Built-In Countertops, Fireplace Status, and Holey Ceiling

Hallmark Stone installed our countertops on Friday, and we installed the toe kicks on Saturday morning.  So our built-ins are officially done!

I also finished painting the family room walls, including the wall to the right of the fireplace.  I decided to go ahead and paint over the green paint in hopes of balancing out the fireplace (which is safe for now). 

We have some additional plans for that wall, so stay tuned to see how it turns out.

Speaking of special surprises, I had this crazy idea to use chalkboard paint on the wall above the bar built-in.  I need to let it cure for a week before I can do anything with it.  So come back to see what I draw on it.

This hole in our ceiling is the start of our next project.  Stripping the paint off our UFO style light.  Unfortunately, we did not get a picture of the light before we decided to take it down.  The only picture I could find was this picture that Delia took before we purchased the house.

The lower portion of our light fixture has a bare metal finish, but the recessed portion was completely painted over.   

(Recessed portion of light)

We are hoping that once we are done stripping it, we will end up with the original metal finish.   

So what's new?

Well, we are officially done with our built-ins (with the exception of all the toekicks)!    

And we replaced the brown coke-bottle plastic with rice paper glass. 

(It looks more white than what appears in the picture.)

After searching all over the KC metro area for a good deal on countertops, we ended up purchasing Silestone's Bianco River from our local Home Depot.  

Since we will not be refinishing the bar built-in, we ordered Silestone's Mountain Mist.  Hallmark Stone was here on Friday to do the templates.

LD has also been working hard on repainting the family room downstairs.  She decided it was time to replace the temporary brown on the walls and the rust on the soffit.  She's been wanting to put a gray color down there, but in this house gray does not always equal gray!  Our sofas can attest to that!

Well that has been quite a journey!

Gray color #1 = blue
Gray color #2 = lilac
Gray color #3 = gray?  or lilac?
Gray color #4 = purple!
Fifth attempt, Gray #3 was actually gray with a second coat.  Yay!!

Wow, we are only in February, and we have actually managed to cross out a few items off our punch list!

Refinish the family room built-ins = check!

Repaint the family room = check!

Countertops for the built-ins = check!

LD wants to paint the fireplace white, and I don't want to.  It is a huge decision for us because undoing the paint job would be painful.  Reasons why LD wants to paint the fireplace-1) the room is too monochromatic with the rust-brown on the walls, floor and the fireplace, and 2) the brick color makes it too heavy in the room.  Reasons why I want to keep it natural-1) integrity, 2) it's Roman brick, and 3) I like it!

The fireplace is on the right.

We need help with this one.  Any suggestions?  

2011 Snowcapolypse!

Well it has happened again, except worse!  We got about 10"-12" of snow here.  Fortunately, we worked at home on Monday and Tuesday, and the office actually closed on Wednesday.  So we were basically stuck in our house (more like jailed).

So LD had this "awesome" idea to do a search in the blizzard!  She said that it would be easy to see the wind direction, and good to get the girls out of the house.  So what do I do?  I grab my coveralls, boots, coat, hat, gloves, and balaklava and hide in the woods.  The temperatures were around 16F with wind velocities between 30-40 mph.

LD sent Katy first, then Morgan.  They both found me in like 2.5 minutes.  Then she sent Phoenix.  She is only 7 months, but did a great job!  And she found me in about 3.5 minutes.  She is growing up so fast, and  doing so well in her disaster search and rescue training.

Watch her search in the blizzard!