If only it were true! But, we’re closer today to cooking than we were yesterday.
Our kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, and family room entertainment center were installed today and I’ll be daggone if the cabinet maker didn’t show us with his own hands just what good taste we have. The cabinets are beautiful! Here’s a sneak peek, yet be sure to peek some more in the “The Race to the Finish” picture gallery. The gallery contains the bonus of picture descriptions and information about what will fill in those empty spaces next to some of the base cabinets and wall cabinets.
The mud room, laundry room, and pantry also received their subfloor. Armstrong vinyl flooring will be laid in these rooms due to the great possibility of being subjected to water and other damaging elements. These three rooms soon should be completed. All bedrooms will be carpeted, but the carpet will be among the very last installations. Carpet doesn’t hold up well to subcontractors and their dirty construction site boots.
I’ve been anticipating today’s cabinetry installation for quite some time now and it is clear to see why. They make an incredible difference in the house’s ability to “feel” like a house that’s on its way to becoming a home. There is definition where there was void. There is tangible where there was abstract.
John and I give tremendous thought to the elemental selections of our under construction home, but until we see it, question remains in our mind. And, it has often been so long between the time of our choices until we see the finished product that we forget what we’ve chosen and what it may look like. Where possible, we should have taken pictures of stains and styles and what have you. The point is, we’ve been thus far pleased with every choice, nothing has been a ‘settle for’ or a compromise. We’re blessed!
In walking through the kitchen tonight when John arrived home from work, we studied it. Our conclusion is that a great fear has been abated – the kitchen isn’t as small as we fretted. There are multiple work spaces and ample room for someone to be unimpeded while working at each space. We have more cabinet space than either of the homes we sold in order to build our new home, Stella. The traffic flow should well work. There should be no accidental stabbings or scaldings!
We’re very well pleased with the vanities and other commissioned bathroom items. We’re delighted with the laundry room folding table (and cabinets). We also are very well pleased with the commissioned entertainment center, which will be a gift to us from my husband. Love that guy! Oh, and Happy 72nd Birthday, John, on this January 8, 2014.
I even wrangled my way into becoming a cabinet makers apprentice! I want to learn more about woodworking as it is my intention to make things for general household use. I want to make some serving trays from the construction pallets. I’d like to make our chairs and side tables for around the patio fire pit. I’d like to make some frames for John’s beer artwork. I’d like to make a headboard for the guest bed. I’d like to do a lot of things and learning more about woodworking through a real craftsman would be great. When I mentioned this, the cabinet maker’s dad immediately invited me over to see his birdhouses! I bartered John’s brewing skills to become an apprentice. How lucky is John that I’ve provided this opportunity to teach the art of beer brewing to another! I think he should buy me a present to show his appreciation!
My most recent woodcrafting idea to come to fruition are key racks for our new home. I made one 11-post key rack for the mud room and four single post key racks for the other 4 entry/exit doors. Making them was fun, except poor, poor me, I had to drink all that wine. But being the sacrificing martyr I am, in no time a’tall I drank all those bottles of wine. I did it “for the team!”
Yes indeed, every day we get closer to really cooking!