Before and after - a view into the kitchen.

{Before} ...
{After} ...

The kitchen.

Snapshots of the kitchen ... It's coming together :)
Stay tuned for more ...

Saturday morning snapshots ... (and thoughts)

The stove will go in between the bar/island and the long counter on the right of the above photo. We want a stove that will be black and stainless steel. We have yet to find just the right one.

This kitchen has a really nice feel and flow to it ... I'm thrilled that it is coming together so well.

I love the color of those cabinets and the contrast with the black. The taupe adds a nice, peaceful feel to the room. What to do for counter tops? Hmmmmmmmmmm...

A view from the corner of the dining room. Thank heavens for spring break - we have an entire week to work and get moved in. :) GO TEAM!

The kitchen floor (with grout) ...

Check out that kitchen floor!

We used mocha grout ... it looks really great with the tile.

Half clean - half not,

Tory - working his magic ...

The grout ...

Up next: Sleep. And then tomorrow we'll work on getting the appliances in the kitchen and hooked up! :)

Opening the boxes of tile ...

Tile: About 3 months ago, Tory and I stopped in at a local flooring shop (Benjaman's Carpet One) to check things out. We noticed that they had an overstock section next door where you could buy materials at a reduced price. This was appealing to us both :) - So we stopped in and found all the tile we needed for the bathroom. Then we bumped into this gorgeous tile that we thought would be perfect for the kitchen (square footage and all). So we bought it. Then we carried it home and covered it up. Well, it's now time to open up the boxes and see just what all this tile looks like! Come on - check it out ...

Made in Italy.

All the boxes of tile are not the same. It's a mix and match mosaic type project ...

Wow huh?! I can hardly wait to see it in the kitchen ...

Reflections on a Tuesday morning ...

I had a couple of hours to spend in the house today and started by trying to dig up some more of the floor. After a about 20 minutes of ripping up the layers and trying to pull out nails - I decided I could best use my time by cleaning. I'm good at that ... :) Don't you find that when things are clean and in order - your life goes better and your mind becomes uncluttered too?

Thank heavens for the shop vac - this thing is amazing. (Black vacuum pictured above).

Ahhhh no more gunk on top of the layers. Just rows of nails and layers of old material that needs to be ripped out.

I had the back/side door open so the sunshine could just spill inside - it felt wonderful!

A little helping of the nails... I can't get over how many we have ripped out of the floor.

Let the sunshine in.

It is beautiful outside today ... I couldn't help opening the back door and just letting the sunshine IN!

Project: Painting the trim around the door a clean white.
Music: The song of the birds. :)

The kitchen - {then & now}

{Then above ... Now below}

WOW!

Kitchen update ...

See that side wall the one on the left next to the cabinets? It was taupe but I painted it cream this morning.... The room now feels balanced. I am so thrilled with how this kitchen is turning out.

In addition to painting the wall in the kitchen, I painted the little landing by the back door and since it looked so new and fresh - I painted down the stairs. I love how paint gives everything new life! :)

A touch of black in the kitchen

I like black - it looks good in here. And white dishes... so I had to play around for a moment.
I can hardly wait to move in and get the place feeling like HOME.

Checking things out.

I placed a few tiles out on the floor so I could see how this room will flow ... I love it.

Design notes: I might use black counters and add a shabby chic style old black door ...
Keep checking back for more exciting kitchen details! :)