I'm Outta Here!

Thankfully we are leaving town for a few days tomorrow. We are leaving poor Shane here, holed up in the basement, the only place that is merely covered with dust, not filled with displaced belongings.

The new kitchen: (It's gotta get better soon, right?)

Yes, that's the fridge wedged into the entryway, blocking the front door on the left:

The great thing is that when we get back, the pantry and closet will be ready for me to fill up with many, many of the items that are currently residing all over the house!!! The other fantastic thing is that the drywall dust is over, now that the painting is happening - so - when I dust something, it will now stay dusted - more or less.

Here is the fabulous new pantry - Yes, that's 6 shelves, plus the floor!!!Note the place for the electrical outlet that will power my can opener, an unsightly appliance I enjoy...

The puppet show theater is no more:

Before:

After: (sort of)

This will hold all of my scrapbooks and more! Hooray!

Ready for the "Round Robin"...

Finished up this bad boy this morning (while virtuously doing laundry):

I can't wait to see what the finished quilt will look like!

On the Design Wall, etc...

This is what is currently on my design wall. These will be "raggy flowers", after I applique on stems and leaves. It will be the center block of my "round robin" quilt that I am doing with my bee this spring. Everyone makes a center block, then each month, we pass our block around to each other and put a border on the quilt center we receive. This happens for 4 months, then we get our quilt back with our original center block, but now it has 4 different borders on it from 4 of our friends. I'll be sure to post it when it's all finished.
On the kitchen remodel - 2 hours and a quite a few dollars at Lowe's this morning and we are now getting all new appliances!!! Very exciting! Danny will be painting next week, so hopefully more to show soon.

Hey, Everybody, It's Family Night...

FHE Activity - sanding the stair rail! Shane tried to get out of it, but he finally agreed to help. Becca was quite willing. Stacy sanded lots of posts, and took this picture. I'm glad it's done...now to sand the other stuff.

The brick work is done (Cement stairs will be poured under the door), now we just continue to wait for the drywall guy and the cabinets.

P.S. The chaos is starting to get to me, that is why we wait about 2 years between remodeling projects, it takes me that long to forget how bad it is!

Progress?

The puppet show theater is no more-

First coating of the drywall "taping" done today. Even though it is very exciting to get some more work done, it is kind of messy to actually "live in". (We did order our new front door today too! Very cute - "craftsman style". )

The kitchen is completely "out"...

Today Danny and crew finished getting all of the cabinets out, re-working the floor, and dry-walling the "puppet show theatre". It is looking great, although I am starting to feel like the rest of the house is closing in on me - so much of our stuff is "displaced". Also, there was a small problem of a FLOOD in the basement while the guys were taking out the sink. (disclaimer: Danny wasn't here at the time). So, I am washing lots of extra towels, throwing away some stuff that we didn't really need that has been stored in the basement since we moved here and re-washing and re-packing clothes that were in boxes that got wet. All the suitcases got wet too, so they are propped up with a heater blowing on them - argh!

P.S. The outside steps are totally torn out too!

Discovery Gateway...

Brooke and I took the babies up to Salt Lake to the Discovery Gateway for kids. They loved it! It was a nice thing to do to get out of the house while the kitchen is getting torn out the rest of the way today. The water display was the favorite. (The boy was quite wet, by the time we left).

On the way home, they both were clutching their "bald eagles" and watching Shrek. They didn't fall asleep though, and their mom was thrilled, that meant nap time at home!

Test Your Strength...

These cement steps need to be broken up and out and new ones need to be poured for our new door. Danny, a.k.a. "The Contractor" said he hopes one day he comes over and they are just GONE. He conveniently left a large sledgehammer lying right next to them. Stacy, Doug and Shane have all used it to take a few whacks at them. I have tried a little with the "girlie" sledgehammer, but not much luck. Doug went at them last night and this morning, he can hardly straighten up, his back is so sore. So - if you want to have a try - help yourself - just make sure there is not a car parked too close - the chips really fly when you get going.

Week 3 of the Kitchen Remodel...(Plus Extras)

New windows - IN!! We had to get smaller windows, so we could run the counter top all the way across the kitchen wall.From the outside: (Waiting for the 'brick guy')

Extras:

We are also replacing our front door. This is something I have wanted to do since we moved here, over 5 years ago! Our entryway is small and very dark, so it' going to have a big window in it - hooray!

We also decided to drywall and put a 'regular' door on the "puppet show theater". It has the lovely fake-wood paneling and a funky angled top - it just looks weird. We are putting on a pretty glass door, with the same "ribbed" glass that my office door has. (We also are putting that style of door on our new pantry.) We will also be painting the stair rail white.

Pantry - love the door. Should we paint it white? Stain it dark like the cabinets? Stain it light like the rest of the doors in our house?

We are removing the banisters that divide the dining room from the family room. I think we are going to put in a 1 larger column on each side - plus paint all the wood white to match the rest of the trim in our house.
We've removed them from one side already: (My job is now to sand all the woodwork we are going to paint)

That's the news for this week, expecting the rest of the kitchen (sink, dishwasher, cupboards) to be torn out on Monday - argh! (But exciting!)

Baby Steps...

The kitchen is finally moving along, we had to wait for the electrician and he was very slow. The lights are mostly in and we got new wiring for the new "dual fuel" range we've ordered. So, Danny came yesterday (on a Saturday, bless his heart) and put up the drywall - hooray! I was gone all day yesterday (14 hours - scrapbooking in Salt Lake) and when I came home, Stacy and Shane had mopped the floors and cleaned up really well around here. What a difference! We also got the beautiful new back door in. There are no stairs to it yet, but there is a stool. (but don't step on the threshold because the brick guy isn't done yet) Yesterday, while I was gone, they even put on the lock, so there is no towel sticking through the hole to block the breeze anymore - yippee!

Here are Shane and Becca, checking out the pantry. The wiring sticking out is for my new magic pantry light - the light will turn on automatically when you open the door! (Thanks, Megan!)

Our beautiful new door has a great window near the top , so we can get light in, but don't actually have to look out at the carport - ever!

Don't Ask...

Stay tuned... (we're just waiting for windows, doors, cabinets, more lights, more drywall, paint, the sink, countertop, etc., etc., etc.)