Get That Fridge Back in the Kitchen!

After three LONG months of having the fridge in our living room (originally put there for our kitchen remodel) we finally, I mean FINALLY got it put away where it belongs! I pushed it to the kitchen doorway and quickly realized that the doors needed to be taken off. With help from Mark, Desi got the doors off and we easily got the fridge back home. It took a few days of me walking into the living room to get something in the fridge to remember it wasn't there anymore. It's wonderful to cook with it so close at hand now! Thank you Desi my love (and Mark). I am so so so so so glad it's been put away!

~Rose

The Finished Breakfast Nook!

Wish I had a good before shot...but here it is...our little breakfast nook! We had our washer and dryer where the table is. That was one of the things I didn't really like about the kitchen when we bought the house. Thanks to Josh, Des, Dale, Desi and others, we were able to move them and create this cozy little spot! I love to sit here in the morning sipping tea or coffee and reading my Bible. I am trying to wake before the kids and have that quiet time first thing since our house is quite noisy during the rest of the day! Some days I make it, and some days I don't. I do think it's a matter of getting to be earlier! We used chalkboard paint for the black rectangle and I have written Hope's memory verse there: John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

~Rose

Art Class -Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai's block prints are amazing! To think he created this truly beautiful piece (The Great Wave off Kanagawa) of art 175 years ago boggles my mind. I guess this is the first and most famous of a series called "Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji." I would just love to see this in person at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We learned that this piece was done with a series of blocks. Some of his pieces were so popular that the block prints wore out!

My mom was on a road trip this week, so I was solo with the kiddos on this one. We were excited to see if we could do it!

We used styrofoam plates and sharp pencils to carve a wave design. I did most of the waves and the kids poked holes for splash effects.

We smeared on a mixture of blue and green poster paint with foam brushes.

This one turned out to have too much paint on it. We tried three before we figured out that it needed just a little paint (think stamp). We then turned over the plate onto a white paper and rubbed away with our little fingers. It was messy. But good art often is messy!

This was the result as we carefully peeled the paper off the plate. I like the round design.
Just beautiful! This week we will do Picasso inspired art.

This is a shout out to my man. He conquered the kitchen floor to rest of the house issue! Look at that lovely reducer piece installed and wonderful. He did 3 total and I love how it finishes off the floor. Thank you Desi! You are the best for putting up with all my "prodding." ;)

~Rose

Like Magic...White Becomes Black

So here it is...our white fridge and the transformation into black. We called a paint store and they said to lightly sand, apply primer and then use oil based paint. It took a few hours and was really pretty easy...just messy (I am thankful for mineral spirits to wash up with).
All for about $40! Waaaaay cheaper than buying a used or new one!

Now all we need to do is apply a layer of poly (still have some left from doing the cork floors), let it sit for a few days and then move that baby back into the kitchen!

~Rose

Morning Glory in My Alley

This is our beautiful alley. Our house is to the left. Ok, so the alley is not beautiful and neither are the little red rocks that fill in the space between our house and the concrete. Desi and I have wondered about what to do with this area for years. This spring we decided to buy morning glory seeds and see what would happen. We planted the seeds all along the edge near the house (there is this ugly black tarp thing under the rocks that does not do a good job of keeping the weeds out).

Well, with a little water and sun, these babies have thrived! I just love the heart shaped leaves and beautiful vibrant colors. This plant grows like a weed and vines itself around anything. It's great to cover up an ugly fence, weeds or our red rocks!

The flowers bloom in the morning and then close up when the sun hits them. I am so pleased with the way they have made the walk to our dumpster a little more beautiful.

I plan on growing these every spring. The wonderful thing about them is you can harvest the seeds very easily to grow the following year. In fact, I've seen them come back all on their own in other areas of our back yard. Hey, I may just plant them in all our garden areas next year!

~Rose

The New Kitchen Floor

We had a request (miss you Brent & Lisa) for a close up of our kitchen floor.
It is cork and we LOVE it!

~Rose

The New Laundry Room

My brother Jason was a big help with the new drywall.

Owen had to help paint and did such a good job!
Notice the new vinyl tile floor that Desi and I put in. I love it-easy to install and inexpensive!

Josh helping to bring in the new washer...I was sooooo excited to get a washer/dryer after 5 weeks of no laundry in the house!

This is my new laundry room :)
Note: the yellow is where the blue is, but there are two white walls and the steps are painted brown. I'll post a pic later. Our neighbor Candace came over for a few hours over three days to paint for us. Desi and I helped her a bit here and there, but without her, it probably would not have gotten done before our friends flew in for a visit.
Once again...neighbors are great :)

~Rose

More Help and Oooohhhh, We're Getting Closer!

And here we have some more pics of the 4 week kitchen project.
The little man is such a big helper!

This is our little back room where we will put a washer and dryer. We are putting new drywall in and will install vinyl tiles on the floor. Micah was over for a day of much welcomed help. He eats drywall. We got an answer to prayer tonight. We sold our washer and dryer almost 4 weeks ago for $250. We need to buy a stackable and have been hunting Craig's List
for awhile now. I doubted we could find one for $250, but lo and behold, today Desi found a fantastic stackable, full size, energy efficient washer/dryer for $250! Thank You Lord! We pick them up Sunday afternoon...YIPPEEEEEEE!
I love Craig's List!

Putting the old door back on...

Amanda came to help me grout the back splash last Friday. I seriously don't know what I would have done without her! The grout went in easy...it was the sponging away that took FOREVER and our hands were all wrinkly. Turned out great though. You know, tiling is NOT HARD, it's just time consuming!

Took this pic today. I had to wash everything...cabinets and everything that went back in them. Remodeling is dirty work!

The new sink...yeah, I get to do dishes again!

Waiting to put the fridge back until we poly the floor.

Bruce Duell came over today while the kids and I were gone and painted our porch for us. We have no before pic, but we tore up this old outdoor carpet (that was always dirty) and the new paint job is so great...thanks so much Bruce! Looks kinda orange in the pic...but it matches the trim...not that you really care.

~Rose

Out With The Old and In With The New

This is our little back room that leads from the kitchen to the back yard. It has steps to the basement and a tiny bathroom (blue door). The carpet was old and gross and then the cat peed on it, so we ripped it up.

This is where the stackable washer/dryer will go. We had to cut giant shims to level out the floor and then plywood to cover it all.

The following 4 pics is what happens when you do a little too much home improvement in one day! You go kinda crazy! These pics were posted with permission :) There are more where these came from, but I'll spare you.

~Rose

Back Splash Time

This afternoon I started on the back splash. I had Levi on my back in the backpack for most of the install. I even cut tile with him on my back! He was a nice (but heavy) little tiling companion.

Notice our new outlet: I bought black and silver to match the kitchen decor. Our new sink is black and we are keeping the faucet (faucets are sooooooo expensive).

So after finishing the wall, we decided that we'd continue on the left side of the stove and follow the pattern of the whole 14 inches on the back wall and then just the 8 inches along the wall that faces the above right wall. Does that even make sense? Well, I'll take pics of course. I'll be finishing that tomorrow and then will grout the following day. These babies need a whole 24 hours to "cure" and once the grout is done, then we can seal it all in and get that sink back in! Yippeeeeeee!

Thanks For The Help!

Our friends Ryan & Courtney came over to help with our kitchen project last Thursday and Friday night. Courtney brought a tasty dinner and was a big help with our kiddos (who LOVE her!) Thanks Courtney!

Ryan & Desi finished getting the concrete board on the countertops Thursday.

Friday Josh came over and the men tackled our corners. Those 45 degree angles are a bit challenging but look so beautiful.

After the kids were in bed Friday night, Courtney and I got to work on the tiles. We did a dry run, cut the pieces we needed, slapped the morter down and laid the tile. It was fun!

We finished at about 1:30AM! Ryan and Courtney- thank you so much! What a blessing to have your help and get it done in one night. It's beautiful! We'll be grouting tomorrow and hopefully get to the back splash soon.

~Rose