Cambria counters

Countertops:
Eric and I went to the Cambria warehouse to see the slabs... now we are more confused about which color to go with. I still like the Bradford... but I found a new one that looks better with the white cabinets. What do you think? The one on the top is Bradford.. it has more brown tones. The one on the bottom (Sheffield) has more black/gray but looks more blue and better with the white cabinets.... hmmmm. The rep is supposed to be bringing a bigger sample for us to bring home on Tuesday. It makes a big difference when you see a bigger slab. Our cabinets are being painted right now. The island is getting painted black.

Cabinets Installed

We now have kitchen cabinets! (and laundry room) Yah! They look really good. The island looks huge. They still have to paint them, but they are almost done with the installation. We had our cabinets done by Armstrong Cabinets. I'm anxious to see what they will look like when they are painted!

Even Cambria is helping paint!

We have been prepping the house all week to get ready to paint all the shiplap Eric put up on the ceilings. Eric finally painted on Saturday and it looks really good! He painted the family room, kitchen, entry way and laundry room ceilings. He also painted the staircase, some doors and upstairs moldings. He was all decked out in his painters gear and painted for about 9-10 hours. We were up very late...got to bed around 3AM. We have a few more things to finish before the cabinets come in. The cabinets are supposed to be installed on Tuesday! Woo Hoo!

Here is the flooring we decided on. We are going with a darker color because all of our cabinets and ceilings will be white and we decided the color contrast would look really good. Can't wait to see it!

Pool Fence

We have been debating on what to do about the pool. Whether to get a fence or empty the pool and cover it. Eventually we hope to put in a new, bigger pool. But, right now we are just trying to work on the house. My dad volunteered to put in a fence. It was a task that took much more time than he had hoped. His friend, Dick Runyan, volunteered to help him. They started early in the morning but had many obstacles. My mom convinced the Kellys to come help my dad later that night. Thanks to all who helped with the pool fence. My dad who worked on it all day. Dick Runyan who inspired my dad and had some great male bonding as they worked on it. Chris, Pam, and Casey who stepped in to help when it was really needed. It looks good.

Here I am sanding the Big Beams in the Dining Room. Eric did most of the sanding, I just jumped in to finish it while he worked on the ceiling. It looks pretty good. Most of the ceiling will be painted white, but these beams will be stained.

FOUND: SMELLY CAT

There has been a terrible smell the past 2 days. We knew it was some type of dead animal, but we weren't sure where. We narrowed it down to under the house. Eric and Cobian, with their jeans, masks and long sleeved shirts, headed under the house to see what it was. Cobian was very excited about this adventure. They crawled around, and found a good sized cat. Poor kitty cat! They put it in a trash bag... and Cobian brought in the bag to show the rest of us and his proud find! EWWW! Little Cambria said "Oh No" ... so adorably! I tried to capture her on video, but she didn't do it quite as cute when I began to record her. She just started saying CHEESE and kitty. Anyway, the poor smelly cat was found, not alive... and apparently used up his 9 lives. Makes me think of the song from "Friends" when Pheobe used to sing, "Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat, what are they feeding you?"

Counters

Here is the color of the counters we plan to get. This counter is made by the company CAMBRIA. (just like our little girl) We picked this color because it reminds us of the rocks at our favorite camping beach San Elijo. It is quartz.

Wood Floors

In the pictures: A example of the wood pile.. one of them and Nate getting serious about the wood floor removal.
We have to get the wood floors pulled out before the kitchen cabinets put in. The wood floors were in the entry way and dining room of the house. We decided to take them out because we wanted to put wood floors in the kitchen too, and we wanted to have the distressed wood with a different color. We were going to try to salvage the wood, but soon found it easily split when lifted. However, as the wood came up, it was easier to get other pieces out without as much damage. We were able to get some of it out without completely destroying them. I don't think it will be enough to put in Jim and Dixie's house, but I think we will use it for a playhouse or something small.
Last Saturday, my new brother-in-law Nate (Amy's new husband) came over and helped us pull out some of the wood floors. That was very helpful, as it is a very time consuming and tiring thing to do.
During the week, (this week) Eric and I continued pulling out the wood whenever we had a chance. It is now almost out. My dad and I worked on pulling nails out of the wood (which I was not very good at) and finding a place to stack it nicely if we do re-use it. There is still a huge pile with nails in the backyard of ones I thought we'd get rid of. But, I think we may be able to save some of those to and just cut off the split parts.

Bat and Board

Here is a picture of my dad helping me with the moldings in the master bedroom. Eric and I decided to do a "modified" bat and board style in the bedroom. Last week, my car was broken into in the middle of the night... so my dad had to pick me up to get my car window fixed. I asked him to drop me off at the house, I needed to be there for the electrician. He ended up staying for a little while and helping me with the moldings. I was thankful that he helped me. This weekend, my friend Niki helped me finish the molding while my Eric, Nick and my dad worked on the kitchen ceiling. Now, I just have to finish the caulking and we can start painting the room. This room was floor to ceiling wallpaper, including the closets. With the help of a wallpaper steamer, I was able to get the wallpaper off. Underneath the wallpaper was a pretty light blue paint. There was a lot of spackle needed where the paint was chipping off and/or bubbling up.