Phase 2 Continued and Random Highlights of Spring Break 2010

Since my last post several things have taken place.

• New lower cabinets installed.
• Countertop installed.
• Cooktop, range, microwave installed.
• Lights installed in bottom cabinets. Rick fixed them where they will come on when the door is opened. 
• Kitchen items returning to the kitchen.

The big decision for now is what to do with the blacksplashes. This weekend we made the weekly trips to the stores to make a decision on what to do with this areas. We did bring several different sizes and kinds of tiles home to create a pattern that we can live with. The kitchen is really coming together nicely. I really think that we are ahead of schedule. We still do not have a sink or water in the kitchen, but life is good.

Spring Break Highlights.

• A trip to Fredricksberg which included great food, browsing stores, a music show, a historic museum, and a flea market.
• A tour of LBJ's house and a working farm.
• An overnight trip to Shreveport.
• SNOW!

Phase 2

We have now moved into phase 2 this week. Chad, your last look at the yellow countertops! Accomplishments this week were:

• electrical wire for the oven and tv wire run
• bottom cabinets, stove and sink torn out
• new oven installed
• bottom cabinets stained and set in the kitchen (not mounted, yet)
• countertops chosen

It did take two more trips to Dallas to find the countertops. I took off a half a day of work to go look. Diana went with me. After making my selection, I got home only to find out that the size of granite I chose is not big enough for my kitchen. So Rick and I went back on Saturday. We did make another selection. Rick asked another couple if this was normal in the process. They assured him that it was very normal; they had been to seven slab yards that day. Rick and I only went to four in the last eight days; we just went to one of them three times. Each time we chose something different than the time before.

Update

The kitchen project has been moving slowly the last two weeks. The things that have taken place are: three of the four ceiling lights have been hung, the walls have been painted three times, glass installed in the doors of the upper cabinets, electrical plugs and outlets change out, and windows in dining area trimmed out. I confess that the reason the walls had to be painted three times was because of me. I wanted the walls to look like leather with a glaze, but I did not understand how to do it. I finally gave up and went back to a solid color. This weekend we had several lessons on how to buy granite countertops. We (I) still have not picked out one. Wow, what an experience. The bottom cabinets should be ready this week. I did see them Saturday, and they are almost finished. We were short on electrical wiring for the oven. Rick has to get some more before we can finish the electrical part of this. However, we are 28 days into the project. The only inconvenience other than the house looking like a bomb exploded is that we cannot find the dinner plates. So on the Walmart list for this week is paper plates.