The remodeling of our kitchen is finally done. What should have taken just over a week, wound up taking just over a month. The upside is that our remodeled kitchen is the most beautiful kitchen that we have ever had. I took an entire year to find granite under $40 per square foot that did not look like run of the mill granite, and the wait was completely worth it. We have gone from absolutely disgusting grouted tile on our countertops to beautiful granite. The same disgusting grouted tile that was previously used as a backsplash is also gone, replaced by a beautiful rustic meets modern backsplash that matches the granite perfectly.
We added trim to the top of the cabinets and framed around the refrigerator, so that the cabinets are not so noticeably small. Simple carpentry went a really long way. We painted the bottom cabinets brown and the upper cabinets white. We replaced the metal vent hood with a wood vent hood, which we painted in the same brown as the lower cabinets to bring everything together. Lastly, we redid the flooring in all of the main rooms and hallway to the same flooring, a wood look vinyl floor.
We also put the same flooring in my bedroom and the spare room of the house. The spare room of the house is now officially an office. Replacing the flooring in these two rooms was out of scope until the two rooms flooded thanks to negligence on the part of the folks working on the back patio. Having the entire house torn up all at once has been a nightmare the past month.
The seven of us (Brainy Bird, Little Chirp, Potatoe, Storme, Trooper, Pumpkine and I) are all extremely happy to be back in the house. The biggest highlight for the boys and I is getting to cook at home again. Little Chirp has been asking for weeks when we would have a kitchen back. I finished work on Friday to find both the boys in the kitchen. Little Chirp was unpacking the boxes of kitchen stuff, and Brainy Bird was cooking dinner. He made shrimp creole. Brainy Bird is going to be extremely popular in college if he keeps cooking this way. Seeing my mom’s cookbook open to her shrimp creole recipe on the counter sent a wave of warmth and happiness through me that washed away the grueling work week.
The biggest highlight for the fur kids has been cuddle time. The four of them have spent the past couple of days back in the house all snuggled up together on the throws that sit on our living room couch.
Little Chirp is definitely not letting big brother show him up on the cooking front. On Saturday Little Chirp made Italian meatloaf and tonight, he made broiled salmon with lemon-dill sauce. Tonight’s salmon is the best that I have ever eaten in my life. Brainy Bird worked on his college applications while little brother did the cooking tonight. It is crazy to think that this time next year Brainy Bird will be away at college. We are definitely embracing every minute that we have together as a family.
It is the little things in life…