Flushy Flushy

The plumber was here this morning and thank all that's holy the toilet went right back on the wall! He said it was close, but close enough to line back up with the pipe. He also changed out the supply line and flapper and inside thing (so technical). He said it's like a brand new toilet now - I say he knows how to make a 20 minute call in to a 70 minute call! But whatever - at least we know it's all good. He even poked a hole in the wall to make sure it wasn't leaking (guess who gets to fix that).

Second photo is the vanity we picked out last weekend to replace our discontinued model... not 100% sure if I like it yet... I did buy a narrower medicine cabinet to go with it - and the cabinet is black so it will match better. You can see the scar from the old vanity - it's about half as deep almost as wide.

Unclean (yet still an improvement)

The tile is done. The guy our neighbors recommended was totally great. They even cleaned up every mess they made! But the floor is finished, and I think it's more level than it was before! Tile will be sealed tomorrow then we couldn't get the plumber till Wednesday (darn it) so as you can see - we are unclean! But E is going to have to move the toilet tomorrow - washing your hair in the sink isn't the easiest thing to accomplish. Then today we went out to Lowes to get our vanity and they were sold out and what we wanted was discontinued. (damn it) So we compromised on a smaller vanity without the vessel sink - it has kind of a modified pedistal top on a regular vanity. good news - it's smaller so I think the bathroom will look bigger in the end (we'll see - not throwing away any packaging till I'm convinced though) Here's some pictures:

And it starts....

Thanks to our neighbors we found a tile guy that is affordable. But we can still save money by doing the demo ourselves. So E started knocking the tile out from the floor today. Hopefully the tile guy will be here Wednesday to do the work on just the floor, then we'll tackle the rest in a couple weeks.

doing the demo

large tiles for the floor and brick tiles for the tub, glass tiles for the vanity surround (colors match better in person)

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!