It's 99% FINISHED!

Hi Friends,
With a huge smile on my face I get to share with you some of the final progress of our kitchen. It feels HUGE, it feels CLEAN and everything in it WORKS just as it's supposed to. It came together just in time for me to prepare meals for friends and neighbors who have had babies in the last couple of weeks (a service that was a MAJOR blessing to us when Turner was born). Everyone has been so sweet and complimentary so far but I honestly wouldn't care if they weren't because it is perfectly my (and Cameron's too, of course) taste. It came out even better than I imagined. I have felt inspired to bring order to the rest of our home and might even be moved to have a yard sale in the near future. I have been cleaning out drawers, rearranging furniture and artwork and running everything through the dishwasher, washing machine or taking the vacuum to it. I am nesting full force around here which can partially (if not mostly) be attributed to pregnancy, I suppose.

So here it is, the finished product (minus chandeliers which I just can't bring myself to pick out):

Our backsplash took an extra week to get here but it finally made it and was installed today. It is simple but adds some texture.

And here's our cabinet hardware. I've had this stuck on my brain for years now and am thankful Cameron went along with it. A big appeal is that it serves to "baby proof" the lower cabinets. Our carpenter had never used it before but he was pleasantly surprised at the outcome as were we.

Here is our lone glass cabinet. I was warned not to have too many because I would want to feel comfortable putting whatever I needed in them. Since we have many sippy cups, tervis tumblers, and coffee mugs with family photos on the side I decided one transparent cabinet was enough:) It is even an extra inch deep to fit our big plates. Our old cabinets couldn't shut because they were too big. Our dishes add yet another shade of white. Who says I don't like color?

Oh and the new window!! Too bad I don't spend more time there these days since we welcomed a dishwasher into our lives. I find myself putting the cutting board right next to the sink so I can spend an extra minute there.

This weekend we are hunting for chairs for the bar. I don't think I call them "bar stools" because they will likely have backs and arms and will not swivel to make them as safe as possible for little ones (in another year or two).

So there you have it. Quite a transformation and it has been SO worth the wait of 2.5 years and the major inconvenience over the past 5 weeks. We are so thankful it was even an option for our family at this time and it certainly makes us NEVER WANT TO MOVE! Can't wait to have y'all over and enjoy time with you in our new and improved home.

I really enjoy this whole blogging thing and hope I'll continue to have some discipline to sit down and do it in the future. It is therapeutic. Check up on us for updates but likely no more major remodeling any time soon! Although I do have the bathroom to share with you..... maybe next week.

Hope you have a joyful and safe Labor Day weekend with your family and friends.

Love,
K, C, T & Baby C

Week 4

Hi Friends,
Please forgive me for being a delinquint blogger:( The progress was nearly invisible for several days (ex: Putting in a gas line, rough electrical work) and the floors were refinished THREE times before they got the right color. Each time they were refinished, no one could walk on them for a day so that set us back a bit. Today was actually the start of week five of what was predicted to take three weeks but I'm not getting hung up on that because the results are so great! Just a lesson to plan for the unexpected. Here's a picture of the first time they were refinished. They are pretty but don't "flow" in any way with the floors in the dining room which you can see at the bottom of the picture.

Here are a few pictures to give you the big idea. I thought I would go all candid on you and not clean up first.

Here is one of my favorite features, a trashcan in front and recycling in back. Cameron's out of town so I guess I need to take them out...

I am also loving having an icemaker!!!! And I got to ditch my Brita pitcher because we now have filtered water on the door. I realize this is a common feature but I am sure enjoying these luxuries!

Oh, and don't you LOVE our fancy cabinet door handles? The ones we ordered over a month ago have been placed on backorder twice so I finally ordered them from a different place last week. Until then we get to pull on the sophisticated blue tape to open our cabinets. At least we have drawer pulls!

Here are the latches we're waiting on:

The electrician comes tomorrow to hook up our disposal (another new luxury) and dishwasher (ANOTHER new luxury) so we've been hand washing our dishes. It's not like we're not used to it.

I bet you are loving our backsplash but it will looks quite different after Wednesday. The tile guys will be installing white dimensional subway tile. It was supposed to be done today but it hasn't come in yet.

Now I just need to choose two light fixtures for the dining room and kitchen. That's my project for tomorrow. Hopefully Turner wakes up thinking, "Man, I hope Mom takes me to Progressive Lighting today!" If not, I'll have pretzel sticks (her favorite) to keep her happy.

I'll let you know how things go on Wednesday!

Days 10-13

PANTRY and PAINT are the words! Our icky pantry is no more! It has has a total overhaul thanks to our carpenter, Jeff. On Friday morning we measured cereal boxes, the microwave and the new airtight dog food container
(http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2811537&lmdn=Category LOVE THIS THING) I bought and designed the shelves accordingly. The shelves are stationary so it would be a big deal to move them. Hopefully we will have no regrets!

Old Shelves, "Bye, Bye!!"

T has been enjoying naps in our upstairs master bath during this whole ordeal. She has been relatively unscathed:)

Standing at the baby gate pleading with her eyes to enter the construction zone...

Since we are at the beach the week, the painting is going full force. I am so glad we're gone because they are using oil based paint to touch up some of the existing trim and it is super smelly. Check out our new white cabinets! The walls will be painted Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter today!

and T's new big girl room- Sherwin Williams Ancient Marble (Thanks, Mollie!) It is so refreshing to have the RED GONE!!

Tomorrow: refinish floors

Day 9

Great progress today! New trim went in the Living Room! It is much thicker than the old stuff (sorry I don't have a pic) and is in much better proportion with the scale of the room and the window and floorboard trim. We are very pleased! It matches the kitchen.

Also, Jeff added trim to the bathroom and hallway where there was none before. It looks so good that Cameron said when he walked in today, "I wonder if we shouldn't just have him do the bedrooms too."

The bedrooms have picture molding that I like because I can hang things from it! However, painters are coming next week so if we're ever going to do it, now is the perfect time.

We had to take apart our "bathroom kitchen" today so that trim and a vent could go in the bathroom. There was no place to put all of our temporary kitchen things besides in Turner's room so it was there they went. The dogs have been spending most of their days stuck in the front red room so that wasn't an option. It was at this point that I felt a total loss of control. Every room of our home is now officially in disarray but praise God I am able to laugh! Cameron just smiled at it all too:) I guess it is easier when you can see a light at the end of the tunnel (and when you have a week long beach trip planned to begin Monday!!).

I vacuumed the downstairs twice today and it needs it again. As soon as Jeff finishes up tonight I'm going to put this shop vac to work cleaning up the construction zone. These past couple of weeks have been my first experience with a shop vac and I have become quite a fan. It is miraculous how quickly and how much this thing can eat up.

After that, I am going to test these paint samples on some poster board and hopefully come to a decision tonight for our cabinet and wall colors. I wish there weren't so many shades of white! A HUGE thank you to my friend and neighbor, Mollie who let Turner take a nap at her house so I could run up to the Benjamin Moore store and pick out some colors. There are some things that are just not practical with a toddler and this is one of them for me.

Day's 7 & 8

Praise the Lord for air conditioning!!! We were without if for the last 26 hours and the house was 85 degrees. This might not sound too bad but when you're chasing a precious toddler around it is really hard to keep from sweating. It seems our electrical system was overloaded with all the power tools but thankfully it was all fixed today and are no longer taking it for granted. "Every good and perfect gift IS from above!"

Our carpenter, Jeff has been hard at work today and yesterday installing all the trim on our cabinets and around the ceiling and floor of the kitchen and dining room. Cameron and I are really starting to catch the vision! We look forward to him installing the same trim in our living room tomorrow:)

He also put up these brackets (there's probably a better term for them) that I snagged at the Cobb Antique Market. They will help support a 16" countertop that will rest on top. We're trying to decide if we'll keep the paint on them just the way it is or if we'll have them stripped and repainted to match the cabinets. I like how they're simple but still have a little personality. When I purchased them they came together with one being several inches longer, as you can see. I might not have originally sought out a larger one but I like the way it's coming together.

Close up

Also, I realized I hadn't shown you a picture of our floors! We were very pleased to discover there was Pine underneath the brick linoleum. It needs a little TLC but Tee seems to think they will clean up beautifully. The rest of our house has oak floors with slightly narrower planks so they will not match exactly but they will be the same color. If I weren't pregnant and it wasn't 90+ degrees outside then I might consider moving all of our things out and refinishing the entire downstairs floor but I just don't have it in me so I'm not going to sweat it. Cameron doesn't seem to think it will bother him either.

Here's a before picture of the floors thought it's not a close up:(

Oh, and when they countertop people came to make their template yesterday they said the schedule was running about three weeks. We'd surely like to have our kitchen back sooner than that so please pray it will be done a little faster. On a happy note, Sweet Turner didn't get any new bruises today. She has been very accident prone as she masters this whole walking thing. Also, our new little Baby Girl was moving around TONS and she was sticking her little bottom straight out so I really got to feel her little body. It was SO cool! She's the length of a Spaghetti Squash this week. I love her so much already!!

Love you all-
K

Day 6

Sorry I missed you guys last night. I was absolutely exhausted when I got home from the Simmons' house. They cooked us an amazing dinner and were so sweet to spoil us a little:)

Yesterday was VERY EXCITING but a little stressful as the cabinets went in. They are absolutely beautiful and just what I wanted. They have clean lines and are very simple and easy on the eyes. I don't have the imagination to picture them white but I'll get to see that with my own eyes next week. And oh the storage we will have! I can't wait for all the extra storage space so things can be more accessible instead of being stacked and piled up so they are hard to get to. Oh the meals I'm going to cook for Cameron, Turner and hopefully YOU in there!! I had hoped and expected them to go all the way to the ceiling for extra storage for those barely used items. It was a good lesson in communication for me.

The space looking into the dining room is for the stove (which was delivered and is not being stored in the basement with the dishwasher). I hope it will be easier to keep an eye on my curious toddler while cooking.

The space to the left of the sink cabinet if for the, drumroll please, DISHWASHER!!! I can't wait to run everything we own through it!!!! It's going to run for the first several days without stopping. After hand washing everything for a few years, I'm just not convinced it's perfectly clean.

Here's a sneak peak at the sink that was set into place this morning:) It's a farmhouse sink but nothing like the farmhouse sink we had before! BTW, did I mention we sold the old one on craigslist in only three days for several hundred dollars? You wouldn't believe the stuff people will buy. I hope the nice people who bought it enjoy it as much as I enjoy the extra counter space!

I thought I'd share an inspiration photo I found this morning. I think we'll use very comparable colors for the cabinets and walls. We had already ordered this exact faucet, countertop and sink so this helps me see it all together. I don't think it could be too light or too bright for me!

Day 3-5

While T and I were away at a friend's house for a couple of days, people were hard at work at our house. Insulation and drywall went as well as some behind the scenes heating and air work.

I love our new pantry! I don't even mind that there is a little triangle in the upper left corner where to stairs are. We will be able to reach things so much better!

We had the guys add a vent to our bathroom while we had them over since we had a bit of a mildew problem when we were using this bath on a daily basis. Here is where it will go.

Thought you might like to see how we're making due without a kitchen:) Our beautiful (yet kinda dirty) new fridge is in our living room. This one has an ice maker that works. Thanks to all of you who have brought ice over in the past!

I set up a mini kitchen in our bathtub since that room has the only running water besides our master bath upstairs.

I like that I can close the shower curtain and pretend everything is normal.

Turner and the dogs don't seem to mind all this mess too much.

We're headed to Birmingham this weekend to visit Lindsey and Taylor so we will enjoy the escape from the chaos. It's really not as bad as I thought it would be and we're 1/3 of the way through it already!!!! Yay!!