Granite - You Rock!

Yep, it's me, I haven't forgotten my fans, and we're still hard at work remodeling my dream kitchen. After a few weeks of challenges with the electric, moving our daughter and her family to another state, and working our day jobs, we're back on track.

And, it's not like nothing has been happening (just not photo-worthy) - a few new pieces of copper have been added to the kitchen plumbing, a few more electrical boxes and wires have been added and routed, and cement board has been added to parts of the wall in preparation for our stone back splash. And...last weekend, we picked our granite design for our counter tops!

If you've never been to a granite yard, it's an interesting way to spend your morning. Last Saturday was a beautiful sunny day. Couldn't have been a better day to walk the yard, examining the beautiful pieces of stone that the Master Builder created. Quartz, stone and minerals all swirling together in magical patterns of gold and silvers, orange, shades of red and blue - and, that's what it looks like before it's been polished!

My mind has been set since the beginning of this project, that I wanted a counter top with flecks of blue to showcase my blue cobalt glass collection. Be careful what you want, it may not be what you get. There's this thing called changing your mind. It can happen to anyone and this time, it happened to me! There it was, shinning in the sunlight. And, I'm sure I heard a faint voice saying, "pick me, pick me." And, did I mention that it's not blue?

Counter tops are fickle. They need to match the cabinets, spotlight the back splash and say WOW when you walk into the room. They want to be the center of attention, but not take all of the glory. They want to be flashy, but not scream for attention. Mission accomplished! Attached in the picture here, you'll see what we chose. It's not polished and it's not held up against our cabinets, but just wait, in a few more weeks you'll see that we made the right choice.

Progress is also a fickle thing - it's likely to change, it's not loyal to the way I want things to go, and is often irresolute to when the job will end. However, today I'm beginning to see in my minds-eye the finish line. It looks sort of like a puzzle with missing pieces, but my mind is anxiously filling in the missing pieces. Soon this journey will be over, and life will take me on to another project. But, for now, I'm enjoying the process in front of me.

Electrified!

I'm so excited for this weekend. After weeks of identifying old and existing electrical sources and finding possible new sources for plugging in all of those neat kitchen gadgets, we are about done with this part of our journey. On Sunday, a friend will stop by and link all of it together. This is the final step before Larry can begin adding cement board and drywall to the walls.

I think about how often we try to short-circuit God's plan for our lives. When the going gets tough, we reroute or dodge the work that needs to be done. We fail to step back and take a second, third and sometimes fourth look before moving forward. We are often shocked when life doesn't go our way, when all along God was trying to move us at his pace.

Really all I have to say today is that I'm electrified to be this close to having the walls ready so that we can add the cabinets! After that the counter tops and back spash, the ceiling and the floors, but hopefully none of them will be as complicated as the wiring has been!

P.S. And, I'm exicted to report that we found our new stove at Lowes! And, even better, it was discounted.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink!

You knew it was coming, right? Here's what "Know Your Phrase.com" has to say about this idiom:

"The exact origin is unknown. Said to have been born somewhere during the early part of the 20th century, and later made popular during World War II.

It's possible that if people had to evacuate their homes on short notice, or if they were moving to another location, they would want to bring all of their belongings with them. Some things though, like kitchen sinks, were heavy, connected to various pipes, and bolted down. Obviously, taking something like that along isn't very convenient, so it's left behind while everything else is taken. So they took all of their things with them, except the kitchen sink!

The earliest time that this phrase was used was on Queen for a Day, an American radio and television show in 1945, where viewers could win huge prize giveaways. There was a woman who won many prizes, and the host said she's "won everything but the kitchen sink!"

Yep, progress continues - everything has been removed from the kitchen now except the kitchen sink. My sweet hubby is allowing one more weekend for me to have running water in the kitchen until he strips away everything from the walls, including the kitchen sink!

For the next several weeks, food will be served on paper plates, stored in plastic bags and eaten with non-metal utensils. Most plates will be trashed or washed in the basement slop sink and dried by hand (I know, some of you without dishwashers are showing no sympathy for me right now, and it's okay.)

It's amazing to me how little we need to prepare and serve a meal these days. If you think about it, we hardly use utensils as we eat our morning danish, our afternoon hamburger or our evening pizza! Since the invention of plastic, no one has to use china if they really don't want to. That's all well and good with me for a little while, but I'm looking forward to the day I can eat on china plates and pick up my food with metal utensils again.

Speaking of which on this quiet Saturday morning, I think I'll check Overstocked.com to see what specials they may offering. New plates and utensils would look really hot in my new kitchen space. See ya...

Out With the Old - In With the New (Right Now!)

Tearing down and demolishing the old kitchen seems like it's taking forever! What I miss seeing while I'm at work is the blood, sweat and tears that it takes to rip, strip, tear and jerk the old materials away from the kitchen walls and floors. All I see at the end of the day is filled trash cans and newly bare walls. I missed the process and the clean-up.

Demolishing the old ways in me seem to follow a similar path. One day I tug at an old habit, just to have it return the next day. Other days I cry out to God and ask for His sovereign mercy to flood me and make me clean. Still at other times, I invest sweat equity in trying to do it my own way only to find that my own way wasn't the way I should be going. I don't want to deal with the process and the clean-up.

Remodeling takes time. It takes dedication and it takes skill. Larry has the patience to deal with all of those things in my dream kitchen remodel. I'm thankful for that, because who knows what a kitchen remodel that I undertake would look like? Walls out of square, uneven cabinets and electrical outlets leading to nowhere!

When it comes to changing something in my life, most of the time I do not want to invest the blood, sweat and tears that it takes to wipe the slate clean - I just want to see the newness!

How's that working for me, you ask? Not too good. I find that when I don't take the difficult steps it takes to build character, I end up out of square and uneven. Not a very pretty sight for those who might look to me for answers or encouragement. Lord, help me to listen to the words of Proverbs 3:5,6 - "Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all."

Just like using the right tools in remodeling a kitchen, be sure to use God's Word as the sharp sword to separates the old and the new in your life. His Word is a far better tool than the rusty nail you just pulled out of your pocket.

This Old House

So much beauty and splendor in old houses. Notice their attention to detail; their unique features; their originality - not cookie cutter at all. It's what I love so much about my 1948 Clintonville Cape Cod. And, unfortunately, it's what I hate most about my 1948 Cape Cod!

Part of the reason old homes are unique is because each previous owner, including the builder has had a chance to add their own touches. Sometimes they know what they are doing and other times they do not. :-)

My picture insert today may look like all of the other holes in the walls that Larry has had to endure and unscramble since tackling the kitchen remodel. To me and the common eye, it looks like just another hole in the wall. To Larry it represents being thoughtful to details, solving puzzles and continuing his journey toward perfect patience and the completion of my dream kitchen.

The muffled, under the breath name of Chet (a former owner of our house) is often heard as a four-letter curse word in our house - Chet, Chet, Chet whatever have you done here! Yesterday was no different as Larry unscrambled the maize of wires and electrical boxes found in wall number three. The good thing is that he was successful - the bad thing was that it took the majority of a day to fix.

Some of you have said to me that you'd be insane by now living around so much construction. To those of you who scratch your head and wonder how I do it, I say to you - it's so worth the wait, because I know the builder and you just can't wait long enough for his kind of perfection. Yes, I'm willing to wait for however long it takes for my dream kitchen because I know it will be exactly that - my dream come true!

Little Boxes

Remember the 1962 song written by Melvina Reynolds, "Little Boxes"? That's what today's kitchen remodeling picture reminded me of -

"Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same."

Melvina was writing about the conformity of the American "establishment" when she wrote this song. When I was looking at the new wall, I was thinking about the symmetry of the 2 x 4's. Each section of the kitchen remodel is unique and presents its own challenges. This most recently tackled wall is no different.

The rooms and walls in older houses are not exactly square and plumb. The years of settling of the foundation and the weight of walls, roofs and weather can cause a house to change from its original perfection. Clintonville homes are known for their handcrafted walls, ceilings and room additions. At sometime since 1948 our kitchen has had additional space added to it. That addition is posing some challenges for the walls and (in a later post I'm sure I'll be talking about the ceiling!)

I'm thankful for the years of experience Larry has working on Clintonville homes. Their idiosyncrasies have become his passion and at times his frustration, but, he has always come out the winner. And, he won with this wall as well. Boards, wires, electrical boxes and insulation complete the "behind the scenes" work. Once the cement board is applied, no one will see the challenges of the now straight and plumb wall (except for maybe in Larry's mind's-eye.)

The Month In Review

It's seems like things are going slowly until you take the time to review what's really happened - here's a pictorial review and quick summary of the past few weeks:

Drywall and plaster removed from west walls; electric wires going to "nowhere" removed; soffet added to west wall(for glass cabinets); gas line moved from west wall to north wall; art show courtesy of granddaughter; confused dog (where's my food going to be tomorrow?); air holes to the outside walls patched with foam (warmer now); rerouting of the cold air-return and heat registers; wiring added for microwave; other wires rerouted.

It's the attention to detail that happens now before there is no chance to turn back. Thanks Larry for being so thorough during this stage of the process. You rock!