- 1 -
It. Is. Finished.
The final piece of our home restoration project is over and I am thrilled about our new kitchen.
Here is the before-ish picture (the original paint is the white-ish paint):
When we bought our beat up former rental I thought this process would be fun and exciting, now I realize that the fun and exciting part comes when you finish fixing it up! While it's been a ton of work I'm so glad we did it. I learned a lot, (like how to remove TWO layers of carpet, how to change electrical outlets, and how to survive in an AC free house (we do have a swamp cooler) until you can install ceiling fans), prayed a lot, (for patience and to not freak out over the little things... like the fact that our new oven does not fit in the island!!! The manufacture came out to look at it and admitted that it is a design flaw and they are trying to figure out a solution for us), and am extremely thankful to all those who helped make our house a home (including my husband, family, friends, and professionals).
Here is what we changed:
Here is the before-ish picture (the original paint is the white-ish paint):
When we bought our beat up former rental I thought this process would be fun and exciting, now I realize that the fun and exciting part comes when you finish fixing it up! While it's been a ton of work I'm so glad we did it. I learned a lot, (like how to remove TWO layers of carpet, how to change electrical outlets, and how to survive in an AC free house (we do have a swamp cooler) until you can install ceiling fans), prayed a lot, (for patience and to not freak out over the little things... like the fact that our new oven does not fit in the island!!! The manufacture came out to look at it and admitted that it is a design flaw and they are trying to figure out a solution for us), and am extremely thankful to all those who helped make our house a home (including my husband, family, friends, and professionals).
Here is what we changed:
- Painted the cabinets white. The house already had two types of cabinets and we had to restructure/fix some broken cabinets, which resulted in having three! Painting them all white makes the differences barely noticeable.
- Got a new sink and faucet. The old faucet leaked out the back, which resulted in mildewy caulk all along the back of the sink and a rusting sink.
- Replaced the counters. The old ones had many chips and stains on them.
- Added a backsplash, because it's beautiful.
- New stove! Our old one only had two functioning burners... and I couldn't get a replacement because the parts are no longer manufactured.
- The wall color. Whitish walls and white cabinets would have been a lot of white.
- The electrical outlets. None of them were up to code with GFI (I don't really know what that means) and most of them had reverse polarity issues (I don't really know what that means).
What we didn't change:
- The floors. I like them so much better now that they are not the same color as the cabinets!
- The hardware. I love the dark and light contrast on the cabinets.
- The fridge and dishwasher, hooray they still work! We did have to replace the fish tank line they used for the fridge water line, but you can't see that.
- The cabinets... kind of. Painting them white was way cheaper than getting new ones, even with the repairs that were needed. For example, the cabinets above the fridge actually didn't have a bottom. When the old owners bought a new fridge they must not have realized how much bigger the new fridge would be, so they just cut off the bottom of the cabinet over the fridge, removed the flooring under the fridge, and called it good. Expect the fridge was working overtime with no room to vent, so we put floors in and built a little box over the fridge.
- The lighting... kind of. We switched some light fixtures around in the house, as my husband hit his head on most of them because they were so low and misplaced.
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This week I have been working on a blog post for FOCUS.org on 30 dorm friendly bible study snacks. It was the perfect week to do it as I didn't have a full kitchen, so as I made many of the treats I knew they would work in a dorm setting. My kids were very grateful for this post idea because it meant that they got to be the taste testers from some yummy snacks.
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| Mini fruit pizzas: graham crackers, frosting, and fruit |
- 3 -
Yesterday I hit the one month until my due date mark! I feel like I've been pregnant forever, but I think most mom's feel that way.
- 4 -
I put together a post on how to paint saint dolls this week. It was easy to write because I've sent out a few emails with this info, so I just pulled it from my sent mail. In the future I can give people a link to the post instead! That's efficiency in my world.
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| Any guesses as to who this is? Don't cheat, try to figure it out before you click on the link! |
- 5 -
Bean, my choleric daughter, began working on her Christmas presents this week. What?! I'm pretty go get em when it comes to planning, but this girl got that gene super charged. Starting on her presents was all her idea.
She started cross stitching with yarn in a diagonal pattern, and has now moved on to the real deal. This means I've been threading a lot of string and tying a lot of knots this week.
- 6 -
I usually have a folding laundry show that I default to while accomplishing this mundane task... it motivates me to actually do it. Lately I've been re-watching Lark Rise to Candleford. It's like 40 hours, and it's like so great. I forgot how great it was, which is awesome because this also means that I have forgotten how some of the story lines end, so it's like watching it all over again. You should really watch the series if you haven't. Did I mention it's all on youtube?
- 7 -
I need baby book recommendations. Please comment below. I haven't changed a diaper (unless you count the ones I've done while watching my friends' kids), been sleep deprived, nursed a baby, or dealt with poop and spit up stains in several years. I'm sure most of it will come back to me, but my baby brain can't handle a pile of books, so what are the essentials to review? Please comment below.
