KITCHEN!!!!!

Here it is; the finished product! (minus toe-kicks, and trim).

It rather looks like a kitchen!

Unfortunately we weren't able to have the kitchen finished prior to Mare's arrival and the weather played a truly evil role in preventing a lot of work from being done (the countertop couldn't be brought over in the -20 weather because the extreme changes of temperature may have caused the arborite to pop off of the base). Brad put in some of the door fronts and installed our over the range microwave over the weekend which has made the kitchen useable (and REALLY nice!). Then yesterday we had a wonderful treat and Ben and Nick came and installed our countertop! YAY!!!!!! Ben did an amazing job making this custom countertop and it looks fantastic in the house! Next step is to have the plumber come in and finish up with hooking up the sink and dishwasher....then we will officially have a working kitchen!!

A weekend of scrapbooking? Yes, please!!

Mare left yesterday after a spending just shy of a week in Saskatchewan visiting with me. I picked her up from the airport on Wednesday evening and we spent the night in the city to avoid a long drive home at night and to get in some good shopping the next morning. We came to town on Thursday and proceded to do some serious relaxing in the form of hours of Big Bang Theory episodes, a night watching Emma, a surprise pedicure and three days of scrapbooking! A perfect long weekend, if I do say so myself!

Cupboards, IN!

Things are moving along nicely and we now all of the cupboards installed! The pantry isn't in yet, but that'll come last I believe. Next is the countertop which Ben has been kind enough to offer to make for us, but the aborite won't be in until tomorrow or Tuesday. Then the plumbing, and the microwave, and by george, I think we'll hvae a new kitchen! WOOT! (Oh, and the light fixture is new, too)

FINALLY, a picture or two!

Our floor is in and the walls have received their final coat of paint (Brad has conceded that I am a better painter than he). SOoooo, here are the photos!

Teaser

The floor is in and looks AMAZING!! And the first coat of paint is on the walls. But I'm not posting pictures until the second coat is done. So you're going to have to wait with bated breath!

A coat of paint makes me smile

As part of the renovations to the kitchen, we (I) decided it would be a great idea to paint one of the living room walls. I had the brilliant idea after painting the spare room downstairs that it would be really amazing to have a feature wall in the living room in a nice sage-type green. So I picked up a slew of samples and stared at them for months, finally deciding on the colour last week. The wall was going to require a coat of paint with the creation of the new pass-through anyway, so I decided to take the opportunity to change things up. One coat is done and the next will come tomorrow, but I couldn't wait to post the pictures.

(yes, that is an inflatable minion from Despicable Me peeking in from the scrapbooking room through the hall. I bought the blue ray and there was the option of getting a minion too for the same price! I'd have been crazy NOT to!)

Who Put that Giant Hole in Jess's Kitchen Wall?

Our new kitchen has been sitting in the basement in pieces since November when IKEA was having a sale on kitchen cabinets. We ordered (me), received (Brad), counted (Brad) and assembled (Brad) the cabinets and have been waiting for a slightly more opportune time to demolish our kitchen. Why renovate the kitchen? This is why:(Ewwwwwwwwwww)

So we debated on colours (finally I vetoed with the "you've liked the other colours I picked, just go with it" card) and flooring and counter top, etc and Brad decided to take the week off to get cracking on this fairly major project. Here is our (Brad's) progress so far:

Demolition begins!

Waiting for the plumber to come and fix this monstrosity of old plumbing. (fyi, we needed it plumbed in for a DISHWASHER!!! WOOOOOOOO!!!!)

On Tuesday Ben and Brad started working on the ginormous pass-through we planned for the wall between the kitchen and living room.

Pass-through complete on Wednesday!

Wall is plumbed in for all that we need, electrical work is done, and the wall has been insulated, vapour-barriered, drywalled, and mudded! Also, the carpet *cough*gross*cough*cough* has been removed and the floor is ready for a new sub-floor.
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And this, is how IKEA tells us our final product will look (minus counter tops and sink, etc)! Getting excited!