What a difference 90 miles makes!

We decided to take a little break from all the sheetrock dust and construction mess around the old homestead and head for our house down the shore for the weekend. We got blasted with a snowstorm on Wednesday night, 1-26-11, I was coming home from a Robert Plant concert in Philly, and snapped this on the road in traffic.

This is what it looked like in our neighborhood 3 days later on Saturday, 1-29-11:
 Still very messy streets.
 Skies as white as snow.

Here is how it looks 90 miles away in North Wildwood NJ on Sunday. 1-30-11
Out front....clear skies... you can even see some blue.

And out back:

You can see just a sprinkling of snow down here.

And here is  a snapshot of what we are driving around with in the back of the truck, about 15 inches of snow!!

My husband keeps joking with everyone he sees down here, showing them the back of his truck- that this is what we are dealing with back home, and it is so mild down here, he says it's like Acapulco!!
It is a bit milder than back home and the snow in the truck has melted quite a bit!

I can't wait till summer time comes again!!
The snow picture of our street is pretty but this weather is for Aliens!

Kitchen renovation might be done by Valentines Day!

I am still holding out hope that my new kitchen will be completely done by Valentine's Day.
Then I will be able to get out my Ruby glass and Milk glass and decorate. Right now I am so loving how it is looking.
I have chosen to go with subway tile but not bright white. The one I have chosen has marble streaks of grey and brown, to bring in the colors in the floor and the appliances. I fell in love when I saw it!

And the small tile that is made of natural stone will form a design above the range area.

  I got a real bargain on the subway tile.
4.19 a SF. Hubbo got the contractor price because after all he is a plumber.
So here are some pics of how the kitchen is progressing. My window is in and I have a temporary sink.

The window still needs trim and there is an arch that will go between the the cabinets and above the window. 

My inspiration notebook is there on the counter board. Don't you hate when contractors put dirty things like a dustpan on the counter. Uggghhhh! I know its not really a counter yet.. but uggghhh.

The real sink will go in the day of the granite counter install. It is a black granite sink that I have actually had for 2 years now and I adore it! So we are reusing it.

And on the other side of the kitchen... Can hardly believe it,Yes this is my kitchen!
The cabinets are all in and the handles just got put on today! Do you remember the before?

We are using poster board for counter tops until the granite arrives, next thursday. I got the cabinets to the right of the fridge in a reduced depth to allow us room for stools at the island. And I am very pleased with how they turned out.

It will serve as a buffet very nicely.

Here is the fridge wall before

Below is a pic of the contractor hooking up our old stove on the other wall, so I can cook until the new stove gets installed, ( after the floor)

Messy huh? 

When the contractors go home tonight I will spring into action making the space usable again,

cleaning and setting up phony counter tops.

 My son makes jokes all the time about our temporary sink and stove. 

He says "I don't get you guys"

"Everyone else lives without a sink until they get the cabinets and granite installed."

And I told him " yeah maybe, but everyone else doesn't have 3 master plumbers living in their household!

Boy... it is like pullin teeth to get them to plumb around here!

That old saying a shoemaker's children have holes in their shoes is so so true!

But all in all I am very pleased with the progression. It is beginning to look more and more like the pics in my inspiration book, every day....

From this  below:

To being Ripped:

The way that wall  is now:  

(door on right is gone and window in dining room is now a door)

We still have a way to go here, with the vent and the arch and I am hoping for corbels.

I had the handles installed so they would resemble vintage vegetable drawer bins.

And I will follow up when the floors go in, and granite gets installed...The new oven gets installed

 ( stainless)...And the arch goes over the oven. yippee.

Here are some of the photos I have been inspired by ripped from the pages of various magazines.
I will do my best to incorporate all the things I love into my renovation.

Inspiration #1

The shelf and corbels over the range... I like the hearth like feel

Inspiration #2 

Love how the counter and cabinet angle, for a soft transition.

Inspiration #3

I love how the Dining Room is right next to the Island so a large group can be all together.

And the french doors and glass cabinets. Also love the combination of antique windsor chairs with a modern gothic like counter stool and granite!

The floor will go in on monday /tuesday.
The granite will come on thursday of next week. Yippee we are almost done.
Joining the fun

Vintage Inspiration Friday

Show and Tell Friday!

This weeks progress on kitchen reno

The contractor was moving along the best he could considering my husband wanted to keep some of the functioning items still in the kitchen. Such as our sink, dishwasher and our stove. Luckily those appliances were all confined to an area the contractor was not really working on till late in the week.
He Sheetrocked one wall in kitchen, and 2 in dining room on monday. Spackled all on tuesday, and again wednesday.

Below he is sanding the coat of spackle. Always a messy job.
You can see the stove still available for me to slave over at the end of the day after cleaning up the load of spackle dust :( It filters through the house even if you do have dropcloths everywhere. But dropcloths certainly do help.

Finally on wendesday or was it thursday?  Those appliances were disconnected. I had to laugh when I walked in the room and saw our guy John with his head sticking out of where the sink had been.
Forgive the  blurry pic, I had to act fast or lose the moment... He wasn't going to re-inact this one!

Hehe I enjoyed this minute too much!!!
Now it was time to start narrowing down my granite choices, because once these puppies are out, Matt will be moving right along with the cabinet installation. Nice white Cottage cabinets! Yippee.
So off I went once again, to shop!! My part in this is so exhausting.. wink, wink ;))
Below are the 3 Slabs I really like.

Kashimer white

Bianco Romano

Bianco Capertino

 Tell me which would you pick? The cabinets will be white. Pure white not distressed.

The appliances will be stainless

The floor will be a nice warm wood.

This was a hard decision for me, I love them all but I did make my pick, and I will tell which one, and why  next week.

Today, is a day for the plumbers. I get a line for my sink.

A sneek peek at some of the cabinets is in order here...

Ain't they purr-ty??

And sneek at the flooring I will be getting.

Oh I can't wait to have my house back! 

Another day of cleaning up after contractors do their thing.

I'll just put that song on that you dance the Cupid Shuffle to..

Down, down do your thing, do your thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h24_zoqu4_Q

Thanks for stopping by!

Going to check out the fun below...

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

• Cottage Instincts
• Craft-O-Maniac
• Keeping it Simple
• Mad in Crafts
• Making the World Cuter
• Moms By Heart
• Sew Can Do
• Simpsonized Crafts
• Skip to My Lou
• Southern Hospitality - Thrifty Treasures
• Sumo's Sweet Stuff

The Continueing Saga of my Kitchen renovation

Wednesday it began, the men arrived for the Kitchen reno. A nice cup of Java and they start by tearing out the entire back wall! The window and door wall and extending the other wall, that adjoins the family room.

Opppps! All the work I did emptying the cabinets, I forgot, I better put away that Christmas tablecloth!

And the wall to the right they made a little bigger to accommodate some cabinets.....

 And the harsh  reality of plumbing pipes stares us in the face!

You can also see from the pic below that the last insulation job didn't really meet the wood by about 3 inches. And I was always wondering ..."why so drafty"?

You should have seen when the woodwork came off the door, no insulation, no weatherstrip, the cold air was streaming in like a train! 

*Note I stuffed the edges of the door with rags that night.

Peace and quit at the end of Day 1

*extended wall built.

* back wall stripped

 You get a glimpse of my new fridge. I HAD to get before the reno because my other gave up on us! Poor thing.. it really did serve some time with my family.

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Day 2

They got around to  rebuilding that back wall and illiminating the door way.

 They put in some good insulation. Nice and tight up to the wood.

And Tyvek to the entire outside of that wall.

My window is NOT in yet, from the maker, so my contractor will set it in later.

As you can see I did put away the christmas tablecloth, and now it is covered in dropcloth, Which I am loving... to die for... the texture, and color! I will be making something out of that when this is over!

They also removed all of the top cabinets which my husband kept saying he was going to do!!

Now as you can see they are piled up in the dining room.

Do you see that little plastic drawer thing ? A great solution  for the things you will need (like coffee, and cups, like spoons and bowls for your morning cereal) to survive a complete renovation like this.

30.00 bucks at walmart

I call it my portable kitchen!

It even has wheels.

And you can   sneak peek at my new Stainless fridge up there on the left!

The old one below... had served long and hard, and just could not wait to retire.

So the end of day 2 we have

* back wall completely rebuilt and insulated, 

* upper cabinets removed.

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Friday Day 3

They had a lot to do and no room to do it!!  There were the old cabinets all over the dining room! 

Good thing all the new ones fit in the garage. There is no way there would be any room to move, had we put any in the dining area like I was thinking!  So they started by taking all the old cabinets out of the house. Some will be recycled by my son for his house and others will be trashed. Then moving furniture that I had tried but could not get moved. 

That big old bureaux I was using as a buffet is now upstairs, in the soon to be re-done bedroom.

Upstairs you go..

When I pair it with a mirror it'll make a fine bedroom piece it just needs some new handles. 

purrrtty aint she?

And they also removed the peninsula. which was here, to the right of the stove:

As you can see things are getting a little frayed around the edges here!!

And the electrician was here most of the day. 

Men are funny creatures. My hubbo and the electrician BOTH wanted to give me a cable line in the kitchen. I vehemently opposed it. We already have way too many TVs. The kitchen is the only place we really gather and just "talk". I like that. And already when I am watching tv in the family room, if my husband is watching it in the living room, sometimes his tv is too loud. Could you just imagine another one blaring from the kitchen?. Oh Please! Haha.. they also wanted to give me a computer line in there. Hub is a bit behind the times...I've been on a wireless laptop for 4 years... don't need it... don't want it.

So day 3  this is what they accomplished

* removing the soffet

* removing peninsula ( 1 large floor cabinet and counter)

*tearing out sheeetrock by dining room exit door

*removing furniture and cabinets

*carrying furniture upstairs

*putting some furniture back at end of day

*Getting electric lines run

I am patiently hanging in there while all this chaos goes on around me, cleaning up as best I can at the end of the day.
For now, inspiring pictures of gorgeous kitchens keep me happy.
Loving this one.. especially that mantle over the stove, and the white decor above it.
Ohhh be still my heart!
Nice island too!

Now I am thinking maybe I will dismantle my kitchen table and use the top for the island like the one in the picture.
Not a bad idea huh? It really is nearly exact. I am liking this thought!
recycle, reuse.

I will be joining Miss mustard seeds furniture linky.. I never saw so much furniture get moved in my house in one day!

Getting Dining Room ready for renovations

Here is the Dining room which adjoins the kitchen:

I started the day after Christmas, packing up my dishes to store safely in the basement while the work is going on.
The large bureaux that I use as a buffet will no longer be in here. I will use it in the guest room/ (Another transformation, soon to come)
I will keep the table, China closet and the small server in here. The server will go where I currently have the bureaux/ buffet, because that window above the server will become a French door. Which will step out to the pool area and the grill.

 The floor will be replaced with the same as we use in the kitchen.

Yippie.....The cabinets are to be delivered on tuesday. The contractor we hired advised us to wait till the cabinets actually arrived before removing the old cabinets, because we will want to make sure they are the right color, and style.
Although it is not commonplace for a mistake to be made, the fact that the cabinets take 5 weeks to make could certainly cause us some major issues if they were wrong and we had no kitchen when they arrived!!

So that is the first note to make if you ever do a major change like this.

• Wait for delivery
• Check that they are correct and not damaged
• Then dismantle your kitchen

So we had to make room in the garage and in the basement for the coming cabinetry because ... it is a lot of cabinets.
Now that the space has been made I am moving on to finish packing up my cherished dining room dishes and depression glass, milk glass and antique pitchers.
 Yep I am a bit of a collector, but I like to use my collections!

The blue and white dishes in the background  were made by Tiffany and company, given to me by my stepmom. The salt and pepper in the onion pattern was a free gift years ago from Watkins company. Other items added along through the years only if they really spoke to me! The blue and white pitcher on the left, acquired years ago, at antique shop, while killing time waiting for my nephews' wedding in upstate New York.
I always liked those blue and white Dining / Kitchen looks in magazines. I think these will look so pretty with my new white cabinets.
The opening you see in the pic below leads to the living room,

Where currently my husband has squeezed in his office desk, and I am working on moving that disaster to another area of the house. ( He is not an easy one to move ..:(().

 It's best if it seems to be his idea!...

 Any ideas on convincing him are more than welcome!!! :))

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So I will be putting up another French Door to separate the noise from that Living/Office/ Mess.

So... Next week it will begin...And this is where we are today!!

The table has safely been taken to the basement..boxes have been labeled, the packing is almost finished.

I found some great stuff I had almost forgotten I had. Now I am seriously hoping to be able to use my ruby depression and pink depression glass when Valentines Day comes around!!

It is so pretty, you can see traces of amber, in the middle and around the edges, when you hold it up to the light!

Some say the work will never be done by then, It is only 1 month away!... I can hope can't I?
I can think positive, but not actually EXPECT!.... Anyone else think it might work out? Does anyone have a story of a 1 month renovation?

A few years back,when I renovated the Cottage kitchen down the shore, it took 3 months!! But then we didn't live there!
 I promise I will also post about that renovation later this year.
That was a very, very dark and nasty kitchen and it is so  lovely now!

Below is one more inspiration photo of the last cabinet that I want , that will end the run as you go into the Dining room by the door...I wanted it angled like this to soften the approach to the door.
When this goes in doesn't it look like a great place to store some of my blue and white dishes?

OK, I have to get back to my packing!  Posting this over at Funky Junk Interiors Come join in!
Thanks for stopping by!