Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Star of 30 Rock

I call this photo Travertina Fey. Ok. That's not as funny as it sounded in my head, but how's about a courtesy laugh?

The travertine is going in as we speak. Mark just took a photo of the progress and I can't resist sharing.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Sink Hole...

...No, not the scary ones that swallow your house! -The ones that you slide your undermount sink into. Duh!
The kitchen is moving along quite quickly. The cabinets are done! They look better than I ever imagined!
this one looks a tad orange -photo below is more accurate

Our counters were measured for the granite last night, which will be installed early next week and in the meantime, the tile goes in tomorrow and Thurs.

Meanwhile, Mark and I enjoyed a quick one-night vacation in Paso Robles this weekend with our good friends Adrienne and Brian. We did a great job stocking up our wine fridge!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Kitchen Confident Y'all

So you know how I thought we had two weeks until install? Well having been through many-a-construction projects with quoted timelines that are way optimistic, I thought, eh, we've probably got two and a half, maybe three weeks. Wrong. We got a call from the cabinet maker on Monday (one week into construction), telling us he could install as early as Tuesday (yesterday). So that joke I made about breathing into a paper bag last week wasn't too far from the truth.

While we didn't have to install this week, we figured, having a kitchen is better than not having one, right? So the plan of me miraculously learning how to tape, mud and skim coat drywall quickly flew out the window and we had our handy man come in and do it.

Mark and I then rallied until late last night to prime and paint the areas around the cabinets that will be visible.

Surprise! Mark shaved his head!

this totally brings back memories...

All of this was done because the cabinets are being installed today!!! I waited at home for them to arrive this morning so that I could see them in their uninstalled, unfinished state.
The cabinet above that looks like a speaker box is actually going to house our wine fridge

these are the uppers you don't need rehab for using, but please don't abuse them

I can't wait to see what awaits me when I come home tonight!!!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

If these walls could talk

...they'd say "We're walls!"

That's because up until two days ago, they were just frames. The drywall went up on Tuesday. We still have to tape, mud, skim, and paint them, but it's progress, and progress is good.

All of the electrical is ready to go. You can see on the first photo, the blue circle on the ceiling is where one of the pendant lights will go.

The hood will be just to the right of it, and on the other side there is wiring for another pendant light. I'm still drawn to these ones, but we may have to hold off to keep our budget in check.

In the second photo, on the right wall, the wires poking out are set up for under cabinet lighting. At this point we're not installing anything, but this way, if down the line we want to add another level of lighting, the wiring is ready to go.

So there's plenty to do, and with the cabinet construction having begun on Monday, we are at t minus eleven or so days until they're ready to be installed. That's nota-lota days. Pardon me while I go breathe in a paper bag... -Actually we're totally up for the challenge to get the room ready to go. It will all be worth it when I'm makin' Mark some bacon on a gas stove and admiring the lovely custom utensil drawer. -Oh and don't get me started on the pantry!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Soffit to me

Mark and I checked a few more kitchen-prep items off our list this weekend! It feels so good to know we're getting closer and closer to the finished product.

First, we had someone come and build out a couple of soffits. In case you're unfamiliar with what a soffit is, here is the wikipedia definition (see bullet #4). In our formerly known as the kitchen, kitchen, the cabinets over the refrigerator only came out 15", however our refrigerator is 30"+ deep. That makes for lots of climbing on cabinets and step ladders to reach paper towels. The new soffit will span the depth of the refrigerator to accommodate deeper cabinets.

framework for the soffit

finished soffit
The other soffit was just a 1" addition to the existing soffit to allow for nice crown molding at the top of our cabinets.

In other adventures, there was some stucco patching, flashing (not the arrestable offense kind, the waterproofing your house kind), granite scouting, and stain sampling.

We made a trip to a local stone yard where we took a few samples of slabs we like. Currently, pistachio is a front runner for us, with desert sand as a close (cheaper) second.

at the stone yard...

pistachio, our front runner


Lastly, we paid a visit to Jimmy, our cabinet maker to check out some stain samples. Both Mark and I are in love with the distressed look, but it is a little cost prohibitive (cabinet #1). We will most likely be going with a chocolatey walnut look (cabinets #2 + #3, but in the shaker style of #1).

It was super cool to see our plans all laid out.

our future kitchen

Oh! And my niece, Dahlia, just turned 3 months... Are those not the most pinchable cheeks you've ever seen?!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Blank Canvas or Pup Playroom?

The demo is complete! Our kitchen is an empty shell, and boy does it look good!
-The dogs think so at least.


They have taken it upon themselves to scatter all of their toys across what is now their playroom. Griffin is loving it because he's not getting crated during the day -there's really nothing for him to destroy.

Yesterday our cabinet guy Jimmy came by to take final measurements and our trusty demo-er/electrician/plumber/friend Yaya laid out plans for electrical/plumbing.

We've ordered the hood and sink too! Now it's just a matter of figuring out the granite for the counters. We want it to be on the lighter side since our cabinets will be a chocolate brown. I like this, this, this and this too! We're open to suggestions!