When it Rains it Pours!

This week has had its share of trials for us. Sometimes it seems like everything comes at once, I guess that's why they have the saying "When it rains it pours". After installing the butcher block this, we noticed a very tiny little crack near the cooktop which we weren't too worried about. However a day or two later I noticed there were some new tiny cracks starting in the grain. I called the company and talked with them and sent them pictures to look at and they told me it was due to the change in humidity from Tennessee to Oregon. Yes, in fact it is a lot dryer here than in Tennessee as you might guess. He told me this was not anything to worry about and if we get a humidifier and get the humidity in our house up a bit, the cracks should come back together. In the meantime, he suggested we keep it waxed with butcher block wax. So, we've been waxing it nearly daily. We'll see what happens.

Then Wednesday night when we went to use the griddle on our new stove, it all of a sudden stopped working. No gas is even coming out and the starter is not working. This is very frustrating, especially since it was not cheap. I have been trying to get in touch with the company and hopefully they will take care of this quickly.

We had great hopes of getting the backsplash done today, but we were sorely disappointed. After spending nearly all day working on it, Jonas and I discovered that the tiles were so varied in color that it looked ridiculous.

I mean that's pretty bad isn't it? So we ripped it out and we're going to put in good old subway tiles. Talk about a DIY disaster! It will all work out and we'll be able to look back on this and laugh right?

The best part of the day, (yes, there was a good part! ), was getting to have Boden's 1 year photo shoot! Thanks to the talented Engelhart Photography (www.engelhartphotography. com)! She got some super cute ones! I can't believe this little guy is almost one already! He is just the sweetest little fellow and is so happy! Here's a couple of my favorite shots:

Well, that's enough for one night! I hope you all had a good weekend!

Kitchen Renovation

So did I tell you during this kitchen renovation that the phone cord got accidentally cut? Therefore that disconnected the Internet to our house. I, by the way, did not cut it, I won't say who did. So I like to make excuses for not blogging for several months but probably the real reason is that I am lazy. Ha! No, it's actually been pretty crazy around here with the holidays and everything.

The kitchen is finally coming together. After a LONG 4 months! We had many issues with the cabinets during the process that delayed everything. There were about 5 major mistakes by Home Depot, incorrect measurements, wrong cabinets, and so forth. This made for a very frustrating installation. We were, however, very lucky to have some fantastic help in installing the cabinets. My cousins father in law does this for a living and was able to come and help us. He did such a wonderful job.

We decided to go with quartz for the counter tops, and I love it. Then we did butcher block on the island which is awesome!

The guy is coming today to hook up gas for the cooktop. I cannot wait to use that! Several more things still need to be done, backsplash, crown molding, painting the trim around the windows, and installing the faucet on the island sink. All of which will be done by Jonas. Okay maybe not everything, I'll probably get stuck caulking and painting the trim by the windows. Haha!

Here are a couple pictures for now, I'll take some more as we get more done. No sink pictures yet, because the dishes are not done and I don't want to do them tonight. (Don't criticize too harshly, I did work all day at the clinic.) Once this project is done I think we will be taking a breather for a while.

Starting the Kitchen

I know, I know! It's been a long time since my last post! Life is crazy around here! My new goal is to update my blog at least once a month!
So we have finally started on our kitchen renovation! Woohoo! This is going to be a big project but we are super excited about it! I had 4 contractors come out last Thursday for different things and the electrician is scheduled to come out this Thursday to put new lights in. So far, we have taken out the soffits and most of the upper cabinets. We also have taken out most of the wall between the kitchen and family room. It's so nice having that wall gone! We have ripped out a lot of the sheetrock on the ceiling. (And boy, my abs hurt today from doing it!) There was going to be a lot of patchwork so we talked with the sheetrock guy and he thought it would be easier to just replace it. Maybe he just wanted our money, not sure! HA!
In the process of our demo, so far I have almost had a heart attack from a toy snake that was on top of the fridge; found a wasps nest in the ceiling - luckily they were all dead; found lots of mouse turds - gross; and cut the phone line disconnecting our internet - oops!

Here are a few pics:



Before - I clearly didn't bother cleaning for the photo

The wall being removed



 

 

We also found this piece of linoleum flooring up here in the ceiling, interesting...

We did all this demo on Sunday, then Monday my cousin and I made applesauce with 130 pounds of apples! I'm pooped! You can't find anything in my house because we have stuff everywhere from what was in the cabinets, and floor won't stay clean because of all the dust, but at least we have home made applesauce! Yummy! Next up, new lighting!