Monday, August 27, 2012

More on the Kitchen and a bit of a break

August has been such a busy month and has flown by.  We have been working on the kitchen nearly every day.  There have been times when Ive wanted to give up from shear exhaustion.  Andy manages to keep going, I have no idea where he gets his energy and drive from.  He's really an amazing guy! 
 
It rained on Saturday so instead of being able to work on the upper cabinet doors we took a trip to Home Depot to purchase our new backsplash.  Little did I know that when we got home Andy was going to install it.  It looks like an old tin ceiling and came in sheets that are applied with adhesive.  It took just a few hours to put up and we love it!  It completely changed the look of our kitchen and will be much easier to care for than tile.
 
Shown here with my Shalimar Yarn's KAL project, Anarchary in the UK Handwarmers.  The yarn is Homage in Cranberry, Bluecrop and Tawny and is a dream to knit with!
 
 
The next time you see this kitchen there will be doors!
 
Andy and I did manage to take a three day weekend and head to Yorktown, VA.  We were both so exhausted from our home improvement projects that we really appreciated a quiet getaway.
 
We spent some time on the beach
Met a Pirate
Supported our forefathers
Saw cannon fire!
 
And quite honestly spent a lot of time at the Yorktown Pub
 
 
 
 



 
 


Monday, August 13, 2012

More Fun Than a Barrel of Monkeys (or so you would think)

We have been going non stop this year on our house.  In February we replaced the flooring in the great room, hallway and the two main floor bedrooms.  It's worked out beautifully - easy to clean and maintain.  It's much better for our allergies than the wall to wall carpet that we removed. 

Next Andy enclosed the fence like railing around the stairwell:

Before

After

We began work on the stairs by removing the carpet to see what was under it.  It was a combination of stair treads (good) and plywood (not so good).  Andy replaced the plywood, rebuilt the corner steps, added trim around the edges and wainscoting risers.  I'm the painter in the process.  I come from a family of very talented artists and am glad to be able to use my limited painting skills for some good!



Then we added a shelf under the bar area of the counter that divides the great room from the kitchen.


Most recently we have begun refacing our cabinets.  While it does take a bit of time, refacing isn't really hard to do.  Andy added wainscoting and trim to the existing door fronts.  We updated the knobs and hinges and Ive painted the insides to give everything a clean and uniform look.  Right now all of the lower cabinets are complete.  This weekend we will begin on the upper cabinets.  Here are a few progress pictures.

Sanded, washed and primed
Finished!



 We added sliding racks to make access easier.


Before

After

The trim underneath still needs to be painted.  I think I will do that last since I still need to paint the trim in the dining room.


PS  Im up to 148 hexipuffs!!

 













Thursday, August 2, 2012

129

129



I think it's safe to say I haven't been knitting much of anything else recently! 

And now for the weather.  Back to you Tiffany...