Door Makeover

You know how sometimes you get on a roll and you end up starting more projects than necessary? We're guilty of that.

Our front door was incredibly inefficient. It was a gorgeous wood door with fun detail but it had warped over the years and had cracks. Our entry way was a frigid cold draft every winter. So, while the rest of the house was a mess, we decided it was as good a time as any to knock out the front entry.

Old:

New:



It's not quite 100% finished yet. He's coming back Wednesday to (hopefully) finish. This is taking longer than anticipated for the following reasons:
1. The [insert your own description here] people who worked on the door/stairs last did not put ANY structure under the doorway. It was a giant hole full of expanding foam.
2. Because there was no suportive structure beneath the door, the framing couldn't hold the windows and some of them slid through the floor, leaving a lovely half inch gap at the top of the window which was a hole to the outside world.

The door guy has been amazing and he has taken the time to do a top notch job. Our front room is much warmer now!
Highly recommended: Steve Harper of Ace Windows & Doors.

Identity crisis

The sink is installed and boxes are all unpacked.



We got some creative space solutions, like this roll out shelf below the sink.



And believe it or not we went having things stacked on top of the cabinets in our old kitchen to having empty, spare cabinets! Insanity.

And with the real kitchen now in use my bathroom (used as base camp the past 2 months) is having an identity crisis. It's lovingly now referenced as "bathroom-kitchen".

Santa came early

And he brought countertops. We got a gun metal grey quartz and the color is perfect! One major step closer to having a normal house again.









They forgot the windowsill but promised to be back tomorrow.

Also note that Mark & Jim got all the trim assembled on top of the cabinets.

We also purchased and assembled our kitchen table which is extendable to accomdate almost any situation. It's buried right now but here's a link to ... You guessed it: the ikea page.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50116809

Stay tuned. We really do have more coming.

We have an appointment!

Counter tops are scheduled to be installed this Monday (Dec 14) in the afternoon! Wahoo!! Everyone cross your fingers that it actually will happen. Because if it does, there is a 75% that I will still decorate for Christmas this year.

In the meantime, I promise to snap some photos tonight of the minor details we've been working on.

Cheers,
Lisa

Don't Give Up On Us!

So, not a whole lot has happened since last post. The house is still a disaster. The cabinets are still countertop-less. But we have high hopes to hear back from the counter top place this week. We'll let everyone know the installation date as soon as feasibly possible.

In the meantime, Corey did some electrical work for us. We now have grounded outlets in the kitchen (yay for safety codes!) and he installed a new light over the sink for us.

Guess where we bought the light....

If you did not guess IKEA, you clearly don't know my kitchen. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20088681



Cheers. I hope everyone enjoyed their turkey day thoroughly.

Sort of weekly update

All the cabinet doors are hung, handles are installed, and some wall repairs have been made. Mark has been simply amazing: he cones from work every night & works on the kitchen. Here are the obligatory pictures. Please note the amazing pantry which pulls out and all the shelves are rolling shelves.






Yes. That's real food. We get to put stuff in the wall cabinets but we're not going to bother unpacking the base cabinets until we get countertops. Which unfortunately will not happen before Thanksgiving. But at least the stove is back in!!

Til next time.

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Weekly Update

I know. I've become a blog slacker. But in my defense, the details take a long time to finish.

First note of importance: Janice survived the swine flu. And she came to visit, as you can tell from my now sterile living room.



We've nicknamed her "the white tornado". Also notice the fireplace has now been painted and us patiently awaiting its mantel.

Second announcement: all of the cabinet frames are in!






(you may not recognize this part of the kitchen...it's where the wall used to separate the kitchen from the dining room.)



Yay! 2 out of 4 appliances ain't bad...right?

Countertops will be ordered this Friday, but it will still take about 2 weeks from then to get them installed. Kind of a bummer.

Wednesday night Mark & I have a date to pick out a sink and faucet. Other than that, we have lots of doors to hang and drawers to assemble this week.

Big shout out to Jim & Janice for all of their help!!

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