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!)