I Have Tile!

Eric came on Saturday and put up the tile. It is absolutely gorgeous. He did a fantastic job. He'll be here early this week to grout it. I've also got a picture of the finished island. I don't think I had one before.

Almost There!

The corian was delivered yesterday but there was a problem with the outlets on the backsplash and they couldn't put it in. Matt fixed the problem - of course - and the Corian is in place. It is absolutely beautiful and the integral sink looks great. The plumber is coming tomorrow to put in the faucet, garbage disposal, dishwasher and connect the stove. Then it's done!! I got the dining room cleaned up and put back together. It looks so different. It's definitely going to take some getting used to.

I Have Countertops!

Poor Matt. He had a bad day on Friday. The countertop for the bar didn't fit! He said everything went wrong on Friday. But he got it all worked out and it is, of course, beautiful. The Corian will be here Tuesday or Wednesday and then it will be finished!

I put a lot of things away on Saturday. The entire house is filthy and I'm not even sure where to start! All of you attending for Thanksgiving take heed!

Matt talked me out of doing my tile backsplash myself. The guy he uses is not available so I had to find someone else. I thought - I'll call Eric, he'll probably know someone. He does - himself! He also has a friend that he talked to about it. Eric is going to come see what I have and we'll go from there. I hope I can get it done for Thanksgiving.

And, yes, I went out and purchased a new TV for my new kitchen. I couldn't get a very good picture though so I called Bryan. He came over and found that the "router" box I have is a piece of junk. He wired the cable directly to the cable coming into the house and WOW what a difference. He's going to get me a splitter to use instead of the junky box I have. I can even get a few stations HD!

Carla and Sarah stopped in Friday evening. Sarah was writing her name in my dust! She sat at the counter and ate Dairy Queen. Sarah's favorite part is the tile and she gave me some great advice about the grout color! She obviously takes after her Momma.

I Have Light!

Matt wasn't supposed to come today - he's running out of things to do. But he showed up this morning anyway. The electrician had time and wanted to finish up his part of the job. I absolutely love the pendants and the foyer light. I think I will like the one over the table once I get the table back in place.

Thanksgiving is in two weeks - how in the world will I ever be ready? Getting this place back together is going to one huge undertaking! Probably more of an undertaking than the demolition!

Something New Every Day!

All of this kitchen renovation is so exciting. I cannot wait to get home from work to see what has happened. Today I picked up the trim rings for the can lights. Matt told me to go ahead and get them. Well, when I got home I just couldn't wait for him to put them in - I did it myself! He probably thinks I'm nuts.

The island is all set where it stays and they put the finish on the back of the island. The microwave was also installed today and I actually got to fix something to eat for dinner! My microwave also works as a conventional oven and has some new kind of speedcooking thing that uses halogen lights. I'll try it out eventually.

Abby is coming tomorrow to measure for the corian/sink. I think the rest of the countertops will be in by the end of the week and the light fixtures can go in. I cannot wait for the lights! Anyway, here's today's pictures:

I Have Cabinets!!

Are you ready to see the cabinets? You won't believe it - especially if you can recall the kitchen prior to the demolition. I guess they made a mistake when building the cabinet that encloses the refrigerator so it has to be made over. That means a delay of a couple of days. Darn! Matt called me on my way home and was asking me a few things. One of the things he wanted to know was if I had the handles. I told him yes but that I would put them on myself because I wouldn't be able to wait! As you can see, they are all on. Well, there's another set to be put on the pantry but Matt has to drill the holes for those. Okay, here they are:

This will be the island. It's not anchored in place yet but it will look something like this:

Can you see my living room in the background? That's the shelves Clayton made back there on the horses. I guess Matt had to move them out of the way, so I wasn't able to paint on those this evening. The dishwasher goes where that big hole is in the island.

I'm not sure if Matt will be back tomorrow or not. When he left today he said he was at a standstill so I'm not sure what happens next. He is going to replace the window and Dave Shutler is going to make moldings to go around the window that will match the cabinets! Won't that look great?

When I look at all that has gone on in my kitchen - I know that I am truly blessed.

It Doesn't Seem to be Getting any Better!

Yesterday (Saturday) I was up and started painting by 7:30!! I had all the priming done by 12:30. Of course, I had to make a trip to Lowe's because I didn't have enough primer and I needed more paint for the hallway and paint for the shelves that Clayton built. (Kind of like the house that Jack built!). Jim Bordas let me borrow his truck so I went to Zanesville to pick up the shelves so I can get them painted too. When I got home I painted the red wall and began priming the shelves. I also hung the hallway light. What a difference! When you turn the hallway light on now, you can actually see - and see well! I still have a lot to get done today. I have to paint the hallway (already taped off), add another coat of paint to the red and paint behind where the refrigerator is going to go. I will continue working on getting the shelves primed and painted. Here's what it looks like:

If you look close, you can see the new refrigerator. I'm not able to see any of the other appliances because they are boxed up! I tried to open the boxes and look at the stuff but it's not possible. I guess I just have to wait.

On top of all the work that needs to be done before tomorrow - I've gotten a nasty cold! I'm going to Wal-Mart and get some cough and stuffy nose medicine this morning first thing. I also need to go get something to eat. I don't even have my microwave now!

A little over two weeks to Thanksgiving! I hope things look better by then that what they do now!

Remodel - Day 3

Wasn't the demolition four days? I think it was - at least basically. Well, when I got home from work today I have drywall! I am just amazed at what a great job Matt and his crew are doing. They just keep everything moving.

I also got a call today that the lights were in! I had to rush over right after work and pick them up. I think they are going to be gorgeous. Ask Carla how much I fretted over the lights. I'm a little disappointed with the one that goes over the table but it will look nice.

I also ordered by bar stools today. I'll have to get the picture of them. I think they will look real nice. The last thing to be ordered is the tile. I would have ordered it this evening but I want to see if I can get a coupon. I was able to get a coupon for the bar stools worth 10% off so I figured I'd try for the tile as well!

Here's the bar stool:

I think that's it for now!

Remodel - Day 2

These guys don't mess around! The rough plumbing is done - including water to the refrigerator! I've got lights now so the wiring is done until the cabinets go in and the ceiling is textured. Here are pictures at the end of Day 2.

Carla came over and helped me move furniture so when they do the ceilings they don't have a bunch of stuff to move around. I don't know what I would've done without Carla during this renovation. I think this is just as much Carla's kitchen as it is mine! Well, except for the fact that I'm the one paying! Thanks, Carla for all your help!

Remodel - Day 1

I didn't get home until after 4:30 and my workers were still here! I didn't think anything would look any different but it did! I think they got pretty much all of the basic wiring done. It amazes me how running these wires all over the place makes sense. They were also able to get all of my phones working and my internet! Here's what it looked like at the end of day one. (This was before clean-up, of course!)

The one below looks like the wiring fairy was here!!!

There must be dust on my camera lense - there are spots all over my pictures! Mike (the guy that knows all about the wiring) thinks I'm overdoing it with the lights. Can you have too much light in a kitchen? Besides, they are all going to be on dimmers so I can adjust them to however I want them. Matt is going to bring me samples tomorrow of the different kinds of ceiling "stamping" I can have. I was looking at Carla's and I kind of like hers. I hope his sample board has that one.

Well, that's all for today. If there's anything different tomorrow, I'll be sure to post!

Clayton's Creation

I had decided to take the wrought iron railing out that separates the living room from the stairwell. I didn't know what in the world to put in there and finally came up with the idea to put shelves there. I was going to build them but Clayton is into wood working these days and volunteered to do the job. He got them done over the weekend! I just have to get them from him and paint them - they will be black. Look at what a fantastic job he did! Thank you, Clayton. He's even going to sand them for me - what a son!

Matt came this morning to get the job started. This all doesn't even seem real. Even looking at my torn up kitchen every day, it still doesn't seem like in a couple of weeks I'll have a brand new kitchen. I took Opie over Mom's this morning and I don't have to worry about Ebony - she'll just hide. Mom told me to call her later today to see what I thought after the first day's work. However, I don't think there will be anything visual, except for maybe the dishwasher and sink cabinet will be out.

Everybody have a great week - I'll check in sometime this week and let you know how things are progressing.