The kitchen ....

After re-modeling our kitchen 6 years ago, I never thought

I would ever have to live without a kitchen again

I never wanted to either

but here we are.....have no kitchen!

the pipe under that carries the hot water burst.

thankfully we were home at the time

I cannot imagine if we had not been considering how fast it flooded

This happened back in September and they dried the floors out

but then we all agreed it was best to let everything settled down

and see if the buckling of the floor would settle down

and it did in some spots, but not all over

So now we are starting the repairs

and being without a kitchen again is no fun at all
they have to sand the floors in not only the kitchen, but also the
dining room, back hallway and the 1/2 bath
there was damage to the cabinet that holds the sink so that
will be replaced. Also damage to the kick plates around the 
bottom of the cabinets.

first we had to clean out the kitchen, just stuff on the counters,

pictures off of the wall

so bare....

the people came on Friday to remove all of the furniture, they are

storing that offsite

they also prepped the space for the floor sanders

the plumber also came and unhooked the plumbing and removed

the toilet in the 1/2 bathroom

Our living room became our make shift kitchen

the microwave and of course our coffee bar!

what a mess and oh hey, there's my new Christmas tree

after this picture we did bring in the folding table and put 

everything on that

all sealed up...I sure hope it works on

keeping the dust out

the white cabinets look so funny with that blue

tape all over them but that is supposed to keep the dust out

TV all taped up

and then 15 minutes after they left this happened

hahaha

I'm typing this up on Sunday and it is now laying on the floor

the floor people come on Monday morning so they will hang it

back up

Just hanging out in the temporary kitchen

this is the cabinet that was damaged by the hot water

these nice young men came on Saturday to remove the granite

My big sink was one of my most favorite things in our re-model

now she's resting there on the cabinet floor.....

granite gone!

so the timeline is sand the floors on Monday

Stain them on Tuesday

a coat of poly on Wed, Thursday and Friday

then I believe on Monday put it all back together again!!

I survived 7 weeks with no kitchen so I'll be 

able to get through this....just a pain! haha

later.....

Kitchen flood ....

We had a pipe under our kitchen sink come undone

and it gushed and spewed HOT water

Lucky for us it happened while we were home

I cannot imagine the damage had we not been there

as our kitchen and part of the dining room flooded

in just minutes!!

Johnny was trying so hard to turn the water off under the sink

but the water was so hot he couldn't get under there

he ran to the garage and turned the hot water heater

off and that shut down the water.

but at that point, water was everywhere

We grabbed every towel we had to sop up the water

what a mess

and I really feel bad even complaining because it

is NOTHING compared to what people

in Texas and Florida are dealing with

Our insurance was great and sent the company out
right away to dry out our kitchen
we had 14 fans and a big dehumidifier in our
kitchen for 4 days. Man oh man, it was LOUD
and the fans are on non-stop

the dogs were very confused by all of this

and by the end of the 4 days, they were ok standing

around them and letting the air blow on them....haha

We are very lucky to have great homeowners insurance

that will cover everything, except the $500 deductible.

so now we have to have our kitchen, dining room, back hallway,
and half bathroom floors sanded, stained and 3 coats of poly
They also have to replace all of the kick plates
on the kitchen cabinets. And the cabinet that the kitchen
sink is in has to be replaced. I pray the granite does not
get messed up when they slide that cabinet out

oh boy, a week with no kitchen = no fun

later.....

Granola ....

I love to eat granola as a snack

but I don't eat processed food and grains anymore so

I needed to find a recipe that was grain free

This one fit the bill.......and it's so good

• 1 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
• 1 cup macadamia nuts, finely chopped ( with macadamia nuts at $7.99 a lb. I chose to use raw cashews instead)
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup fresh dates, diced ( I did not use these simply because I didn't have any. When I make this again, I'm going to use raisins instead)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine almonds, coconut flakes, nuts and fruit in a bowl.

Whisk together oil, honey and cinnamon

Pour oil-honey mixture over nuts and fruit, and mix

Spread onto a single layer on lightly oiled baking sheet

Bake for one hour at 275 degrees, stirring every 15 minutes to prevent burning.

Another thing I will do different is not add the cranberries until halfway through the cooking. Because they got a little too hard, almost burnt.

And I totally forgot to take a picture so a post without a picture...tsk tsk!!

later.......



Red bar stools ....

Our kitchen re-model was a 1 1/2 years ago......and I'm

just now getting my bar stools for the island

 

I've known all along that I wanted red stools

and had planned on buying them from the same company

that we had our table and chairs made by

but dang....they went out of business. Which is really

too bad, they were great to work with and sold only

solid wood furniture.

 

So I had to start searching for a company that not only sold

solid wood but one that could get me the red finish

 

I found one, read reviews and they seemed fine to deal with

So I ordered my stools on Feb 22nd

they told me 3 to 4 weeks for the custom finish

 

and week by week went by and no stools

And Johnny kept telling me that he thought I had been ripped off

once in awhile they would answer my emails

always promising a shipping date or tracking number

but I never received those........so I was beginning to think I

had lost my money on this deal.

 

And then the other day, May 9th, my stools finally arrived!!

 

aren't they beautiful.....

 

 

I love them!!

 

later......



Table and chairs ....

I can't remember if I posted the new table and chairs for the kitchen

but I'm posting again!!

I went to so many furniture stores looking for what I wanted

I wanted a black table, one that would go 3 different sizes

and I wanted solid wood

Well, after searching everywhere I found out that furniture stores

don't carry much solid wood furniture

So I decided to go to the unfinished furniture store and I was

very happy to find out their furniture IS solid wood

and not only that, I could pretty much design my own furniture

we picked out our table top, the table legs

the backs to the chairs and the legs

and then picked out the finish

because it is custom made and has a factory finish on it

it was going to take about 6 weeks to get it in

but that was fine with me......

and this table goes 4 lengths

60", 82", 102" and 120"

more than enough for all of us!!!

and yes, that's plastic still on the chair cushions! haha

I have now bought the scotchguard, I just need to find the time to apply it

I couldn't be happier with this set. And knew that I wanted to get the

bar stools from the same store but in red. Then the other day I received

a card in the mail that they are going out of business so I'm not sure I can

still order those. I'm going to stop by there sometime soon and find out.

and that's too bad about them going out of business...they have great

furniture, good prices and are nice people to deal with.

later.........



The Blacksplash ...

The backsplash for the new kitchen was the hardest

thing to pick out

There are so many pretty colors, different patterns, different

materials....ceramic, stone, glass...the choices are endless

And I was just so confused on how to work with the

with the granite and it being so busy.

But I researched a lot on the internet, read a lot of designer

blogs and then consulted with the tile people.

And what I learned was that you can only have one "star" of

the kitchen.....it can be the counter or the backsplash

but not both. And the granite was def the star of our

kitchen so I knew I had to be more subtle in the backsplash. I had

been thinking white all along but then my sister Kandi mentioned doing it in black to break up the white from the upper and lower cabinets.

And I def did not want the subway tile. I love it but it's everywhere you go and I was afraid over time I would grow tired of it. So I went with the basic 4 inch ceramic tile in black but turned it so we had the diamond pattern and then added the one inch tile with a pattern in the brushed nickel like the hardware on the cabinets. I think it turned out beautiful. I say it is the jewelry of the kitchen!!

so here ya go........BEFORE.......

and AFTER.......

the only thing left now is the new furniture and it

should be in this week!!

later.......



Backsplash ...

We went to see Elton John last night
first time we have ever seen him in concert and wow, great show
he is such a huge talent
they would zoom in on the piano and his fingers just seem to glide across and
play such beautiful music....great show!
Well worth the ridiculous price...haha

and now, back to the kitchen.....I'm sure folks are tired of hearing
it but we're getting close...
I've been having a really hard time trying to come up

with a backsplash for our new kitchen

I had thought all along that I wanted the rectangular glass

tiles in an assortment of colors....white, gray, black, stainless steel

but now that the kitchen is put together and I can

see it all, I'm just not sure

And I don't want to get something up and then in a couple of years

be tired of it. Don't think Johnny boy would appreciate me

asking for a new backsplash...haha!

Last Sunday Lynne and I were out shopping and decided to stop

in one of the townhomes in Short Pump Village....the open house

and there it was, in that kitchen that I saw the backsplash

that I want!!

It was done in the large ceramic tiles and laid out in a

diamond pattern...and the tiles were black!

My sister had suggested doing black to break up the white upper

and lower cabinets but I just kept seeing black subway tile

and wasn't really loving that.

But this idea, I'm loving!!

So now I need to get Johnny over there to see it

Dumb me didn't take a picture but really I think he needs to

see it in person

Hopefully, this is the one!!

later.....

More kitchen re-model stuff ...

We finally got the kitchen painted

I had thought of painting it silver or a very pale gray but after holding

up paint swatches and looking at them on the wall, I decided

that it made the kitchen look a little too industrial

I needed to add some warmth to the room

So I went with a very pale yellow

and it looks beautiful

Now I need the "pop" of color

Heading out this weekend to look for fabric for the 5 windows

I really want something with red, yellow and black

I've had stripes in the kitchen for quite awhile so I would

love to find a floral pattern.

here's some pics of the paint job

the chair rail is still missing......

we're getting there and we're loving it!

later.....

Kitchen re-model ... part 22

they finished enough so that we could use our kitchen

during the Christmas holiday

we still have some trim work to do

and still need to paint

but I have asked the contractor to please wait until

I go back to work on Jan 3rd.

We also did not pick out a backsplash for 2 reasons...

one...there's too many to choose from!

and two....I just really needed to see it all together before I

could make a decision

so here's some pics.....and I guess it will be

a few weeks before I can show the final pictures

here's the hutch....keep in mind, we still have to

paint the walls and trim

that looks really bad because when they tore the

old chair rail out, it took sheet rock with it!

we will be putting up new chair rail



later......