The Monkey Wrench!

Our original plan was to replace the kitchen, floors and enclose the living room... but... one glorious evening I'm walking from the kitchen into the pantry/laundry room and discovered the floor a bit unlevel... Ok... no biggie right? I took a closer look and I realized it wasn't just a little bump... it went from the doorway, in front of the cabinets and into the laundry room... So... I pulled up the corner of the vinyl and yep, it was wet...

WHAT!

We have water damage... Where is it coming from? My only guess was the washing machine... Scott called neighbor after neighbor to come and help me move the beast, but no one was home... finally, someone called back and came and took a look... He couldn't find much, but then my fabulous go to guy, Chris, came with his buddy and found the culprit! Yes, it was the washing machine. Not the machine itself, but the Y connector that hooked up the water to the washing machine and dryer. Wow! We got these machines installed the day after Thanksgiving... you mean there has been a slow leak since???

Now... we have to deal with insurance companies and mainly, what is RC Willey going to do about this... Afterall, it was their installers who installed these machines... You guessed it, they are calling it a manufactures problem and won't be helping us fix the problem. We decided to go through our homeowner's insurance and hopefully, they'll go after RC Willey. Most important thing right now is we are in the process of getting the problem fixed and right before we started our big remodeling project. I have to say the timing was impeccable!

The corner I lifted... yep, it's wet!

The water was actually overflowing into the sideyard... Unbelievable!

Some of the warping!

Demolition started and look what they found! MOLD! GROSS!

90% of the damage was done to our kitchen!

Water and mold found clear up to our upper cabinets!

Thank goodness the mold didn't go any farther in the wall...

This is the sub floor that was torn out and replaced!

Laundry room...

Before... Demolition!

So our little project of replacing our floors turned into a BIG project... First, I wanted to put laminate flooring down for the entire main floor, but we had a problem matching up our kitchen with a floor coloring that we liked. So I got the thought, why not paint our cabinets? Talked to a few people and got a bid or two and realized, that we can replace our kitchen cabinets for about the same price. So now we started looking at replacing our kitchen and an idea was fed to not only change the cabinets, but to change the layout... When we moved in we just got the basics and now we are going to upgrade!

Also... we wanted an office to put Scott when he teaches from home and we decided, hey, we don't use our living room for more than our hometeachers so... we are enclosing the room and making it into an office.

Now the project has started and here are the before pictures!

We are planning to move the refrigerator to the back wall... opening up that wall for a pantry in the kitchen. We are getting cabinets in a beautiful walnut! No more OAK!

We are taking out the peninsula and making it a island. We are also adding more cabinets on the wall...

Just an idea what our dining and family area looks as of now...

More of our family room...

Goodbye living room... We are moving this love seat and the matching couch to the family room...

A view of our wide hallway that will be a bit smaller when the wall is added!

Up next... A LITTLE snag in our plans...

BUBBLES!

We got the bubbles out this evening and the kids had a blast! What kid doesn't love bubbles?

Chasing the bubbles!

My babies!

Ethan was the "man" behind the bubbles...

Newman's Review...

I think it would be safe to say that this week sucked!....

• About a week ago I discovered the floor warping... I really didn't think much about it, thinking it was just the vinyl and we're replacing the floor so... no big deal... I started looking at it and realized, hey, that's water damage (thanks HGTV) and maybe come mold... Calling Scott and Scott calling neighbors trying to find someone home to help... We eventually were able to move the washing machine and thanks to my brother in-law, found the Y connector was installed incorrectly... THANKS RC WILLEY! 9 months of a slow leak = A BIG MESS!
• So after an estimate from my brother in-law and calls into RC Willey we had an adjuster from RC Willey come to scope out the problem...
• What will need to be replaced: Flooring for all of the pantry/laundry room, kitchen and dining room... sub flooring for part of the kitchen and pantry... Remove and Replace walls in laundry room and part of the kitchen.... paint... and maybe take care of some mold!
• Now we wait to see if RC Willey will pay for this... and they better!

Some good things did happen...

• Emma is walking like a pro... crawling, what's that?!?
• Emma's top 2 teeth broke through... Total teeth is now 4!
• Ethan counted to 20 without making a mistake and we counted up to forty together!

A Hikin' We Will Go...

To get away for a few hours we headed up to Cecret Lake. Ok, we didn't quite make it to the lake, but I was still very impressed with how well Ethan did. We probably would have made it if we didn't have to park 1/2 mile way from the trial head... oh, well... Scott just got a new wide angled lens and wanted to go try it out... So here we are... enjoy!

Bingham Copper Mine

We took advantage of the free week at the Bingham Copper Mine... It was crowded, but it was fun! Emma chillin' by the BIG tire!

My sweet babies!

Precious little Emma!

Where did Ethan go??? Wow, that is one big tire!

A good way to spend a Saturday!