabinets!

Bob Newell: Rock Star.

Here's what was completed today.

And then the cabinets arrived! We ordered them from a company out in California. They shipped on Wednesday last week. Not too bad since I ordered them just over a week ago. If I went into a big box store and placed an order it would have taken over six weeks! We had to unload the truck by hand and have to assemble the cabinets ourselves, but I think it will be worth it.

Here's our driver. He was a nice guy. We were his last stop for the day.

Cabinets in boxes.

The straw boss making sure everything is in order. Well, at least everything on the ground, that is.

And a very happy Lydia! Just look at that smile. Nice doors, too; maple shaker style.

And then Lauren made us dinner and brought it to our house with Carole! What a blessing and the food was awesome! Thanks ladies.

And then chillin' after a long day of work!

We'll miss you. Make sure to write when you get work.

Ok. We bought this little house just over five years ago. That's five years of dumping nothing but hard earned cash into a box we call home; all new windows, new doors, front and back porches, exterior and interior paint, gut and remodel the bathroom, new blacktop driveway, refinish the hardwood floors. And now it is time to do the kitchen.

Well, actually, it was time to do the kitchen the day we moved in. Lydia is a patient woman and clearly has the fruit of long-suffering. Look at the pic below to see why. This is (was) our kitchen.

There are so many issues with the kitchen. For instance, only two burners work on the 1950's cooktop. Or, the oven only heats well on one side, so cakes are not so easy and it is tiny, too! The range vent was so nasty and was leaking 30 year old grease back onto the cooktop that we just took it out and left the gaping hole for months and months. I could go on, but suffice it to say, Lydia was not too happy and I'm no dummy. It was time to do the kitchen.

Today our good friend Bob Newell began the work of transforming our dump of a kitchen into house beautiful. Bob came all the way up from North Carolina to do this job for us! That's Bob in the photo below.

So here is where we stand after the first day.

I'll keep posting as the project moves along. Let's hope it is not too long!

Hi. I'm Mike. This is the first entry on my site, as I just did a weekend Ctrl, Alt, Delete on my past site. Let's hope this one stays stable and that I am able to feed it regular content!