October + November Catch Up

My life....

My kitchen. It has a nice college-esque appeal.

Kitchen completely gutted, holes in the ceiling, my refrigerator on the other side of the house...fun times.

We hire a contractor for the first time - work begins...

Sweet PATCHES! He did a great job patching and texturing (not shown) the ceiling. I never want to patch drywall again but there is more in my future...thankfully, not immediate future. This gives us time to forget how horrible it is.

Recessed lights

The week of Thanksgiving it snowed, we lost power and froze (at least for one night). Our bedroom window in the morning. House temperature was 45*. Chilly eh?

Finally able to paint the remainder of the main living space. Went with a dark shade in the family room to separate the space visually since it's so long and narrow.

It's beginning to look a lot like a house!

Starting to finish the other half of my house. We first began laying these floors last November! This was a happy day.

Nearly there.

Floors done (well, there is a tiny strip that needs to be done BUT really it's DONE!)


Next? Some rearranging so our spare rooms can breathe and some work under the house as one of the joists sits low and this low point is evident in the floors we laid. I notice there's always 'something' extra special with each project you tackle.

August + September Catch Up

Pictures from months past....

August 2010


Cabinets above the peninsula were removed.

30-year old cooktop crud - very gross.


September 2010

Pulled up old, ugly vinyl flooring and cabinetry.
We we able to use the base cabinets from the peninsula in the garage. Score.

The boys take down the last wall separating the dining room from the kitchen. Look how I was able to capture the dust!

Getting there.

Many lovely trips to the dump in the meanwhile....

Over Due

14 days until Christmas. 28 days until 2011. How many days since my last post? Too many to count, that's how many! Is it more shocking that this year is about to end or that we still don't have a kitchen? The goal is May 2011. My friend is expecting (YAY!) and her baby is due in May. I decided that is also a perfect time for my "baby" - my brand new, precious, functional kitchen to be done. We shall see....

Enough chatter, how about some progress?

Since February we have completed the following:

• Bedrooms are painted, ceiling finished, carpet installed and window coverings are in place. All they need now are some of the finishing touches like trim and closet solutions.
• Our wood laminate is completely laid in all planned areas of the house. We just recently finished this (last week). It makes a huge difference. No more sub floor - no more half-house living!
  
• All doors are painted white with new satin nickel knobs. Amazing, what a difference this made.
• Much time was spent outside during spring + summer....lots of fun with a chainsaw, a wood chipper and the family. Some really ugly ferns were also sent packing.
  
• The kitchen has been completed gutted since October - we did all of this ourselves, including, removing the soffits (worst job ever). Oh yeah, this job included knocking down the LAST wall.
• We hired a contractor - interesting experience but all ended well. This was also a major piece of the puzzle as he patched and finished the other half of our ceiling (another horrible job), moved plumbing to center the kitchen sink, and installed recessed lighting in the family room.

I will post more pictures of our progress since February but I'll spread it out over a few posts.

February 2010

Installing new outlets. Observe our new (not orange shag) carpet in the guest room.

Painting + Lighting

Paint is so tricky (same color in both pictures) - it took me a LONG time to pick out a paint color but I'm so happy with it. The time I took was worth not having to repaint at a later time. I can't say I had the same success with our bedroom but I'm going to make it work.

Let's not forgot one more thing I can cross off the list tonight - CHRISTMAS TREE!