PROGRESS UPDATE
I haven’t been posting too much because we are still doing a bunch of infrastructure things that don’t translate well to photos. We have spent way too much time trying to trench into the concrete slab to get plumbing for the powder room connected. My brilliant idea of adding powder room under the staircase has turned into a drug tunneling nightmare. The sewer line is 3 ft under the original family room. We wanted to avoid tunneling into an adjoining bathroom which the owner has recently remodeled. It would have been impossible to keep the brand new flooring intact and also not damage the new vanity cabinets, etc in that bathroom. So, we are going upstream a bit and tunneling under a big wall back to the original family room. Owner paid a special p lumber to come in and mark the existing lines.
What we discovered when we started cutting the concrete is that the original builder must have just poured all the extra concrete from the concrete pump into a big hole under the wall. The ‘footing’ is about 3 ft wide, not formed at all (just big blobs of concrete) , and big a blog of oozing concrete about 3 ft deep. It took two days to cut concrete and dig the trench under the wall to get into the powder room to install new ABS drain lines for the toilet and sink. Not to mention that we are having a hard time getting enough slope in the drain line down to the original drain line from the new toilet. Two guys down in the big trench with jackhammers, chisels and shovels. We joked that El Chapo would be proud of their tunnel.
That is finally done and we have an extra plumber in because there is new code that water lines under a slab have to be soldered with a ‘brazing’ technique. This requires big welding tanks to get really high heat for the brazing solder. This is going to take a couple of days because it goes really slow waiting for the pipes to heat up enough to solder a join.
We passed our foundation inspection for the giant holes dug in the garage for post support of the attic conversion area upstairs. While the inspector was here, we were able to ask a bunch of questions to pre inspect our underground plumbing. We have lucked out that we have another wonderful inspector who is really nice and helpful. I plan to write a letter to his boss to let the City know how much we appreciate ‘helpful’ inspectors rather than nasty guys/gals.
KITCHEN
But the most exciting news is that the kitchen design is done and the cabinets are ordered!!! This took up a lot of our time over the last couple of weeks. Normally I would just go in with my measurements and lay something out. But, I don’t have to live with the kitchens. The owner is, rightfully so, really thinking hard through all kinds of design possibilities. The kitchen itself is not as large as you would hope for. So, we are limited in how many cabinets we can cram into the available space.
So, the design is an L shape with an island. We went with Kraftmaid cabinets because there was a sale of 25% off cabinets and 50% off premium finishes. It was a rush to get the design complete and cabinets ordered before Friday, Dec 8th… the deadline. Kraftmaid has a whole new line of colors available and there were a bunch of really pretty choices, which made the decision even harder. In the end, we choose a gorgeous ‘soft white’ called Moonshine which is an off white but not in the warm category… off white in a cool category. Subtle hints of blues and grey in the shade.
Here is an example of the cabinetry
http://www.kraftmaid.com/stilton-maple-square-ah6m2-square-moonshine/
And, here is a Kraftmaid photo of the kitchen. Our kitchen design is very similar to this one. Except, remove the double ovens from right hand side of run with stove (not enough room in kitchen, very difficult decision) and the island is turned facing the left window. We will have a big folding window over the sink area with a countertop on outside for seating.
Also, to the left of the sink where the open shelves are, there is a big 36" pantry cabinet with roll out trays. We had to get a pantry in somewhere, and it was the only place to do it. We have a lazy susan designed in the corner for better use of space. Uppers will wrap around the corner with a big 42" upper to the left of the corner.
The island will have an under counter microwave and specialty cabinets. The end of the island facing the stove (island is turned around from this photo) will have a big 36" set of drawers for pots and pans. Island will not have any sink, it will be a nice giant workspace with seating on side away from sink/window
http://www.kraftmaid.com/moonshine-on-maple-kitchen-with-island/
APPLIANCES
And, here is where I have learned a lesson on where you can totally blow a budget for the kitchen. Appliances!!! The owner has chosen beautiful appliances that would be way outside my usual flipping budget. There’s going to be a tall 36" sub zero refrigerator with cabinet panels for a total built in look. Single door on top, two freezer drawers on bottom. With a Wolf range with red knobs and a really nice under counter microwave. There will be a stainless hood above the range because we decided not to have a built’in cabinetry type hood, we want to have some open space for beautiful backsplash behind the range.
I just about choked when I saw the cost of the appliances, but it’s not my money 
Someone is going to be very lucky to get this kitchen in the future when the house is sold.
