I Can See the Light!!!

I can finally, FINALLY see the light at the end of the loooong remodeling tunnel. We started this whole process a little over a year ago with the kitchen. When Collin and I were looking to buy this house, we knew that the wall separating the kitchen and den had to go. The house was really dark and cave-like. We lived with it for about a year and a half, and then began the remodel last April. The wall came down, the old oven came out, and the process stopped. Literally. I'm talkin "we lived without any way to cook our food for three and a half months" kind of stopped. The first contractors didn't work out and meanwhile, our old oven was sitting in the garage. After eating out nearly every day for over three months, we finally had the new oven installed. The kitchen was once again functioning, but sooo NOT pretty. Then a few months later we had Steven Hayhoe (great friend and Fabulous cabinet maker!) make new cabinet doors. That alone did wonders for the look of the kitchen. And finally, just this past week, we had the countertop and backsplash tile installed. I feel like I've moved into a new house!!! I LOVE IT!!!



Another new thing with the house is the deck! It is the reason for the lack of blog posts this week. I'm spending every free moment out there. Along with the kitchen wall coming down, we wanted to add french doors in the den that would lead out to a new deck. It has done so much for the cave-like quality that the house once had!



So, my sister-in-law who lives in St Louis requested pictures of the progress. Here they are, Sara! Now if we could just get y'all to come and see it in person... ;)



The deck. There's still a ton of clean up and finishing work.

And, the kitchen. We still need to paint some stuff and add a few light fixtures, but you get the idea.


This used to be a full wall, and there was only a single window in the den where the double doors now are. I love the light! And, the kids played outside on the deck the entire time I cooked supper tonight! It made that 5:00 "suicide hour" SO MUCH EASIER!!!

And, lastly, I have to give a little shout-out to our contractor, Mike Plyler. He is SO SO GREAT! Not only is he really good at what he does, but he's also so nice and courteous. He's like another grandpa to the kids. I love having him around, and I know we will all 4 miss him when he's gone. We highly recommend him if you need some work done!

The studio's looking great. The kids have taken it over as another playroom. They're in for a RUDE awakening! I'll hound Collin to get some recent pics of it up on his blog.