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!