Hmm...these photos don't really show the true color..its a true burnt orange/brown.. and in these photos it looks more red..oh well, I'll try again maybe in better lighting.. and it was decided that we will repaint the ceiling white..it should open it up.. and now we also need a new light for over the dining area.. something smaller then the original Pottery Barn one I bought. Oh and some bad news.. bad storm last n ight and we have a small leak in the roof where the rest of the chimney is... sigh, its neverending.. new roof I guess might be the answer:-(

Gong Hay Fat Choy! (happy new year)... So Don painted our kitchen on Friday...lOVE the color - sienna clay but he painted our ceiling which I didn't want:-( Oh well, Brian says he will repaint and we have to put up crown and repaint that too so it'll be okay. Brian also sanded down the round kitchen table and painted that white for the kitchen so that should be nice. I ordered some foam for the seat cushions. off ebay for 50% what JoAnne fabrics wanted...once that comes we'll start getting those ready.. lets see..what else...Went to Ikea and found a stainless steel panel for behind teh stove..a whopping 18bucks! Yippee..the Kobe dealers wanted 80 for it so what a find. Got to love Ikea. thats about it.. the granite guys came on friday and took measurements.. and wanted extra money for the edging I wanted so that was unexpected..oh well, knew there was a catch somewhere.. "free granite".. live and learn. and some problems with the cabinets.. so they will come out and inspect..actualy lots of problems with the cabinets..quality isn't there which is not typical of Huntwood so lucky us. Sounds like they will take care of it but that means more time and more construction... so maybe in another 3 weeks we'll have our kitchen back? haha.... Pictures of painted kitchen to come.. This remodeling this is harder then I thought.. We will love the new kitchen but boy its tough ... this weekend, we did clean up some which is making the house feel better..not as dusty and much more organized.. and plus the kitchen is now free for us to walk through so we can use the backdoor which is nice for Stanley. This weekend, I went with some girls to the stampathon..made 15 cards ..then next weekend, Wai and I take off for San Francisco and Eva will come down on Saturday. Its Elaine's 30th! We have dinner plans and a big party at some nightclub..then Sunday we head to a friend of hers to watch the superbowl/BBQ then back to Seattle Sunday night..should be a blast.

So things are still moving.. Don called last night and he has moved the gas line for the range and today he is installing the disposal, cutting holes for the faucet and putting on a coat of paint.. I guess he plans to paint for us too so I have to go find a color that we like. - it will be orange..just not sure which shade of orange yet.. I hope he can wait until this weekend. I also just spoke with the granite installer and he is coming out tomorrow to take a template.. finally..geez, its hard to get these guys going.. and thats about it. nothing else new... I also found some fabric I like in the Cottage Living magazine but unfortunately its mail order only so this weekend, we are headed to Calico Corners to see if I can find something..I"m thinking something brownish/blue to tie the dining room into the kitchen..

well its been a week since the cabinets were installed and no progress:-( and I'm getting a little restless.. The contractors have been by but not sure what if anything they've done. Today I need to get in touch with the granite people so they can come out and take a template then 2 more weeks for that...this is week 5 now..geez, so much for the 3 week to 6 week completion..now its looking like 7.. I want my kitchen back:-(.. tired of eating out.. we've had all we can take I think for a looong time.. oh well.. Today I am headed off to an all day employment conference then we're meeting up with Wai and Brandon for dinner at Scotts in Edmonds.. poor Stanley can't come of course so guess he'll have to stay home again.

the crown and pulls/knobs are up and it looks AWESOME!! What a difference it made:-) Its finally starting to look like a kitchen again! the plan is to add the same moulding around the entire room - Brian will be doing that so we can save some money on labor..

and some photos of the cabinets - from Huntwood.. white painted maple shaker.....tomorrow they are coming back to put up the pantry, crown, and knobs/pulls:-) exciting.. Half finished bench seat..tops lift up for more storage..woohoo! must purchase more dishes to fill it!
Brian checking things out.. I paid what for what?!*(&(*&
pantry will go in the empty space where the heat vent is.. finally a pantry!
with kitchen table...looks fine..feels a little tight around that corner but oh well, got to do what we can with the small space.. some bench cushions and we are set

No pictures yet of cabinets but 2 of Stanley:-) He's tripled in size since we got him!

New pictures to come but Cabinets were installed on Friday. They look good..still getting used to the new layout.. the cabinets go a little further towards the door then it did before so feels just a tad weird.. . Oh and some of the doors were a little banged up but its covered under warranty so when its all done they will come out, inventory and replace. the benchseat was also built..just some more finishing work.. oh and got the crown moulding this weekend from Home Depot.. so that will be installed as well. So all is well for now.. but we are at least 3 weeks away from wrapping this thing up:-( oh well.. .. what else did I do..oh yes, changed my mind on the faucet..again..went from the Delta Waterfall to this new Kohler Forte faucet..just seemed more substantial to me:-)

Yay I think we're finally "almost" there.. the drywall is all up and mudded.. the pocket door is in.. So tomorrow is cabinet install.. and the bin pulls came in today. Very happy with the quality. Not bad for an online purchase. Some photos:

the "temporary kitchen".. lovely.. our neighbors probably think we're nuts
Sheetrock going up..

Whats left of the chimney.. the vent flue... it got moved..where I have no idea right now. Oh well.
looking good..

we had no hot water last night..yep and it was really crappy.. Don did something to our hot water tank but apparently it is now fixed:-) So far so good.. last night the drywall went up and the pocket door installed.. today is mudding I think and moving of the vent... soon it'll be over.. I'm hoping.. pics to come..

So I want to walk up to Don and tell him "I told you so"! Cabinets were to be installed yesterday but they asked for 1 more day so then it was suppose to be today and late last night I talked to Mark and now its Friday.. I KNEW it! Theres no way he will be able to finish drywall, the vent, the door, and the chimney in 1 day for the cabinet installers.. oh well, guess it might work out better anyhow.. the dishwasher arrives on Friday and I plan to be home so its alright.. Like my friend said, when they say 3 weeks, count in 6.. and we are now in week 3.. 6 is looking very likely..haha..

I'm over the dusty house part..the hard part now is surviving 3 more weeks of fast food/take outs.. yuck.. for someone who eats fast food once a month if that, this is not very good.. I'm thinking something healthy tonight.. maybe some sushi.. greasy food just does not sound appealing right now..

Posted by Brian...

So....the chimney came down. Amazingly enough, visually it's added alot to the space. Although we haven't loaded some of the pictures, they have also hung sheetrock on the ceiling and installed the can lights......

I was a little concerned when they started removing the brickwork, just because they started from the bottom and worked up......I would've thought they should have tackled the job from the top down.....I mean....what's keeping the bricks above on the second floor and the roof from coming down through to the kitchen, but then again I'm not the Contractor.

Cabinets are scheduled to be installed in two days, so the pocket door and all of the electrical, plus the remaining sheetrock needs to be completed prior to that.

Next update will be when the cabinets are installed :) CROSS YOUR FINGERS :)

Quick Update - just talked to Don and he is there and working..chimney he said is coming down, the drywall is going up.. the vent and the can lights also going up..woohoo.. Mark also called and he is on his way to get the trash out of our yard.. FINALLY.. now Stanley can have his backyard back.. oh and they plan to work all weekend.. talk about cutting it close.. Yippeee!! crossing my fingers that all goes well from here.. when I get home tongiht there will be holes in our home.. haha.. got to watch out and make sure the dog doesn't fall through them...

Its Friday! and the contractors have not done a thing:-( I don't see how he will be able to get everything done by Monday for the cabinets.. I have a feeling I'll be receiving a call shortly to see if we can hold off on the cabinet install.. We have 3 days to go and the chimney is STILL up.. oh well.. Good news is the replacement cabinet has been ordered and will be in next Wednesday. This weekend, we need to head back to Global to finalize our granite choice and I am headed to CTown tonight to pick up the vent - they finally got some in stock.. Oh and dishwasher is ordered..on its way from Whirlpool for delivery next Friday.. so we are set.. now if we could just get the contractors going...

Hmm..getting a little worried..the contractors decided to take 4 days off.. Chimney is still up so no progress. He has to have everything ready to go by Monday so the cabinet guy can do his install.. oh well, I'm assuming they know what they're doing. Oh called Steve, no problemo, he will order us a new cabinet, should be arriving shortly. Today I ordered the knobs/pulls.. what a dilemna that was..satin nickel , antique pewter, satin black nickel..sigh, so many choices, not enough cabinets.. but in the end, went with the satin nickel.. Oh and theres an ebay auction ending today at 5pm for the faucet..crossing my fingers I get a deal. If not then its back to Home Depot we go...

Oh and we are now thinking of a new washer/dryer.. the Whirlpool Duet.. HUGE.. I can fit Stanley (our dog) in there! tumble tumble..he may like that. But we will hold off the temptations and wait until summer.. must pay for remodel, must pay for remodel....

Last thing is to figure out what to do about the bench seats.. pillows, cushions, what color.. maybe I will ask Brian:-) If he doesn't divorce me by the end of this I should be thanking my lucky stars!

and more photos....

Happy New Year!! What a way to start off 2006.. So this Saturday I went to Ctown to check out the Pacific hoods...nice power for the price and I was ready to buy but then the most horrible thing happened..I turned around and saw the Kobe hoods.. twice the price and twice as pretty..sigh, I'm a sucker for shiny stainless steel so the Kobe hood it is.. oops, already blew budget so what the heck right?:-) Poor Brian, I think he's about had it with me.. do you like this sink or that sink, the shiny faucet or the matte faucet... His response "whichever you like".. Oh and did an inventory on the cabinets and what do you know.. there was a mistake so now I have to go fight it out with the cabinet people.. I'm crossing my fingers that we won't have to shell out more money to get this fixed..we'll know by Tuesday when Global opens and I can talk to Steve the cabinet guy.

The Kobe hood... pics don't do this thing justice..18 gauge stainless seamless construction, 800CFM..now thats power..suck up anything:-) and 2 of those lovely grease cups to catch all that gunk.. who knew I would get so excited over a range hood...

So finally some kitchen photos to share.. so far, the kitchen has been demoed and the only thing left is the chimney which is suppose to come down sometime this week..then electrical, drywall and we should be set for cabinet install on 1/9.. after that 2 more weeks and granite should be ready to install as well

The BEFORE Photos:

Notice there is no vent.. so everytime we cook, it sets off the fire alarm.. not to mention I can't use the right hand burners since it heats up the fridge

Got to love the tiles..