We painted.

We went to Lowes to grab a new blade for our table saw and ended up with a test pot of paint.  The test pot led to another trip to Lowes a few hours later to get a larger can of paint.  Then, we painted.

I took these photos before the paint was completely dry so it's a looking a little brown-ish.  Once it dries, it will lean more towards gray.

We also got around to moving the outlet over the stove and then hung the final two wall cabinets.  The outlet was moved into the cabinet so that our yet-to-be installed microwave can plug into that.  We're holding off on installing the microwave because the pre-existing vent in the wall doesn't line up with the vent in the microwave.  We want to see if we can work with what we have before making any new holes in our walls and the side of our house.  We'd prefer it to vent outside but, if push comes to shove, the microwave also has a recirculating feature so we nix the outdoor vent if necessary.

The un-painted portion of the wall will be covered in white tile.  I want everything to look as bright and clean as possible so I figure that counter-to-ceiling tile will add some shine and bounce light around the room.  I opted for a darker paint to keep the room from feeling too cold - and since the painted wall has three full windows, I wasn't worried about it being too dark.

We will be adding filler on top of the tall pantry cabinet below so I didn't bother painting above it and risk dripping on my favorite cabinet!

There isn't too much else we can do until the countertops are installed so this next week might be spent filling our cabinets and starting to restore some sort of order around this house!

patiently waiting.

Our countertops were templated yesterday morning and they advised we'll have them installed within the next two weeks.  While we're not-so-patiently waiting for them to arrive, we'll move forward with finishing up the smaller details.  Our hope is that the only major thing to do after the countertops will be to install the backsplash and open shelving.

Last night we got around to the tall, narrow pantry cabinets.  Below is a dark shot from my phone.  Having all this extra storage space makes me unreasonably excited!  Just these cabinets alone will hold more items than the previous version of our kitchen.  We still have to add the toe kick to these cabinets (as well as all the others) and the top will have some crown to fill the gap between it and the ceiling.  There is also a side panel that will be attached to this cabinet to make it look completely built in but we are holding off on installing that until we finalize our crown moulding plan.  Installing the side panel after we paint the walls will also be a smart decision!

To do before arrival of countertops:

• move outlet over the stove
• install final upper cabinet
• finish the rough plumbing for the sink & dishwasher
• finish installing water line to the fridge
• install toe-kicks under all cabinets
• install filler/crown moulding on top of all cabinets
• install under-cabinet lighting
• paint the small portions of wall space not covered by cabinets and/or backsplash
• paint window trim over the sink and touch up any other trim
• hang light over the sink
• move all of our food, pots, pans, etc. back into the kitchen (and out of all the random parts of the house where they have lived for the past month!)

While there is plenty to keep us busy, we are anxious to get our countertops installed.  Not having a kitchen sink and lack of work space have been the toughest part of this entire renovation!

lighten up.

After looking at the shadows across the room, you should conclude that we spent all afternoon painting and fixing up the trim...

There are still some touch-ups to finish but I don't want to look at a paintbrush for at least a few more weeks.  We didn't even touch the three windows that face the front yard since we plan to replace them all in the spring.

We also "forgot" to paint the windows over the sink.  We'll install trim around that window after the counters are in but we also need to paint the frames.  To be honest, it just looked like a pain in the butt to remove the hardware and also paint the outside portion so we're saving that for a day when we aren't quite so exhausted (and hopefully a day when James actually takes a nap).

We also finished the trim around the doorway shown below.  We re-framed this opening so it was about 3inches narrower to accommodate the set of drawers just to it's left...

The tall pantry cabinet to the right of the picture above isn't fully installed yet. Once it is, it will be raised off the ground a few inches and will also have moulding to "connect" it to the ceiling.

Ooooh, I should also add that we turned on our heated floors for the first time today.  The instructions said not to turn it on for a week after installation to allow everything to set properly.  Basically, I'm SO glad we decided on the heated floors.  It's heavenly - and despite it being a very cold day, we had to turn it off after an hour because it was getting a little too toasty for us to work in there!

no more heavy lifting!

We have several tasks left to complete but most of the major steps are behind us. Well, the counters still need to be installed but that is being left to the professionals so we're finally breathing easy! With the exception of two uppers, we finished installing all cabinets this weekend. They are all level and completely secure in their final resting place. We exchanged the 24" base cabinet that we originally bought to go to the right of the stove for one that was only 21" wide. The larger cabinet fit but left zero wiggle room on either side of the stove and dishwasher - and we concluded that might cause issues down the line. We now have plenty of room to slide these appliances out if we should ever need to - and can hide the small gaps with filler pieces if we think they are too obvious. So, we're beyond grateful that we've made it this far without any major hiccups! Our counters are being templated Monday morning and then we can expect them to be installed in another week or two. While anxiously waiting, we will work several other finishing touches including those shown in the pics below. (I'll try to get some better pictures with my camera tomorrow!)

As mentioned before, we needed to make the opening to our living/dining room a few inches narrower in order to fit the other set of base drawers.  We re-framed that side of the doorway this morning and then patched the walls.  We will put the moulding back in place once we get a chance to sand and fill a few other little spots and you'd never know we tweaked the opening.  We will add a backsplash between all cabinets as well as the entire wall where the open shelves will be - but that has to wait until after the counters are in. We also finished building the tall, narrow pantry cabinets that will go on the opposite side of the kitchen. (You can see the side of them in the right side of the picture below.)

Despite the nasty walls and the other un-finished touches, we are loving it so far!  I expect to love it even more once we can stop washing dishes in our bathtub.

G'night. xo