What Have We Been Up To?

It’s been a crazy, busy time for us these days! Michael is working really hard on the remodeling projects that took a back seat for awhile. Since he has time now to do the projects, he’s trying to get them all done. First, Michael put together the new cabinets from IKEA for our two bathrooms. The cabinets for the bathrooms are the same design and color as the kitchen cabinets.

Next, Michael hired a tile guy to finish the kitchen floors. DIY projects are HARD, expensive, time-consuming and often lead to mistakes. The tile guy was hired to fix our mistakes and finish up the DIY project we started. Here are some scenes from our kitchen this week:

Where’s the fridge?!?! It’s on the opposite side of the room temporarily. It’s been a challenge cooking breakfast this week–but totally worth it. The construction of the kitchen floors is messy and gross. The entire house is covered by a layer of dust! The cats are also freaked out with all the chaos, of course. And of COURSE Fat Kitty had to roll around in the dust. Gawd!

There are paw prints in the dust all over the house. I cannot wait for it to be completed so I can clean! The next project is hiring someone to install the kitchen counters. That MUST be done by a professional and it was the goal all along when we started the remodel four years ago. If done incorrectly, the whole kitchen would be ruined and the materials Michael bought would be wasted. He’s had the slabs of paperstone product for the countertops for as long as I’ve known him. We just need a professional to cut them. And no, the powder blue counter top is NOT staying! 🙂

He’s also working on the backyard when the weather is decent. We’re getting ready for this year’s garden in baby steps. We’ve rotated the soil in our beds and mixed in the compost into them. And Michael has been doing the backbreaking work of shoveling bark dust. Oooof!

Here are a few “before” and “middle” pictures:

Look at how pretty it is! The new bark will make is sooo much easier this summer to maintain our humongous yard. Pulling weeds is one of the worst “yard chores.” I pull a weed and a few days later it’s back. Hopefully this will prevent the weed pulling. Then we can concentrate on the veggie garden.

I’m so excited about the yard taking shape. It’s going to look so great when it’s done. Since the yard is so huge, it will take awhile to complete the whole project.

I got home from work last night and Michael and his friend Jeremy were finishing up the bark project for the day. Michael had burned 4,400 calories! Wowza. The three of us went to Foster Burger for dinner and Michael and Jeremy both ate one burger each and then split a second (oh my god). It was pretty hilarious.

I will be posting more photos soon as the projects progress. I cannot wait to to post that “Before and After” THE KITCHEN IS DONE post!!!!! 4 years in the making!

QUESTION: Are you DIY-ing any projects?