If You Buy a Saw, They Will Cut...

We're attempting home improvement on a non-existent budget. No debt allowed, so each stage of the work has to be saved up for. It has taken us five years, but we've finally put in a dishwasher. Dishwashers are not expensive compared to other home improvement projects, but other priorities put a dishwasher pretty low on the list.

We bought the dishwasher and Hard-Working-Hero decided that he would put it in. This was a pretty big deal considering that neither of us have any real construction skills or experience. Okay, HWH did build me a chicken coop, so I guess his skills are more advanced than mine. We watched several videos on the web and asked a ton of questions at home improvement stores.

With a few new additions to HWH's tool chest, we started making a mess. It only took us a two weeks to get it in, which was not bad considering we only worked an hour or so each evening and we had a few interruptions and plumbing questions to figure out. All that's left now is some trim and painting.

If you look at the corner of the counter, you can guess what our next project will be after we save some money: new countertops. Nothing fancy like granite, just something simple.

These cabinets were handmade by the original owners. They may look a bit too handmade in some ways, but these cabinets are solid and VERY hard to take apart!

If you need something taken apart, find yourself a 9 year old boy and hand him a screwdriver.

A new saw for making a mess. Now that HWH has a new saw, I've got to think of new projects!

I'm so proud of HWH. An installer could have had the project done in 2 days, but we learned something new and saved a ton of money. Now we have the confidence to tackle something else.

A construction committee meeting. All hands on deck to discuss plumbing.

After 5 years of washing dishes by hand, it is nice to finally have a choice. I must admit, I still wash some dishes by hand. I use my grandmother's stainless steel cookware from the 60's on a daily basis and I don't want the heat of the dishwasher to ruin the handles.

A few more cosmetic details and some paint and then we can move on to counter tops, and molding on top of the cabinets, and new faucet, and....