Can you see it?

These is a picture of the type and color of kitchen cabinets we're going to order.

These are the old ones from the utility room that we're integrating in with the new ones.

Although cute and bold, this is NOT our kitchen. We did however just buy that kitchen sink at IKEA pictured above those cute little cheery little cherry curtains.

This is an 3D image of the kitchen island that we're going for. We've hired a friend of ours, Ryan, in Raleigh to build it for us. He worked with Adam at his previous job and is very skilled in this kind of woodworking. A couple things have changed though since another friend, Matt, drew this up for us. 1. There's going to be a 2-door cabinet underneath the sink. 2. The left hand cabinet will have a drawer above it. 3. It will have big ol' table legs on all of the corners. 4. AND there will be a bar area behind the sink. 5. And I'm thinking about painting it gray...6. I don't know about countertops yet though....


Lastly, the island really won't be an island at all. More like a peninsula that will jut up to the fireplace and hide that hideous cement job. We are keeping both walk-throughs open to the living room. As you look at this picture, the bar seating area will be the side that Adam is on and the cabinets, dishwasher and sink, will be on the other side. The wall to the right (not pictured, but it's the one with the window on it) will hold all of the other base and upper cabinets, stove, fridge and pantry. It'll basically be a galley kitchen except with 2 walk-throughs to minimize traffic and maximize on open space.

Ta-Da!

My two year old, Greta, is really into exclaiming, "ta-da" at random moments and most times used inappropriately. She did however understand the concept the other day when her little naked self came running out of the bathroom after going potty on the big girls toilet yelling, "TA-DA!". Adam and I had one of those ta-da moments the other day. And it had nothing to do with using a big girls potty. :)


This is the new living room with the wall to the right housing a walled up double-sided hearth. Our homework assignment from our contractor was to get in there, rip down the sheetrock and expose the fireplace and chimney so he could advise us on how best to take it out.

We got to work ripping off the sheetrock right away and as expected found the lapboard underneath. We pryed off every piece as gingerly as possible so that we might be able to reuse it for possible flooring in the hallway and dining room. You can see the fireplace hearth boarded up down at the bottom of the pic. Well, little did we expect, once we took off the boards what exactly the fireplace and chimney would look like...

TA-DA!!!

Okay, seriously, how awesome is this? We were giddy when we discovered just how cool it looked and the thought of taking it out went completely out the window. Right away we started dreaming up new kitchen designs and furniture placement in the living room. I think it can work. We just have to pray that our contractor can figure out an inexpensive way for us to reinforce it from underneath.

This is the view from the front door with the fireplace to the left. Has some wow-factor to it huh?

This is the other side of the wall pre-demo in the to-be kitchen.

I was on the other side of the wall hammering on the lapboards so Adam could pry them off easier.

This is the side from the kitchen with the hearth filled in. I love how the chimney narrows at the top because it still gives us the roomy open air feel that we were trying to achieve. High ceilings are nothing to complain about either. Kitchen design is coming along slowly but surely, but let me tell you, that is hard work! I lose sleep every night trying to come up with a perfect work triangle design and still give me all the cabinet space I need including the plate rack and pantry that I want. I've tried Google Sketch-up to try to visualize it on the computer, but it took more mental energy to figure it out and I ended up using a pencil and paper. If anyone knows of a good kitchen design resource to use, do tell!

Kitchen Demo

Adam and his dad took out all of the cabinets last weekend, the sink and the countertop. We're one step closer to a master bathroom!

It was our goal to recycle some of the cabinets into a pantry of some sort in the new kitchen, but they came out in pieces of wood instead of solid pieces. They were built board by board and they really couldn't have been salvaged.

This hole was for the exhaust fan for the stove hood. My father-in-law came home and told me they found 7 dead mice when they pulled out the hood. Barf.

The old sink that we are going to give away to some church friends who have been wanting one. We've got our eye on an apron front farmhouse sink from IKEA and were happy to find this one a new home.

Cutting a Rug

One thing that can be crossed off of our to-do list is ripping up the carpet in the old dining and living room. Adam was here all day Saturday working and took care of these rooms. We've got a dumpster coming tomorrow so we can get rid off all the carpet in the corner.

It's amazing how much homey-er it feels by just exposing the hardwoods in the living room pictured above and below. We need to pull out the nails and refinish by sanding and putting on a clear coat of poly.

I can't wait to lay a big rug down and haul in the furniture soon!

(Speaking of timelines, we've been asked when the big move-in date is and the answer to that is we don't know. Hopefully, by early September is what we're thinking. The hardest and longest part of this renovation was going to be the foundation. Now that that is finished, we can keep cruising along and be in sooner than later!)

(Speaking of foundation, it's done! You can walk down the hallway and not have to feel the big dip in the middle anymore. I'm sure it's never going to be suitable for a game of marbles, but it's good enough for us.)

Bobcat

Last weekend we rented a bobcat to clear away the big dirt piles near the house. Although Adam was on it for a little while that morning, a friend came over later and took care of the rest for us. We are so grateful to our friend Joe who took the time to do that for us. He is in the concrete biz and has to level many a ground so he was fast and efficient. If you are in the area and need a good concrete guy, we have just the guy for you!Greta watching her daddy on the "digger".

As you face the house, this is the right of the house where one large dirt pile stood.

This is on the left side of the house where another once stood. All gone now!

One other transformation was ripping up the planter in the backyard. You can see in previous posts a big planter with overgrown shrubs and bushes. Now we have room to run and play and build a playground instead. All of the dirt was just put at the back of the property to use when we need it.

Critters

Some friends have decided to move in before we've even had a chance to. Here are the critters that have taken residence on our front porch we've discovered this past weekend.Birds nest. Been there for a while. No birds, just bird poop.

Wasp nest in the corner

It only took about 20 minutes for my father-in-law to show up with wasp spray and take care of them. RIP, wasps.

This last "little" guy is in the top left corner of the glass door. Looks kind of like a crack in the glass? Need a close-up?

How about now? YUCK! Any arachnid specialists out there know what kind of spider this is? If you do, let me know!

Door

Stained and ready and needing windows. We wanted stained glass that was clear, watery glass with a lattice iron work, but it would cost around $300.00 and more than we could afford or would want to spend. I'm on the hunt to find something cheaper in price, but comparable to what we want. And we're thinking a dark silver/iron color for the hardware. Something else I need to look for....

Footers

The footers are dug and in a matter of 24 hours, we should have a propped up, pier laden, sturdy house!

This weekend's TO DO LIST:

1. rip up carpet

2. take down cabinets in utility room

3. rent a bobcat to push the dirt behind the outbuilding. we decided to keep it.