Well things are moving right along with the kitchen! I must say though that I am thankful for a day of rest today. :) Here are some pictures of kitchen-y odds and ends.

this picture was taken before we had all the drywall on. you can see one of the recessed lights in the ceiling. I think I'm going to LOVE the new lighting! Much better than one fixture in the middle of a 9'x20' space!

cabinet doors and drawer faces second coated and ready for antiquing glaze. I started antiquing them on friday night. I'll post some pics of them soon.

my sweet wood applique! I love how it dresses up the whole look of the false front! (This is the false drawer front that goes on the cabinet below my sink.)

Dad K doing some wiring. Moving switches and putting in new receptacles for my phone and microwave where the hutch will be. Thanks for all your work!

my wonderful husband "mudding" the screw holes in the drywall.

handy Andie and Jeff working on the drywall seams.

More sanding, painting and progress to come this week! Check back!

Just a few things I'm excited about today that I thought I'd share......

I ordered this book from amazon.com and it came in the mail the other day. I LOVE it. If you are looking for a good kitchen idea book I would recommend this one. Click here to view it on amazon.

A couple weeks ago I found a kitchen faucet that I LOVED on overstock.com. Our sink is one that mounts to the wall so it's been a little tricky to find a faucet in the style/color/price range that I want that is wall mounted. The color and style were perfect on this one but it was a little pricey. I decided to look around and think it over a bit and eventually came to the conclusion that it was the faucet for me! However, by that time overstock was sold out of them with no estimated date when they would have them again. :(

Oh the disappointment........

Without much hope I put my e-mail address into the little window to be notified when they were available again.

Last night I was thinking about this lovely faucet with regret but knew that there must be a reason that all of this happened. I just prayed that if I was meant to have it I would get an e-mail soon that it was available. And then an incredible thing happened! I woke up this morning and there in my inbox was an e-mail saying that it was available!!! So obviously without hesitation I bought it! Thank you Lord. He really does care about the little things! :)

So without further ado. Here it is:

click here to view it on overstock.com

Well that's all for now. I better get back to work taking off the doors of the upper cabinets and cleaning them out for painting.

A Work In Progress

As promised here are some pictures of my torn apart kitchen!

We are moving right along with the renovation!

There were several layers of vinyl flooring plus underlayment to remove before getting to the hard wood. This blue flooring had TONS of staples and nails in it. Thanks a heap to my Kaufman family for completing the terrible task of removing them all one by one!!

The top cabinets are staying and getting a fresh paint job. We are only replacing the lower cabinets. Can't wait to see what it all looks like!

Here is a shot of what our living room currently looks like. Not exactly ideal but this too shall pass. :) It's for a good cause and I know it will be worth it! And there is little Raine. He thinks it's great having the fridge and snacks in the living room!

Here is a sampling of my color scheme. Not the best picture - I know. But it was a rainy day so I didn't have much natural light. They are labeled as to which color is for what. I actually decided to go one shade lighter for the walls. They look a little different in person than in the picture but you get the general idea.

Photo courtesy of Lowes.com

And here is a picture of the drawer pulls I plan to buy for the kitchen! I love these things!

All the hardware will be antique bronze if all goes as planned.

Work Day #1

Well yesterday we started the demolition and cabinet painting. We had lots of wonderful helpers and got A LOT done! Here are some pics of some of the things we've done so far. More to come. I will take a picture of what my kitchen looks like now when the lighting allows. Today I am working on moving boxes and making our house a little more livable. You really don't know how much stuff you have until you try to move it all somewhere else!!

Cabinet doors and drawer faces are off and ready to be painted!

Here are some before pictures. This was my kitchen the morning of 1/21/10.

Before shot #2

Before shot #3

Before shot #4

My new countertops! Can't wait to see how they look on the cabinets!

Mom K and Jeff working on moving everything out of the cabinets so we can start demo.

Doors and drawers are gone. Time to get started tearing out!

In the afternoon I went over to Pop's workshop to paint the

cabinet doors and drawer faces w/ Amy.

We got them all primed! Next.... sanding, and a couple finish coats.

More pics to come!

Kitchen Talk

Hello all and welcome! This being my first post I'm not quite sure where to start but I guess I'll just jump right in. Lately I have had kitchen remodeling on the brain. We bought our quaint little fixer-upper in 2005 - a few months before my husband and I got married. With tons of help from friends and family we have been able to do much "fixing up" of our little home with the exception of the kitchen.

Our kitchen has many charming aspects to it but over time I have come to see those less and less because of the alarming lack of practicality it holds (or fails to hold!). SO, with the consent and support of my sweet but "not-so-crazy-about-remodeling" husband we have officially started on the project! Over time I have been able to save up a bit of cash and so that will be going towards my new kitchen.

So here is the challenge: come up with some sort of plan that includes more/new storage, a place to sit/eat, a built-in dishwasher (we have a portable one now that sits in the middle of the kitchen for lack of a better place.), solution to the ugly paneling and tile walls and ceiling, all must be practical for kids and the dog AND all must fit into the 9'x20' space we have. AND all for under our budgeted amount of $3000.

Sounds crazy I know........ maybe it is......... oh well. Never stopped me before. Did I mention that we have a 19 month old son and are expecting another in May? Yes, you're right. I am crazy. But I enjoy it. :)

So here are some inspiration photos I found while perusing the internet tonight. Thought I'd share them. I want to go for a casual, cottage type look. I will take some photos of the kitchen, paint chips and etc. soon and post for all to see.

All photos are from countryliving.com unless noted otherwise.

This one's a little more modern than my taste but it still "feels good."

I plan to paint my cabinets cream like these. But distressed.

This is a cute kitchen and done on a small budget yet to boot!

I LOVE checkerboard floors! Especially when they're done in muted colors

(not a huge fan of the typical black and white.) Not sure if I want to commit to the

time that it takes to paint one though. We'll see....

*swoon* isn't that floor just so darn charming?

You will find that a lot of these pics have a few things in common.

Farmhouse sinks, hardwood floors, cream cabinetry, and beadboard!

Charming. Don't you think?

come visit again! :)