A Little Update

Life in Limbo.  That is us lately.

To and fro, back and forth.  One of these days we will all live under the same roof again.  In the meantime, our cars are guzzling gas and Home Depot is making bank off of us.

So here is the update on us and our house (since that is what we've been up to mostly)...

As you can see, I think we've finally got the kitchen figured out.

It was no easy task.  We shopped around and number crunched until we were so sick and tired of cabinets. We were trying to decide between:

- Keeping old cabinets, sanding them, and adding to them.

- Getting in-stock pre-made cabinets from Home Depot, and staining them.

or

- Buying all brand new custom made cabinets

We ended up going with the last option, because, as it may surprise you, it was pretty much the same price.  By the time you move things around, spend time sanding, buy supplies, add to cabinets, and whatever else...it only came in slightly under what it would cost to just buy all new cabinets.  AND we ended up getting our custom cabinets from Home Depot at an amazing price - as they currently have some great specials.  Basically, we are getting the high-end cabinets with all the fancy extras (hardware and crown molding, no-slam doors, etc.) at the same price as the basic cheap cabinets.

It did take a lot of thinking and creativity to get the final kitchen design to work.  The kitchen is long and narrow, so it was hard to do anything BUT a peninsula (we tried an island and it didn't work).  But as you can see from the photo above, we've created a LOT more working space within the kitchen, there won't be anymore overhanging cabinets so that opens up the space a lot more too.  Some other changes we are doing:

- Moving oven to the wall

- Adding microwave above oven (there was no m/w before)

- Replacing old sink with new black composite sink (scratch resistant and basically indestructable)

- Adding hard wood floors

- Putting in all new stainless steel appliances

- Adding granite countertops

- Adding row of cabinets against wall over oven

- Made peninsula 3.5' X 7.5' (huge) for 4 bar stools.

- Taking out sliding glass door and replacing with single glass door and small window.

In other parts of the house, Will has started to de-construct the entry hall closet. :)

It will eventually be gone so that we can actually have an entry way.  The stairs will eventually be wrought-iron.

I've been looking for LIGHTING inspiration for my music studio.  These all look so wonderful....wow if we only had the space.  But my studio is the size of a bedroom, so it definitely won't look like any of these.  But I do love the wood work and lighting and colors in these.  I have ordered my light for the room, but I don't have a photo of it.  I'll post pictures as it progresses.

Other than that, the boys are doing well.  Taylor's newest word (he only knows about 4 words) is "snack", and he says it absolutely perfectly enunciated.  It's funny.  Of all the words a kid his age should be saying, he chooses that one.  Incredible.  And he knows what it means too.

Preston has been an amazing big brother.  Today while I spent about 2 hours in Home Depot with them, Preston pushed Taylor around in a shopping cart in the appliance section, and took care of him.  I would just hear them giggling in the distance (so I always knew where they were), and everyone kept commenting on what well-behaved children I had.  I was a proud mamma.

I have had my 3rd dental visit in 2 weeks.  I think our insurance and us are probably officially funding my dentist's vacations this year.  And Advil has been my friend lately.  Blah.  (3 fillings, 1 crown, and a deep clean).

Anyway, things are good, just busy and stressful.  But it's a GOOD stressful.  So yep- that's us lately.