Labor Day....and boy did we work

We are enjoying the long weekend, well kinda. We always seem to find something to do around our house, and since the weather has been so nice, we decided to spend some time working on our front yard. We added new lights, and a nice retention wall with new mulch. It feels good to spruce up the front yard. Eli even helped, well a little.

The walls have a new coat of paint

Thanks to Brandon....we have a professional paint job in our kitchen. It took us a while to get prepared for the finishing touches like the paint, but we are getting there. The color turned out great, as "mark twain house bark" graces our walls in the kitchen.

The New microwave

We needed to get a new microwave for over our stove. And we were able to get it all situated into place during the week. It is really nice, large and shinny! It really helps to make the big empty space above the stove look complete. There is still some electrical work to be done to get it working fully, but we are getting there.

The Back splash begins

It was a very exciting day when my package of tiles came in the mail. Mike is doing a great job of getting the back splash up. It is a bit hard to install this type of mosaic tile, but things are moving along great. We should be getting the grout in within the next few days. I love it!

Some finishing touches on the island

We got the trim up on the island and countertop this weekend. Mike's cousin, Brandon, is a professional painter and helped us get the oak trim ready for island. Having some of the finishing touches done on the island really helps make things look pulled together. Mike had a great time getting to use all of his favorite tools, the BFH, automatic nail gun, and saw! I spent some time cleaning and sealing the granite and grout this week and we are on our way to a completed kitchen. Even Eli likes the island.

Happy 4th of July...in our new Kitchen

Happy Independence Day. 125 Cotton Ave hosted our families 4th of July celebration in our new kitchen. We had beautiful weather and everyone loved the new kitchen, especially the island. It was so nice to see everyone around the island, with a place to sit and plenty or room for all the food. Pictured here from left to right is: Brandon, Emily, Ashley, Rebecca, Emily, Brett, Kriston, Adison, Alicia, Alyssa and Mike C. We hope everyone else had a great day and we can't wait for more folks to come and visit.

And we have a place to sit!

After being tired of standing at the island to eat, we decided to purchase our stools for our island. My mom actually found these super cheap in Jacksonville. Thanks Mom! Rebecca helped me put them all together and here we have it. They look great and are nice and comfy too.

And if there wasn't already enough lights, the island gets some too

Mike is most proud of our abundance of lights in our new kitchen. Our old kitchen had 2 very small lights that were horrible to work with. But, thanks to Mike, we now have a total of 13 new lights. I love the fixture we bought for over the island. It really looks nice. We also got a cool and spiffy new light for over the sink too. Now if I can only get all the switches right!

The Island gets a new face

The day finally arrived when we had a few hours to get the granite tile put on the island. It looks so nice and really adds to the finished look of the kitchen. We are moving closer everyday to a finished kitchen. We can't wait to have everyone over to see how beautiful things look.

And the winner is....

Mark Twain House Bark! I had to survey a number of people before I could decide on the paint color for the walls. But, this is the winner. It is a great blend of brown and a kind of mauve color. It compliments the cabinets, counter top and back splash really nicely. The walls aren't painted yet, but at least I know what color I will paint them when I get to that stage.

Wonderful things to come....the back splash!!

I have done a lot of work trying to find the perfect back splash for my wonderful new kitchen. I first saw the glass mosaic tiles that I wanted in my kitchen at a store with my mom. They were European and VERY expensive. So, I knew I had to be creative and do some work to find the perfect look. I found a wonderful website www.susanjablonmosaics.com and was able to create my own recipe for my glass mosaic back splash. It took me 3 attempts of sample sheets, but I finally did it. I placed the order yesterday and should have them in about a week! It is going to be amazing!

Laying the tile on the new floor

If you remember from previous blog entries, we had to build up the new floor from the old laundry room. It is finally time to lay the ceramic tiles to match the rest of the existing kitchen floor. Things are moving along great and we should have the island set in place by the end of the week and that surfaced with the granite as well! Yippee.

Final touches on the sink

The sink is in, and man it looks and works great! It is sooooo big and it is so nice to have somewhere to wash dishes, fill Eli water bowl and wash my hands. The sink we purchased from Ikea only has a single hole for the faucet, so we had to make sure and buy a faucet that has a sprayer all in one. We love this style and it works great. Mike got the dishwasher all hooked up and the garbage disposal too. This will be our first garbage disposal and dishwasher, so we are like kids in a candy store right now, we can hardly stand being so hip!

Knobs and Hardware for the cabinets

It took me a few trips to different home improvement stores to find my hardware, but I did it. Mike and I actually agreed on these knobs and handles for our cabinets...which is a big surprise! We love the contrast of the black and wood. They are great and I even helped to put them on!

The most beautiful counter tops!

Mike started laying the granite counter tops, and they look amazing! The color is called, Galaxy Black, and it gives the kitchen a great look. The counter top is all put down, grouted and sealed. I can't wait to see the island and counter all covered in this beautiful granite.

The Tale of the Ginormous Sink

So the story begins with a trip to Ikea in Bollingbrook. We get there to discover they don't actually have any of our Dosmjo double bowl sinks in stock at their store, but luckily, Schaumburg does. So north on 355 we head to Schaumburg and are able to load the ridiculously heavy sink into my car. Mike and I forget that we have to then drive to St Charles to pick up my sister, Rebecca, and there is virtually no room in the car for a third person. Mike graciously squeezes between the door and the sink and we make our way home. They following day we have Emily, Brett, and Rebecca over for dinner and Mike and Bret place the sink on the sink base. Getting the sink base prepared for this huge sink was a feat in itself, but we managed. Unfortunately, the sink corner chips and we now have to go back to Ikea to replace. Mike has to load the over 100 pound sink back into his car to drive back to Ikea after work the following day. He does so without problems and gets home, unloads the sink and takes it out of the box. Guess what???? BROKEN a huge crack that ran down the entire bowl. So, on Friday, Mike took yet another trip to Schaumburg to get a third attempt at a sink for my dream kitchen. I made him open the box at the store to check, and thankfully, it is perfect. So, after the counter is installed, I will have a beautiful, ginormous sink!

Cabinets are up!!!

It is such a relief to finally have somewhere to put all my stuff! It has been a long time since I have had a place to put anything. Still no counter, but the materials were purchased yesterday, so we should have one soon! Mike and my brother Tyson did all the work installing the cabinets over Memorial Day weekend. Thanks to all my mom's hard work with the design and layout, everything looks great and I can't wait to have a fully functioning kitchen!

Mud and Tape O My

Today is the day....our friend from church does remodeling work and came to our rescue to mud and tape our new walls and ceiling. We can't wait to paint...and put up cabinets, and back splash.

Inspired by Spring...and boredom

Our backyard has a lovely bush in the corner of the lot but that's about it. So, since my day is pretty boring while I am not working...I thought I would beautify the back yard with some pretty flowers. I spent a long time on this project and thankfully my friend Tracy came to help me out. Eli spent the day outside with me and chewed up multiple plastic plant containers. I think the final look is well worth the dirty nails and achy knees. The Garden is also in full bloom and has already given us some really yummy produce. This strange groundcover has come up and taken over the entire garden, but it keeps the weeds out, so I am happy!

A Fence for Eli...and boy does he LOVE it!

When we bought our house we already had half the yard fenced, but for a beagle like Eli....he needs all 4 sides to stay close to home. So, as the warmer days are upon us....the fence project began. We invited a few InterVarsity Christian Fellowship college students out to help Mike start the fence project. We aren't fully done yet...as you can see...we just have the fence leaning up against the posts right now..but almost. Eli can hardly wait!

Look Eli...Insulation and new drywall, Oh my!!

The East wall of our kitchen received a nice shield of insulation and new drywall today. Keith and the boys helped Mike get it mostly done and as you can see Eli was a lot of help too...!!

Eli finds a nice place to sit!

After the trees were removed last summer, and the roots removed, all that is left is mulch and dirt. Of course Eli thought this would be the best place to lay and enjoy the weather. New grass should be coming up soon and that new tree will be planted some day!

The great cabinet hunt

And the winner is....Maple Cider! Obviously the cabinets in your kitchen make such a huge impact on the overall look. I met my mom, and sister, Rebecca, in Arthur, IL to search a huge warehouse for my cabinets. After only a mere 5 hours, I finally made my purchase on these beautiful cabinets. I can't wait for them to be up and actually have dishes in them!

Look...my new lights.

I know this isn't all that exciting...but to actually have nice lighting in my kitchen is quite the thrill. Before I was operating on only 2 little lights, so to have a new ceiling with tons of can lamps is really fun.

New Ceiling and new walls..

We're getting closer!....See, the new ceiling and even a new wall. Still lots of taping and mudding to do on the new drywall...but hey having it up has cut down the dust considerably...lol. Mike has been amazing as he spends every free moment getting one step closer to a beautiful new kitchen.

Where's my food!!??

With all the chaos and rearranging of "stuff", Eli was quite confused to where his water and food went. I think he was trying to send us a message?? Standing on top of his mat, (where his food normally is)...subtle!

Dust....dust and more dust

So...this is what a total and complete mess looks like! We had blown insulation in our attic and since we needed to put in a new ceiling in our "new" kitchen....down needed to come the insulation. And...down it came. My brother, Tyson, did a lot of the work for us while climbing into the attic and using the shop vac to get a lot of the mess. Mike's cousin, Brandon, helped with the rest. Basically, my house is going to have a nice dust film for a while!

Meet the Tankless Water Heater

In order for us to make room for our kitchen plans, we needed to get all appliances on one wall. So, the new furnace, the washer and dryer and lastly, the oh so small, tankless water heater. This nifty invention is super cool. No large tank to take up floor space, but instead endless hot water in this little unit. This has been a great investment for us and this remodeling project. Mike thinks he can take hour long showers now....but besides that, it is a definite plus.

Building up the floor

The dividing wall came down in less than a few hours and the next big task was building up the floor in the old laundry room. It reminds me of that game where you try to get the little marble through the maze and into the hole. This was a big project with a lot of cutting and balancing! Eli even learned that he loved to eat saw dust, not sure why, but he does.

NO...that's not a brick wall!

So, the furnace is in...and Mike could hardly wait to get his BFH and start tearing down walls. Destruction and Mike go hand in hand. If you look closely...there was lovely "brick" wallpaper behind many layers of paint and wallpaper. Not a real brick wall, but I always wanted to live in a brick house.

Out with the Monster and In with the New

Before we could do anything with our new kitchen design we had to get rid of the monster furnace and get a modern day one and central air conditioning...can't wait to use that. This allowed us to take out the dividing wall between the laundry room and existing kitchen space. It is soooooo nice! Not only to have the additional space for the remodeling project, but also to have a normal, functioning furnace and the luxury of central air. Starting with the new furnace was truly the start of our kitchen remodeling adventures....We did this major task in the middle of November.

The Early Days...of Kitchen Remodeling

Cute right...no, not Mike, the kitchen. The paint on the walls, cabinets and ceiling provided us with this look, after taking down ivy border, blue sticky flooring and painting super dark cabinets, a crisp white that is. It is nice...but we have higher hopes for our kitchen remodeling plans. Now, this is where the true homeowner test will be determined.

And there were trunks

After a long day and lots of pine needles and limbs....all that was left were the two trunks. Since we have gotten them completely removed and will be putting in a new tree this spring. Maybe we can get it done before Earth Day!

Making Room for That Little House

The two huge towering pine trees in our front yard sadly came down to make room for our not so huge house. Since we have a mere rectangle of a house...the large trees didn't help our image on the block stand out. It was a lot of work and only about 100 degrees out the day the tress came down, but what a difference it made to our overall look!

The New Windows

Aren't they pretty....and not to mention much more efficient. All new Pella windows. Mike did all the installation himself, with a lot of help from my family. And...the shutters too....so nice.

Our House...let the fun begin

We did it...our first house. Welcome to 125 Cotton Ave. located in lovely, Dekalb, Illinois. When we bought our quaint home from Mike's Grandma, everything was white. So, the first project was painting...Gray it was (after all, it is Mike's favorite color and all!)