The Cambria Countertops are in

They arrived much faster than we thought they would- and they look great! At first, it was such a shock and difference from what we originally had that I wasn't sure what to think, but they do look pretty darn good! The color is a warm brown with flecks of lighter and darker quartz, called Reading.

We promised our designer we would re-stain the wood desktop in a darker color. So far she has been completely right with her advice, so we will get out the safer stripper and start again!

All of the frames are painted, now a lot of doors....

This painting is taking us longer than we thought. So far, all of the framing is painted, and all of the crown moulding. The only problems we had were a few places where we were not going to put decorative panels on the sides (like the insides of the desk cabinets where the chair might rub against, and the sides near the exhaust fan - see the picture). Those sides of the cabinets are not really wood, but some sort of laminate or wallpaper or something. Even with sanding, my latex primer did not stick to it and the primer and paint is peeling. Another spot where we used a oil primer, it stuck.

So, Dave bought luan and made panels where the paint did not take.

I am waiting for the countertops to arrive! I am a little nervous, but am pretty sure we will love them.

Here are some picture of this work in progress, including pictures of my assistants (the two cats). They help a lot!

By the way, I have to add that this project is taking a lot of time, but so far we have to say that it is totally worth it.

We are considering making one change (Linda, if you are reading this, I hope you understand!). For some reason, the desk top that we were finishing in a matching oak to the rest of the oak in the house did not take the stain like the oak beadboard and other oak accents we were putting into the kitchen. It really does not work well with the other oak elements in the kitchen and the house. One friend called it baby-poop color, and Dave compared it to the color of Dysentery. What we will probably do is put that desktop in the basement hobby room, and get a matching Cambria counter for the desk. No biggie- I'm sure our kitchen planner Kari will chuckle (or pull her hair out- this is the second desktop she ordered as the first one was harmed in shipping).

So Glad we Hired a Carpenter and Electrician

Wow- what a big and messy job. We are so glad that we hired a carpenter to help out and an electrician to add some extra lighting and move some outlets. They are working very hard, and I imagine 2 days worth of their work would take us a month or so. The kitchen looks like a disaster area- it's kinda funny. There is a lot of dust from cutting into drywall and repairing some flooring where the island was moved and an electric line needed to be moved. They are sweeping up after themselves, though- they are all very professional.

The Ugly Spindle Rail is GONE!

Yes, I know everyone hates it, we do too. Ever since we saw the house the first time, we could not wait to get rid of the railing between the living room and kitchen. It took about an hour to get it off, it was secured very well (why, I don't know). The whole family got involved.

We also removed the sink so that the counters could be removed today. The electrician and the builders (experts at kitchen cabinets) are here today adding lights, moving lights, moving outlets, moving cabinets, and adding on a few things here and there. One thing I am so excited about is changing around the lazy susan to make it more functional and not a finger pincher.

They are all doing an excellent job and we are so glad we hired some experts to help out for a few days.