Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Kitchen Renovations #5

Ok, tonight, you are going to be caught up on the renovation project here at our dorm. Things really began to move quickly once the plumber and electrician and others were finished with their part of the project. The first picture is taken right after the painters left. They left this really bright red paint on the walls, but left a bunch of the wall unpainted. Why? you ask?
Because that is where the two stoves will go and one of the sinks! The strip around the kitchen will be tiled, too.Janice really wanted to do the kitchen in coca cola stuff, so that is why the red. Most of it won't even show after we get the cabinets up and the doors on. Janice thought about painting the cabinets black and the doors white with black or red handles...We have had some controversy here because everyone has their own opinion of what is best. Some have even brought magazines with new kitchens in it to show how varnished cabinets look best, but some of the best ones I saw, were painted! So, Janice has gone back and forth. The third picture you will see Janice contemplating what to do...or just checking out the work to be sure we did it right!:)
Here you see me doing something to the wall. I must have been putting in brochette sticks to hang the cabinets. Yes, all you cabinets hangers out there, I said brochette sticks! With these concrete walls, those seems to hold the best to put these wooden sticks in small holes an fasten them in. We are able to hang from the cabinets. Wow! But we don't do that. That makes Janice a bit nervous.

Here, Chris Marine is checking out the levelness of the cabinets to see how straight they hang on the wall. Unfortunately, the walls were nowhere near square, so we had a lot of shimming to do and some creative hanging. The cabinet you see Chris working on was the worst one, I think. Just a word about Chris and Diane Marine...they were the masterminds behind this whole project. When they realized they would be home, in Niger, this whole summer, they thought it would be good to use left over funds from their dorm at ICA and combine those with funds here to do this project. Without them, we would not have been able to do this. God has a great way of putting the right people and circumstances in place when He needs them to be. We are very thankful for all of Chris's work, sweat, and planning of this kitchen. Sorry I do not have a picture of Diane thinking about things and how to do this as well. Hopefully, I can get them in the kitchen when it is all done, so you can see it! THANK YOU CHRIS AND DIANE!!!
And here you see most of the cabinets up on the wall, without doors and stuff like that. Now, the question, stain or paint??? Just thought I would throw that out there to all of you as well.
Well, that about wraps it up. You have come as far as we have. Oh, we do have two or three cabinets to set tomorrow, but most are already done. See you next time on Kitchen renovations, part 6!

4 comments:

Maxwell Family said...

As a former SIMer and Sahel teacher I am enjoying your blog site. I say stain on the cabinets. You will regret white in about 3 months. Especially with the dust and kids hands. Nothing. Nothing. stays white long in Niger. SMILE!
Great work!
Shannon Maxwell

NIGER1.COM said...

well what can i say i am a Nigerien living in the Usa , and boy i sure don t envy an americain in Niger ( just kidding ) check out niger latest news that is if you have internet acess on www.niger1.com
my email niger1.com@gmail.com

Angie Velasquez Thornton said...

i dig the coca-cola motif! do they have coca-cola paraphernalia there? we have the cutest lamp made out of bottle caps, and there's lots of other such items here. maybe you can find some there to add to the "look" of the place, especially if you decide not to go with the white. i think it sounds lovely to contrast with the red and go with the theme you're aiming for, but the note from shannon says it all. i can't imagine them staying white for long! how about black instead of stain? just a thought... have fun deciding!

Anonymous said...

Hi guys! I love the red! Not that our opinion matters at all...especially since you're there and we're here:), but we think you should stain it...that way if you ever decide to re-paint the wall a different color, or change the "theme" of the kitchen, you'll be able to without worrying about the color of the cabinets and adding more work by re-painting the cabinets.:) Plus, our kitchen cabinets that were painted (thanks again for helping with that...too bad we can't return the favor:) ha ha ha) are beginning to chip in spots, so you wouldn't want that to happen to you.
Love & Miss you guys!!!
the Young's