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It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve posted mostly because we’ve been in a sprint to get things done in the kitchen. We are 2 days before Thanksgiving and my kitchen is still incomplete. Did I mention that I was hosting it this year? OY! Who cares about all that…I know what you’re looking for….so let’s get to the good stuff!
Although there are a few things that will have to be adjusted and tended to, we are in the home stretch now of this project. I have a punch list started so we don’t forget anything. Biggest thing is that I need to be able to cook a Thanksgiving meal….after we leave everything to dry for 24 hours, it will be go time to get the sink hooked up and on our way. Turkey will wait for no one! 🙂
It’s been somewhat busy around here this last week or so. I’ve been painting as much as I can (ceiling is done!) and cleaning out cabinets, etc. Everything is so dusty now with all of this construction. I have to purge the dust! I think if I get the majority scrubbed, the last little bit won’t be so bad. Anyway, the electricians have come and started the install of the switches:
I hinted in my last post that I was going to be doing something with lace. Well, my Mom had given me a bag of lace that my Yiayia made (I believe for decorating pillowcases) but I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Well, as a nod to my Greek heritage, I decided to use this lace in a different way. You see, in Greek kitchens, you would typically find lace decorating shelves, so I thought, why not have a little of that in mine too? I think my Mom would approve! Take a look:
It’s been a week or so since I’ve had a chance to post. Not a whole lot has been happening because I’ve been so busy painting. That may sound like an easy task….and to be honest, it used to be for me since I’ve painted every wall in this house over the last 10 years….but since I started nursing 2 bad knees, crawling around to paint has been difficult to say the least. I can only get so far going up and down on a ladder and then I have to rest. That’s not an excuse…it’s a fact I have to live with now. Boooo. Boo I say! But, the ceiling is done which was the hardest part. The walls will be tedious but much easier than working overhead. The consolation is that the ceiling is probably the most properly prepared surface in this house. You see, when my house was built, apparently they decided to cut corners and NOT prime the walls before painting. That means that now, when I try to paint over the existing paint…no matter how much I properly prep them…the paint will eventually peel off the wall! Perfect…NOT! The ceiling in the kitchen on the other hand has been properly coated, primed and painted. Anyway, because I’ve painted the area the fridge will be going into, it was finally time to move that into place. HOORAY!! Let’s take a look:
Another step towards completion. I like it. We’ve purchased some new plugs and switches and will start changing those out this weekend. I will also work on more of the painting and another small project. Can you guess what I might use some of this for?:
Hoping to make more progress this week. Another post soon…….
It’s been a busy week around here. It was rough for the last few weeks with all of the normal construction (dust, mess, etc.) but I think we’re just about over that hump. Electricians were here on Monday….which means WE HAVE LIGHT! Only thing that didn’t get installed were the LED lights. The ones I bought were the wrong ones, so I had to return those and get a different type. The electrician will come back when those are ready.
They installed the can lights, ran wires for the future under cabinet lighting and hung my beautiful chandelier.
Although nothing is really in place, you can see the kitchen starting to take shape. when it’s all done, I think it’s going to be exactly what I envisioned. YAY!
Next up, trying to get some things back in order.
Things are moving along around here….although Keith wished it was moving a little faster, each day there is progress being made. Since my last post, several things have been put into place and you can start to see things taking shape. Let’s have a look:
Today I am going to get some primer and paint on the ceiling and tomorrow, the electrician will be here to install lighting. That will definitely bring a huge change!!
We had a little bit of ‘homework’ to get done, so Monday was the day to do all of our running around. We went to the glass place to order glass for our cabinet doors and bought the LED strip lights we needed for the tray ceiling. Then I came home yesterday evening to find my cabinets back and in place! That was darn fast….and it’s amazing how much more counter space I have next to the stove now! I visualized it in my head, but it’s even better than expected:
Today the primer went up on the ceiling and tomorrow the crown molding will go up. Behind that crown molding will be LED strip lights. They come in a reel and you just stick them down. Here’s what they look like:
Then, once the crown is in, I get the fun job of painting it all. Wheee! Plus, our dishwasher has now been ordered and will be delivered on Friday. At some point, the electrician will be coming in to get the can lights installed as well as run all the wires. This construction zone is definitely a dirty area, but we’re doing our best to keep things as clean as we can. Plus, we’re enjoying the process of the project.
I love this kind of stuff!
Living in this kitchen for a long time, I’ve had time to really think about what I wanted things to look like. The lowered ceiling is a feature of the 80’s for sure and makes things feel closed in…and not in a cozy kind of way. Between our limited budget and actual limitations of how high we could raise the ceiling (if we wanted to), I thought it might give the same effect for less cost if the fluorescent light fixtures were pulled, the opening made slightly bigger and a tray ceiling was created. My handyman was pretty skeptical about it, but I had a vision. I knew that this would be the right decision. So, I came home from work the other day and found the work started on this part of the project:
And once we get some lighting back in the kitchen, it will be even better!
Within a week, the kitchen spiff is underway! Some of our appliances were coming in, work was happening, cabinets were starting to come out….lots of activity! Time to take a look:
Next day, the cabinet guys arrive and pull what they needed to start that process:
Next up….ceiling work!
After getting bids, doing research and talking to people, it was finally time to move things forward in the right direction….towards the long awaited kitchen spiff! We’ve had to come to the harsh reality that we wouldn’t be able to get everything done at one time like we wanted to, but the majority will be done and then we will save up our money to finish things out in phase 2. First, let’s take a look at what the kitchen looked like at the start:
There are many changes coming…finally!