Goodbye 2009 - Hello 2010!

Well, 2009 was a great year for home remodeling, and we are looking forward to all the new projects we plan to take on in 2010.  We thought it would be fun to review some of our remodeling accomplishments of 2009.

• Infill kitchen cabinets built
• Kitchen cabinets refinished
• Refinished pecky cypress wall
• Installed new fixtures in half-bath
• New pendant lights over breakfast bar
• Installed cork floor in master bedroom

• Installed walnut wall in master bedroom
• Painted family room, kitchen, and half-bath
• New kitchen countertops installed
• Installed kitchen backsplash
• Installed new dishwasher and wall oven
• New drywall installed over acoustic ceiling
• New master bedroom vanity
• Stairs covered with Johnsonite rubber stair treads

I am exhausted just thinking about all the work we did in 2009, but ready to tackle the following projects in 2010:

• Remodel master bathroom
• New concrete sink for master bathroom vanity
• Remodel hall bathroom
• Continue cutting back the overgrown yard
• Refinish built in cabinets in family room to match kitchen cabinets
• Replace plastic in family room cabinet doors with glass
• Install baseboards
• Install vents
• OHHHH and start working on Black Dog Bar!

It should be a challenging year, but we are looking forward to it (okay I am looking forward to it, LD not so much).

Happy New Year!

White Christmas 2009

It has been nearly 50 years since Kansas City enjoyed a White Christmas.   Fortunately, we were safe at home during the storm.  To our family members in California who do not have the pleasure of enjoying snow on Christmas, these are for you!

Took the dogs out to play

Patio-outside the dining area

Celebrated LD's birthday today with a freshly baked cake!

Video of dogs enjoying the snow

Hope your Christmas was as fun as ours.

Shake & Bake in Time for Christmas!!!

It took a little thinking and planning, but we figured out the best way to make the cutout smaller for the oven.

Trim & raised platforms

The oven actually had to be raised to better fit the opening. So we added a little platform on each side.

Staining trim

Stain and topcoat all done!

Delia flipped the switch at the electrical panel, and all the pretty lights came on!! There were so many lights and function buttons. I might have to read the manual!

DONE

To initiate the oven into our home, we baked wonderful Christmas cookies and a delicious frozen pizza.

Mmmmm, delicious reindeer sugar cookies.

I thought it would take us longer to get it installed, but it only took 2 days. Most of that time was spent waiting for stain and poly to dry.

Merry Christmas to Us!

Now we can enjoy our Christmas.  Last year, I could only setup the tree. This year I was able to set up some decorations throughout the house.

Christmas Bar

Baine's stocking

Our stockings

My Christmas quilt-about 10 years old

Merry Christmas to All and To All a Goodnight!

After a 14 hour trek our oven is here!!!!

We have been without an oven for more than 4 months. Well it would only work when it felt like it, which happened to be once or twice a month. But we were looking for the right one to come along at the perfect price.

Well, after waiting for a perfect deal on an Electrolux wall oven, our patience has paid off!! We got one for a steal at the Sears Outlet. I love that place-ahhhh. But here's the catch-we had to drive 14 hours roundtrip to get it. We figured since we went to Ikea for the same distance why not do the same thing for our dream oven.  I wanted my oven, and I was not about to give up, especially with a sweet deal like that.  

We checked the weather for the weekend and decided that Friday would be the best time to go.  We left for Evansville mid-morning on Friday and ran into a blizzard from Columbia to St. Louis (okay it was just some light snow and flurries).

After checking into the hotel and eating dinner, we headed to Sears to pick up the oven.  Turned out the oven was brand new, it only had a little crack in the fascia on the right side.  At 70% off the original price, it was well worth it!!

After getting some rest, we headed back home this morning.  Katy was quite comfortable, however, and was not ready to get up.  Morgan on the other hand, was ready to go!  Can you tell that Katy is not a morning dog?

I plan on working on the cabinet adjustments tomorrow, and hoping to have the oven installed just in time for Christmas.

Large Hole in Our Kitchen!

There is a large hole in our kitchen, but don't be alarmed it was self-inflicted.  We finally got tired of staring at the oven that worked only when it felt like it (happened to be once or twice a month), and decided to pull it out. We turned off the power at the breaker box, removed a few screws, and pulled it out.  It was a relatively painless process.

We needed to pull out the oven to measure the cutout dimensions.  LD just about had a cow when she learned that the cutout width was 1.5" larger than the maximum listed in the installation instructions for the Electrolux Oven she has been lusting over.

But she really had her heart set on that oven, and she was not about to give up.  Once she calmed down and re-examined the cabinet cutout, she realized that the previous owner had cut the cabinet on the right side to fit the big old oven (Magic Chef oven that required a 30.5"cutout).  She will be putting her carpentry skills to work to modify the cabinet, so stay tuned.