Island Cabinets Have Arrived...Houston, We Have A Problem

As many may know, the cabinets that make up the island in the kitchen arrived last Saturday.  It was truly a great Christmas surprise.  Obviously, all we have done so far is to place the cabinets in the general area we believe they will end up.  The cabinet closest in the picture has a few problems.  The rep from Home Depot and the cabinet rep both came to the house today to inspect this piece.  A new end cabinet is on its way, and should be here in about twelve business days.  The cabinet with the problems is a bookshelf.  I am so glad Keith thought of this small, but important detail.  A girl needs her cookbooks in her kitchen, if at all possible!

The island will definitely change the whole look of the kitchen.  It will really finish it off.

We also hung this in the foyer.

Getting Closer

The cabinets are painted.  All the new appliances we wanted are in place.  Now, all we are waiting for is the island.  With Christmas next Monday, it will probably be January before we have it in installed.  The island cabinets take four weeks from the day you order them.  Christmas Eve will be exactly four weeks.  Maybe by some Christmas miracle the cabinets will arrive this week.  I won't be holding my breath though.  In the meantime, enjoy these photos of our progress so far.

 I am still debating on what to do with the open space at the top of the cabinets.  I am thinking uniform size baskets to finish off that space.  What color? I don't know. We are also going to update the back splash to add some color.  There are still a lot of "finishing touches" needed, but I don't want to do too much until I see how the island is going to change things.

You can already tell how much adding the island is going to change the whole look of the kitchen.  I can't wait for it to be installed.  

Still a work in progress

The painters came on Thursday to paint the kitchen cabinets and walls.  They finished Friday evening, but we are not quite done.  We started putting the doors and new hardware back on today.  Here is a peak:

Remember before:

Now, here is a partial after:

We have to install the new light over the sink.  We may also be changing the main lighting that you see in the before picture.  It is new, but we think we may switch it out with a different color.  It will be the same fixture, though.  The new cook top will be here Thursday.  I can't wait.

Also, I finished another small project this weekend.  A really sweet friend gave me a beautiful twin headboard a few weeks back.  Isn't it really pretty? The quilt is probably as old as the bed.

This room is a work in progress, also.  I definitely have to paint the walls a different color.  The paint color actually detracts from how beautiful the bed really is!

Early Christmas

I waited all day, and it finally arrived.  My new french door refrigerator.  I did not know a new kitchen appliance could make me so happy.  Here is a picture of what we started with:

As you can see, we have banished this one to the garage for overflow.  Here is what we upgraded to:

Nice difference, right?  I did not believe that I would have more freezer space, but I really do.  I put everything from the old freezer in, and I have plenty of space left for more.  If anybody is thinking about new fridge, forget the old side by side! 

I also want to share that we ordered the island and countertop today from Home Depot.  The island is going to be solid black.  And thanks to Keith, I am going to have a bookshelf in one end for my cookbooks.  The painters are coming this Thursday to paint the kitchen.  We finally decided on colors.

The sample of counter top shown is what will be on top of the new island.  It is granite.  The color is called "ornamental".  It will compliment the existing quartz countertop nicely (which you can see a little sliver of in this picture).  The wall color is Martha Stewart "Natural Twine".  The cabinets will be painted in Martha Stewart "Gray Squirel".  If you remember the floor (look back at the pictures from the new lighting project), you will see that this gray will look great with the existing floor.

 

Small projects, large amounts of time

We did several behind the scenes projects this weekend.  We got a lot of things put away now that the carpet is installed.  We had to take time out yesterday to rake leaves.  Wow! It's been a long time since we had to do that.  I definitely got a work out.  The one big thing that we wanted to do in the kitchen was get new lighting.  There was a ceiling fan with three little candelabra bulbs.  There was absolutely no light in there.  With the cabinets so dark, we needed more light.  We thought seriously about re-doing the cabinets, but we really like our existing cabinets.  At least for now.  We are adding an island, getting a new gas cook top, getting a new fridge, and a new microwave (I think the existing one has been here since 1972).  But first the lighting had to change.  Here is the before and after:

This is during the middle of the day with the existing lighting.  The after:

The after is obviously brighter, and it was taken at night.  Big difference! You can actually see how pretty the floor is.  Now I have to get everything put away.  The table full of food makes it looks like we are camping in our own kitchen.  Oh, I forgot to mention, we still have to paint.

Sometimes, it's the little things

For the first time last night we were able to sleep with the windows open.  I know this doesn't sound like much to some, but when you have been unable to do so for an extended period of time; it becomes a luxury. Where we lived before, sleeping with the windows open was impossible.  Not because we were afraid of creatures in the night, but because trains ran through our little town like Lionel Richie, "All Night Long".  I don't hate trains.  I love them, just not when I am sleeping.  The extra special bonus about the windows being open was the rain this morning.  It was so very hard to get up and start the day today!  Here is one of the many, many cardinals we see every day.

Moving Day

After a long week, we are all moved in.  Well, all of the furniture and boxes are here.  We are not unpacked.  Unpacking will probably be a slow process.  As you will see from the pictures, we have several projects to tackle.  Painting will be a big part of the process.  These walls definitely need some new color.  We only have two rooms with carpet.  The rest of the floors are hardwood (the majority), tile, or brick (the sun room).  We are having new carpet installed in the two bedrooms on Monday.  I hope what we picked out turns out nice, because we are going to have it for a while.  The first major project will be the kitchen.  I will put more detail about that in a later post.  Here are some pictures from today.

Closing Day

The big day is finally here.  It is funny how you can wait for something to arrive, think it never will, and then it does.  We thought the past month would be the longest of our lives, but it has gone by incredibly fast.  Especially when you compare it to the last five years.  We have waited for this day for a long time.  We are finally getting the keys to what we hope will be our forever home.  Today is a very exciting day.  Even though we have bought houses before, I am not sure we have ever been this ready to move.  We are so excited that we have decided to take clothes for the rest of the week and our mattress so that we can sleep there starting tonight.  We have the big move planned for Saturday.  We have plenty of projects to tackle, so we will be getting to work right away.  The first big project will be the kitchen.  I can't wait to share the before and after pictures.  Stay tuned....