Guess what's different

Obviously we have loads more work to do before our kitchen is "finished", but Mark added a few more touches today that makes this room feel a little more "done".

Notice anything different?

1. Crown moulding, check!
2. Plywood decking, check!
3. Wood panels on end cabinets, check!
4. He even went to Lowes today and bought all the cabinet hardware (pulls) as you can see in the picture above. They're not installed yet...that will be a real finishing touch...but they are stainless steel and look like this (image from here):

Mark does not waste time - I just heard a "pow!" and a "holla!" come from the kitchen area...he's laying Hardibacker on the kitchen floor in preparation for our stone/tile floors which, no, we have not picked out yet.  He also just finished the wiring for the double wall oven and microwave. Everything just gets us closer and closer to a real, working kitchen!!

And now for a story ... We (that was the imperial we - meaning Mark) had a major score at Big Orange, otherwise knows as The Home Store That Is Taking 90% of My Paycheck yesterday...he went in and talked to the special order people about our moulding situation (door and window casing).  The style we like only came in Hemlock and it was going to be a pain to prime and paint, so he asked if it came in the already primed MDF.  They looked and found that they do have it - but only by special order.  Wondering how much it was, he asked and while the sales person was making the call, he did some math and figured it would be near the price of the Hemlock which was a little over a dollar a linear foot.  The sales person got off the phone and said to Mark, "It'll be .28 cents a linear foot."  And he said, "Give me one million feet of it!"  Kidding...but he did get more than he needed.  I have no idea how it was that price, but that was a God deal (good deal), for sure! (Makes me think of our double wall oven.)  :o)

A little unrelated fun for my mom and dad

Mom and Dad,

Because you now live in the desert of Arizona, I think one or two of these would be perfect to decorate your house!

What do you think??  It's the "prickly pair chair".  Ha!  Awesomeness.

Pictures speak louder than words.

{When I got home from work, I saw this.}

{Which color is more accurate? You'll have to come see for yourself!}

{A few more...}

{And a few more...}

{And, finally the 360 degree tour...}

     

Someone sure did a lot of work on his 27th birthday!!  What a guy!!

Cabinets??

Not yet.

I'm bummed. I really thought they were going to be delivered today, but now they say it's going to be Tuesday. I am no longer getting my hopes up.  Instead of spending today installing cabinets, Mark got busy working on our pantry and the pony wall "cap".

Our cute little pantry door is hung, door knob installed, and shelving all done and painted!

Here is our pony wall, all "capped". The trim you see here is what we are going to use around our doors and windows. Unfortunately, it's not "pre-primed", it's Hemlock, so we have to do all the work to prime and paint it. Bummer. But we found a style we both liked and that makes us happy. We painted the top with the same Acrinamel paint we used to paint our window seat.

On the kitchen side of this wall will be our gas cooktop. We were originally planning to have the ventilation be a downdraft, going down through the lower cabinet and out. But, we found we couldn't make it "out" anywhere...we just hit concrete. So...we have to have an island style hood over the cooktop. I'm kinda bummed because I liked the idea of the archway being completely open.  So, that's the latest thing we're trying to find a good deal on.

Maybe next weekend I'll have some shocking (hopefully in a good way) pictures for you!

Weekend Update with The Holmes'

I know.  Not as cool as "with Norm MacDonald", but what can I do?

Yesterday, we accomplished a LOT. (Mind you, we spent from 8am to 1pm driving from Georgies to Lowes to Home Depot...so we didn't get started until afternoon!)

...Prime and Paint? Check!

...Lay plywood sub floor in the kitchen? Check!

...Bisque fire? Check!

{This is top secret...so sorry, no pictures.}

...Go to Georgies and get some clay supplies? Check!

{Again, top secret. Sorry!}

So, 4 things on the list are checked off, but we also did a lot of stuff NOT on the list. Like...

...Purchased and installed both bathroom vanity lights.

...Install all kitchen flood lights.

...Cleaned up all tools and remodeling junk from our upstairs so that I can actually start cleaning the dust from this place!!

...Installed the new circuit board on our double wall oven - and it works!

...Bought wood for the pantry shelves.

...Roughly 25 loads of laundry. At least that's what it felt like.

Here's hoping that we have another productive day!!

Plan for the weekend

This weekend is supposed to be nice and sunny and in the 70s, but we have another packed weekend of working on the house.  Here's my "what I hope to accomplish" list:

1. Prime and paint the kitchen and hallway (white for now).
2. Pick out hallway bathroom flooring/counter tile or stone (no, we still haven't decided this yet).
3. Hang pantry door in kitchen. 
4. Finish top of pony wall separating kitchen and dining room.
5. Lay some plywood sub floor in the kitchen.
6. ?? I'm sure that I'm forgetting something...

Other things:

1. Bisque fire
2. Go to Georgies and get some clay supplies.
3. Go to LO's farmer's market - opening day tomorrow!!
4. Grocery shopping
5. Church
6. ?? I'm sure that I'm forgetting something...like maybe having fun?

Until next week, here's a picture from Country Home:

Those are incredibly similar to our doors!  I can't wait to have a pantry I can fill up with food!!  I'm missing having a kitchen...

W A N T

How CUTE would it be if I had two of these hanging on my front porch??

Seriously. I love hanging seats, and these would be great!

They're from Ikea (PS Svinga) and they're only $69 each!  You have to be 220 lbs or lighter to set on it though...I think we're safe there.

Here's my inspiration, thanks to lakbdesign/fergusandme.

We've been having the most gorgeous sunsets lately (it's all this crazy, partly sunny/rainy weather) and I can just see us hanging out in our swinging chairs watching the sunset...relaxing...  Well, a girl can dream!

Love, Love, LOVE!

Hallway Bathroom & Little Bedroom...Update

In the last few weeks, Mark was able to do a lot of work on the little room and the hall bathroom.   The little room is done except for pulling out the old boiler heat, patching parts of the wood floor, the cove base, and the window and door trim...basically just the finish work. (And, obviously, I have to clean the floor.)

{If the doors look yellow, it's because we haven't painted them yet.}

Our hallway bathroom also is a bit closer to being done.  We just have to install the flooring, vanity (when we get it), toilet, counter top, back splash, base trim, mirror, vanity light...then it'll be done! I know it sounds like a lot, but it's already 70% done, so it's all downhill from here.

A certain someone couldn't wait to use the shower, so he threw up the old shower curtain and used the shower like this.  I can wait!  

Oh, and this is currently serving as my dish-washing sink.  

Must. 

Have. 

Patience.  

Sunsets & Spring

I think Spring has finally made it's way to Portland. 

Let's hope it sticks around for a while!

We've Got Mud & Tape!

{Sunday}

A kitchen remodel in just one long weekend?

Totally doable!

We've Got Sheetrock!

{Saturday}

See my pretty barely-there archway that matches the one in the entrance to our living room?

I'm happy!!

Kitchen ...

...where did you go?

~Cliff