Brian Is Getting A Little Excited

It is rare that Brian will take pictures for the blog, let alone demand that they be posted. His visions of a gourmet kitchen are getting the better of him. Today he ripped out the ceiling where the pantry will be. We have also decided to have the one window bricked up so we can try to build this pantry ourselves. It will be a long, slow, process, but at least there will be progress.

And So It Begins....Again

I suppose this marks the official beginning of the second phase of our renovation...the kitchen.

Our kitchen has been left in a torn up state since the first half of our reno was completed on the main floor a year and a half ago.

This is the remnants of what was our bedroom closet before we added the second story. Here's what it looked like at around 6:00 tonight.












Brian and I have really been getting the renovation itch again. I think now that he is out of school and at home more, Brian has had much more time to think about his dream kitchen...and to stare at what is now the opposite of his dream kitchen. I guess that would make it his nightmare kitchen.

There's a problem, though. We have no money :) But as Brian so aptly put it: "It doesn't cost money to demo." And since we have lived with a torn up kitchen for a year and a half, we figured we could live with a little bit more torn up kitchen for another year and a half.








After around 2 hours, the closet was gone. This space will eventually be our pantry. We'll have to have the window bricked up since the wall will go right in the middle of it so we can't quite build it yet. But maybe will do a little sheetrocking since we have some extra lying around in the garage.

And maybe we'll take a drive to Idaho for some lottery tickets.

The End Of An Era

Our sconces finally arrived yesterday. I ordered them about 3 months ago. They were on back order from Pottery Barn, but I had some PB Cash to redeem and I had been planning on these sconces for over a year, so I was willing to wait. It was well worth it. But things didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped -- as always. When Brian put the sconces up, he found that the electrical boxes that our contractor put in were too wide.


So, my wonderful husband spent the last two afternoons modifying the boxes, reinstalling them, spackling, sanding, painting and wiring these new beauties.

It Was Chandelierium!

After a year and a half of looking for the perfect chandelier...and a year and a half of Brian nagging me about it, I punted and bought one. It's not exactly what I had envisioned, but I like it all the same. Our bedroom is DONE!!!

Bistro de Bennion

For the past year and a half we've been looking for a bistro set for our balcony. We've had a rough time finding one small enough and that we liked. We threw the backyard patio furniture up there in the meantime -- BOR-ING!

The other day Brian said he saw a red set he really liked at Ace. I hadn't even thought about a color other than bronze, silver, or black. Red might be kinda fun...So, here is the before -->








And here's the after. We'll be enjoying it tonight. Great idea, Brian.

My Xanadu

I love my bathroom! I find myself wandering in there just to look at it. I also find that I spend a little more time on my evening rituals. Oilin' and lotionin', lotionin' and oilin'. ;)

In the last few weeks, a few things have been done. First of all, the tiles in the shower are fixed and the faucet has been installed. It was used once, after which, we noticed the tiles on the floor were discolored. We're waiting to shower in there again until the contractor can come back and look at it. I want to make sure we don't have any water issues that will cause problems later.


Another accomplishment of the last week or so was that the electrical has been finished. The sconce boxes are in and are waiting for the sconces that are on back order from PB. As part of the electrical work, Brian had the brilliant idea to put outlets inside the medicine cabinets. I've got my electronic toothbrush in mine and Brian has his toothbrush and electric shaver charging in his. Cool, huh? I hated those ugly things sitting on the counter 24/7 in the basement bathroom.












I have started to try my hand at accessorizing. I have found in the past that I am crappy at it. I think, though, that I have a good start here. Brian and I took a trip about town on Saturday and picked up these items for the countertop. I will admit that it is hard to go wrong with PB.

One of our stops on the tour was Bed Bath and Beyond. We picked up my oh-so-longed-for bathtub caddy. LOVE it! Also, I wanted to do something a little different with the towel racks. Instead of hanging a towel rack on the wall, we bought two to mount to each side of the sink console. Brian was kind enough to make it happen. My mom and dad gave me towels two Christmases ago intended for this bathroom. I was extra happy to get those out of their tupperware tomb in the basement. They look great.


I still need to get some accessories for the walls and (as you can see from this pic) put up those sconces, but even so, we are starting to really enjoy this room. It is amazing how much suiter our master suite has become!

A Nice Hot Bath

Oh, yes. I actually got to take a nice hot bath in my cast iron cutie thanks to Brian spending several hours putting the faucet together. It was not an easy task. There are about a million connections on that thing. It only took us 3 or 4 tries on the supply lines before we had it water tight.

I greatly appreciate all the work, though. It was heaven. I am going to enjoy it for many a year. Now if I can just get my hands on one of those bathtub caddies. With a good book and an ice cold drink, I'll never have to leave it.