Appliances

We do have all of our new appliances! Yeah! Of course we loved our Kitchen Aid appliances at our old house...so we wanted to get them again. All of our appliances were from Taylors in Riverside. The microwave we used to have is no longer available... so that was the toughest for me. I had a hard time finding one I really liked. We ended up with a microwave-convection oven. It looks like a real oven, just smaller inside. Our range is amazing. We got a great deal because it was a "close out" model. I have always wanted a professional type range. I love the look of them... especially the big knobs. There are a few scratches because it was a floor model... but the money I saved was worth it!

Our dishwasher was a great deal too! That comes with a bit of a story. We loved our double drawer dishwasher and of course were very spoiled by it at our old house. Eric and I don't want any other kind. However, they have changed the model a bit, and the drawers don't fit the dishes as easily. We were concerned by this. But, they had the dishwasher we wanted that was returned because the owners plates didn't fit. I guess they had 13 inch plates. We measured our plates, and my mom's plates which were 10-11 inches, so we figured we would be fine. They gave us a great deal on the dishwasher!!!! I was soooo excited because I wanted to keep my dishwasher when we sold our house. Then, when they delivered it.... our plates didn't fit! BOO HOO! WHat??? I sent it back... I emailed kitchen aid. They said that the plates should fit at an angle. I didn't try that... but our old dishwasher held our plates just fine! Eric tried it out.. and he said our plates fit fine at an angle. So weeks later.. we decided to keep the dishwasher after all! Above is a picture of the plates fitting at an angle...

We also got a cute little 2 drawer fridge for our "beverage bar". It is fancy! It was also a close out but not exactly cheap! I'm very excited about it because I intend to put drinks and snack for easy access for the kids and guests.

Eric is finally finished putting up the shiplap in the living room and office. He wants to put molding up first before we paint it. It looks nice! At the peak of the ceiling, the process took many hours. Eric had to "walk the plank" in order to get high enough up.

This week we put natural insulation in the ceiling above the kitchen. Eric wants to try a create more of a sound barrier. The stuff is basically made up of recycled newspaper. It was very messy. I just hope it doesn't become a new home for critters. We had that stuff all over our clothes, hair, even in our pockets.
Eric also installed new insulation for the kitchen walls. He also filled in the old vent hole and tried to seal any little "holes" he could find to prevent critters from coming in, as well as to better insulate the house.

We have an electrician "slowly" working on the lights and panels in the kitchen. I'm excited to see what it will look like with all of the new "can" lighting. We are thinking we might also put shiplap on the kitchen ceiling....

Drywall

Drywall

Last weekend we worked on pulling the drywall down in the kitchen. Cobian really enjoyed pounding the wall, pulling off drywall and taking nails out of the studs. This was a bit messy. We found more nuts in the walls... but this time they looked liked pistachios. We also pulled out the kitchen floor linoleum. The pantry has been painted and we are going to build new shelves. Eric is getting closer to finishing the ceiling in the family room. He finished putting up the ceiling in the office, now it just needs molding and paint. I pulled down most of the wallpaper in the master, just need to get a few more little spots.

Here is a quick video of Cobian and Eric in action.

Wallpaper

so..... found out that most of my wallpaper stripping was a waste a time. We will be taking down all the drywall instead of patching it up. Lovely! I had a feeling that was going to happen.

Ceiling

Ceiling before in the office and family room:
The white panels are the first attempt to do the ceiling. We decided to try the shiplap (don't know how to spell that) instead when we discovered that the ceiling isn't completely flat.








Ceiling after wood was added:
(shiplap) .... Sorry, the picture is not at the right angle. It will be painted white for a cottage/coastal look.

Soffits

Kitchen DEMO:

Eric has been working on the demo. of the kitchen. He got all of the soffits down, and pulled out the corner base cabinet on Saturday with some help from my dad. On Sunday, he pulled out the island. Luckily, his dad showed up at the right time to help him transport it out of the house. He took the island out in one big piece...and intends on taking it apart outside. We are getting some estimates this week for new cabinets!!! Hopefully, we can get things moving. What did he find in the soffits.... chewed up macademia nuts. Their were some critters living in the walls awhile back. Luckily they are not still living there... but their poop is!!! Yuck.

On Saturday, I was peeling off more wallpaper ... with the help of my new heat gun. (and my mom too) Unfortunately, I left it on the counter while Eric was doing demo and he got a small burn... sorry babe! I just has surgery last week and had my gallbladder removed, and have not been able to do much. On Saturday, I was feeling more energetic and so was removing wallpaper. However, it turns out my body was not so happy. I had pizza for dinner.. my first time in awhile and the combination of grease and doing too much was not good. My body hurt like I was in labor for a couple of hours and the pain killers did not help. OUCH!

Sunday I was instructed by my husband to not do anything. So...I drew plans for the kitchen.

Blow Dryer

I've been slowly pulling off wallpaper. Dixie pulled out the blow dryer the other day to see if it would help. It actually seemed to help with the top layer. The bottom layer also came off smoother too. Eric bought a heat gun at Harbor Freight... so the next time we pull more wallpaper down, we are going to try the heat gun.