So Close, Yet So...

...you know the saying. Below are some pictures of the kitchen...

It's looking great, we are really pleased, it just isn't finished yet. We are on day who knows, of month...well, we started on May 3. So it's been awhile. We thought (almost for sure) it would be done by Saturday for Natalie's birthday party. It was really looking like it until Jesus got really, really sick. It's looking like he has salmonella poisoning from a pepper, so he is at home getting well. Our best wishes and prayers are with him, he is so very sick. It really does put the kitchen into perspective. While we really, really want it finished, it really isn't SO important after all. Health and family are so much more important, we definitely can wait. We are going ahead with Natalie's party, it's about her - not how the house looks, what kind of food we're having, or any of that. We will have simple foods - nothing that requires cooking or dishwashing. Lucky for us, our family and friends love us for us. And while I am certainly going to do my best to make the house as "normal" (whatever that means) as possible, I am not going to stress over what is beyond my control. Thankfully, the only one who is held to Martha Stewart standards is Martha Stewart herself. And Martha I am not. -cara

The remaining TO-DO list:

• walls & ceiling painted
• trim, cabinets & windows painted
• glass in transom
• transom trimmed out
  
• doors & drawers finished & painted
• shelves installed in cabinets
• backsplash tiled
• floor tiled
• brackets & hardware installed
• electrical- lights, outlets, switches installed
• MOVE IN!!!!!
  

Good News/Bad News

Whew, it has been a long week here and it isn't getting any shorter...blech. One of the techs at our shop has been on vacation this week and BOY has it been busy! We certainly miss him and appreciate all the hard work he does for us. Some weeks are a little slow and maybe a little quiet even, and we can get things all caught up. Not this week though! There have been service calls out the wazoo, a gazillion things in the shop and Natalie and I have been hanging at the shop all week to help. Definitely some long days, we are all ready for this week to wind down.

We came home to some good excitement today - not only did the crown molding come in, but the tin for the ceiling came in as well. The brackets, bin pulls, and faucet came to the office today making it seem like everything was really pulling together. Also, the countertop people faxed us our written quote to be signed so they could start cutting the stone. We were so excited and felt like things were really picking up speed!

Until...the bottom fell out.

• The beautiful, wide crown molding ended up being TOO wide and will have to go back. It is really nice, but it will make our coffers seem really tiny. I don't know what we were thinking.
  

• The lighting that we ordered at the same time, from the same place as the brackets & bin pulls won't even ship out until sometime next week.

• And for the real owie - the countertops will not be installed until the last week of this month.

OUCH & boohoo. So we will just keep on like we have been keeping on and maybe things will fall into place and happen a little sooner than we think. That's the best shot at optimism I can make tonight. I must say reality bites!

Oh, for some pictures...this is about where we are now, just imagine it with a little more trim detail added.

Moving Right Along...

Not sure what day we are at, but it's somewhere around week 9 or so. Things are really starting to move along. On Tuesday, it will be two weeks since they measured for the countertops, so those should be ready anytime in the next week. We are waiting on our faucet, crown molding, lighting, and tin for the ceiling. The cabinet hardware is on it's way, as well as the brackets to hold up the bar. We are actually farther along than this, but Chris really wants to keep our posting chronological and not miss any steps, so we will just have to get better at posting regularly! More tomorrow...
-Cara

Kitchen: Day ???

We are actually farther ahead than this but I thought I'd keep things linear. This was the day that the sheet rock was getting mudded. The guy on the stilts is actually Jesus's brother who does this professionally in Oklahoma for a builder. This is actually the second sheet rock job in the house Jesus has enlisted his services for. All our guys know this house pretty intimately by now. More to come

-chris

Oh, and the fence got finished too :)

These pics don't do it justice, I just ran out and snapped them real quick. The fence has already come in very handy at keeping the little monkey out of the street. We are going to paint the fence white (actually it's a white stain that's used since the lumber is treated pine). This can't happen until the wood has dried sufficiently. The fence guys recommended us wait a season before we paint. That would mean that we'd be able to do this in the fall and avoid an Arkansas August of painting fun.


Above is the completed front gate. Try to picture shrubs and flowers (that Cara will plant) in the areas on either side of the gate.


This is the gate on the driveway.


And this is the gate going to the back yard before the posts got cut to the appropriate length. It smells a lot better than the chain link gate that was there before :)

-chris

The gutters did get finished.

I just haven't had time to update lately. The gutter guys did a great job, all the issues are taken care of and they have been paid.


It seems that those concrete troughs you put under the downspout are all made of plastic now :(
The local Lowe's and Home Despot only have the plastic ones. I guess I'll have to check with some nurseries or landscape places to see if they have the ones made of concrete (or something besides plastic). They just look cheap and weigh about 8oz. (example below)

-chris