Sneak Peak

The granite went in on Monday and we (I) have been putting everything back in the cabinets slowly all week. The contractors came back this morning to repatch the ceiling because we weren't happy with the way it came out and Brad still needs to install the microwave over the stove. Once both these things are done, I'll post some more detailed pic's and of course in honor of one of my favorite TV channels, HGTV (Home and Garden TV), I'll be posting the before and after shots :-)

Kitchen Update

Brad and I spent our entire weekend painting the kitchen and are now exhausted. I certainly did not inherit any of my dad's musical genes, but I did inherit his skill of painting. A few things I learned about Brad this weekend while painting:

1. He thinks it's perfectly normal to paint wearing Ugg slippers, not thinking he would get any paint on them (which he did of course). I am baffled at the lack of common sense! Here he is, VP of a company putting together multi million dollar deals but clearly is lacking in the common sense department. Baffled!
2. He can actually paint. All these years he has been claiming that he can't. Now, I don't know if he would qualify to work for my dad, but given a roller and instructions, he helped get the job done!
3. He will do anything to get OUT of painting, like sit with my friend Maura for an hour and teach her how to use itunes and load songs onto her new ipod shuffle.

Next pictures I post on Tuesday, the project will be complete. The granite is being installed tomorrow and the plumber is coming on Tuesday! We're all (including Winston) looking forward to having our kitchen back soon!

A few more pics of Owen

I coudn't not post these adorable pics of this cute little guy. Yesterday I had a company holiday and I enjoyed my day off to the fullest. I could really get used to not working. It was a lot more fun than when I was not working in Europe because I have all of my favorite peop's here to visit. Owen's first walk with his mommy and Aunt Christy. We had very warm weather of 73 degrees yesterday and decided to take advantage of it.

Aunt Christy wanted to put Owen in her bucket bag and take him home with her, but the mommy said no :-(

Here he is....

On Thursday, I met little Owen and he is even cuter in person! I did bring my camera with me to the hospital, but neglected to double check to make sure I had the battery, so I wasn't able to take any pic's. I instead borrowed the below pics from my sister in law, since many of you were inquiring about the little guy! Both Jill and Owen are doing great and are now at home.

A Valentine Baby!

This morning at 2:42, my friend Jill gave birth to a little boy, Owen. I am chomping at the bit to go and see them both, but am waiting for Jill to get some rest. I'll post some pics after my visit! Congratulations Jill and Gregg!

The "Crown"

The crown molding was completed yesterday when I got home from a business trip. We are really happy with the way things turned out and the guys are almost finished with everything. We had to order a new valance for over the window because the original that we ordered was 3 inches short... not sure how that happened, but no big deal. And the best part is, the house will be getting cleaned tomorrow afternoon and all of the tools and dust will be gone!

Day 6 with a minor setback

Day 6 of the kitchen remodel started off with a minor set back... the project manager (myself) woke up at 6am with that nasty stomach bug that seems to be making its way around. It really knocked me off my feet and I literally couldn't move all day. I just lied in bed in between getting sick. Luckily, Brad was able to work from home today and cater to me. When I finally mustered up the energy to walk downstairs at 6pm, this is what I saw. I was ecstatic to see all of the appliances moved back in place and all of the base cabinets were in. Tomorrow, we're hoping they'll put up all of the crown molding, prime the ceiling and finish the beadboard. I'm not sure how realistic this is, but we'll hope for the best. The granite company is coming out to measure on Wednesday and we should have the entire project complete by a week from Wednesday.

Day 5: The dust is settling....

Day 5 has quickly approached and everything is covered in dust from the sheetrock. At first, it didn't bother me, but now I am counting down the days until our cleaning lady and her crew come and make the entire first floor shine like the top of the Chrysler Building (one of my favorite quotes from the movie Annie!) The wall cabinets were all put it on Thursday and the guys are putting in the base cabinets as I type this. Our project is finally starting to resemble a kitchen again.

For the past 3 years, I have been using the wall cabinet to the left of the fridge for my pantry cabinet, as that was all we had.

Now, I can not WAIT to stock up my new pantry cabinet with roll out shelves with a surplus of food simply because I can! And... less trips to the supermarket.

We're Making Progress...

It may not look like much progress was made in the past 2 days, but we ran into some snags.... so things took a little longer to get rolling than anticpated. Luckily pipes were rerouted and vents were heightened, so nothing our contractor couldn't handle. My response for when he tells me there may be an issue has consistently been, "Don't worry Mike, I know you'll figure it out!" Accomplishments in 2 days:

1. New lighting in hallway and kitchen: It's funny how everyone told me you will never stick to your original budget for the kitchen. I was determined to do this renovation exactly at my magic number of what I was willing to spend. Then.... the electricians show up and you begin to think "What if we did recessed lighting in the hallway? Oh... and what if we did under cabinet lighting? Etc....
2. Sheetrock is up on the kitchen ceiling.

Doesn't seem like much, but because of the little snags, things were off to a slow start. The electricians are here now to finish putting in the recessed lighting now that the sheetrock is up and we should have our pantry cabinet and over the fridge cabinet up today. Fingers crossed!

Mission Soffit Removal Accomplished

On Saturday afternoon, Brad removed all 3 soffits from the kitchen. Winston and I went out to the dog park by our house and then went downtown for a nice stroll by the water and when we came home, Brad had all the soffits out. My mother in law stopped by to check out our progress and between the 3 of us, we had the mess cleaned up in no time. Our part of the remodel is complete. The remainder of the work is now in the hands of our contractor and electrician.... who earily showed up 15 min. early this morning..... see what I mean? Everything seems to be going too seamlessly. Fingers crossed we're only without a kitchen for 2 weeks or so.... Stay tuned!

"Project Kitchen Demolition" Starring Brad Villa

Well, day 1 of our kitchen demolition project is over and I don't want to jinx anything, but it went very smoothly. When we bought our house 2 1/2 years ago, we decided that if we were going to stay for more than a few years, we would definitely need to redo the kitchen. We recently received a phone call from a friend in the neighborhood whose house we covet. She wanted to give us first dibs at her house, since they are seriously contemplating moving. Because of the housing market and the economy now, it is not in our best interest to move any time soon, so we took the plunge and actually ordered cabinets, granite and found a contractor and electrician. Brad decided that he wanted to do the demolition himself..... he actually wanted to do the entire project himself, but thankfully I talked him out of it. Our friend Jason supplied the tools below and his help and they had all cabinets and countertops out in 3 hours. Goodbye to the laminate countertops and cabinets from the 80's!!!!

The soffits and the hideous light fixture will be gone tomorrow too!!!

My friends Lauren and Maura came over to help.... they decided to supervise from the couch!

Winston pretending to be sick to get out of helping (he actually did get really sick from vacuuming all of the lint on the floor with his mouth and nose)

9pm and all the cabinets are out.

We finished just in time to catch Friday Night Lights and serve our "helpers" wine in red Solo cups. Aah, the good 'ol college days!