All Done!

We finished tiling the backspalsh over the 4th of July. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. Then we hung the dining room light and brought the dining room table and chairs back in. The granite looks golden due to the afternoon light. It is actually a very creamy color not golden at all. The first picture shows the color the best, but the pictures just don't do it justice. Be sure to click on the third picture and take a look at the backsplash design and the corbels. Oh, and what about those maple foors? Wow!

Even though we'll be on a tight budget for a few months, It is so worth it!




And about those floors in the living room, now complete with shiny new baseboards.

Even the dog is tired

Well, the floors are almost in.  Then we can move all our furniture back in from the garage.  We all miss our comfy chairs, and are very tired of living in the "office."  For now we are thankful for our deck outside.  We have added a covered gazebo and outdoor furniture, makes a great dining room.

The Cabinets are coming!

On May 19th and 20th the cabinets arrived they look great even without the countertops, backsplash or floors. The Granite was installed on May 22nd. The floors were prepped today and installation will hopefully start tomorrow.

Half of my appliances were delivered Saturday, the refrigerator and dishwasher will come after the floors are done. I love the new microwave and wall oven.

Looks like my "start date" will now be almost the date we will be finished. All we will have left to do is design and tile the backsplash. Ben is sure we can do this by ourselves.

New lights

Of course once the soffit was rebuilt, it was let's take out the bar, then the back cabinets, and soon we were down to a pantry and a fridge. But wow, the lighting is so much better! It feels more modern and so much brighter.

That was then.....

March 28, 2008

Here's How it all began....

March, 2008 It's a couple of weeks before my birthday, I walk in and find Ben staring at the fireplace. "This thing is so ugly, I think I can tear it out and we can slap up some nice tile. It'll be a piece of cake!" In a blink of an eye, he was back with an air hammer and began knocking out big chunks of rock and cement!

Hey great, I love doing projects with Ben, except one look and I know the thing I'll get to do is pick up and clean up. That's okay, I've been wanting to do this for at least 15 years. What sounded easy, wasn't. No surprise, whoever built our house wasn't concerned about doing a good job building the firebox, after all who would see it behind massive amounts of cement and big, fake, ugly rock?



Ben got the rock down and chipped at the brick until he got the front equal on both sides. Then we decided to splurge and put granite on it and on the ugly hearth. For my birthday gift Ben went out to the shop and built me the most awesome mantle. He finished and installed it the day before my birthday, I LOVE IT!