Happy Happy Birthday Elizabeth

Happy Happy Birthday Ebit...we love you!

Elizabeth with Grandpa Jim (1977)

Pre-Thanksgiving

House stuff

More stairs

Once again, I have placed the pictures in the wrong order....

This is our new sliding glass door, Builder Mike has since resided the back of the house since I took this picture.

The L shape of the stairs, we are not going to put back the ballister and spindles, we are going to make it a solid wall, easier and less expensive, since I wanted to paint the other. Oh that hole next to the stairs-it was the door to the garage and that has to move.

Looking down the stairs to the basement .

Builder Mike built the new stairs in place, then removed the old ones, MESSY!!!

We are getting there...slowly but surely!

Dining room

Since the kichen is mostly done (backsplash & appliance cabinet still need to be installed), Builder Mike started on changing the direction of the stairs. Who knew that changing directions would make such a mess! More sheetrock had to be torn down in the basement stairway. More sheetrock dust, sawdust, and just dust, dust, dust!

Anyways, it has given the main floor so much more room with the stairs going the L shape instead of the U shape. More room for our dining table (which is still in the front room).

Kitchen remodel

Finally I updated our blog! Here are some photos of the kitchen we have been working on for like an eternity (or so it seems), and it's not quite done. We still need to put up the backsplash. I found some recycled red glass tiles and they are on order. But in the meantime, it's a totally functional kitchen and I LOVE it. It turned out exactly as we had invisioned. We are now starting the next project while we wait for the tile...Builder Mike took out the wall where the sliding glass door will go, so now we have a 9 foot opening into our house. It's like camping in our own house! Photos to come soon (I hope).

kitchen tile

Garrett has been our little buddy helping with this next section of the kitchen. He's taking a breather right now. It's been fun and challenging having him stay with us this summer. I forgot what it's like having an eight year old around, much less a BOY! I still think girls are easier to raise!

We had to first lay down the backer board (thinset has to go down first), then it all has to be screwed down. This gives more strenght to the tile.

Now for the fun part, well I don't know if you really want to call tiling fun, but it sure makes the kitchen come alive!  I love this tile, it's so warm and inviting.

Almost half way done laying...

This center area that's not tiled will be our island and cafe booth. It will have hardwood floors-next phase.

Now for the grout, I personally think this is the hardest stage of laying tile.

Builder Mike smears the grout into all the cracks and I go through and scrub all the extra off the tiles, without taking any out of the cracks. I kinda wanted to go with a deep terra cotta color, but Builder Mike wanted a darker brown-it will probably go better with the cabinets and our dining table and the backsplash we plan on installing, the counter too (more photos to come when we get to that point).

This photo does not really show what the true color of the tile is, you need to come by the house for a  visit to see it.

The cabinets will be coming on Tuesday...YIPEE...There is still a bunch of work to do after the cabinets, but at least the major work is done!

By the way, the tiling and grouting was done all within the last 24 hours. I think our Lake Powell trip will be just the thing we need to rest.

Painting the kitchen

This is just a photo of my front room, my dining table is loaded with building materials, then covered with plastic (I'm not sure why I think this is going to keep the dust off, cause it's an inch thick-not really).

My craftroom/office is also a total mess. I can't wait till the remodeling is done

This photo is used in the post below, sorry, it's getting late. More photos to come tomorrow-tiling the floor!

The paint color is Pottery Barn Philadelphis Cream, Jennifer has one of her rooms painted this color and I really liked it, so now my frontroom, small hall and now kitchen are all this color. It's so much better than plain ole white walls! Just wait to see the cabinets next to it, next week, YAY!

See the plywood on the top landing??? Well, Builder Mike had to take the railings down to tape and texture around it. This is where the wall was bumped out about 5 feet. Since Garrett is staying with us for a couple more weeks, we needed something up there to keep him safe, so a temporary fix for now, till we finish the kitchen.