Night Table Rehab...

A while back we purchased an old tatty night table for Rachel's room at Goodwill for $7.  Here are the before and after pics.  She worked on it with her Dad and it turned out wonderfully!

Before - good bones, but in need of some major TLC.

After - Broken parts removed, cracks filled, sanded, and painted.  Love that she picked to do the pulls in blue. ❈

Project: Deck...

The deck... oh the poor sad pitiful deck... It's in pretty bad shape.  I'd like to introduce you to my new best friend - the hand sander.

We'll be getting real close this week while I sand down the peeling areas.  Then we'll pressure wash and re-stain.  Once that's done I need to re-finish the table and chairs, get some new cushions and then our deck will be open for business. ❈

Kitchen reveal...

You remember my old kitchen don't you?

It wasn't a bad kitchen at all. I mean as kitchen's go it was pretty big, good work triangle, nice view from the kitchen sink...  if it weren't for the electric coil stove with only two working burners, the leaky dishwasher, and the oven that never knew what temperature it was going to be from one minute to the next I would have said it was a great kitchen (even with the white tile countertops, they weren't THAT bad.)

Well the new kitchen is finally in, well mostly in.  My husband just got back last night from a week long work trip so he still needs to wire the cooktop, but other than that she's ready to rumble.

Remember this?

Now, we have this!  This is the sink of my dreams.  One giant bowl that can fit a whole cookie sheet or turkey pan or whatever I want to put in it.  And the faucet, the ergonomics of a pull down, v.s. pull out sprayer?  I can't even tell you how happy this makes me.

Then, there was this, which I'm sure back in it's day was all edgy with it's stainless steel and all, but.....

Now we have this.  You can see by the reflections that there is a giant skylight over this part of my kitchen, which I love, but it makes for challenging photo taking.  If we stay in this house I can see running a line and converting to a gas range, but for right now it was more important to put funds towards additional new appliances.  I love that it's a flat surface, no knobs!

And then there is the oven/microwave.  I never did learn what all of those buttons did...

I love how the new microwave door (top) opens down like an oven.  I just looks so not microwavy!  You can't see it well in this phtos, but the touch screen (again, no knobs!) portion that looks blue is actually black. and in the center is a little digital version of an analog clock.  Of course you can set it to be a regular digital clock, but we like the analog version, it's so opposite of this whole unit that it just looks perfect that way.

So, there it is.  My new old kitchen.  There are still changes to be made. I am pretty sure we are going to move the current fridge to the garage and get a newer one with the french doors on top and freezer drawer on the bottom.  And maybe someday, if we stay here,  I would like to get the cabinets re-faced with more modern wood/doors.  But really I think it's looking pretty good now.  So, there you go my new NW style kitchen.

Before..

And after.

So, about those countertops...

The "old" new countertops were taken out this morning and the "new" new countertops are going in at this moment!

They are the correct stone this time!

In a few days we should have a completed kitchen with before/after photos to share.

Have a great weekend!

I am calm...

I am calm. (sigh)
No really. (even though really, you have got to be kidding me)

Three quarters of the way through my granite installation I go take a look.  It looks nice.

BUT IT IS THE WRONG STONE!

Seriously?

I am calm.

But this is not the thrilled I had hoped to be today.

Actually I am very proud of myself.  They asked me if I would accept a discount and keep the wrong stone.  The old me would have felt bad (for them) and said yes.  This me wants what she paid for.  So I guess it's a lesson in patience...

File under I'm glad I am not in charge of that...

Somebody in our house is calling a plumber at 8:45 p.m. on a Sunday night.  I'm glad it is not me.  I will do my part by providing the appropriate amounts of sympathy.

Project: Kitchen...

Lucky, our cat is very curious about the goings on.

I wonder if this means I don't have to cook or do dishes for the next two and a half weeks....

We have a really great kitchen.  It's big, laid out nicely, and has tons of cabinet space.  But it was built in the late 80's so it also has small ceramic tiles, an old school coil cook top, an oven that never knows what temperature it's at, a pitted sink with a faucet that won't stay upright, and an updated, but occasionally leaky dishwasher.

Before

The seeds of the kitchen update have been planted for a while now, so when the aforementioned work bonus hit the bank account they began to grow.  Quickly.  We decided to start with a new counter top, cooktop, sink and faucet.  

They told us we could keep the island countertop/cooktop in (whew!) when they did the template, but the other counter top had to come out since it butts up against the window.  The template appointment is on Tuesday, but John had to leave town today for an open ended work trip so this morning we got to work.  They would have charged us $1200 to do the tear out/disposal.  I'm thinking we can handle it!

So, now we set up our makeshift sink in the laundry room and wait ❈

Covered drawers equal a less stressed me.

Project: Stair rail...

So last we talked I was laying on my deathbed and I was hearing these tornado ripping the house apart sounds.  So I leaped from my bed, as only a coughing up a lung person can do, to see what was going down.  Have I mentioned how awesome my husband is?  He is pretty cool if I haven't told you before.  I'll probably keep telling you over and over until you want to gag, but really he is.  Not only has he taken on the bulk of the care and feeding of the people this week while I've been laid up, but he has completed a project that I've thought about maybe adding to "The List" before I actually even had a chance to write it down.

I like to think he did it to make me feel better.  Like the handyman's version of bringing his sick wife some flowers and a box of chocolates.

I now present,

The Stairway Redeux



Our home was built in the late 80's, and considered a "traditional" style.  There is loads of woodwork that make it feel warm and welcoming and friendly and cozy.  And also, in some places, dated.  Here is the stairway before.  There is nothing really wrong with these balusters but they don't exactly scream this house has been updated either.

So that noise I heard, was this.  My husband tearing those bad boys out.

And now, we have a stairwell that looks like this.  Seriously.  He is a genius with the tools.  Ka-ching.  Oh, hello increased home value, come on in.