Oct 08
Posted under Around the house, Kitchen Remodel, Life by MicheleP.
This post is long overdue. When I was in Arkansas (in JULY!), Scott surprised me by putting the backsplash up. Not only did he do this – he also thought to take pictures! How can you not love this guy?! [photopress:Kitchen___preparing_backsplash.jpg,full,pp_empty] [photopress:kitchen___backsplash_in.jpg,full,pp_empty] Now, the only thing remaining is the paint. Well, that’s not totally true. [...] [...more]
This post is long overdue. When I was in Arkansas (in JULY!), Scott surprised me by putting the backsplash up. Not only did he do this – he also thought to take pictures! How can you not love this guy?!
[photopress:Kitchen___preparing_backsplash.jpg,full,pp_empty]
[photopress:kitchen___backsplash_in.jpg,full,pp_empty]
Now, the only thing remaining is the paint. Well, that’s not totally true.
Scott also painted part of the kitchen while I was gone. Then I went and picked out paint for the rest of the kitchen. Small problem – our colors don’t blend well. So, we are debating over which part now has to be repainted 
.
Jun 12
Posted under Around the house, Kitchen Remodel, Life by MicheleP.
Oh man. This was a loooong time coming. I can actually cook again without having to worry about how many things I will have to wash in the tub afterwards. Doing dishes in the tub ranks right up there with root canals and annual visits to the gyn. Actually, it might be worse. Just look [...] [...more]
Oh man. This was a loooong time coming. I can actually cook again without having to worry about how many things I will have to wash in the tub afterwards. Doing dishes in the tub ranks right up there with root canals and annual visits to the gyn. Actually, it might be worse.
Just look at that – running water – in the KITCHEN!! It’s been 3 days and I still find myself walking to the bathroom to pour something out and reaching for the paper plates instead of the “real” ones. I don’t even want to know how many trees we destroyed in this process with all the paper products consumed. Ack.
[photopress:kitchen_sink.jpg,full,pp_empty]
And the counters – they turned out great, IMO. I’m glad we extended the island to allow for an overhang – that will be nice (once I get some barstools). We had a small problem with the buffet – they didn’t cut one angle right so they had to take it back. Who knows when that piece will return – thankfully, it’s not an essential part of the kitchen work area [photopress:kitchen_counters.jpg,full,pp_empty]
Obviously, it’s not totally complete (need to tile backsplash, pick out – and install – lighting and then paint) but the kitchen is functional once again.
May 16
Posted under Around the house, Kitchen Remodel, Life by MicheleP.
We’ve made a decision. Actually, we’ve made multiple decisions but a certain someone keeps changing her mind . Initially I chose the tan (safe) one because, well, it’s safe. But then I got to thinking about how I love that I live in a place where you don’t have to “play it safe” when it [...] [...more]
We’ve made a decision. Actually, we’ve made multiple decisions but a certain someone keeps changing her mind 
.
Initially I chose the tan (safe) one because, well, it’s safe. But then I got to thinking about how I love that I live in a place where you don’t have to “play it safe” when it comes to interior (or exterior for that matter) home color. Just ask our realtor in Kansas – I love me some color in my house. (Side note, I counted and there were no less than 15 – 16 if you count the white trim – colors in our last home. Clearly a real estate agent’s nightmare). So then I thought the one with the red accents would be nice – but it was Scott’s least favorite – so scratch that. So I was back to the tan or black.
Our kitchen remodel is part for our enjoyment but also it’s an investment in the future sale of this house down the road. I went back and looked online at other homes for sale and by far the most popular choice was something dark. Add that to my one PR reader (Thanks T) who said go with black – and so, when in Rome…
Final choice: Black
It’s ordered and on it’s way to production. Timeline? 2 weeks. Translated? Who the heck knows.
May 15
Posted under Around the house, Kitchen Remodel, Life by MicheleP.
Not a lot has happened in the kitchen lately (cooking or otherwise ). We were waiting for our final template appointment for the countertops and the guy didn’t show as scheduled this past Saturday . (In his defense, our power was out and therefore our phone wasn’t working and he didn’t have our cell number [...] [...more]
Not a lot has happened in the kitchen lately (cooking or otherwise ). We were waiting for our final template appointment for the countertops and the guy didn’t show as scheduled this past Saturday 
. (In his defense, our power was out and therefore our phone wasn’t working and he didn’t have our cell number and didn’t know our house number). He did show up Tuesday evening and completed the final measurements. He told us where the manufacturing plant was – actually not far at all from here and said we could go look at the samples there if we weren’t sure on the color we had picked.
So today the girls and I headed there and I’m so glad we did. I wish I would have thought to take my camera because it was really cool to see the slabs and see how they actually make these things. To choose a countertop from a 2 inch sample in the store is nothing like seeing 12 feet of the stuff and to actually see it in natural light vs the florescent ones in the store. I quickly changed my mind on the color and narrowed it down to 5 different favorites that I liked for very different reasons…
Here they are against a shelf [photopress:granite___all_1.gif,full,pp_empty]
And against the floor (looks like I switched positions of one of them)
[photopress:granite_against_floor_1.gif,full,pp_empty]
My favorite one is the top left (1st picture)…but it’s also the most expensive (go figure) so I’ve narrowed it down to the 3 in the “budget” category and here they are against the cabinet:
[photopress:Granite___final_3_1.gif,full,pp_empty]
The black is nice and would be a nice contrast for the light cabinets and floors. It also would compliment the stainless appliances quite nicely.
The middle one (browns/tans) is probably the “safest” as it’s the most neutral and I could do just about anything color-wise on the walls and backsplash.
The one with the red tones adds more color to the kitchen and compliments the “tomato soup” color we were thinking about painting the kitchen – but it also is more restrictive.
So – any opinions??
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Apr 28
Posted under Around the house, Kitchen Remodel, Life by MicheleP.
Four Five Six What day IS it anyhow? After our little hiccup…we got in touch with the window guys on Friday. They were booked up but understood we were kinda in a ‘pickle’ (yeah, go ahead and laugh) and needed help ASAP and so they agreed to come back out on Saturday morning to adjust the [...] [...more]
Four Five Six What day IS it anyhow?
After our little hiccup…we got in touch with the window guys on Friday. They were booked up but understood we were kinda in a ‘pickle’ (yeah, go ahead and laugh) and needed help ASAP and so they agreed to come back out on Saturday morning to adjust the window. In the meantime, the big orange store called and said our window had arrived and so we ran to pick that up before they arrived on Saturday.
The guys worked really hard to get it all done – five hours later, the new opening was finished and the window installed. It looks great!
On Saturday we went to buy the new dishwasher and found a great “buy” at the Best store. Man – I cannot tell you how happy I am to see them arrive in PR! (Note: the exact same model was available “on sale” at a large department store for almost $300 more).
The guys returned to work on the cabinets and for the most part they are finished. There are just some trim pieces that need to be ordered and then we are good. I like the way the cabinets turned out. They are lighter than I thought they would be but I do like them. I started loading all our stuff in tonight and I think I might just be able to fit everything and not have to store appliances on top of the cabinets anymore.
[photopress:Kitchen_cabinets_in.gif,full,pp_empty]
[photopress:kitchen_cabinets_in_2.gif,full,pp_empty]
[photopress:kitchen_cabinets_in_3.gif,full,pp_empty]
Tomorrow the plumber and electrician come to do some work and we wait for the counter guys to come do the final measurement. We originally were not going to do an overhang for a bar on the island because we didn’t think we would have enough room but after seeing it all in place, I think we are going to add that when they come to measure.
Still to be decided… lighting, backsplash and paint. We like the idea of pendant lights over the bar but that just produces more heat. Heat is NOT something we need in this house as we have no A/C on the main level. So I’m taking suggestions – would it go against all elements of design to put a ceiling fan in?
And I’m still on the fence about the backsplash. I want to be easy and just have the countertop material go all the way to the cabinets (earthy color granite)…Scott wants a tile backsplash…stay tuned to see who wins…
Last but not least…paint. I just can’t decide what color to go with. I’m not repainting everything so it would need to flow with the yellow at some point…again…open to suggestions!
Apr 24
Posted under Around the house, Kitchen Remodel, Life by MicheleP.
It seemed that the majority of the day 3 “install” was spent by the installers going back and forth to the “great orange home improvement store” to pick up the cabinets. After THREE trips, they began work around 3:00 and I was quite surprised with how quickly the cabinets went into place. All was progressing [...] [...more]
It seemed that the majority of the day 3 “install” was spent by the installers going back and forth to the “great orange home improvement store” to pick up the cabinets. After THREE trips, they began work around 3:00 and I was quite surprised with how quickly the cabinets went into place. All was progressing quite nicely until they got the the cabinets above the sink. It seemed they were missing a cabinet as there was about a 10 inch gap between the end of the upper cabinet and the opening of the window.
Notice in this picture the window (or, rather, the space for the window)Â
[photopress:Kitchen___cabinet_install.gif,full,pp_empty]
Now notice the sink base – which is sitting to the left of the handtruck… anything seem off? As in, oh, about 8-10 inches off?
The window was supposed to be centered with the sink base…OOPS! (Totally our fault, btw, the window installers put the window exactly where we told them to).
Thankfully Scott was home by now because that level of communication goes way beyond my abilities. We pretty much had 3 choices.
1) Leave it as is. They could shift some upper cabinets on either side of the window so that the spacing would be okay – the window would just be off center from the sink.
2) Leave it as is – shifting upper cabinets and ordering new lower cabinets which would allow the sink to be centered on the window
or
3) Bust out the wall (again) and reposition the window.
Sigh. Neither choice was really a “that sounds wonderful!” one. I wasn’t keen on just leaving it as is. The whole point of having a window over the sink is so that you can look out – not to step to the right and look out like some plant craning for sunlight. Besides, I have symmetry issues. I also wasn’t too thrilled with choice #2 as it took 9 weeks to get the first set of cabinets in. I can only do in-home camping for so long. And so, that pretty much left us with choice #3.
We called the guys who did the demo and would be installing the window and left them a message asking if they could return ASAP in the morning. IF they can do this work tomorrow morning, the cabinet guys can finish up tomorrow afternoon/evening. However, it’s 9PM and they have yet to return our call.
So, project kitchen overhaul has it’s first big hiccup. Ouch.
