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?!

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!

Honey, I think we need a new kitchen.

word.

Good Riddance Kitchen...

Mark and I spent the greater part of this weekend prepping for the demolition that will ensue on Tuesday. That's right, friends, our kitchen goes bye-bye come this Tuesday.

I focused on clearing out and packing the kitchen, while Mark worked on clearing out the garage to make room for our temporary kitchen/kitchen storage.

Sometimes you don't realize how much cookware you have until you have to pack it all up. I packed up six, yes that's right SIX pyrex dishes. Granted, a few are different sizes, but lemme tell you, if you're having a lasagna & kugel potluck, I'm your gal. Really.

We also took the opportunity to get organized in the garage and get some racks and shelves to store our tools.

Come Tuesday, Lola and Griffin are headed to Doggie Day Care and our kitchen is getting done-torn-up like nobody's business. The cabinets - gone. Floors- say goodbye. And that hood! -serious tears of joy with that farewell...

We have gotten a great deal on custom cabinetry and will be going with a shaker style cabinet in a chocolate brown stain. We decided to go a little bit lighter than the original espresso, because we don't want the space to feel small.

Stay tuned for more photos of the demo and kitchen in progress!

What-the-what?!

I'm baaaack! I think. Who knows for how long. It's been months. ages. eons. I'm still alive and kickin! In case anyone is wondering, or still reading for that matter, the main reason for my hiatus is I took on a new role at work which is more challenging than what I was doing before. I spend all day in front of my computer and the last thing I want to do is go home and be on my computer again. I love my new job though, and hopefully as I get more settled, the gaps between posts will be smaller and smaller.

Let's see. In the time I've been gone,

we got grass!

Lola got a brother! -Meet Griffin.

Griffin graduated puppy school!

...and Dahlia Jane, my adorable niece turned two months old.

So much more has happened. We grated the back yard (de-weeded and leveled), got a ping pong table, and have been getting closer and closer to starting the kitchen.

We've been out of town most weekends for weddings, camping, etc, but we'll be here this weekend, and hopefully make time to replant some hydrangeas and clear out the garage so we can relocate the kitchen in there. Stay tuned!

The Doting Aunt and another hiatus

I'm an Aunt!!! It's official! And I'll admit, it's turned me into a monster. All of those annoying people that have a new family member born and insist on showing everyone baby pictures, yeah, that's me. I can't help it though! She is honestly the cutest baby I've ever seen!

Her name is Dahlia Jane, and she was born last Weds, 4/7 at 6:02PM. Believe it or not, Dahlia came out of an online Anagram finder when Tali and Cliff entered my name, my mom's name, and Cliff's mom and sister's names. How cool is that?! And to make it even cooler, when Cliff googled "Dahlia Wildman," they discovered that the "Wildman" is actually a type of Dahlia!

Ok, you get it, I'm smitten, and I frankly have been insaaaaanely busy, and will continue to be, so I leave you with photos. Pretty much everyone who reads my blog has already seen photos, because, yeah, I'm that aunt. Remember?

I'll try to be back soon with some house (*ehem* baby) updates. :)

spending time with mommy

spending time with Auntie

The battle of the bench

The age-old battle of bench vs. chair has come to a close! Allow me to explain. Mark's gorgeous dining table has two matching benches that I have nagged him about since the day we moved them into our house. They're beautiful, don't get me wrong, but having to climb over someone to get out, or scoot the whole bench in and out just isn't for me.

My other argument against the benches was that together with the table, the look is very rustic, and since we are going for a slightly more contemporary kitchen, I wanted to tie the whole thing together with some fun chairs.

And friends, yesterday my wish was granted! I found these gorgeous chairs at World Market that were on sale, and get this, GREEN! In case you don't recall, we're tying green into our kitchen with a green glass backsplash, so I saw this as a perfect opportunity to connect the dining and kitchen areas. I quickly called to see if the chairs were available in-store so we could avoid the shipping charges and test one out before diving right in and getting six. They had them! I placed six of them on hold and Mark went and checked them out yesterday after work and as luck would have it, he LOVED them!!! Not only were they super comfortable and on sale, but the friendly sales person allowed Mark to make six separate transactions with a coupon for an additional $10 off!

Now let's not forget the benches. They won't be going too far. Mark and I have looked into how to properly weather treat them and they will be making their next appearance in our backyard.