Friday, March 23, 2012

Out With the Old!

The kitchen now has no upper cabinets and no ceiling. It does, however, have a new skylight! Imagine ... LIGHT in my dark kitchen! With temperatures in the low 40's this week with rain, we were wondering how things would go when actual demolition began. No worries! On Wednesday, when the weather man was calling for snow, bad enough to hamper travel, our part of the coast cleared up and got sunny! Todd got up on the roof and installed the skylight in 4 hours and only got rained on for about an hour of that time! Thursday was nice enough for us to walk and then he started tearing out upper cabinets. Today was sunny all day, the kids and I sat on the deck while Todd made a nightmare out of the kitchen, tearing out the ceiling. I still got to cook in the remains of my old kitchen tonight and perhaps tomorrow night, but I am thrilled that the weather made today much more tolerable. The kitchen will be colder tomorrow morning but that's part of remodeling.

We are getting the travel trailer ready for cooking dinners. I think we can still do breakfast and lunch in the house. Who wants to stumble out to the trailer in the a.m?! This is all so surreal. It feels like a dream. The cleaning up part doesn't, though! Pink fluffy fiberglass is a pain to clean up - who invented this stuff, anyway?

We still have decisions to make regarding the cabinets, counter tops, etc. The floor has been decided. The pantry will have to wait a bit. I am praying for God's guidance and for Him to give Todd strength and wisdom through all this. I am so thankful how God answered my prayers for the weather. I mean, He moved a snowstorm further into Portland! It missed us completely! Now, I know He didn't do it just for my husband but I am so happy that we were blessed by this. The boys have been working when needed. Good experience for them.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

It's Looking Different Around Here

My husband has been wanting to build a new kitchen in this house since we moved here, about 14 years ago. To make a long story short - he began the process last weekend. He knocked out the wall dividing the kitchen from the living room and suddenly I have a view of the bay from my kitchen (through the living room windows). Wow! The view today was of rain, high winds and then snow falling (and sticking) but who cares! It has been fun getting used to that wall being gone. We do not miss it except when my daughter turned to look at the calendar that used to hang there and had a good laugh at herself. Todd came home tonight and said he is taking not two weeks (which he had already scheduled) but THREE weeks! In fact, his boss suggested he take the extra time since the doctor will be gone as well. Todd has never had that much time off, ever, since our marriage. I hope everything goes well and I am giving this remodel to God, asking for wisdom and guidance. We will need it.

When he gets to the part where I can't cook in the kitchen, the plan is for me to cook in our travel trailer which is fine except for the times it will be raining and, possibly, snowing. The weather report didn't call for snow today so it came as a complete surprise. Todd didn't get home tonight until 8:30, driving up and down the hill from town in snow! Sometimes I wish we still had our 4-wheel truck that we foolishly traded in for a vehicle that would hold a growing family. Anyway, I am optimistic and will do my best to be a good sport. I want this remodel to go well for Todd - I'm just along for the ride.

Really, I'm serious. He keeps asking my opinion about things and when I don't have one, we tend to, ahem, debate a bit. I finally told him I just trust him to built a terrific kitchen, like I used to see him do when he had his own cabinet shop. I'll try to give my input when needed but, really, I'll just be so happy with whatever he does.

He built an archway in the area between the kitchen and living room which looks lovely (will look even better when it's dry-walled and painted.) I guess this will call for some pictures which I'm sure Chad will be happy to provide. He's better than I am at taking photos and posting them. Alec and I held up one end of the huge beam that had to go in place to hold up the ceiling where the weight-bearing wall had been. My shoulders are still recovering. He'll also put an arch between the kitchen and dining room.

Definitely looking forward to the new kitchen. Not looking forward to paying the necessary bills! But it will be worth it. I'm very excited!