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I haven’t posted in a while. And that because I really really hate sanding spackle. More on that later… Great news is that our kitchen is finally functional (what! A dishwasher?)! We’ve got stuff in the cabinets and can use the appliances. Yay! BUT (there’s always a but), it’s still not done.

The last several weeks has been spent installing trim, spackling that trim, and sanding it. We’re finally preparing for paint but it’s been a long road. The light at the end of the tunnel is right in front of us but there are so many little things to get done it feels like we’re moving at a snails pace! I finally reached the point where I’m sick of trip hazards, getting dusty whenever my sleeve touches anything, and not being able to find anything. Considering we’ve been under construction for seven month, I’m pretty proud that it took so long for it to get to me! The bright side is that at least we can use our dishwasher and stove!

I don’t want to give too much away, because I want the “after” photos to be exciting. So I’m going to share our progress in smaller bits.

Cabinets
All the cabinets are installed, and we’ve started to fill them up. We’re waiting to find a permanent home for things until the pantry is done, so I haven’t done a lot of organizing yet. But the cabinets are BEAUTIFUL and I’m so happy with them.

Countertops
Countertops are installed, and just as beautiful as the cabinets. Our undermount sink is also in. The countertop guys talked us into adding a window sill that matched the countertops and we’re so glad they did. Oh, and our island is HUGE.

Appliances
Stainless steel appliances all in. Our fridge is the only old appliance we kept becuse it’s only 3 years old and works fine. To fit into the old kitchen I had to buy a smaller that average fridge and it had to have side-by-side doors. Definitley not the one I would have picked for the new kitchen but it saves us some money for now. We made the fridge space large enough for a standard size, so if we upgrade we won’t be in a pickle. An extra piece of toe-kick trim fills the void for now.

Pantry
Our pantry items are still being stored in our spare bedroom at the other end of the house. Not so bad when the rest of the “kitchen” was there but now we do a lot of walking to get stuff. As you can see above, the shelves are installed and ready to be painted in the new pantry.

Trim
The moulding store we went to was totally overwhelming for me! So I basically shut down and let The Boyfriend pick it out. And I have to say, he made great  choices. We reused the old baseboard to save some money too.

This is our cut sheet for the trim. The Boyfriend has some secret code where he measures everything, cuts everything, and then installs everything. Those are some skills right there!

Nice simple door trim. And goes well with our existing baseboard.

Wainscoting
The new wall seperating the kitchen from the living room was looking like it was going to be a big empty space so we decided to add wainscoting for some interest. It was all The Boyfriend’s design, and again he did a great job.

Spackling & Sanding

This stuff sucks!

Somehow we bought the most rediculously hard spackle ever made (don’t use it!). As The Boyfriend has installing trim, I followed and spackled all the nail holes. I went back to start sanding and ran into a problem, I would sand & sand & sand & almost nothing would happen! Ugh, it was awful. So sanding took us three times as much sand paper and twice as much time as we thought. I also got “fired” a couple of times because I would give up before a spot got as smooth as it needs to be, and “someone” would have to come back after me and fix it. Yeah, I was NOT a good helper that day!

Why are there so many nail holes?

Ugh… sanding.went.on.forever.

Caulking
After getting fired from sanding I’m not sure that The Boyfriend trusted me to caulk appropirately (I think he made a good decision here). So he caulked ALL the trim… at this point we were cursing how much trim we put it, and we didn’t even do crown moulding! While he was plugging along I started to prep for priming and painting by taping & papering off the trim.

Lighting
All of the lighting is installed. Our pendant and under-cabinet lights were the last things to go up last weekend. We’ve got all sorts of mood lighting going on!

The Rest of the House
The rest of the house has also been affected by this project. We’ve got stuff stored in every nook and cranny, trying to keep things out of the dust. Our living room has been wrapped in a plastic bubble so we still had a cleanish place to live and eat. This weekend we finally got to put the room (mostly) back together! There’s still decorating and some rearranging to do, but the whole space is livable! Ah, I was so excited about getting this room back. Although it’s only temporary, it will become a plastic bubble (although larger this time) once we start painting.

Next steps are priming and painting trim and putting a second coat on the walls. We will be using a paint sprayer on the trim, so everything around it needs to be papered-off. Then we’ve got a bunch of little stuff like updating outlets & swtiches, installing trim plates, curtains, etc. Installing the backsplash will be the last “construction” project before decorating and bringing furniture back in. One of the cutest things out of this whole project has been the new hiding spots our cat has found. By far her favorite is the little roll of carpet…