Beauty in a Box

Remember this picture?


This mass of various sized boxes has been sitting in our basement since April 8. Inside you’ll find maple cabinets with a Roselle finish. Beauty in a box. Too beautiful to be boxed for long. They have sat in our basement, in two different areas and one very large, heavy box was left in the garage. I was surprised when the delivery truck backed up and only one guy, tall and lanky, jumped out to unload it. No kidding! Good thing I am not afraid to help. Anyhow…they were all unloaded, without incident or damage!

The beauty inside those cabinets made its debut this past Saturday. My cousin and the Big Guy started installing them. The floor was installed on Friday; therefore, we put cardboard over the floor. Deadlines have pushed the progress of our project. April 27 is the new date to have the template made so we have to have all the cabinets installed before then. They carried up almost all of the cabinets on Saturday. There are two lower cabinets that need to be installed to the left of the sink and one upper cabinet above them. The island footprint has to be built and three cabinets need to be installed there. Regardless of the work that needs to be done, I couldn’t wait any longer. Here are some various views of the kitchen.

Getting started:

The north-west corner:

And the view from the front door:

When we were designing the kitchen, I did not want two walls of cabinets and a pantry. I let the guys talk me into it. I know I won’t be disappointed and I am amazed at the amount of items I can put in just two lower cabinets. Sunday we carried the dishwasher up and placed it. We wanted to make sure it would fit. It does – perfectly. I have also put some cookbooks in the cookbook nook! We are moving along and each day, we walk into our home to find more improvements made.

Do you like the cabinets?

Happy Birthday

Mothers are special.

They comfort you when you are hurt or frightened.
They fix almost anything with a hug, kiss and a band-aid.
They love you when you are bad and say mean things to them in anger.
They are patient and let you make mistakes so you learn the hard way.
They aren't one to say "I told you so."
They are just a phone call away when you have a question about a recipe, what to do with the baby, or any of the other million questions you ask them during your life time.

Mom...thanks for giving me a great childhood full of wonderful memories. Thanks for letting us have all those precious, special animals. For letting me have my pony. For letting us play in the woods and creek and not complain about how dirty and wet we were when we came home. For letting me take flute lessons. For EVERYTHING, even Marie (ha - love ya sister)!

Mom, I love you!

I hope you have a wonderful day. I hope this year is filled with lots of love, laughter, family time and healthy.

You are the best and I am so glad I was born to you.



I bet you miss these days though, don't you?

Color Poll

Before I post some pictures, I wanted to tell you about my trip to the store Wednesday afternoon.

Remember my sleepless night? When I had visions of color strips and color wheels flying at me? Perhaps all that was triggered by my hasty and costly purchase of a gallon of paint that was just too dark.

My trip to the store calmed my fears. As did the option of the designer that we are working with. I gathered the granite sample, the cabinet door and found an area that had good lighting. I set them together and placed the paint sample between the two. Smoky Blue looks great next to the Autumn Harvest granite countertop. I have to say, there are some specks that the color brings out of the countertop. I liked it. I already knew that I loved the way the color enhanced the stainless steel. Greg was pleased that I wanted to go with a bold color. He liked the Smoky Blue. He took the color swatch and put it next to the cabinet door and said he really liked the combination. I felt relief. A “now I can paint” relief. Green light. Get my painter clothes on and hit the wall.

White wall {kiss} good-bye!

Oh, one more thing, I also bought a simple light for the stairwell. Nothing fancy. Just plain and functional. We just need light so we can see the steps. I did not pick the cheapest light but it obviously was cheap. When we went to install it, the components of the light failed to fit snuggly and the weird little light, did not fasten securely to the electrical plug. So back into the box for a return. It was a double-disappointing night Wednesday evening. Primer white walls were taunting me and the make-shift platform above the stairs had to stay in place.


Thursday evening held promise. I did it! I opened that can of paint and I painted.

Primer white to Smoky Blue in an hour (or so). My color choice passed with flying colors! Even the kids liked it.

I started with the white paint in the stairwell. We wanted to remove the temporary floor so we had indoor access to the basement and garage. It has been tough running outside through all the April rain showers to get something from the freezer or to take clothes to the laundry room. The upper half of the stairwell has been painted white and the light fixture has been installed. No ladder needed! White paint over primer white has now visual satisfaction so on to something noticeable. If you look closely, you can see the new floor as well!


What do you think?

Wide Open Spaces

Today I wanted to start with these lovely (I am laughing) pictures:

and

Now I want to show you this, as I stand at our front door:


The wall was removed yesterday and, can we say WOW!

Consensus is in. We love the open area!

The new sub-floor is going down with a lot of hard work. It looks great and is so solid. Notice, no color on the kitchen walls. I did paint the upper-part of the stairwell. Nothing very exciting. White paint over white primer so no picture. No painting in the kitchen. Wondering why? Well, there were some spots on the walls near the ceiling that had spackle splattered so they had to be removed and primed. There were also two areas around outlets that had to be primed. We want to have a nice finished wall so we took the time to work on what could result in “blemishes” on the wall. We do not want any blemishes. The guys have worked so hard and their workmanship shows in the quality of the room. We have a flat ceiling. We have straight walls. We have a soundless floor.

I am hopeful that tonight is the night that I will be painting. Pictures tomorrow. Wait and see.

Smoky Blue meets and defeats Primer White.

Guaranteed to be a knock-out!

Roller Day

Today is roller day for me. Or brush day. Or splatter day. Old clothes day. It’ll be a good day as I get to paint! Finally, I get to participate in our D.I.Y. project. I mean, I have been doing some work, mostly behind-the-scenes. And picture taking! I am documenting this project well. My main roles from the start have been to clean up and carry items to the dumpster. Empty all the cabinets and put things in storage. I did remove some cabinets as well and one wall of paneling. I move tools back to a designated area. Clean up. I clean up to use the sink to wash dishes. Then I dry dishes and clean up again so nothing is in the way of the working guys. Some days they are like a bull in a china store. What a mess!

Later today, I get to paint the upper half of the stairwell. Then we’ll be able to remove the temporary “floor” that has enabled the guys to work in that area. They stomped the ceilings yesterday and it looks great! Great and we are so pleased with the results. The walls are primed and ready for color.

This is what it is looking like.
North wall:

South wall:


East wall:

The old sub-flooring will be removed today. In addition to the floor going, a portion of the east wall should be removed as well. Leaving a huge opening into the front room. Remember the guys have to get the new sub-floor down and ready for the floor installation on Friday. No pressure there. I have confidence in these two, hard-working men.

This is what will be removed today or tomorrow.

A Must Have

I made a list.

A list of must-haves in our new kitchen.

We only plan to remodel once. It must be done properly. We must be happy with the end result. I wanted to make sure it had features that I wanted. One item on my must-have list was...

A pantry.

I truly wish we lived in an old farm house that had tall ceilings and lots of character. Instead, we live in a ranch. It is a nice ranch but I tend to compare a ranch house to a shoebox. Boring houses but today they don’t build houses with character like they did eighty years ago. My great-grandmother had a walk-though pantry. Oh, now that would be almost unthinkable. I would love to have a pantry like that. However, our ranch has only so much room and that is what we have to work with.

We worked a pantry into the design. Even though it will be small, I am excited! I know it’ll hold many items that I currently have to store in the basement. Not my ideal storage location but it worked for me. Now we can store our FoodSaver vacuum sealer, large cake and cupcake carriers and my cake decorating basket upstairs, as well as other assorted over-sized kitchen items. I talked about the layout of the pantry with my Big Guy. What material I want the shelves made out of and the depth of the shelves. I am not sure he was listening though as his mind tends to focus on the “this-is-what-needs-to-be-worked-on now” project. I have also been browsing sources for clear, BPA-free, stackable food storage containers for items. I'm also planning to have hooks inside to hang our aprons on and there will be a place for two bread boards I have that belonged to my great-grandmother. I am happy!

Those guys, or construction characters, that have been working hard on my, oops, our kitchen, tried to tell me that the door way for the pantry is too small for a door. My Big Guy said he could put a swinging saloon door up. I didn’t hesitate when I said, “If I can’t find the door I have in mind, then you can make one.” They quickly and quietly went back to work. [Did you see my evil smile follow that statement?] I want a pantry door that is similar to this:


I plan to stain the door to match our cabinets and buy pretty shears to hang on the inside of the door.

Here are progress pictures from the weekend. I am a day behind as 96% of the sheetrock is up.

Corner of west-north walls:


The pantry:

The west or sink wall:

Priming should take place today and perhaps some ceiling stomping. Stomping produces a textured ceiling. I wanted to match the ceiling in the front, soon-to-be dining room. I don’t think it is hard to stomp; however, the guys will test their stomping abilities on the stairwell ceiling first. It is the perfect place to try this technique, don't you think?



On the flip side of excitement, I have to say lies stress. I am stressing over color. The color I chose, well, it was way too dark. So I picked up paint strips and found a color that I really like. Again.

Smoky blue.

It brings out the shine in the stainless steel appliances.
It looks nice with the yellow in the dining room.
I think it’ll compliment the field stone fireplace as well as pull out any gray in the flooring. I went to a Benjamin Moore paint dealer and chose a color that was close. However, once I arrived home and looked at it again, it is too dark. I am not going to be happy with that. So now what? I obviously was more upset than I realized because I did not sleep well. I have been up since 1:00 a.m. Tossing and turning. Thinking or dreaming about colors.

Visions of color wheels flying by me. Should I take the paint back to see if they can lighten it to make it the next shade on the color strip?

Should I just eat the cost and take my first paint chip to the store and have them match it?

Do I really want to paint the wall a blue-gray color? Will that be too dark? I want bold but not drab. Not “oh my, why did you paint the walls that color?”
Should I look at another color?

Green perhaps?

Red? Not red as I have looked and have not found a shade that ties the cabinets, appliances, flooring and adjoining room together.

Do I need to worry about tying it all together? Help! I need help. It should not be this hard but I want to paint the walls once. I want to be satisfied with the color. I don’t want to repaint especially once the cabinets are installed.

I have a plan. Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll take my paint samples and go see our designer. He has a sample of our countertop at the store and we can place all the items together – the countertop, a cabinet door, a floor sample and a stainless steel sample. I’ll see what he thinks about my color choice and what he suggests. I am sure I'll be hauling another gallon of paint home since I have to paint tomorrow afternoon or evening.

Will I be painting our kitchen Smoky Blue or another bold shade of color?

Order

Order, order, order. Order in the house. I just want some order back in my life.

I know it’s going to get worse before it gets better. I will deal with it. I have no choice. I will be happy about it because the end result is worth all this upheaval. I was told last night that the last thing residing in the kitchen – our refrigerator – will be moved to the basement this weekend. No stove. A displaced refrigerator. A too-low to stand at utility sink. No counter space. I guess it can’t get much worse than that. At least I am not washing our dishes in the bathtub. I have heard people doing that. The thought of washing items we eat with in a bathtub…I won’t go there. Just for the record, a bathroom is not a place for any kitchen item, unless it is vinegar and you are using that to clean with.

What’s ahead of us for the weekend? Per our project schedule, we are about to step further into the chaos cloud. I am hopeful that this cloud will be small as it seems like we are speeding through our project.

Sheetrock continues to go up. Tape and spackle are found throughout the work area. We’ll soon rip up the flooring and sub-flooring. My Big Guy has discussed materials for installing our new sub-flooring so we’ll be purchasing the materials for that.

I’ll purchase primer, paint, and all paint-related-gadgets needed for priming and painting. I’ll be ready to paint when the time arrives. I hope I can stain the windows this weekend – weather permitting.

It’s a whirlwind of information, updates and “how do you feel we are doing”? Each night before we climb, or rather fall, into bed, I ask, “What’s next?” What needs to be bought? What needs to be prepared? Moved? Opened? Measured? Cut? I want the transition from one phase of the project to the next to be seamless. We have done well. We had to deal with a few “speed bumps” in the beginning but we are satisfied with our progress. It’s a large project. We expected problems.

And we are surviving. The kids are helping and although we get short with each other sometimes, we know this is only a temporary living situation. I just feel totally out of place. Where'd I put our calendar? I need to write important information down. I have dates to schedule. Important dates. The date for having a template made so they can cut our countertop. The date to have our countertop installed. And somewhere in there, we need to have the floor installed.

It is coming together and each day we get a little closer to our dream kitchen. I get a little closer to putting on my apron, preheating the oven and baking. I really need to bake. And I will be baking. Remember? I have that project to tell you about. Another kitchen project!

Here are some progress pictures. I know it doesn’t look like much but when we lived without a kitchen ceiling for over a week, a cold week at that, we were so excited to have the insulation and sheetrock back up.

From an open ceiling to a sheetrocked ceiling - life is good!





Sorry about the glare from the light. I'll take pictures during the day this weekend.

The walls are getting "closed up". It is starting to look like a room again!


Even the gutted stairwell has been worked on.





We will be busy this weekend. I look forward to sharing more photos early next week.

How do you think we are doing?

Ho-Hum

The weather is really hitting me hard today. It is gray, gray, gray and wet outside. I want to go home and curl up with a good book after slipping into some warm, comfy clothes (sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt). One must work to live so I am forced to stay put. We had a nice weekend and I should remember that April showers bring May flowers!

Last night I was so eager to get home. Not just to be with my family but to see the sheetrock up on the ceiling. I was disappointed. No sheetrock was up. All of it was still leaning up against the wall. So I made dinner. The kids were really good about helping me. Our little Big Guy opened the door for me, set the plates on the table and kept me company out at the grill. We talked about our day and if we would get wet while dinner cooked. We were lucky as the rain came after dinner. And after we had visited the four little, cute pigs. We like to go over and “tuck them in”. Plus I needed to check on their water supply. All was okay.

What was done yesterday? Insulation and more wiring. All the insulation was placed. Check that off the list. I was told by the kids that the installation was done. I had to laugh because they haven’t figured it out that they are calling insulation installation. Just too cute for me to correct. It’s like breaf-kast, not breakfast. Some things I don’t want to correct! Wires were run to new switches so we can turn a light on/off at the rooms’ entrance. Some lights now have two switches that will operate them. Oh the fun the guys are having at this.

So the sheetrock…it is going up today. It may be a gray day outside but I have something exciting to check out once I get home tonight. I might even get some pictures taken to post and share with you.

One picture to share with you is my paint selection. I have been using the Sherwin-Williams paint visualizer tool. It is so fun and easy to use. You pick a room that you want to "paint" and then you are given various room choices. So the kitchen below is NOT our kitchen but it helps me "visualize" my color choices for the kitchen and dining room. I played around with it last night. We currently have the front room painted a light shade of yellow. Not a bright yellow. Not a too yellow. But a soft yellow that changes appearance based on the light in the room. It is a warm yellow that wraps me up and makes me feel wonderful. A comforting yellow that I love so I plan to keep it! I hope I have the color and code written down from our previous remodeling project. If not, hopefully the color can be matched. I’ll just have to buy another gallon or two to repaint the walls (after scrubbing; I do have work ahead of me). I want to go with a bold color in the kitchen since the majority of walls will be covered with cabinets. At first I thought I’d like to go with a deep, brownish red but I haven’t found the right color that makes me say, “That’s the color I want.” Then I saw a house on the way home one weekend and the color of it struck me. That’s the color I want to paint my kitchen. A blue-gray with more gray than blue. Blue is not a favorite color of mine. I tend to avoid blue. So I played on the SW site and came up with this:


Although the yellow is not MY yellow, I think it is close. What do you think?

I’ll be visiting the local SW paint store this weekend. Hopefully I can get a swatch of the color I choose. I want to take a cabinet shelf and place it next to the two colors – yellow and outerspace – to see if I need to go back to the paint visualizer tool.

The clock is ticking so I need to make my decision very soon. I’ll need to paint before the cabinets are installed.

All of a sudden, it seems as though our project has jumped on the fast track!

Farming with four

Saturday the men of the house left early. Our Little Big Guy was up and at the table, ready for breakfast. Early. He was excited. He wanted to get on the road. No sleeping in this morning! Once breakfast was eaten, the guys drove away in the big red truck. Little Miss and I dressed and pulled on our boots. We headed across the field to get the wagon. We needed to prepare. We were on water and bedding detail. We had to run the water through the system then refill the buckets. I put down wood shavings and two bales of straw. Fluffed it all together. Then we waited. We enjoyed the sounds. We heard turkeys in the distance. Little Miss made a call to her fathers’ cell but it went unanswered. A few minutes later, we heard the rumble of the big Dodge before we saw it.

The field is wet. In some areas, there are huge puddles of standing water. In other areas, there is lots of mud. We wear our farm boots this time of year whenever we walk the field. The Big Guy drove the truck into the field but, with the standing water and thawing ground, he decided not to chance getting stuck. I pulled the wagon to the truck. We made two trips with the wagon and then the shed was occupied. Full capacity.

This year they brought home four piglets. Four! We’ll see how well they all fit in a couple of months.


They are so cute, don’t you think?

Yesterday, we had a beautiful, warm day and they spent the day outside. They were muddy. They rutted all day and one loves to run and kick her back feet out. We visited them a few times.






We are also spending time, quality time, with them so we they will be friendly. As soon as they get accustomed to us petting them, we'll start brushing them. They like to nibble. They had the Little Big Guy backed up against the fence, as they nibbled on his boots, jeans and jacket. He didn't mind though!

DIY in Pictures

It was a long weekend. I did little work on our remodeling project. All I have been doing is the cleanup. My cousin and my Big Guy have been working long days. This weekend, we saw progress.

Friday our cabinets were delivered. We put the majority of them in our basement. See the before and after pictures below. There are also two large boxes on the other side of the basement and two large boxes in the garage. Lots of cabinets. We cannot wait to install them. The kids are looking forward to claiming the cardboard boxes for fort construction.




Our three new windows and back door were delivered and installed this weekend. Here are some pictures since the windows are the same style, just the size varies on one. I’ll have to take an after picture of the door as I did not stop to do that this weekend.







It was a busy weekend. I took the kids to the movies to get us out of the house and out of the way. We saw HOP, the number one movie in America (that is what our son tells everyone when we mention the movie). It was a fun movie and we enjoyed spending the time together. We also walked around the mall for a while after. It was good to get away from all the mess and noise.

The guys will be working today. The plan is to finish the wiring since the ceiling joists are all replaced. Perhaps some drywall will be up? I can't wait to go home to see what was completed!

New Wheels

Not for me but hot new wheels for our son!

We were out browsing last weekend. We always end up browsing the sports and toys departments. He was looking at and sitting on the bikes. He really liked this one. I planned to get him a new one for Easter since he has outgrown his old bike. I asked him if he liked it. He said, “This is awesome.” It was also on sale so I surprised him and told him to wheel in to the checkout counter. He said “Are we buying it? We can take it home?”







Can you tell he likes it?

Back Pat

I am posting two pictures of the baby cardigan I knitted. Yes, I am, patting myself on the back because:

1. This is my first cardigan I have knitted.
2. I finished it! Later than I wanted; however, it is done and gifted to Emma!

I am now back to knitting those socks for my Big Guy. He gently reminds me, every so often.

Big Guy: “So, are you knitting my socks?”

Me: “Yes, I'm working on them.”

The hard part when knitting socks is I feel so good when I finish the sock. I examine it and show my knitting friends. It gets handled and examined more. Then, I have to start all over again. I dislike starting socks. I need to concentrate and it needs to be quiet around me. Once I have the first three or four rounds knitted, I can happily knit. This is my third pair of sock and yes, I have ripped and restarted many times. You’d think after starting four previous socks, I’d remember how to keep my needles aligned and knit the correct way. I have one more sock to start and then, I’m taking a break. I have other projects on my radar to knit. To knit and finish. It feels so good to finish a project.





Do you like the cardigan?

D.I.Y. Update

It is going slow. It is cold. It is a mess. We are surviving with sweatshirts and slippers on!

Although the renovation project is progressing, I have to say it is progressing a little too slow for my comfort. We have had some setbacks. Can you believe that? Who would have thought something like this would happen during a renovation? Electrical. Structural. Nothing major but issues that we will address.

Our first hurdle has been cleared. We were told what was needed. We shopped. Our dear friend, an electrician by trade, spent hours at our home replacing and getting us up and running. Thank you Dan the Man!

Second hurdle. Our ceiling is not level. Our walls are… close. Our floor, like the ceiling, is not level. Work has to be done to improve these. We want, rather need, straight and level ceilings, walls and floors to work with. Saws have been humming and pieces of wood have fallen. Things are settling all around us. The indicator in the level is falling into range – a range we can live with. However, with no ceiling, and I mean nothing between the floor and the roof, the temperature in the kitchen is cold. Sometimes frigid. It should not be this cold but because Old Man Winter has decided to fight for more time, our weather is less than desirable. We have had sporadic flurries and lots of rain so we are cold and damp. I tell myself the hardships we endure now will be worth it when we have our new, open kitchen. Yes, I have been talking to myself a lot every morning. Just trying to keep my mind off how cold I am. Thankfully the heavy plastic is a great barrier and the rest of the house is noticeably warmer.

I am hopeful that this week, the level issues will be taken care of. The ceiling joists should be replaced and all electrical wires re-wired. Then my Big Guy can insulate and we can install a new ceiling. Later this week, our new windows will be delivered. We have a busy weekend planned.

Here’s hoping the forecast is correct this week! We need a dry, sunny warm weekend - for working and our sanity.

I'll post some pictures soon!