Kitchen [FINISHED]

Throughout January and into February, the last bits of the kitchen are getting completed. 

Ben says there is even yet a few more minor details to wrap up...but for all proposes of saying its done...it is FINISHED! Yay :)

Tiling the backsplash..

Painting the kitchen/dining room, living room and hallway..

My message regarding my feelings toward the new kitchen..

Ben cut out the wall/window, framed out the space for the new door, and then installed the door one afternoon. This is the same space the "old sink" and window used to be.

Crown molding around the cabinets, toe kick, other trim stuff, and a few other cosmetic things...and it is d-o-n-e!

 So here are the final pictures of the kitchen/dining room...

Dining room

A bit random as far as final product..but its somewhat fitting.

Demonstrating how handy it is to get into the pots/pans drawer...my little helper.

The back door and back of kitchen (excuse the weird lighting..the wall is not green, it is really brown)...

The view from the front door...

The big picture...

WAAA-HOOOOO!!!!!!

Thank you very much Mr Hershberger...your work is greatly appreciated!

Kitchen [part five}

12.20.13 Ben's last day of school for Christmas break..he got off at 1. This is noteworthy...since this was the day we originally "thought" we would start the kitchen project, so we could do it over Christmas break. Ha! I'm glad we are at this point to "start".

The countertops came today. Yay! Soon we will have a functioning kitchen...sink and all!

This excitement QUICKLY fell to a level 15 out 10 frustration since they cut the countertop wrong. They had even came out to measure after the cabinets were installed to make sure the cuts would be right. UGH.

They got a call immediately in the morning...and one of the owners came out the next afternoon to see what the issue was. After a couple HOURS he agreed that indeed it wasn't going to work...took the countertop back with him to get them cut right :( 

12.21.13 We started laying the flooring in the kitchen/dining room. Somehow I definitely didn't feel as efficient as I did a couple weeks ago. But not Ben...he's going strong. He ended up finishing the rest of the long pieces I don't have pictured by himself. I went back to my parents to lay the boys down..and I just stayed over there, so Noah could sleep there (and I could get up with him...stinker).

 A side note...our VERY full garage...everything but...nope, including the kitchen sink. I'm ready to have this area back too..its cold outside :)

12.23.13 They brought back the countertop...and we made sure prior to them leaving that indeed it was cut right. NOW, I was excited.

Ben and his plumber hand, Christian hooking up the new sink.

NOW, we have a functioning kitchen with a DISHWASHER! (The dishwasher is worthy of its on post someday...I'm so glad for this thing!)

 The next steps are to clean out all the cabinets and put things away. An exciting part...but at this point, I am really ready to just have things organized (and get ready for Christmas!) Not complaining....I am truly grateful for the progress and how it turned out!!

The final part is painting, backsplash, and random final touches...those are 90% done! 

Oh my goodness, I am so pleased with it! And SO THANKFUL for Ben...he's put alot of hard work into this...I told him he better go back to work at school so he can have a "break". Also, so grateful for my parents who let us use their home as our own many nights...fed us meals...watched our boys....put in many hours helping with electrical issues (Dad)...and did our laundry (since our washer was recently out of order for the past week). Final pictures...soon!

Kitchen [part four]

12.18.13 Ben worked on removing the "old kitchen" plumbing...not a smooth process. Then after supper (thank you Mom), we took out the old cabinets.

This window/wall area will be a door eventually...that is where the kitchen sink WAS. 

Later in the evening Dad came over to install the microwave and go over some electrical stuff. There were necessary changes that were going to have to be made. I think know by this point we were getting probably both physically and emotionally drained. A bummer day.

12.19.13 A new day! In the evening, Dad and Ben worked on correcting some of the electrical things...and Mitch came over to help too! I worked on tearing out the floor in the old kitchen area.

Christian stayed the night at Mom and Dad's...but this little guy, hasn't done so great with that..so I brought him back for bedtime. Mom had given me some homemade granola in a container. I had just set it on top of him and he was banging on it..contently..so  I was washing a few dishes in my laundry room sink (my temporary kitchen sink) when I noticed he was exceptionally quiet. I looked...boo-hoo...there was all my granola. He didn't mind, he was picking out pieces and eating them. It was obviously my fault, of course he would get into it!

Kitchen [part two]

11.29.13: The day after Thanksgiving. In the morning, Ben's family came over for breakfast and they stayed to visit/play with the boys. In the afternoon, the boys went to my parents to take naps. While I laid them down, Ben tore out the carpet in the living room and hallway.

I came home and this is what it looked like.

It took quite a bit of time to tear out parts of the underlayment and remove LOTS of staples!!! Sweep, pull up more staples...sweep, pull up more staples...YIKES, it gave my hands a workout!

We were going to see what we could do following supper as far as laying the new flooring, while the boys were at home. BUT...Grandpa and Grandma kept them overnight...and we could work uninterrupted and noisily. It was MUCH more productive. We took advantage of getting to work like this, and kept going until our bodies cried "uncle".

I did an hourly progress picture starting at 10:30...

11:45...

12:40...doesn't look like much progress...but if you look closely this was taken right before we figured out how to get that final piece of the hallway to fit in there. This was the point in which it was DEFINITELY good the boys weren't home...all kinds of noise and awkward positions of crowbars and feet.

1:55...the rate of progress is slowly down.

I would lay out the pieces ahead...and Ben would cut the end piece...we would click it in...pound it down with the rubber mallet...and repeat the process. Up, down, up, down...oh I felt the burn the next day :)

3:00...can't do it anymore...must.go.to.bed.

The final picture of the night..I'd say we made good use of our time.

We finished the rest in the morning/early afternoon, prior to Ben leaving for KC for the Chiefs/Broncos game.

Again...feeling like this is really happening...what a big difference the floor makes!

Kitchen [part one]

The time has come...

we get a new kitchen (and dining room)!!!

What better time to start on it than Thanksgiving day :)...while making green bean casserole.

Here's a reminder of what the kitchen looked like when we first moved here.

and dining room...

So, here during phase one Ben covered in the wall to the back door.

This was the 3/4 wall that separated the living room from the kitchen/dining room area.

On the other side of that wall, there were some cabinets...that were taken down.

Dad came over on Thanksgiving morning to help take down the wall.

It didn't take long for it to feel "real" that we were really going to do this!

Prior to leaving for Thanksgiving dinner at noon...this is what the area looked like. 

By the end of the afternoon this is what it looked like.