Cabinets Unboxed.

The contractors came on Tuesday and unboxed all of the cabinets and inspected them. There is a scratch on one of the doors (which they can re-order) and a nick on one - but we're not sure the nick will be visable once installed. We'll ask tomorrow.

Here are the new cabinets in our garage - note the old cabinets in the lower right foreground. Fun!

Old Appliances Sold!

Although the amount will barely offset the cost of anything in the new kitchen, we have successfully sold the old appliances!

The kitchen appliances: Refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave, oven sold for $850 combo on craigslist. Price them right and they will move fast. I put them up at 9am yesterday and had a check in hand by 9pm. They can't pick them up until next weekend, but we can just keep them in the garage.

The washer & dryer had multiple calls and this morning, someone came by - paid cash and had me help him load them. So those are gone too. $400 for the pair.

Through a mass of 'prospective buyers' emails and phone calls yesterday, I've learned that some people not only don't realize that refrigerators DON'T fit in the back of an SUV, or that you can't put them on their sides or backs. Some people think I'm crazy enough to sell 4 BRAND NEW kitchen appliances for $850 (they are 3.5 years old for the record).

And people are very concerned about used appliances being "clean."

In the end, they are all sold and the kitchen is almost ready for the tear out on Tuesday. Yay!

Kitchen cabinets are here!

So the kitchen is moving along. The cabinets arrived on Friday around noon and are safely tucked away in the garage.



The pulls came in a week ago, so now all we have to do is go get the new kitchen faucet (found it at Lowe's, getting it tonight) and the under-cabinet lights.

Contractors come on Tuesday morning to inspect the cabinets, and if all is well, they will begin tear out that day. Hopefully, we'll have it mostly done by Friday - and we'll just be waiting our two weeks for the countertops to arrive.

We'll post pics of the progress as we go.

Landscape update.

The Gerbera daisies are dying. It just wasn't meant to be. On a positive note, these plants/flowers line the right side of our walk. Anyone know what they are? We'll likely have to thin them out at some point but they look kind of cool. Almost bird-of-paradise like.

Kitchen Update.

The latest is that the new cabinets will be here sometime between 5/7 and 5/11 - that would be this week. We're waiting for the phone call when they setup the exact time and day. Can't wait!

After that, we have to figure out our schedules. It just so happens that Brian's days off are the days I'm in town and could be home - and his days working are days I'm out of town and can't be home. Hopefully he'll be able to flex his schedule because my travel days are set for the rest of the month.

To tide you over until I have more updates, here's a pic of the cabinets (cherry wood with a Sunset brown finish - from Kraftmaid):



Here are the cabinet pulls (which we FINALLY have in our hot little hands) from Merillat:

Expect another update later in the week!

Deadbolt Envy.

As we've been slowly making improvements to the house, we realize one of the things we need to do is change the locks. That's pretty much a given when you buy a house someone else had lived in. Our problem - we want this lock:

It may appear unassuming, but there are two important things to consider.

1) It's satin-nickel so it will match everything else we've done that's stainless/nickel (matching is important if we're going to make changes). I'll tolerate the brass handle on the screen door because it was there and it works. But anything new will be silver-ish in color.

2) That little nub on the bottom of it will hold up to 50 fingerprints - all you have to do is swipe the appropriate finger under it and the deadbolt releases. No key required. Very cool.

The only problem - the thing is $240. That's a bit pricey for a lock - so we don't have one. Yet.

More planting.

Another $240 at City Floral got us 3 new house plants, a hanging basket for the back yard and some tulips for the front. Not to mention a couple of really nice ceramic pots for the house plants.

We also took time today (it was 79º!) to plant the rest of the front yard and pot up some of the herbs in the back. Here's the updated photo of the front yard:



For a closer look:

The Gerber Daisies are in.


Ground cover is in (I'm told it will fill in like crazy) around the two trees and the border of the front landscaping.





And we've put two sets of tulips on each side of the steps.


We'll see how it all shapes up through the summer! And you can see for yourself if you come for a visit.