Closing in on the kitchen

So it was a little bit of a circus making sure the painters weren't trampled by little Sal the plumber, the granite installation, appliance delivery, and aplliance installer, but all went well. Nothing is really finished, yet everything is in progress...like a working document I guess. Four men could barely lift the island and after some sawing and tweaking of the cabinets, gas line, and electrical box, most of the appliances are ready for yet one more return call from the hourly installer and his son (at a bargain 1/2 price! lucky us) Hopefully, it will all be worth it in the end-I can't wait for Mike to cook for me for the next 6 months!

the house Dec 30

As a matter of fact the house didn't look alot different, but one could tell, and smell, the prep work involved with scraping years of paint from every crevice and the patching of holes from 90 years of curtain wars, sanding of adhesive that used to hold plastic over the windows in the winter I presume, and the restaining of absolutely every piece of wooden trim around the house. Once we got back, we watched the painters transform the house into a bold palette of color--I almost don't want to show you, but I suppose I will give sneak peak! The green, aka Recycled Glass is in the little bedroom, and the BeesWax is in the living room and dining room! WOW, what a difference in color (and skill from the very polite yet careful painters)

1867

Yes, 1,867 miles we put on the car in one week! The holiday hussle began by escaping Chicago between nasty snow storms on Saturday morning, Dec 20th. We drove to Cinncinatti, the Jonesborough TN, and in to Charlotte. We saw lots of friends and family before returning to find out the house just wasn't ready for us to move in.
The drive from TN to NC was quite a nice, sunny adventure. We were mesmerized by the blue ridge mountains, or was that carsick? And a bit hungry too. All we could think about was passing a chick-fil-A-although we were quite starved, after about 3 hours, we drove right into a slammed restaurant for some chicken and waffle fries! First time we were able to coordinate this since we alsways go thru Charlotte on a Sunday when they are closed.
As for the family photo, don't mind us on our last night together whenI propped the camera up on a cookie tin to snap a picture (don't look at my giant head of hair-been having som eissues with that recently) before Mike and I ran out to make our last visits with friends. Everyone had a great time, and its always good to catch it on film.

Santa

Mike likes to go to McDonalds on Saturdays and I like Einstein. Luckily they are neighbors on the new side of Wheaton where we live. Well, this particular morning, we picked up my meal first and then went to MickeyDs. That will be the last time because this Santa was festive, mike was not, Santa didn't like that mike didn't want to take a picture and then continued to call him Bob. Mike was furious. I, however, took a photo and got a candycane!!! Baa Humbug.

Master bath

Maybe my looks will improve if I start spending more time in the bathroom primping in a combination of natural lighting, can lighting, and sconces installed around the mirrors. Why wouldn't I want to spend more time in here. It looks like a spa! I think the walls will be a french blue something (bluish grey.) That is a new palette of color for me and I look forward to the changes! Now the question is: do we paint our room a similar color or pick up a complement from the tiles? hummm.

Green grapes!

well, green grapes was the color we had originally painted in the pretty green bath and we are torn whether or not to do anything the same or mix it up a bit since everything is new & fresh. The glass tile was scraped off after it was installed backwards and then done correctly. can't wait to get in the guest bath when it is all finished! I've got a perfect piece of furniture in mind fo rmy new niche inside. A tall, mirrored armoire-mirrors are hot right now, and I haven't had a new, non potterybarn something in a long, long, time. See it at JCPenny.com--mom, what a perfect house warming gift (ship to store saves on the shipping charges!)

slate

the flooring is coming along. slate is arranged in the entry, aka mudroom, aka atlas's room. the trim boards are getting assembled too. Now I am truly torn though because where atlas's bed was supposed to go is now holding the old buffet that the Tv was on. (the remaining pieces of furniture are on the slate so the wood can be sanded and finished.) That piece of furniture fits absolutely perfectly there and now I don't want to move it--if we kept it there, it would require buying a new plasma for above the fireplace and right now, that is totally out of the question!

monday

HI
No new pictures for now. A lot should happen this week. More tile of course-the base in our bath and another wall in the guest bath. The slate flooring is being arranged too. Counters are being measured thursday and somehow the floor might be getting sanded and stained? Not sure about that. Most windows are trimmed-one left I think. Looks quite nice and I can imagine how much nicer once there is paint on the trim and the walls Close, but far....more later.

Atlas baby!

Mr. Comfy on the couch...

Little guy looked great! It was fun to see him and he was quite excited to see us! I think he is going to be rather sad and lonely though when he comes back-without Zoe, Bosley (his best bud), and Bruno, he will have no playmates and he will be bored all day long.

slowly progressing

Sorry I have been slow on the blog. We are making strides now. Tile, window trim, more tile is coming along. A few random pictures to saturate your palettes. OH GOODNESS! cabinets too! How could I forget that? WOW! we have the world's larget island in wheaton's skinniest house!

Today I will probably take more pictures and update over the weekend. My graduate project is just about done and then I will have all the time inthe world to keep you posted. Hopefully, I will have moved in by then too!