Loose ends...

Rule # 41 - There doesn’t always have to be a moral to a story

     It’s almost one entire month since our kitchen got “crashed”. I sit here today trying to catch my breath and plot my next moves. I am tired - tired of camping in my living room, tired of eating dust, tired of trying to cook at a “campsite”, tired of things being topsy-turvy, tired of tripping over boxes, just plain tired. (Madeline Kahn, where are you when I need you to sing from “Blazing Saddles”?)

     But - and this is a big one - I am very satisfied! Now I stand in my newly refurbished kitchen and say to myself, “Self, you live here. This is yours! And you got class! (or at least it looks that way)”

     In the past few weeks, we’ve had so many contractors working here, the place sometimes resembled ants at a picnic. Busy, each day. Slowly, but surely things came together. Yes, we were inconvenienced a bit, and dust really doesn’t taste that great. But I had faith in the workers and our project manager. It paid off, big time!

Lots of dust

     We had a painter paint our walls a light green. I learned long ago that the mind reacts to the colors it observes. Hey, advertisers use that technique all the time to get us to feel hungry when we aren’t.  Green is a “sedative” of sorts. It seemed to calm the mind down. Light values of green should make the room a bit brighter. But our old kitchen was bright yellow. Very high on the visual stimulus meter. It was all right, but we needed a new look. Now, I’m not sure if this calm thing can translate into “I’m not as stimulated, so I’m not eating as much as before and should lose weight”, but it’s worth a shot. I’ve found a Zen color for me.

     I trashed carpet on that side of the house. Well, actually several animal pets trashed it for us. Hardwood flooring came in to replace it. It feels softer on the ole’ paws and achey, breaky knees and legs. And does it look fantastic!!!

before

after

     We used to have painted walls for a backsplash. Now, way back when, that was a cool thing to have. But these poor walls, and the paint, have been washed so much that the paint lost its semi-gloss finish. We got tile to replace it and put some decorative touches in there with glass bits.

back splash tile layout

      We lost the Formica counter top, complete with mitered seam that caught all kinds of food, and brought in quartz. Seamless quartz!  Cool, seamless quartz! Lovin’ it!

quartz counter top

another view of why we needed a back splash!

     I wonder how long my daughter will play with the new sink faucet. It has a sprayer built in. Switches to play with and now she just might be able to spray her brother from the sink. (Not on my hardwood floor, Lady!)

cool faucet with a pull-out spray head

     And so much more lighting!!!! Under the counter, extra overhead in the ceiling, new fan.... now I'll be able to really see when I cut myself chopping veggies. No more excuses!

     But if that was the only thing on my stress plate the past few weeks, this soul would be a bit more peaceful. But, no. Mother Nature had to get her 2-cents in, too. Our area was hit with a massive heat wave. Days of 100-degree plus heat kept us frying, or we felt like we were frying. On top of that, the Ole’ Broad had a temper tantrum in the form of a derecho. WTH? I had to watch the Weather Channel to even find out what that was. Seems like it was a sudden downburst of wind up to 100 miles per hour. Our area got hit with 60 miles an hour plus sustained winds with gusts to 75 miles per hour. And we live in a wooded, environmentally protected area… do you see a problem now? Ma decided to prune a few of my neighbor’s trees and dump them on my roof, patio, back deck, veggie garden (sob!), and flower garden gnome colony. Like I don’t have enough firewood, Ma! The weirdest part was, in all that wind, stuff at ground level didn’t move. Trash cans and lawn furniture didn’t budge. The winds were all 50 feet and above, sending the limbs onto power lines. Try calling your insurance agent after a calamity. Even her power was out for a few days. Next project - new roof? We shall see.

     And then the ants came back (real ones, not the contractor comparisons). It was hot and dry outside, so the little shits came inside. In my new kitchen… through the cracks that hadn’t yet been caulked… I hate ants… These are the very prolific sweet kitchen ants too. Sandy soil, hot temps, and dry conditions bring those little buggers out of their hills and into my house. It’s me or them… and I will win… until the next time…

     We still have to paint the dining room. Once that is done, the rest of the boxes can be unloaded and we can relax a bit. We are both tired but must find the energy to complete the task!

     Except for a few items that need to be corrected, we’ve been crashed and it was successful. My one and only kitchen renno is done! Time to break out another bottle of wine and celebrate.

     Thanks, Bill!

Before

After

     And have I got a kitchen contracting company for you….!