Look Ma, no more yellow tiles!

That's right! The kitchen was stripped of it's ugly yellow tiles today. This was not originally planned as part of the kitchen project. But after the old dishwasher plumbing was removed we discovered that many of the pipes had been placed in huge grooves through the tile, leaving very unsightly scarring that we weren't going to be able to cover up. So, out came the pry bars and the muscles and down came all the wall tile. (Thanks to Andrew Anderson, David Molvik and Gary Pagel!) This will enable us to choose the colors we really want for the kitchen rather than having to match the colors to the yellow tile.
In the pictures you see what's left behind on the walls - essentially a history of stylish paint colors from the early-to-mid 20th century. Or perhaps it's a history of extra paint that someone had in their garage....

In other news today, a crew of people started in on the final clean-up in the upstairs remodeled space. There's still plenty to do so if you couldn't make it this time, there will be more opportunities! Thanks so much to Andrew Anderson for organizing this work. On Saturday, June 26, you're invited to meet at the church at 9 a.m. to move the furniture back from the warehouse. It is possible we'll be hosting our first coffee hour in the new space this coming Sunday!

Undercroft kitchen demolition

A great crew of nearly two dozen intrepid folks showed up today to disconnect plumbing and electrical lines, pry cabinets off the walls, pound holes in countertops and generally create havoc, all in the name of saving us a few thousand dollars on demolition costs. Working against a deadline of the need for quiet for a wedding going on in the sanctuary, the job took a couple of hours of actual demolition, preceded by a few hours of sorting and packing. On Monday, the mechanical contractors will come to shut off the gas lines so that the stoves/ovens can be moved, and work will begin on the kitchen remodel. We anticipate being without any kitchen in the building for week or so, but pretty soon the little kitchen upstairs should be in service for after-worship coffee and other events.
My favorite picture from above is the bucket of old plumbing pipes. The one pipe has a huge rusted gash in it, and obviously has been that way for some time. We also found some treasures: a kitchen use handbook that warned us all not to smoke while preparing food, a set of pictures of wedding cakes from the 1950's ($20 for a cake that served 200), and an old "quantity" cookbook for church. That one contained, among other things, a Mexican gelatin salad. Yum.

Getting close to the end!

A few changes have taken place over the last few days, and the project on the main level of the parish house is really coming together. These photos show the new hallway flooring (the contractor finally figured out how to make it stick!), the little kitchen, just awaiting the stove, refrigerator and new dishwasher to be installed, the new countertop in the galley serving area, and the inside of the secretary's new office space. I really like the "feel" of the place, with lots more natural light from skylights and large windows, the way in which the space is now more flexible, and the updated colors and textures. And - this is really important! - the new bathrooms are open and usable!