One week out from our Quartz countertops

It's been a full week of kitchen chaos which had them finishing up the cabinets, pulls and knobs today.  The crescendo of noise seemed to have topped off yesterday and I am very grateful that our friends Tracye and Dan babysat Angus and Bella.  The quietness of their house was a sanctuary compared to my house, the cool air that hit us as we walked in was a far cry from the hellish temperatures in my house (why? because I couldn't have the air on since they had the doors open all week long).

The transformation has been wonderful.  It's been like seeing an outfit come together or seeing a canvas transform from just a sketch to a painting.

The day started with the team organizing the bottom cabinets on the driveway and figuring out what went where.

I was surprised they started with the base cabinets because on HGTV and DIY they ALWAYS start with the upper cabinets.

Another angle showing the start of the installation

Reworking the kitchen sink cabinet to accommodate the farm house kitchen sink.  Not your regular white apron front farmhouse sink.  We went with stainless steel.

The original layout had one opening on the other side of the cabinets by the bar stools.  I'm very excited they were able to provide a lazy susan cabinet! (side note: where did the term "lazy susan" originate?  Was there a lazy woman named Susan that came up with this idea?)

The next day saw cabinet drawers, roll out shelving and the doors go in...

shims, more drawers, I'm so excited!  After cooking in our kitchen in Goodyear (which had two islands), having more drawers in this floor plan is a great improvement.

Upper cabinets, pantry at the end (yes, I know... it's small, but very functional), the double oven cabinet and the fridge!  Wednesday activities had me doing a happy dance!

Well, hello stainless steel farmshouse sink! I can't wait for the faucet to be installed...

One item we did add to the original layout is the cabinet next to the window.  Since we don't have a lot of cabinet space for plates, bowls, WINE GLASSES, tequila shot glasses, etc, we needed something more.

The pulls and knobs were also installed today along with that light above the kitchen sink.  Another happy dance!

Steve was a trooper with the design.  There were many "no's", "not a fan", "NEXT!!" that were uttered, by me, during our meeting with HRC.  When this is your "forever" kitchen you want it done right and you want to be happy with it.

Steve will probably come home every day to different dances moves... Gene Kelly tapping, Travis Wall contemporary moves or just my dorky moves that make me laugh and Steve cackle.

As I walked through the different home improvement stores lighting section this little gem of a light shouted "pick me!  choose me!  love me!!!" and I picked up the box and said "YES! You little sparkle bauble of a light!  I am BUYING you!"

I love the light!  It puts a good amount of light out and look at the sparkles against the wall!  All I need is a tiara while cleaning the dishes and I may just blind Steve!

 I do think I will be removing this old wooden blind.  Still not sure if I will replace with another one or maybe do a roman shade.  Bring a little color to a very black and white kitchen.













The quartz countertop template was done today (Thursday) and will be installed a week from Friday!  Then the rest of the appliances will be installed.  We did put our refrigerator in for the time being since I kept running into it when I walked in the door.

Angus is happy the house will be quiet for a week!

So excited!  So excited!  Shimmy shimmy coco puff!

Weekend Demolition Complete.. kind of.

I love our backyard, the view and breezes we get all day long

After a full Saturday doing demo work in the kitchen, ending the night with some ice cream, we woke up to a brisk, beautiful, foggy morning to start our second day of demolition.  It was hard to get going when you want to just sit and enjoy the scenery.

Since time was ticking, we had to get started so off to Lowes we went in search of super duper heavy duty garbage bags.  Found those AND a light fixture I want to add to the kitchen,,,

Isn't she pretty???

I also decided we are doing shiplap as an accent wall in the kitchen which had Steve saying, "Well, you know what I need to get this project done, right?"  Off to the power tool section we went.  Come hell or high water, he WILL get his nail gun (pew! pew!).

 After we did our Lowes and Ace Hardware (by the way, if you want genuine customer service, go to Ace.  Lowes and HD suck at customer service) we started back on the kitchen floor.  Steve decided to get the grinder out for the linoleum glue removal.  The high pitch whine of the grinder, me coughing and seeing a thin layer of construction dust starting to settle on my new couch, I yelled for him to stop.  I don't THINK so sidekick!  I went and grabbed sheets to cover the couch and then decided to look up the easiest way to take off linoleum glue.  Hot boiling water... well, good thing I have my Keurig because it supplied the boiling water and saved my lungs and house from more dust!

The hot water helped, but still slow work

We were only able to get half the floor done.  We had to give our hands a rest.  Does anyone remember the Friends episode "The one where Joey dates Rachel"?  Sub plot had Phoebe buying Monica and Chandler a Ms Pacman game as a wedding present?  Chandler played it all day and his hand was stuck in a claw?  That's how my hand felt after two days of floor work.

Today the HRC crew was back in doing the electrical.  It was loud, louder and at one point I thought they were coming through the bedroom wall, but the new electrical is in, the recessed lighting is done and our peninsula will have an outlet at the end (WITH a USB port!).

New recessed lighting!

Tomorrow starts the installation of the cabinets!  Can't wait....

Weekend Demolition Warriors

I'm a stud :)

Day #2 of the kitchen remodel had us "pausing" as our contractor came up with pricing for the four issues we encountered yesterday and providing a quote on putting canned lighting in the kitchen.  We would do it, but we don't want to just in case we mess up.  There are somethings we are good at, there other things we stumble while fixing and then there are some things we won't touch at all... electrical.

After getting the quote on the change order, Steve and I passed out and once revived, we went through each line item and decided some things we could do ourselves and some things could wait. $1700.00 was a bit more manageable than what we were originally quoted.  So, yes.... we are doing quite a few fixes.

Day #3 had us up early taking the dogs to the park to run while we rode our bikes.  With the demolition occurring and stuff all over the place, the dogs have been finding or getting into some of our boxes of food and let me tell you... they were both beached whales.  Things we thought they would NEVER be able to get to, they found a way.

Now that the dog run was out of the way, we made our way to Home Depot to pick up some of the items we had to fix prior to remodel continuing on Monday (because now we need PERMITS!) We also had to tackle the floor.  It has to be out by Monday morning and with the linoleum under the tile it has been a (bad word that starts with an F) BITCH! We worked all day... arms tired, blisters on both palms, knees hurt, shoulders hurt and a lot of nicks from flying shards.  Oh... and let's not forget it was hot.  Not Arizona hot, but still hot because SOMEONE wouldn't let me turn on the air conditioner. 😐

My side kick is an even bigger stud!

We worked on this the rest of the day

I got a boo boo.... tile chips flying everywhere!

We are almost done!

And now it's time for clean up!

 Sunday will be another full day of getting things taken care of in the kitchen prior to work starting up again.  I am tired or may be exhausted but I'm happy and content with the work we accomplished...  ON TO SUNDAY!

It's DEMO DAAAAAY!!!!

While I love the charm and cuteness of my new home of two months, I have disliked the kitchen.

When we first came to look at the house during an open house, we fell in love with the neighborhood, then the beautiful breeze through the house and the backyard with it's covered porch and beautiful chandelier.  We left to go look at another house and came back to our now home for a second look.  That's when I realized... what is wrong with these cabinets?  They were old and the previous owners put shiny pulls to make them appealing, the granite counter top was new but not my style and there was no way for me to bake in how small the double ovens were (24 in).  They reminded me of easy bake ovens!

So we started our search, we went to Ikea, we went to Home Depot (for cabinet refacing and an overhaul) and while we drove down the freeway going to my niece's soccer tourney a window display caught my eye and I told Steve we would have to check it out on the way back.  Well, that was the best decision we made.  Home Remodeling Center became our choice to redo our kitchen and that's what started today!

Kitchen before the demo started.  double oven that couldn't fit a turkey.

Peninsula is a great space

Goodbye microwave!  Hello new hood!!

Can you tell I am excited???

I was expecting a crew but one lone demo dude showed up and when he saw the kitchen he said, "Oh this is big! I will need another person".  I couldn't help but laugh.  Really?  This kitchen is big?  Good thing he never saw our kitchen in Goodyear!

I left Mr. Demo Dude to make his call to get another demo dude and I went back to work.

About a 1/2 hour into the demo, the issues started...  #1 issue was that long electrical line, which was for the outlet at the end of the peninsula.  Yeah.... that is a huge no-no.  So, that needs to be fixed.  #2 issue the valves under the sink I think are the original fixtures... leaking and have to be replaced along with that strange thing hanging out, #3 issue... again, our appliances are new and the electrical wires, etc are the original and so we now have to replace and/or upgrade everything.

#4 issue... that long cord is what was used for the double oven.  I looked at Mr. Demo Dude and said, "uhm, where is the rest?"  He said, "that's it".  Okay, dollar signs everywhere in the kitchen.  My first thought was... "I KNEW we should have gone with the Kingston house".  But then that thought dissolved as I looked out my back door again and thought... "no... this is where we belong.  It will be okay".

So at the end of the day... this is what my kitchen was reduced to...

But the kitchen is now a clean slate and I can't wait to get the quotes on all the upgrades so we can continue the remodel.  Just to let you know... the paint on the wall isn't color swatches.  That was the wall color inside the cabinet because back in the 1970's they were made of wood!  Luckily we won't have to paint (whew!)

And the best thing was what we found under the gray tile...

The ORIGINAL faux brick linoleum!  I may just save a piece along with the original plans for the house I found in the garage.

I'm like a little kid in a candy store...  or a grown woman in a Christian Louboutin shoe boutique!

Saladmaster... my new love

Three weeks after moving into our new house,  I had a knock at the door.  When I opened the door two young people were standing there and they asked, "Do you like salads?"  Why yes... yes I do!  They asked if they could make me a salad.  No strings attached.  I was skeptical but I said "sure".  Who doesn't want a free salad?

They proceeded to make themselves home in my kitchen and Camerin explained what she was going to do and what their product was all about and then she pulled out this contraption that had my eyes bulging, my mouth dropping and me asking "what is THAT! and how do I get one".

She proceeded to explain the food processor as she made my salad.  lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, carrots, cheese, and a few other vegetables sliced using the above "cones".  As for the salad dressing, she used (again with the above cones), lemon and orange juice.  She tossed it a bit and then had me try it and the explosion of tanginess that hit my taste buds was amazing!

After she finished cleaning up and I finished licking the bowl of all it's goodness, she asked if I would be interested in having a few friends over and she would come back and cook for us.  I thought, "Why not!"  I didn't have to pay for the food, the preparation, all I had to do was provide drinks (non-alcoholic), plates, silverware and good conversation.

That's exactly what we did and she went on to further explain how Saladmaster came to be, the health benefits, the benefits of the pots and pans and the ease in which to make a home cooked meal.  By the end of the night, I was sold on the pots and pans.  Especially after she made us do the "taste test" using baking soda in boiled water from three different pots we use on a daily basis against one of their Saladmaster pots.  The taste in our daily use pans was disgusting and that shows the metals and/or particles that comes off every time we use our pots and pans.  Well... I packed up all my pots, gave them away and bought myself a starter set.

I have been using these pots and pans for three weeks now and I'm still amazed at the flavor of my vegetables.  I even did a test using a sweet potato.  I chopped it up the way I usually do but instead of putting seasonings, I cooked it in one of my old pots and then I used my food processor to chop up the other sweet potato, added a little water to the pot, added my sweet potato shavings and let them both cook.  The difference was in how long it took to cook in my old pot compared to my new pot.  The flavor... no seasoning, salt, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon on the sweet potatoes and they still tasted amazing!

So, if you ever want to hear more... come talk to me!  If you want a free dinner, fun company, learn to cook more at home AND hear about the health benefits, it's worth it!  There was no obligation to buy anything... we just wanted since we already cook at home, this was the best way to start cooking in our new home and remodeled kitchen!