Fireplace and dishwasher

My dad ended up staying out here an extra day (yesterday) to build our box around the fireplace. Wow! It looks so, so awesome! I cannot thank my dad enough for all he has done. 

In the photo, the pink is painters tape. The grey is actually drywall. The whole thing will be white in the end. And we still need a mantel of course. But doesn't it look great? It adds so much character! I love seeing it when I walk in the door. 

I also forgot to say that Bryan and dad got the dishwasher hooked up this weekend.

I cannot express how amazing it is to have a workable kitchen again! I am so glad the actual kitchen reno only took about 3 weeks. I know it can last a lot longer when using a contractor for every step. A sink, dishwasher and countertop all in one weekend. I feel like a million bucks! 

The tile is here in our front entry now, as is the wainscotting that will be our backsplash as well as go around the "island" wall. We have supplies for the built in for the front entry. Once the flooring is done we really just have a bunch of little finishing touches. After this weekend the end date of November 20, doesn't seem too crazy to reach.

Final Stetch

We have LESS than a month left to get our renovations done. Can I just say that is a little intimidating? Even though we have done sooo much, it still feels like we have a long way to go. Thankfully this weekend is one where I feel we got a lot accomplished. 

My dad is out here and got our linen cupboard door in. He had to reframe the door as well, so it took a lot more work than it would appear. 

The window damaged by the drywall delivery guys came on Thursday. My dad is trimming it asap.

Our fireplace was installed yesterday. Yay! We will be building the frame/mantel around it.

Our kitchen counters were installed yesterday too!!! I dont want to ruin the "grand unveiling" because right now the legs aren't installed for the eating area, because the tile isn't in yet. And there is no back splash.  But you can get the idea of how it will look with this picture of the amazing sink and faucet my dad and Bryan put in today. Yay! 

Tonight Bryan and my dad got the new back door in. It looks SO much better!

Before

After

We are hoping to install tile next week and start to really finish up.

Cabinets

It has taken us just under a week since my dad was here to finish putting our cabinets in. The company we are using is coming to template (aka: measure for) our countertops on Wednesday. Right now the kitchen is a mess from tools and working, so please forgive. Once it is completely finished I will put up pretty and clean photos.

My favorite things that we have done in this kitchen are; moving the dishwasher so we could have 2 corner cabinets. The previous kitchen had an entire wasted corner! It was so frustrating when it came to storage...

I also LOVE having this wall gone! There was a funny little cabinet on this wall before, that made no sense. Now it is very functional. The lower cabinets will of course be covered with Quartz, and there will be a small peninsula under the over head cabinets on this wall. Plus, it adds sooo much storage!...

Lastly, I also really like our "organizer" at the end of the cupboard. Measurement wise it worked out perfectly to put it there. Functionally it is awesome too.

We chose the Quartz with some color in it. We were stuck between these 2 and finally decided this would tie in the wood and tile floor nicely. Hardest decision I've had to make so far I think.

Bryan has also been putting in sub floor today where some was missing or cut out, in order to get ready to lay tile. 

We will order our tile this week. Next Friday our fireplace comes. Hopefully my dad can come help us with plumbing for our new dishwasher some day soon too. 

I am so excited to have this adventure over within the next month! But to be honest, we'll probably redo the upstairs bathroom sometime soon too. But this will be on our own dime, and not through the mortgage. 

Here We Go: Kitchen Reno

Our kitchen cabinets actually arrived (all of them!) on Thursday. Today Bryan went down to pick them all up. And even though my dad is feeling crummy from the worst cold I can remember him ever having, him and my mom came out today after lunch and helped with demo. We still have a bit more to do, and some prep work with piping, but I am really hoping out kitchen will be in before they have to leave tomorrow. That way we can order counter tops next week. 

Kitchen before

Kitchen now

And this was once our living room. It is currently a cabinet storage area.

Have a mentioned that having water cut off to your sink and having to do dishes in your bath tub is no fun? Well, it isn't... So we are out tonight! But I think I'll have to live with my interim kitchen sink for a couple of weeks. The joys of renovating continue. All will be done in a month and a half!

Doors are almost done!

We have the main doors replaced upstairs as well as our closet doors. The linen cupboard door that we picked up on Sunday has been painted but still needs to be trimmed down. Hopefully tomorrow night we will get the closet door in the girls' room installed. And remember, we still need to put trim and casing up around everything. 

Before

Almost done

Master bedroom closet before

New doors

Yay!