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....