I Am Pleased.

The cabinets are 99% done, other than a few door fixes, fixture fix, and the end of the baseboards. I love the molding they put in, and I love how it looks with the rebuilt/extended soffit.

Today the plumber was back to install the fridge and the stove, with the aid of Arnie, and also my Construction Supervisor/Father. The painter also stopped by to check out what needs to be done next week - we're really moving right along! You know what the stove means, right? POPCORN FOR DINNER! (And I guess I'll make Tim a birthday cake.)

I am just so happy with how things are turning out. I consider myself a fairly confident, decisive person, but remodeling is a nerve wracking process. It's terrifying to make such expensive, permanent choices based on seeing oh, a single 20x20 square of flooring, and a handful of cabinet doors. I've continued to be confident about our granite choice, bold as it may be, because at least I saw that as a raw slab. I have been a little concerned that when the floor went down and the cabinets went in I was going to look at them and think "oh crap, I hate it." Thankfully, the opposite has happened. I am SO PLEASED. Even though we're probably only half way functional, I feel like this remodel has been 100% worth it, even though yes, it's taken double the time budgeted and yes, we have spent more dollars than we originally thought (damn my Construction Supervisor and his suggestions! Just kidding - I'm very glad we did the plumbing project, and I think the under cabinet lighting and the new laundry sink will be very nice.)

It's also been fun to see the plumber and the painter come in and say "wow, it really looks great!"

I'm glad we made the choice to tile the dining room. Since moving in, we've been trying to think how we could do a kitchen table, or a table that would allow the kids a place to sit and work and make messes, without having to worry about the carpet. There's no REAL good place in either the kitchen or the Pretty Room to make that happen, so I think it's going to be great to have a dining room that's now approved for eating, studying, play-dohing, cookie decorating and painting. I also love that it allows me to keep the open space by the kitchen slider and the Pretty Room window. All of the light is one of my favorite features of this house, and so I'm glad that the remodel didn't include taking out or decreasing the size of the slider.

The only downside is that all of my pots, pans and baking items are BURIED in the back of the office, because they were the easiest to pack and ergo, first to go when I demolished the kitchen.

Blah blah, here's the pictures.

LOOK AT ALL THIS COUNTER SPACE! (my biggest gripe about the kitchen before was the lack of counter space.)

Command central dining room!

Also, here's my cute little cat lady