March Madness - March 22 and 23

Turns out, having the basketball tournament going on all day every day makes a perfect backdrop for doing stuff 'round here.  Oh, and my Wildcats won a biggie over the weekend, so coming this Friday - SHOWDOWN TIME - UK plays Louisville!!  Go Big Blue!  There is also a (very slim) chance that my Wildcats and CW's Gators could end up playing each other in the final game of the tournament.  That would be fun and cause for celebration since at least 50% of us would be really happy! 

OK, back to this project.  We are still waiting on the cabinet doors to get here.  Waiting very patiently, I might add.  In the meantime, we're working our way through the 42 million little things that need to be done or finished.  42 million may be a bit of an exaggeration but it is quite a long list of things.

Touch up painting on the walls.  Check!

Re-installation of light above kitchen sink.  Check! (Trim and touchup cabinet paint on the list still.)

Grout tile of fireplace surround and backsplash.  Check!

Finish installation of spice/vinegar racks in pantry.  Check!

Finish installation of shelves in cabinets in Laundry Room.  Check!

Installation of cutting board organizer. Check!

Stay tuned for more exciting updates!

Magnetism and some baseboards - March 17 and 18

You may recall the crazy that used to be on our fridge - magnets and postcards and stuff everywhere.  Well in our new, streamlined world, we're going to try to keep the crazy to a minimum - at least as far as stuff on the fridge goes.  But we have magnets from lots of places we've been and quite the assortment of postcards that we love.  I mean how many people do you know with postcards of a Buddah from Hong Kong, dead Lenin from Russia, the family castle in Scotland, a fat dog, and parents in Hawaii with parrots on their shoulders?  Who wouldn't want to see those every day?  So we copied our friends JB and TB who have a magnet wall in their home office...magnetic paint - who knew?

Not done yet, I still have two boxes labeled "Treasures" in the garage to unpack, so I will be finding magnets for a while, I'm pretty sure...

One for the "Done" category - baseboards in the hall bathroom happened!  The old tile trim came out when the old tile floors came out, and honestly, this was one of the jobs we were dreading the most...and it was one of the easiest to actually do.  Now I know baseboards aren't generally very exciting but for this moment in time, they really are.  Here's one of the baseboards...it's beautiful, isn't it?!

Weekend Update - March 15 and 16

Welcome back!  Actually, welcome back to all of us!  It's been a whirlwind few weeks in our world - I got to be on 12 airplanes in 14 days so we didn't get much done in the 
world-o-reno until this past weekend.  In the meantime on top of all the work travel, we did take a quick trip to meet up with some friends in NYC and Jersey City - met Baby Perfection and celebrated LRT's big 5-0 - including a trip to watch a taping of the Jimmy Fallon show (thus the title of today's post - get it?).  After all the travels, had a busy week with folks here from corporate, so last week flew by as well...Anyway, it is very very good to be home and to get some things done this weekend!

First, the weather was flat out gorgeous.  This is the my favorite time of year here (I'll say that until it is hot enough to float in the pool, and then that will be my favorite time of year...then fall will happen and that will be my favorite time of year...you get the picture).  Right after time change, the days seem so very long, the weather is perfect - warm in the days and cool at night and this weekend was the best of all of that.  Such a welcome change from the cold, cold winter.  So seeing how this is all about the big kitchen renovation project, and seeing how veggies out of the garden will be prepared in the kitchen, it all ties in!  On Saturday, we started rehabbing the yard.  I thought we might get it all done but nope, there is no way.  Too much damage from the hard freezes this winter, so we cleaned up some of the dead stuff and also worked on planting this summer's garden.  A few weeks ago, CW built new raised beds for me and this weekend, we amended the soil and put the new stuff in!  Yay!!!  Action shots:

Meanwhile, a friend, MSH - he of the van who hauled my oven cabinet home from the ReStore - lent us his skills and trimmed a piece of filler we needed to go between two cabinets.  He also donated a piece of closet hanging rod to the cause, and he stopped by on Saturday to bring those things to us and make sure they fit.  And of course, they do!  Pics of those soon...and once more, getting by with a little help from our friends!

Basketball was also on on Saturday, so we timed the end of our yard work with the start of important games.  While those were on, we re-hung the peg board in the laundry room and I puttered at putting stuff back on it.  I'm actually going to try to keep it this organized too...and yes, I know my copper pots need to be polished.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon, we made shelves for one of the laundry room cabinets and unpacked those boxes.  We no longer have to go to the garage to find ziploc bags!!!  It's the little things I tell ya!  And notice the fabulous hanging rod between the two cabinets - that's the piece that got dropped off on Saturday.  We also got all the stuff in the garage organized and ready to go to the ReStore or Goodwill, so that will happen this week too.

And then one very special touch, my friend MDR made a beautiful quilt for me for Christmas not knowing that we were getting ready to start this reno.  She knows, though, that I don't do beige, so the quilt definitely went toward color!  Since we had chosen colors in the teals and reds families, I had been a bit worried about what blanket to have on the couch as the garnet and gold afghan would no longer work...and then this happened!  I've been saving it until the construction was over so it wouldn't get soiled and decided to get it out this weekend...isn't it beautiful?! It's folded up so you can't see the whole thing but you get the idea...

 
What's next?  Well, we need to grout the backsplash and fireplace tile and clean and recaulk around the kitchen window and rehang those blinds and hang the light over the sink and finish the baseboards in the hall bathroom and touch up paint on the cabinets and a few walls...and hopefully next week our new cabinet doors will be delivered...and we need to figure out a mantle and a bookshelf for my cookbooks, and paint a door with magnetic paint for all of our magnets and and and...and so, it will be a while yet but we're getting there!!!

Let there be tile! - March 1 and 2

No, not floor tile, sillies!  Backsplash and fireplace surround tile!  It's been in the garage for about two months and finally, finally!!!!, it has been installed.  And we love it even more than we thought we would!

Backsplash:

We have to finish cleaning out the old caulk around the window and reseal and recaulk it, so ignore the yukky part!

Fireplace surround:

 

Not the best pictures, a lot of glare, sorry 'bout that.  I'm in a hurry to get these posted though so I can go get on an airplane and go to the Frozen Tundra, aka, Minnesota.  Probably won't be a lot of action on the ol' blog this week due to travel, but we'll see...