Kitchen Progress

Everyday new details are added to the kitchen.  Vinnie has worked hard on the pride and joy of this house and I really have no idea where we'd be without him.  He is so creative and so FAST at just making beautiful things out of nothing!  Also he is so knowledgeable.  If we don't know how to do something, or have a question about where to start or proceed with a project, Vinnie knows exactly what to do. And he listens.  This is the biggest thing I love about him that I have learned many other construction guys lack.  You go over the details and hash everything out multiple times and you come back 10 minutes later and they're doing something completely different.  But not our beloved Vinnie.  I could sing his praises all day long and our kitchen reflects how wonderful his attention to detail is.

So, without further delay - here are pictures to catch you up on what's happened in our kitchen since my last update.

First - please remember that this is what the room looked like in May:

And here's where we are now:

Granite being installed in August:

A close-up of our Verde Butterfly granite:

Trying to make final decisions on the paint colors...

We went with Behr Laurel Mist (that green) for all the walls in the kitchen, living room, and back hallway, and Behr Castle Path (reduced by 25%) for the ceiling in the living room, with an even lighter version of it for the kitchen ceiling.

Putting up the back-splash: 2in x 2in slate with a stone border.

Tying the kitchen together with finishing details.  If you look closely you will notice above the cabinets where he added the border of our stone back-splash below the crown molding for added height, color, and to tie everything together.  All the molding was taped up at this point as we tried to decide a color for it.

Back-splash behind the stove top.  

Vinnie had the tin piece "just lying around" and we've since polyurethaned in to darken it and take out the extra colors caused by oils on it.  I love it there!

Vinnie putting all the grout in the back-splash:

Another one of Vinnie working - nailing all the trim into place:

If you notice on these last few pictures the beams are darker with a richer color.  These were the original beams used to build the house - they were originally 24ft long here, spanning the width of the house.  Vinnie cut them and sistered two of each together when we decided to add the vaulted ceiling in the kitchen.  All that was done to them for the color was sanding them down (to remove the big imperfections and coloration differences) and adding a coat of polyurethane.  I love the character they add to the kitchen!  Another great, great idea by Vinnie.

And this is what it all looked like a few day ago!  More details have since been finished, but it is really getting close to being done!

View down the back hallway so you can see the stained-glass windows

Floors and Walls

SO, SO much has happened to the house since our last update!  I keep thinking of the few faithful readers I have on here and feeling guilty that I haven't updated you, but honestly I just haven't had the time or energy.  Anywhooo - now you're going to get a rush of posts as I try to catch up while I'm on break from school.

This last week flooring was the goal of our lives.  We bought almost an entire pallet of slate shipped straight from India to our local flooring store and made available to us on sale for $0.99/ sq foot.  A steal of a deal. Hence the reason we bought so much.  It was hellish to carry all of that from the truck, up one flight of stairs, and into the house.  My arms and legs were shaking after only half of it was in the house and we were both sore the next couple days.  I will be happy if I never ever have to carry that much slate in my life again.

We found some great tile guys on Craigslist and they laid it last week.  We now have slate in the back hallway, our pantry, our master bathroom, the other back bathroom, and our laundry room.  About 360 sq ft of slate.

Our slate.  

Half-empty pallet in the back of the truck:

First few pieces laid in the back hallway.  It was such a dusty ordeal!

All the slate laid and looking dirty from the thin set.  

(I spent about two hours squatting/hands and knees cleaning off the tiles so I could seal the slate before grouting it)

My husband, the stone mason.  Chipping away some high edges so we can open and close our back door

Two coats of semi-gloss sealer for all the slate:

Finished product:

We picked a different porcelain tile for the front bathroom.  I love it.  The shower surround is matching porcelain with a travertine tile design border.  We found the tile at a great price and it ended up being only slightly more expensive than using a fiberglass shower surround.  We're pretty happy because we love this look so much more than the fiberglass we're used to and were expecting to use.

Shower and floor laid: filling in with grout.

I forgot to go back and get another picture that evening with it all done.  I'll show you next week once we get some paint on the walls and a toilet in (we're so close to having a working bathroom over there!)

The big decision this week is what tile to use in our master shower.  We're trying to figure out how to use a different type of tile (we think slate would get gross in a shower - it's so rough and porous - even after sealing it) to use that will tie in well with the slate on the floor.  Hoping we can come to a decision by Tuesday so that tile work can get finished and we can start hooking all the plumbing up!

Feast or Famine

After weeks & months of problems with our phones missing calls and text messages, and several hours of time spent deliberating on the phone, Verizon agreed to send us new phones for free.  Last week.

When the FedEx lady drove right past my house on Monday, and we still had no phones, I was irritated.  Then my sister in Minneapolis called to ask why she just received a phone for Scott.  Huh?!

After another angry call, Verizon said they would overnight a new batch to us and profusely apologized, requesting that Erica refuse any more packages that may come from them this week.

Tuesday morning this is what arrived here:

Do you think they would notice if we kept them all?! .