And so it begins ...

Our kitchen remodel has started. We ate our last meal at our little table (we bought this four person table at Kmart for $179 when we first moved in together in the Spring of 2002) on Monday. Since Kevin finished prepping the wood for the ceiling, it was all moved upstairs. Mia thinks it is really fun to sit on the pile of wood. We started taking some of our things downstairs (Kevin cleared a shelf for everything because we wouldn't want to mess up the "man cave" -see post below if you don't understand!) and putting some of the things we will still use in Little Kevin's room. Kevin ripped out one cabinet and the pantry. He removed the ceiling fan and lined the ceiling studs with blue chalk lines. He may start installing the wood tonight. His timeline for this weekend is to get the ceiling installed on Saturday and the electric done on Sunday. He has to rewire the entire kitchen because the outlets are not GFI protected. Also, since we are adding a lot of counterspace, the electric code says that outlets have to be available every four feet of countertop so we will have outlets on the peninsula too. ( I added a few more pics of the before to the kitchen album)

Our hall bathroom is now fully functional. We decorated it with a beach/shell theme. I don't think the pictures do it justice because I find it to be absolutely adorable. (I added some new pics to the bathroom album)

There is a show on TLC called "moving up". It follows homeowners who sell their house. And at the end of the show, the original owners come back and make comments on what the new owners did to the house. I would be absolutely devestated if anyone were to come in and make a negative comment about the work we have done. Not only have we made changes, but our heart and soul was poured into every decision, along with a ton of elbow grease and sweat on Kevin's part.

The only room I am not overly proud of is the living room because it never fully came together like the other rooms, and needs a real theme to it. We also want to change our bedroom furniture and decor but do like the color of the walls and molding. When we finally undertake our master bedroom decor, we want to make it like a log cabin retreat complete with a log bed and furniture! That is another story worth waiting for!
As I lose more and more pieces to my kitchen, I would love some good and healthy crock pot recipes! That is where I will be doing my cooking until the end of the remodel when our stainless steel appliances are put in their places. Our goal is to have the entire remodel done by summer. If you drink, say a toast to the Mesnick's and our wishful thinking ...