The house is coming together

So I threw a bridal shower for a friend of mine yesterday. 2 of the girls said that my house looked like a model home (although i don't believe they were including the kitchen in that statement). yes i cleaned for 3 days and Matt helped for 2 of those days, but it is really coming together. Our dining room is now a formalish seating area and our dining area is by our fireplace. it looks really good. Matt and I have decided to bite the bullet and remodel the kitchen. We thought about refacing the cabinets but they are so old (1977 originals) that there is a lot of wasted/unused space and the shelves and drawers really are not in good enough condition to spend money on making them look nice on the outside.

So we are going to get a combo of instock cabinets from home depot and order a couple (for the wall oven and wall cabinets since the instock ones are only 30 inches tall...rather than 36 inches) the difference in ordering the wall cabinets vs instock is around $55. It is a $150 delivery charge no matter if it is one cabinet or 50. BUT, if you order 6 or fewer cabinets, it is an additional $80. That is stupid if you ask me! I probably wouldn't even care but we only need to order 5 cabinets. POOP!

So I will HAVE to take before and after pictures and I will post them as we go. We will buy/order the cabinets this week and start demo in a week or two. I have a Pampered Chef party on Friday so I do need my current kitchen for that. :)

Oh, one of the best parts...we get to rip out half the carpet and stain the concrete below. yippy!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Let's do our part to be GREEN! What a beautiful Earth!

The wall commeth down

So I have to get some pictures up of our new "great room".

My parents came down to visit this past weekend and helped up take out the wall between the family room and living room. With my dad and Matt on the ladders and my mom and me on the ground catching and being hit (mostly mom) with sheet rock and 2x4s, we accomplished the task.

It looks pretty good and now we have to finish texurizing the walls and patch the carpet and paint and rearrange the furniture until we can afford new seating stuff and figure out what we want. Lots more to do but the big stuff is handled.

THANKS MOM AND DAD

Scoot scoot poot poot and demolition

I got my M1 permit on Monday but I haven't been able to practice yet. Matt said we will go out this weekend to practice but we are doing some construction too.

It is time to join our family room and living room by cutting a big hole in the wall. I think I will repaint the rooms a greenish color. The family room is a plum right now on one wall (I ran out of paint hence the one painted wall) but I think a nice outdoor color will really brighten up the room. out furniture is all cream tones except the blue chairs I got from my sister and brother-in-law. Then the shared wall with the kitchen and fireplace will be a nice chocolatey brown that will meet with the greenish wall. Sounds pretty with cream cabinets and a cream/tan speckled kitchen countertop. Since the cats would eat any houseplants, the green walls will be my version of nature. haha.

My New Ride!

This is so pretty. I'm looking forward to the 65 mpg and reasonably tiny gas bill. I am getting my permit on Monday and will be taking the motorcycle driving class in mid April. Matt will also be working with me on my driving so I am super save and comfortable.

I was originally looking at something smaller but this one is much more realistic for now and in the future. Since the kids have different times to be picked up from school, this bike has the space to get them to and from school. When your gas bill is around $500 a month, this is a great solution...as long as you take your driving seriously.

THIS IS NOT A TOY!

This is what I want...need to save gas!

Happy St. Patty's Day