THE STORY CONTINUES - OUR HOUSE BECOMES A HOME!!

As every DIYer knows, there are good days and there are not-so-good days.  Fortunately, this remodel has provided more good than the other. Not-so-good days include getting estimates for the new cabinets and counter top - wow! Have prices gone up  in the past 10 years! The good day came when we were able to come to a win-win deal with a local distributor. He really took the time to sit with me and configure the cabinets the best way to fit our wants and needs. He also didn't give me too much of a hard time when I complained about a couple of the soft-close drawers not closing on their own and his visit discovered I had just put too big of a platter in one and too heavy items in another! Oops!

His encouragement to visit the company where we were getting our quartz counter top was right on. We were thinking of a couple different patterns/color and ended up with a nice compromise that really gives the kitchen an updated look. Below is a view of the peninsula section. It's a little darker in person, but this gives you an idea of the pattern.

Another "good grief" day came when Tom got to the house after his brother and nephew had left for home to see the new frig sitting in its planned position in the kitchen. I got a call at work telling me we would have to get a different refrigerator because this one was just too big! "It sticks out about 2 feet into the kitchen! You don't even notice the rest of the kitchen because all you see is the $#&#@@ refrigerator!" etc, etc. LOL!! All I could do is tell him I would come by after work and see what he was talking about. This is a shot of the frig sitting in the dining room while we worked on the kitchen.

We shopped for hours when looking for the kitchen appliances and did a lot of R&D. We wanted the stainless finish and matching frig, dishwasher, ovens and microwave if possible. By watching for sales and shopping both Lowe's and Home Depot, we were able to get good deals on all Whirlpool appliances. I really liked the french-door, bottom freezer style for the frig. Gives you lots of storage. We didn't need an in-door water/ice dispenser, so saved a couple hundred dollars there.  The frig didn't look that big sitting in the dining room and the kitchen looked huge without the frig in it.  Once I walked into the kitchen with the frig in place, I had to agree it did sort of stick out like a sore thumb- a pretty thumb, but sore one just the same. After studying the problem and doing some measuring, we came up with the perfect solution! There is a half-bath just behind where the frig sits. (no pictures) Since we are putting in a 3/4 bath just feet away, there was no reason to have 3 bathrooms with 3 toilets in the house. So, we are going to move the new commode from the 1/2 both to the 3/4 bath, and cut and frame in an opening for the frig to slide back into that area. It only has to go back 6 inches, which leaves the rest of that room for a nice pantry! Voila'!! Problem solved and a much better arrangement for all! Plus, I only have 2 toilets to clean!!

Another "hmmmmm" day was when I came by to clean and saw where Tom's brother had put the boxes for the light fixtures over the peninsula. Turns out His interpretation of centering and Mine were a little different. But he we talked it out and he graciously came around to my way of thinking and moved them, patching the sheetrock along the way. I'm not always a "see the final picture in my mind" kind of person. I need to put it on paper and measure it out. Which turned out to be a good thing, because where Steve had placed them would have run into problems with the cabinet door opening out. So, now they are "centered" from the cabinets to the end of the peninsula and set back just enough for a free swing of the door. Whew!!

Here's a picture of them. The frosted glass matches the light over the sink and they given plenty of light for Tom's internet cruising and coffee in the morning!


Enough of the kitchen! The living and dining rooms didn't need much except the popcorn ceiling removed and the walls painted.

 

The floors already had decent laminate on them from the previous owners. We just had to patch the upper corner of the living room floor where they had butted the laminate up to a corner cupboard. Fortunately, there was a box of the flooring left in the house, so Tom's son Bryan took some of the already laid pieces out and pieced some new planks and you can't tell there was anything missing. Yay!

I don't know about you, but I don't decorate for a living. And I didn't have to come up with wall colors for our last house since it was mostly logs and wood. So, deciding on a color palette for this place was a challenge for me. Fortunately, my new friend Laurie turned me onto an old blog she has used in the past - http://www.stopandeattheroses.com/2011/08/perfect-paint-palette.html. The blogger has some great advice and I used her palette as a starting point for my color scheme. I chose Softened Green for the kitchen and hallway and will probably put it in the pantry as well. It's a nice shade and goes well with the metal, wood and stone in the kitchen. And one day, we'll get the whole kitchen painted! Seems Steve felt the only walls that needed painted were the ones where the cabinets were going. The rest is just primed for now. We'll get it done this spring when it's warm enough to open the doors for fresh air. Even though the color is a Sherwin Williams brand, I was able to get it at Lowe's for about $10/gallon cheaper and in a low VOC Valspar paint.  I went with Valspar's Softer Tan for the main walls in the living, dining, stairwell and upper hallway. It's a warm neutral that changes with the different lighting. For the accent walls in the dining, living and stairwell, I chose Antique Oak. It's almost a cinnamony mocha and goes great with the flooring in the dining and living room areas as well as the rustic cherry vinyl planks on the stairs. The picture on the right above gives you an idea plus the stairwell picture below.

It's a nice compliment to the cedar as well, I think.

Upstair bedrooms got a sort of silvery blue color from Valspar called Stillness. Very peaceful.

Whew! I'm so glad That portion of the remodel is done with! So stressful!!



I have a confession to make. Some of my friends and co-workers have heard this, but here it goes. Even though there was all this wonderful stuff going on inside the house, whenever I would drive up to it, I would get so depressed! I couldn't figure out why. Was it the idea of moving - understandably; leaving my old neighbors; the partially removed white vinyl siding; the tall weeds and the back yard? What? As it turned out, it wasn't any of those things to any great degree. What it was, was the mess on the front porch and the porch itself!! The porch was covered with pieces of sheetrock, siding, cardboard boxes, nails, styrofoam - just a real, depressing mess! And the back deck wasn't much better! So, what to do? It was still a construction site, but it had to be at a place in time when some clean-up was in order. So, that's what I did. I got garbage bags and a broom and dustpan and cleaned and swept and turned the front porch into a more welcoming, albeit still kind of ugly, entrance.

I was even able to set up an area for the guys to eat outside if they wanted.



 There was still some tools and other construction items on both porches, but people could walk around safely now!

  

After we moved in, I added our deck furniture and some plants which really helped. Just wasn't digging the red trim and white pickets though and those front steps were just plain ugly, and dangerous!


     



Tom to the rescue! First, a nice, new front door! Picture is kind of blurry, but you can make it out.

Then, he tore off the old railing and moved and widened the steps. The new railing is made of cedar 2x2 spindles.  Below is a picture of the finished porch after the lattice was installed (taken from the back deck), the posts and upper trim painted and the new siding was put up and painted - oh, yeah, more stressful color decision!! 

I'll leave you here for today.  Just want to add that we are so grateful to Steve Steinbock and his 2 sons, Bryan Steinbock and Trina Lantau for all their help during this project. There is much more to do, but they got us in and made my life so much easier. THANK YOU!!

Have a wonderful week whether you're in Sunny Shelton or Snowy Virginia, or somewhere in between. 

Jackie