New Armoires

When we made the move to our house here in Corozal, we decided to bring our bed but not the rest of the bedroom furniture. This place already had two dressers, which would serve us until we figured out what we wanted.

This is one of the dressers that came with the house. 

The overall design isn't really us. At all. Unfortunately, there aren't many other options available here in town. Sure, we could have gone to Orange Walk or Belize City to check out what was available, but we decided having something made here, right in our own town, was the way to go.

Once again, we got in touch with Kim Longsworth who owns Bessa Decor (check them out on the Web or their photos on Facebook). He's the contractor we used to build our kitchen cabinets, corner cupboard/pantry, and my trusty desk.

David and I decided two armoires would work best -- one for him, one for me. So with measuring tape in hand and computer at the ready, David got to work on the dimensions and design, the plans were submitted to Kim, and work got underway.

And today they were delivered.

This one is in our bedroom. I just love, love, love the woven wood doors. We actually saw this treatment on the cabinets at Dave and Dianna Rider's pool house (another Bessa Design job).

There's beaucoup storage. Matter of fact, after loading up his stuff, David still has a couple of empty shelves. I will do my best not to adopt them.

The other one we have is painted white and is in our spare room. This is where I'll be storing all my stuff. 

After emptying everything from the old bureau, plus putting things from the closet in here, even I still have two shelves available. 

Oh, and see that area to the right of the armoire? That is a quasi storage area for stuff like cases of beer, tonic, dog food, kitty litter box, and whatever else we have and don't know where to put. So to screen that off, we also had a pair of cafe doors made -- same woven design and painted white -- that David will install once I finish painting the room. Pictures to follow in a future post.

Storage space...it's a wonderful thing.

Party Time!

Belizean friends of ours, Kim and Ruth, invited us to attend a birthday party for their two sons, Sean and Randall, who were turning 2 and 7 years old respectively. (As an aside, Kim is the owner/operator of Bessa Decor, the same company that built all our kitchen cabinets, counters, island, side cabinet, and desk.)

The party was held on the property where Kim has his shop. A building, which will eventually be a block factory, was transformed into a party place that would make any little kid squeal (and probably few adults too).

There was the bouncy house...

...and balloons...

...and beautiful hand-made birthday cakes.

The hostess with the mostest, Ruth:

Our host, Kim (right) chatting with David.

One of the birthday boys, Sean. Look at those cheeks and all that curly hair!

And his older brother, Randall -- the other birthday boy.

But the kids weren't the only ones in for a good time. For the grown-ups, there was a DJ and an open bar with a generous supply of various beers, vodka, rum and who knows what else...

...and amazing, amazing food. I'll get to that in a minute.

The guests mixed and mingled...

...and some new friends were made.

And this little guy had pretty much everyone smiling as he tottered by.

But let's get back to the food. For starters, there was conch ceviche. I forgot to take a picture, because I was too busy eating. After that came the pulled pork tacos with two different types of toppings.

I thought that was enough food to keep me for a week, but then the main courses made their appearance. There was a choice of half a chicken or pork ribs. Both dishes came with sides of beans and a green salad.

The ribs were to die for and it turns out the Kim was the one who made them, along with a bunch of the other items. I'm going to see if he'll give me the recipe for the pork glaze. Seriously, I could eat these every blessed day. For those who had the chicken, it also got rave reviews. A handful of us were seriously petioning Kim to think about opening a restaurant, like in Ranchito.

And while you could serve yourself from the grills they had set up, Ruth and her sister were speed demons delivering ready made plates right to the tables and always making sure everyone had plenty to drink.

But after the meal was over, the real fun began. Time to break open the pinata.

Sean was the first one to give it a few whacks.

 

Kim tried to give him some pointers...

 

...but Sean had his own idea...just get on and ride it!

Randall took his shots, then each child got to have a go at it. Yells of encouragement from the crowd helped the kids really throw themselves into it.

And while a teeny bit too small to take part in the whole pinata deal, this cutie was certainly impressed with the efforts of the other kids...

...especially when all the candy and confetti flew out.

And I'd like to mention that in spite the candy, the bouncy house, the general excitement and fun taking place, every single child was incredibly well behaved.

After singing Happy Birthday, each guest was given a piece of cake and a gift bag filled with all kinds of candies and sweets.

Seriously, this was an EVENT, and we had the very best time. We rolled out of there around 5pm (pets to feed, you know), but heard the party was still going strong at 7:30.

This morning I was still thinking about those ribs.

Kitchen Remodel: Primer Coat

Earlier today, David and I stopped by Mr. Kim's shop to see how things were going with our cabinets. In all the time we've been blogging about this project, it occured to me that I never posted a picture of his workshop.

I realize this shot doesn't clue you into any of the tools or machinery he has, but suffice it to say there is a lot of stuff in here, not to mention the random chicken or dog. OSHA would have a field day.

We found the crew were busy applying the primer coat to the cabinets, cupboards, and doors. Yippee!

Island base, drawers, and doors

Doors primed and drying, drawers waiting to be primed

 

Base of sink cabinet primed and ready for final coats

 

It's so exciting seeing all come together! Once the primer is dry, the crew will sand all the surfaces again, then apply the white paint and the satin poly finish. Because Monday was a national holiday celebrating Garifuna Day, our delivery date will probably be next week instead of this Friday. We should hopefully now for sure in the next couple of days.

 

Unless something unexpected crops up, we'll probably remove the existing sink cabinet on Monday, cut the existing plumbing, and do the cement pour in the tile voids. We're almost there!

 

You might also like:

 

• Plumbing the Depths of Insanity
• Cabinet and Tile Removal Continues
• Range Hood Vent & Electric

Kitchen Remodel: Plumbing the Depths of Insanity

Betwixt and between chipping off cement from the backsplash, some of our brain cells started thinking about the plumbing for the kitchen sink. Por qué, might you ask?

This is por qué:

It’s a puzzle, wrapped in an enigma, coated with expandable foam. 

Let’s do a quick review of what we are dealing with:

• Currently the hot and cold water pipes, along with the drain, come up from the floor. As you can see from the above picture, wood was used on the base of the cabinet to patch the open area surrounding the pipes. And, oh my, what an expert job that is. Due to what we can only presume was an additional way to prevent bugs from coming in, foam was sprayed around the wood patch and the base of the pipes. Groovy.

• The shut-off valves for the hot/cold water lines are waaay at the top.
  
  
  
  David replaced the valves not long after we moved in, because the old ones broke off in his hand when he tried turning them off to install a new faucet. Ahh, quality workmanship at its best. 

• There are no shut-off valves for these lines outside of the house. The only way to turn water off is to turn off the main water valve, which means we would have no water, whatsoever.

• We already ascertained that the existing cabinet is sitting not on the floor tile, but the cement pad of the house; a difference of about 1 ½”. 

• We also know that our contractor, Kim Longsworth of Bessa Décor, would prefer that the hot/cold water lines and drain come in through the wall behind the cabinet. This will make for an easier installation, because the unit can be slid into place instead of being lifted over the existing pipe fittings.

Once our brains stopped exploding with all of these fun facts, we got down to business of coming up with some solutions to our problems (with the aid of a stiff drink).

While it would mean an easier installation for Mr. Kim's cabinet crew, initially we were loathe to have all the plumbing re-routed. But once we realized the existing pipes would need to be cut, even if we didn't re-route the pipes, well, if you're going to do a job, might as well do it the right way.

So we'll bring in a plumber to put holes in the concrete wall to accomodate having the water and drain lines piped from the outside. We'll also have shut-off valves installed on the outside.

With that in place, we can turn off the water from there, disconnect the existing pipes under the sink, and cut them off as close to the base as possible.

The cabinet will then be lifted over the tile and taken away. The final pipe nubs coming from the floor will be trimmed off and capped.

The void from the missing tile will be filled with concrete and allowed to set.

Then the new cabinet can then be installed, with holes drilled in the back for the pipes coming in through the back wall.

At that point, we can run new pipe from the exterior shut-off valves into the house and attach everything to the sink.

Now all of this hinges on the fact that we will need to know from Mr. Kim when he expects to have that cabinet piece ready. With that date in hand, we'll allow about three days before that date to cut the pipes, remove the existing cabinet, do the cement pour and have it set-up.

This, at least, is the plan as of right now. We think it will about a month to six weeks before the cabinet will be ready, and who knows what other surprises await us between now and then. In the meantime, we have adopted the mantra of "Que es lo que es; lo que será, será" [It is what it is; what will be will be].

Kitchen Remodel: Prep Stage Continues

While we were excited to purchase a new range and refrigerator, those were just baby steps to the prep work ahead of us to remodel our kitchen area.
 
A very big and important element was figuring out what we wanted our new kitchen to look like. We knew we wanted a bit more counter area, an island/bar to provide more prep and storage space, and have all the cabinetry in white to brighten up the room. After a bunch of brainstorming, David went to work designing a layout. 

Here's what we came up with:

Overhead view of new kitchen layout

Upper/lower cabinet specs for run left of the range

Upper/lower cabinet area to the right of the range

Island/bar detail; bar top to be in glass (we hope)

Cabinet door design

The next question was how much of this redesign did we want to tackle versus having someone else do it. We've remodeled two kitchens before this move, so we felt confident that we have the skills. But getting access to the materials we would need, well, that would be a real challenge. You're not going to find a Home Depot here in Belize, and there are few lumber yards in the Corozal area. The places that do sell wood often offer un-planed planks; mostly mahogany. And if you're in need of 2x4's, that is exactly what you will get -- honest to God 2x4's, un-planed. And more than likely, all of the hinges and pull-out extensions would need to be special ordered. Clearly, we needed to work with someone who had the resources and tools to pull this project off.

We heard really good things about Kim Longsworth of Bessa Decor. We got in touch with him and reviewed our plans over a couple of different sessions.  

It was during these discussions that we also needed to figure out what to do about countertops. We knew we didn't want marble, granite, or tile. A suggestion was made about considering concrete. I was initially leery of the idea, but did some research and was amazed at all the different finishes that could be had. Unfortunately, they can't be had here, plus there are no concrete masons in the area skilled to make the molds. We tossed out the idea of stainless steel counters, thinking it would make the area look too industrial.  Friends of ours, who also had their kitchen made by Mr. Kim, have wood counters like this:

We liked the warmth it brings to the white cabinets, so we ended up going down that road. What we ultimately decided to do was eliminate the light and blond wood elements and stick with darker pieces of varying lengths; no shorter than 24 inches, no longer than 40 inches. With a couple of coats of a poly finish, the counters should be uber-durable.

With those big decisions out of the way, we gave Mr. Kim the go-ahead (not to mention a down payment) to start the job. In the meantime, we had our own work to do including finding a single-basin kitchen sink and range hood, removing all the existing cupboards and backsplash tiles, tidying up the kitchen sink plumbing, moving electrical outlets, and the list goes on.

In upcoming posts, we'll provide more details on some of the diagrams you've seen here, the quest for our new sink and range hood, the compromises needed for the glass bar top, plus take you on our journey through semi-organized kitchen chaos.