Still "Under Construction"

Praise the Lord, we're making progress! Things that could have been problems, have worked out well. We have been living mostly sane lives, despite the disruption of a kitchen under construction. (Although I am a little tired of cooking in the basement ;-) ) The builder of our cabinets was running behind schedule (but we were too, so we really didn't notice) and, what a blessing, he has offered to do the installation for free as a result! Yay--we are blessed!Thankfully, "cabinet guy" will likely be able to install next week! We got a glimpse in his workshop last weekend (we were bringing him the undercabinet lighting so he can prep the underside of the upper cabinets for them). They are custom wood cabinets with natural maple fronts and they look really nice. The wood feels so smooth and the cabinets are really big compared with what we had before!

The walls probably look white to most of you but they are actually "oatbran" a funny name for paint, but not bad for a kitchen! :-)

So the order is this (God and weather permitting): cabinets next week, after cabinets are installed we have measurements for the countertop and one week after that the counter will be installed. Then we have the finish work to do (which we will do ourselves). Such as painting and installing new trim (along the floor, and around openings and windows) and a little outdoor trim work where we enlarged the opening for the sliding glass door. We still have two cutouts for the leaded glass windows in the opening to the library (you can see one of them in the picture above). We did that for added character, or bling. Ha!

We are so thankful for how smoothly everything has been going (especially since the floor removal part). It's been a little surreal to see the process of change! The space looks so different to me now, I find myself just sitting down and staring at the room sometimes!

Stuck in the basement

It's one of those gray wet winter days. The air is warmer than it's been in a while. Tonight it's supposed to get colder again. I am stuck in my basement. I can't go upstairs because tile guy and his helpers are working there. Lucky for me, I brought all the laundry down to the laundry room before they got here. Lucky. Lucky. Lucky.

On Sunday we painted the ceiling and walls with primer. On Monday we painted first coats of paint in the morning and second coats in the afternoon/evening/night. We also hauled in 2000 lbs of tile, 50 lbs of grout, 150 lbs of mortar, and 22 sheets of concrete underlayment (each weighing about 30-40 lbs. Today I am tired.

Last night we got the last coat of paint on the hallway at about 11:15 pm. We spent a little time doing our "ritual staring." (This is when we finish part of a project and sit down to rest, examining our work.) I am happy with the paint colors we chose. Just looking at the color of the wall brings a smile to my face.

The last brownie...

So, I made brownies a couple of days ago, and they never last long. This morning Bret took the second last brownie to work with him for lunch. The kids tried to talk me into letting them have the last brownie for breakfast. I (being a wise and good mother) decided that brownies are not breakfast food. Instead, I suggested, they could have it for snack after school and I'd make eggs for breakfast.

So, after school (and a couple errands) we arrived home and I offered the brownie. The kids said okay and decided to play their new favorite video game. I got the brownie out and cut it into two equal pieces (as only a wise and good mother can) and set them out on the table stating "Brownies." (Usually this is enough to get the kids running from a mile away, but they were into the game and said "okay" instead.)

I went out to the back and let the dog in and got supper started, thinking no more about brownies. About 10 minutes later I checked in with the kids and asked how the brownie was. "We haven't had them yet" was the response. I, looking at the table sans brownie, said "yeah, right!" "No, we haven't!" I pointed at the table--"someone ate the brownie." At this point I seriously questioned my children's honesty. I thought maybe they were trying for seconds by claiming they hadn't had firsts.

But the problem was...it WAS the last brownie. I then spotted two napkins on the carpet. Hmm. "Are you sure you didn't eat the brownie?" I asked again. The kids--finally interested, and looking for their snack--said "NO, we didn't eat it." I turned and saw our dog Schwarz, licking his chops and reclining on his pillow in the corner.

I think I know what happened to the last brownie.

The drywall is up!

That first picture turned out really dark for the kitchen, but you can see the snow we got last night pretty clearly. We worked all day on Saturday, Sunday afternoon, and all day on Monday, but we finally finished the drywall installation. It took a long time to cut around all the outlets and light fixtures, but the end product was worth it. We couldn't have done it without help! Thanks Mike and Rachel for giving up your Saturday and thanks to Bret's dad who has already given us many Saturdays and came again to help!

Drywall guy is coming today to do the mudding and tomorrow to sand and re-mud. Then it's time to paint! We decided on paint colors finally. Then it's Tile Guy to do the tile floor...

Unexpected family fun

We got a Wii for Christmas. It was intended to be a kind of family gift that was mostly for the kids and would keep them amused during the long days of January when the cold keeps us inside a lot. It, however, has become a family activity and the cause of some competitive streaks coming out. Katie, you see, has managed to cream most of the rest of us in sword-fighting and cycling. We all failed miserably at down-hill skiing so far. Most of us end up going up-hill instead of down-hill. Or, simply going in circles. Bret and I managed to tie at flying (and I didn't get sick at all). I also like the skydiving! My willingness to risk life and limb has increased dramatically! :-)

Decisions, decisions!

The new year is bringing with it many new decisions to make! What color should the walls, hallway, trim and ceiling be? How many lights are really enough? How should we mount the undercabinet lighting? How high should the shelves in the spice cabinet be? What is the best choice for faucets? What kind of light fixture would be best over the table? ...the list goes on...

I feel that I must choose wisely...yet...if I don't...will it really be the end of life as we know it???

Below you can see the recessed lights we installed last weekend. Bret has been working hard on the electrical wiring and planning for some updates to the plumbing. He's back to work this week so things will slow down a little. However, we are hoping to drywall on Saturday and "drywall guy" will hopefully come next week to do the mudding and sanding for us (yay!).

Here is my current "kitchen" which is located between the laundry room, garage, and hallway in the basement. I have all the necessary items and although it's kind of crowded, I am blessed. I am even able to use my old portable dishwasher.

Below, breakfast at the "kitchen table" in the basement. At least the sun shines in nicely!

Catching up on some posts!

The next few posts are catching up on some progress in the remodel and some Christmas events. Today was the day Bret rebuilt this wall (which previously had a small opening on the left and now has a large center opening). We are pleased to be making progress, especially after taking so long to get the floor torn up.