We have back splash!!!!!!

Quick update....Doesn't it look pretty!!!! So happy right now.

Its a little bit fuzzy as it is a cell phone picture.....(husband is at home with the tiler, I am at work)

Will follow up with more pictures tonight.

Christmas.....

Christmas is my favorite time of year, not for the present but for the time spent with family and friends oh and the decorations... I like to decorate for Christmas, I like what my house looks like after I finish. Makes it feel warmer and homier.

Please enjoy the few extra pictures of the living room all done up.

Its been awhile....and we're done! kinda

Sorry for the lack of posts...We've been busy trying to get everything finished. Almost there only the back splash is left. We had the family over on Sunday for an 'open house' to see the kitchen and give out the early Christmas present from my mother in law (trip to Mexico)

It was nice to show everyone what we had been working so hard on for almost 3 months. Now you get to see the finished results (sorta)

Take a look and let me know what you all think!!!!

Ode to a dishwasher......

Oh the glory days of a dishwasher!!! The husband hooked it up last night so i could do dishes. I am tired of washing them in the bathroom sink. Its fully hooked up except it drains into a bucket instead of the sink cause we don't have a sink yet. haha to funny last night having to empty a bucket in between cycles. But the dishes came out so clean and dry. No water pooling on top of the coffee cups.

Never thought I would miss my dishwasher so much.

On another note the counter tops might be installed on Friday instead of Saturday! Yeah!!!!

Plumber is still coming in Monday though :o( so fully functioning kitchen will still be operational on Monday night.

The tiler called to tell me he has been sick and unfortunately he will have to delay the back splash install till the second or third week of December. I am okay with this, i would much rather have him healthy than rush him to finish and still be sick.

New Rules...

So with a new kitchen comes new rules.... everyone is okay with said rules except for the DOG!!! Boy did he let us know....U see he has a habit of getting into the garbage so with the new cabinets we thought we would start locking him in the basement while we're not home. Now before everyone gets all on me about the basement its actually very nice...full size sofa, two windows and about 600 square feet to run around. I would think its not so bad...he sleeps most of the day anyways. Right???

Not so much....
I came home yesterday to this...... Seems he thought he could get out of the house through the window and the blinds were in his way. Can't move them so, he went through them. I have never seen anything so destructive. Thousands of pieces of plastic blinds. All I am thinking is great now he's gonna be sick....
So he gets punished ie. sent to his crate so he can reflect on what his done. hahahaha
nah he was just thinking about what he could do today....
This is what the husband came home to today.









Now the husband is mad and its his dog!!! What do we do??? He ate right through the door.
Does anyone have any ideas??? Does anyone know of someone with a farm???

So now he's doing what he does best.......

Well everything is coming to a end, almost on time and on budget. The husband and I sat down to total up all the receipts and we're not looking to bad. A few unexpected things (taking down the ceiling was a big one) caused the budget to jump a little but with the help of a few friends (and a free faucet) we're almost on track again. The husband has decided that he wants a plumber to come in and install the under mount sink and dishwasher. He's worried that when drilling into the granite he will crack it and that would cost more than a plumber to come fix. He also figures he's paying a plumber to come in why not get him to install the dishwasher and garbage disposal also. So by this weekend the counter tops will be installed and the plumber is coming in on Monday (to expensive on weekends) and the tiler should be back late Monday to tile the back splash....maybe even Sunday if I can talk him into it. More pictures to come.

One more thing OFF the list.....

Microwave Range hood be dammed!!!

It only took 6 hours to do!!! We started at 2pm and finished at 8pm. Lots of yelling...who would of thought a toggle bolt could cause so many problems.

Well its in and I couldn't be happier....now for the counter tops and dishwasher.

Almost.....

So the cabinets are in, the doors and handles are on. I am sorta unpacked..its nice to have a half kitchen back. The counter tops go in next Saturday and back splash there after. Almost done...the end is near!!!

Three Quarters...

So the cabinet guys showed up on time and stayed till 8pm...Its amazing what they can get done with a full days hours....

The poor dog is still confused!!

Cabinet install has started...kind of!

Were to start.....
The 'guys' were to show up at 11ish and start the process, well thats not at all how it happened...

They showed up at 1030 to drop tools off, left to go and get the cabinets and bring it back to start. This took about 2 hrs, they dropped the cabinets off and then left to get another load??? I look out the window and they are using a passenger van to bring the cabinets to the house. Not a truck like you would think...So they left the house about 1230ish and I figured they would be back in a hour, not the case they didn't show back up until 330pm I was soooo mad the husband had to calm me down and talk to them him self. Now the husband is going hunting this weekend (again) and leaving me with the cabinet guys. hahahaha poor them He has advised them that if they piss me off I am not paying them. Man I have never seen two guys work so hard/fast in my life. They had the above finished before they left for the day. They stayed until 8pm to get it done. I asked him what time he would be back today and he replied early! Yes thay can get started by 8ish and work from there....Nah he meant they would be here between 10 - 1030am Now my understanding is THAT'S NOT EARLY!! So here I sit at 959 am waiting.....Keep you all posted.

few extras....

Ceiling is up....

So the ceiling went up, 2 and half buckets of mud later and it looks darn near perfect. The husband is a little bit of a perfectionist when it comes to this. (Part of being the youngest of 4)
It looks great, the cabinets started going in yesterday and I will post about it next.

Slight mishap when re routing the plumbing....

Houston we have a problem....

So this is the granite counter colour I wanted, I was informed last night from my cabinet guy that they can get this anymore as the country it comes from has gone on strike and they are not importing it anymore. I don't know if I should laugh or cry. The husband laughed... everything has been going so good (on schedule even) now this the husband calls it Murphy's law but I think its karma. You see its not against the law to get quotes from other places but I didn't call those other places back to let them know we wouldn't be using them. I was very enthusiastic with each one and this may have in turn led them to believe they were getting the business.

So now I have been searching websites that have sample pictures of they're granite so I can compare the original one to a new one to see it it will go. My whole colour pallet was thought up with counter top colours included, the back splash matches the counter that in turns matches the cabinets which matches the floor tile. Ugh!!!! The picture to the right is the one that I found that looks the most similar. Its called DESERT BROWN and my old one is called TROPICAL BROWN. I just hope the new one doesn't come from the same country..... What do you think?

Quick shot.....

Here's a quick shot of the floor this morning after it was all grouted last night. This is the best i could do with my camera phone!! Will post better later. When the tiler first applied the grout I was worried as it came out a little darker than I wanted, but it dried nice. The tiles in this picture look a little more brown then they are. Think more gray!!!

Heated floors & Tile.....

The husband could have tiled the kitchen but I wanted a specific design so we opted to have a professional come in and tile. One of my best friends Dad is a tiler, and man did he save us time and money. He came in Friday afternoon to prep the floors and wire them with the heated wires (mmmh warm toes) He then came back in Saturday morning (7:29am exactly) To set up and start the tiling by 8am. Dang nose bylaws!! The whole process took 9 hrs on Saturday and an additional 3 hrs on Sunday to tile. He will be back on Monday afternoon to grout the tiles.

Below is start to finish.....

End of day 1...

End of day 2....

Dinning Room living.....

You all remember what what my dinning room looked like before, nice table centered with chairs around it, CLEAN!! We its not anymore..... The table has been turned sideways as a 'counter' and I have packed my whole kitchen into 11 Rubbermaid bins. Keep in mind since this picture has been taken we've also moved the fridge and stove into this 9x10 room. Not a whole lot of space to move around.

Were we're at......

We've done it now...no going back!!! I am slightly behind so I will try and catch you all up. We've torn out the kitchen completely and living out of the dinning room (more on this later) Below is the progress with all the cabinets coming out and a hole being cut into the floor to move the stove wire. My dad came down to give us a hand or so I told the husband...really it was to keep him on track cause he has a tendency to waver slightly.