The mark of a successful party...

If the mark of a successful party is that everyone ends up in the kitchen... well I guess it was a success! Some people from my new job came, the immediate Muellers came by and a few more friends saw the new kitchen. Everyone said it was great - and that was really gratifying after all that work! The best part is that for entertaining the space works really well now. Before people would clump up in wierd places since the layout wasn't very centralized. Now it is easy to get all the way around the island and mingle. There is nothing really blocking the view in any direction (inside) and I think that really helped with the "flow".

What people liked best:

The automatic trash can lid
The custom pot rack (thanks Mom and Neil!!!)
The fact the cabinet insides were IKEA ("this doesn't look like IKEA at all")
and the granite (better for how much it cost!!!)

after a few weeks rest - E and I are tackling the bathroom then we're moving up and out!

:)

Pictures of our FINISHED kitchen!

Never thought I'd say it! But we're done!! E and I spent the weekend at Great America yesterday and today we're watching movies and I'm working for a client.. wow - not painting, drilling, sawing, sanding etc.

The FINISHED island as seen from the hallway

The FINISHED island as seen from the other side

The FINISHED kitchen as seen from in front of the windows

The FINISHED kitchen as seen from the dining area

The FINISHED closet as seen from the dining area

The foyer with no boxes, trash, tools, junk in it

The FINISHED closet as seen from the front door...

wow - no onward to the bathroom!

Busy Busy Busy

As we fast approach our last weekend before the kitchen party, panic has set in. (We are visiting friends in Ohio next weekend while the baby is still cute and snuggly). We got the closet interiors installed last night, that was pretty easy. And tonight we're hoping to fly through attaching the last cover panel, making a cut of scrap stainless to make our interior drawer and attaching the last filler pieces with electrical outlets. Could be a tall order, but hopfully if we stay on it, we'll get through it. (We have learned that the simplest tasks take FOREVER). Tomorrow we're going to buy the moulding to finish off the closet and make it blend in and the closet doors so we can put all our tools and junk away in said closet.

Ugh - I'm a little woozy, I chipped a tooth last Wednesday and today was my appointment to get the crown (did a good job chipping it, didn't I?). And although we have a great Dentist - it was unpleasant none-the-less. It's my last molar on the bottom left - and as a bonus I get the permanent crown cemented on the day before the party - whoo-hoooooo!

The mass cleaning continues - and the house is starting to resemble a livable, organized space - so it's all good.

Paint - done Pot rack - done

OK - people thought I was crazy when I said I was painting a brown wall well, brown. so as an illustration that all brown is not equal, a photo.

AND we got the custom, awesome, pot rack installed! Thanks to Mom and Neil for putting this together for us. It worked out perfectly!

The list is getting shorter and shorter! Hopefully soon I'll have pictures of the clean, staged, FINISHED product!

ooooh... almost!

I finished the backsplash - just a minor hitch in the faceplate, wrong size (who knew there were sizes?) And E has most of the plinth installed under the cabinets - just the fussy part where the hood vents out - requires a saw and it's too late to saw today.

We are planning a kitchen unveiling party for the 22nd (of September) I hope you will all come and oooh and ahhhh over the finished product!

grout + backsplash = pain in the butt!

the effect is nice though - guess it was worth the effort

installed plinth - looks all professional and stuff


and the island looks real too... just have to pick up the stools and finish the vent!

Crazy cheap gene

Do you ever get halfway through a project and think to yourself "Self, why the heck are you doing this?" That was definitely me last night... grouting a backplash is a lot more difficult because the area is small the the tools are meant more for floors and wide open spaces I think. plus you have to bend over and reach way out to do the work... not fun, but it is complete! Still doing some cleanup - but that should be good later. It's so humid the grout isn't setting up very fast - finally I just went to bed and this morning I was still able to wipe quite a bit of it away! Oh well. I'm definitely hiring a contractor for the bathroom - no question.

Some progress...

So we did make some progress this weekend... Saturday we went to an open house for free burgers, then decided that Mexican food sounded better! We did some shopping for some art for the condo, found some barstools that we'll pick up one of these days when we have a zipcar handy. Then pretty much recovered from the Mexican food (or more accurately, Mexican beverages)

But Sunday we got some stuff done, E got the baseboards trimmed out and they ready to install (almost - IKEA shorted us by ALOT so we had to run out there... just a note, this weekend was "Everyone go to IKEA and buy your kid crap for college" weekend). But I got the backsplash halfway finished. Monday when I get home from work I just have to do the grout. I think it came out pretty well for an amature tiler! And I got the top seam of the closet started. So this week I'm hoping to really work each night and complete the backsplash, the closet (mud and primer, then paint) and get the final big wall in the living room painted. Then next weekend I am going to start in the far corner and put everything back the way it should be and get the loft organized and finished off. **sigh** That's the plan anyway... I've had a lot of those on this blog!

starting the stainless tile - hard to work under cabinets!

stainless tile adhered to wall - just need to grout in 24 hours then silicone caulk everything!