the kitchen is finished!

Don hung the miniblinds back up in the kitchen yesterday so I can finally say it is done! It all went by so quickly. The time spent living & eating in the basement just flew by. I will admit though that there is still stuff in the basement that came out of the old kitchen that I'm not sure where to put yet. Some of it will find a new home upstairs; some of it will find a new home in someone else's kitchen. Here's the final tour . . .











I love the gas cooktop!



Thanks, Ken (our contractor)!

kitchen after 4 weeks

The day after Thanksgiving they tore the kitchen apart. The day before Christmas I can cook in it again! This coming week they'll do some painting, put up the back splash tile & finish the trim work. I hope it doesn't always look as cluttered as it does today. Still putting things away & finding a new home for it. I've started to fill a box with things I rarely use that I will get rid of. I just know it won't all fit.

Don & Austin spent two hours this morning shoveling the snow in our driveway & our neighbor's also. (For those of you who may check the time of my posts, it is always 2 hours earlier than my actual posting. Must originate in California. It's 10:10am as I write this.) Austin is determined to drive back to Iowa City today. How did our parents get by without cell phones for updates on our travels?

kitchen update

This is how the kitchen looks today. The hood is up but we are having some issues regarding city code. Tomorrow the countertops are supposed to arrive. So progress is being made! Ken, the contractor, said I could move some things into some of the kitchen cupboards but I would prefer to wait until it is all done. But Austin comes home this week for Christmas & his bed is covered with kitchen drawers. With Christmas this week I figure we'll be lucky if we have workers here for 3 days.

the dining room

Jason was here on Saturday morning to do some tiling. He worked in the dining room & got almost half the floor tile laid down. The weather continues to work at keeping everyone away though. The roads are slick this morning from a light sleet falling during the night. A little snow came with it. High of 10 above today!

. . . kitchen progress

We had people here all week except Wednesday (due to the snow storm) so progress has been made. Jason started laying tile yesterday & got the kitchen done. Today they started removing flooring in the dining room; he plans to tile it on Monday. Daniel forgot & stepped on a tile(s) yesterday and Jason noticed it right away after his lunch break. I'm sure Jack & Zeke are getting tired of spending their days in the basement. But they still have a great life if you ask me. Anyway I've snapped some pictures of some things out of the kitchen that sit idle. I should be looking through the cookbooks & planning my first celebratory meal . . .



Well, actually the silverware is getting used.










These are the dishes that inspired the colors I want in the kitchen . . .

tools of the trade

Jason was planning to start laying tile today. Not sure if he still plans to be here or not. The blizzard outside may change his mind. When I got home from work last night I shot a few pictures of the environment in my kitchen & garage. There are interesting things in front of us everyday!

kitchen update

Progress is being made in the kitchen. The drywall is up & has been mudded twice. The plan is to finish that tomorrow & apply primer on Tuesday. The plastic was put up to keep the dust enclosed but it doesn't help completely. The plastic does do a great job of keeping the heat from reaching our bedroom though. Keeping busy with Christmas projects helps me from thinking about the mess we are living in . . .

kitchen update

Thanksgiving is behind us but it was a memorable weekend. I was thankful to spend the day with my family & enjoy good food. Thanksgiving was also the birthday of Angie, Jim & Deb's daughter. Happy Birthday, Angie (late)! Hope you didn't have to cook either! I also wanted to congratulate Jean & Terry (Don's brother) on their recent sixth anniversary.
Progress was made in the kitchen on Friday. These two photos show what we had accomplished before the destruction guys showed up.



Don took down some cupboards & they now reside in the garage. The garage has paneling & the cupboards match!



The space is wide open & dusty now. Not so much brown right now!



Found some water damage to the subfloor under the dishwasher. This was most likely from the leaky shower we repaired in our bedroom bathroom a few years ago.



Doing the dishes in the bathroom . . .





This is the guest bedroom. Call before showing up!