Renovation Update

I know this post is titled "Renovation Update," but first I need to show you the beautiful bouquet gracing my dining room table. Such saturated colors made me smile while I drank my delicious coffee and leisurely read my magazines on this frigid Sunday morning. 2 degrees is not good running weather, I decided, and so I lounged for an extra long time, trying to get motivated to run for an hour on the treadmill at the YMCA. They came from a great shop in Marquette: Garden Bouquet & Design . Stop in and support a local small business if you're ever in the area.

Okay, now on to news re: The Never-Ending Renovation. Right around Christmas, Mr. Fix was able to build and install the upper portion of what I'm calling The Right Bank of Cabinets (they are to the right of the range). The lower portion has been installed for a few months- I think since Thanksgiving- but now there are drawers. So, if you look at the picture below, the top portion of the uppers (the six cubbies) will remain as open shelving. This requires me to use a ladder, and I'm petitioning for one of those library-style ladders on a track. The portion right above the countertop will look like this: The single section on the right will have a single door, while the left side will have two pocket doors, opening like an armoire, and housing my morning business equipment: coffee maker, toaster, bread box. The cabinet doors of the lower half will (from left to right) be fashioned for baking trays stored on their sides, more baking/cookware (including small appliances) on a sliding shelf, and pantry items/canned goods.


The photo below shows the set of drawers to the left of the range. See how the wood grain is wavy and kinda shimmery? Mr. Fix tells me this is "rift-sawn" wood, and yes, he cut it and installed it that way on purpose. Me likey.


This last photo shows the entire bank of cabinets as they are now. You'll notice, too, that there is color on the walls: its called "Glamour," and is in many other rooms of our home. Its a nice custardy-creamy neutral that really makes the white trim pop. By the way, the dishwasher will be replaced with a stainless steel model later this Spring.


So, the next step is to install the cabinet doors, now that we have the hinges (bought on our "date" to Lowe's in Marquette yesterday). After that comes the concrete countertops (dyed a deep charcoal grey color), and then the island and finishing touches, like the light fixtures I bought back in August or September and white glass subway tiles for the backsplash. We are hoping to break this completed (!!!) project in with a sushi party Memorial Day weekend. Okay, I'm hoping to break it in by then.

Hope everyone had a great weekend & stayed warm- we had single digit and below-zero temps here again. I'm thinking I should've taken Fast Jessica up on that Facebook offer to get outta town and go to Sarasota...