Detours off Britta Blvd

The kitchen passed final inspection from the city this past Friday, so the major remodel is really ALL DONE!!! It's the largest investment I have made in my house since purchasing it, not just financially but so much personal time & effort, and I am very proud of the results! :)

The kitchen has been pretty much finished & definitely usable since July 18th, but I had to finish inspection details like sealing around the new ducting, labeling the electrical panel with all the new circuits, and buying a temporary fluorescent light (shh don't tell), plus the pantry door glass, then planning, purchasing & installing the pantry shelving, so all that is now finally done...hooray! I've already had a major 4th of July party, 4 movie nights & one work BBQ since the countertops & plumbing were done on July 3rd, so the new kitchen is definitely getting a good workout!

I am already reaping the benefits of my design, research & planning. I love that I can have a weeknight movie night, throw DIRTY serving dishes in the dishwasher, set for a delayed start while I'm taking my shower before bed, then have actual CLEAN dishes by morning, even gooey jam jars or baked brie plates! I have lost count of how many times I've already used my drop-leaf counter for prep work, and even moving lots of party supplies from garage storage into the pantry, there is still room for more! My cabinets aren't totally crammed full either, and I haven't even started putting anything in the toekick drawers, so it's very nice to have more space. The microwave is at eye-level inside the cabinet between the stove & fridge, which I love, and the dishwasher is so nicely hidden behind a matching panel that my housecleaners didn't know where it was. :) The travertine stone tile was definitely a worthy splurge since it is gorgeous without being overwhelming, and my copper sink really does make me smile every time I do dishes!

I'm still working on the webcam stop-motion movies of the riveting remodeling action, so those will come later, but for now please notice the bonus features, then enjoy the before & after of 5 months of work!


copper sink under custom archway with travertine stone tile backsplash


drop-leaf gateleg counter - matching $6 pair of spindles hide the hinge and decorate the other side to match


wall cabinet endcaps hide key storage or magnetic dry-erase boards -
dishwasher is behind matching panel with fancy handle


pretty pantry storage & shelving, before filling with stuff -
straight on view from dining area (no before pic from this view)


kitchen from main hallway - before & after


kitchen from patio - before & after

Oh, yes, and both kitties are finally getting used to the new flooring everywhere. Instead of running in place like cartoons or sliding around corners crashing into walls, they have now figured out when to stop so they can finish sliding where they really want to go. Pretty funny to watch them chasing & sliding into each other! Ebony also only waited one day before climbing up above the cabinets, but now she has to slink under the ceiling beams like a snake to get anywhere...heehee...

All the kitchen photos are in the Brittahytta gallery, with the new ones from the last update starting at page 38...

Next up will be some garden updates with pretty flowerbeds around my new brick pathways, pumpkins growing, and even a bountiful grape harvest this year...then it will be full speed ahead on Halloween plans, including new Eerie Elegance project podcasts! I've already sold 75 books just in July & August so far!

Current Mood: accomplished

This was the whirlwind week for the new kitchen! All the painting was finished by Sunday evening, Monday I cut all the baseboards & door trim & painted them, Tuesday I installed those, went to see Spamalot, then came back & installed my magnetic door stops...unfortunately Tuesday afternoon my cabinet guy called & said he needed an extra day, so Thursday was crazy since the electrician & plumber couldn't do anything until enough cabinets were installed....

( Thursday was crazy... )

( Friday was also crazy... )


before & after


before & after

Of course even more photos are in the Brittahytta gallery, starting at page 35...

Since the electrician needs to come back anyway for a couple hours to finish the ceiling light & labeling my panel, the cabinet guy will also be back for hopefully the last time, both on Friday as I work from home...then I plan to start my backsplash tiling on Saturday, seal the stone before grouting Sunday, grout on Monday, the final sealer Tuesday, all while unpacking properly into my new kitchen...we shall see!

Lots done in a week!

Friday - passed all rough inspections, then finished living room flooring!

Saturday - finished hallway - since going backwards & fitting into such a small space took FIVE HOURS...argh! But ALL the flooring is DONE!

Sunday - Handyman Charles helped me with drywalling the pantry from 10am-4pm - thanks Charles!!!

Monday - break for Cinema Brittahytta - Galaxy Quest

Tuesday - 6 hours after work, cut & anchored rest of drywall

Wednesday- 5 hours after work, replaced leaky dishwasher valve, spackled all of kitchen patches with entire gallon of spackle!

Thursday - 4 hours after work, spackled all of pantry, including texture, another entire gallon used!




Even more photos are in the Brittahytta gallery, starting at page 32...


Tonight is a break for Margarita Friday, tomorrow I return 2 extra full sheets of drywall & buy my special order travertine tile...then caulking at the ceiling then PAINT this weekend! Cabinets should arrive either Tuesday or Wednesday, then the following day will be final electrical plus plumbing, housecleaning on Friday, then 4th of July Fireworks & Fun party on Saturday, whether the kitchen is actually complete or not!

Here we go! Hooray for kitchen updates! :D Click on each topic to read more details...

( pantry walls framed, door frame complete, all ready for rough inspection )



( rough electrical complete, all new wiring in kitchen, ready for inspection )



( new ductwork should be ready for rough inspection )



( new flooring almost finished! )



( backsplash tile selected! )



Even more photos are in the Brittahytta gallery, starting at page 27...

Now that friends have helped me move the piano & TV to the new floor, I hope to finish the rest of the living room flooring tonight. My city inspections are scheduled for tomorrow...sure hope I pass so I can continue with drywall! Wish me luck!

EDIT 6/19/09: I just passed rough inspection for everything, and I don't need any other inspections until the final, so I can mud the drywall as soon as I put it up...woohoo! Happy Friday!

Current Mood: accomplished

Back in January I posted what house projects I completed in 2008, plus what I had planned for 2009. I've gotten a lot done already with 2009 not quite half over yet, including the most ambitious project on my list that is well underway!

( Brittahytta home & garden improvements for 2009 already completed )


( still to-do for 2009 )


( ...and last but by no means least...(fanfare please!)...the kitchen remodel is well underway, hopefully all finished before 4th of July! :D )




kitchen color story = raw copper sink, EcoTop samples (Pecan is the winner), Tuscan Bronze faucet, IKEA "antique effect" flooring

So, now you can see why I've been so busy the past few months! When not at work or doing all the other stuff I've already posted, I've been either revising layout drawings, researching & purchasing, packing up my kitchen or bashing tile off my floor! I also was wary of posting too early in case I might jinx something...the cabinet order was one of the last details to get in place for sure, but now that's in process, I feel much better that everything is underway!

The last major detail is choosing castley stone(like) backsplash tile, but since I can't install that until after the cabinets & counter are in anyway, I have a little time to go shopping. I have a general idea in my head of what I'd like (think the flagstone pattern from my Halloween walls, but more tan than gray), but haven't investigated local tile stores. I also haven't found any knobs or pulls I like enough, but at my request Richard is making me fingerpull cabinet doors & drawers, so I won't have to install knobs or pulls anyway. My parents' kitchen doesn't have hardware, and I might like the cleaner look.

From my estimates, since I don't always know what the price would be if I paid labor for what I've been doing by myself so far, I will probably get a $35K kitchen including new hallway & living room flooring for about $25K that was secured last year when our company stock was nice & high, so sure glad I sold options when I did...still not any low-budget kitchen & I could have cut more corners to be cheaper, but I think the value I'm getting is definitely worth it!

Biggest splurge = gorgeous copper farmhouse sink...almost as expensive as the fridge(!), but smiling every time I do dishes will be as worth it as the expensive teal custom paint job is every time I smile when I see the Briata, even 5 years later... :)

Best deal (so far?) = found the matching finish dishwasher air gap for $20 online but won on eBay new in box for $0.99 + $4 shipping...woohoo!

Happy Friday everyone!

Current Mood: excited

Last year I saw this fancy new "kitchen center" Pandigital PANTV1512 15.6-Inch Kitchen Technology Center Digital Picture Frame on Popdgadget & thought it would be a nice space-saving idea to replace my bubble-style iMac kitchen computer for recipe use...however it seemed a bit expensive & overkill since I don't think I'll need an HDTV in my kitchen! The cabling for HDTV service would be annoying so not worth it. Wifi would be nice though...so since I've built up some free Amazon money from my Visa, I thought I'd look for it in case it came down in price yet. Nope, still $400. However the "you might like" Amazon suggestions showed the lesser expensive Pantouch digital photo frames with preloaded recipes from Bon Appetit, one drastically on sale for only $130 ...aha! Completely within the free money I have right now! I couldn't find the wifi USB dongle on Amazon, but I did find it on Bed Bath & Beyond online for $30, so I figured to order the frame, see if I could put my own recipes on it easily enough, then I could always add on the wifi later if I wanted it.

So for a third of the cost (free for me!), this can be a photo frame to put elsewhere if I'm not cooking (in addition to the internal memory it has slots for several types of media cards, plus for a USB thumb drive), plus I can move this around the kitchen wherever is most logical for that recipe. It does have to plug in for power though so can't go absolutely anywhere. This model only comes with the black frame, but it is removable, so I can always make my own prettier frame surround for it if I want to. For the extra cost for the "kitchen center" it would have been built-in wifi, HDTV-ready with a larger screen size, and more preloaded recipes, but I don't think I need all that. I added a couple books & a DVD I've been saving on my list to combine for free shipping, and I still have some free money left. The books showed up earlier last week, so I've already finished reading one of them. :)

I got the digital photo frame yesterday, so I connected it to my computer to see how the recipe files worked. It's not the most elegant navigation system, and I might end up using the remote more than the touch feature since it's only around the border, but we'll see. It will not display text files or PDF, even TIFF, only JPEG, so I will have to convert my text recipes to images to view them, but that's a big plus for scanning from cookbooks or magazines since no conversion to text necessary! To see if it was worth the effort, I took quick & dirty screencaps of most of my online Mardi Gras recipes to see if I could read them. The included USB cable worked fine, mounting as "Pandigital" on my Mac desktop, so I could just drag & drop files to copy them over to the 512MB internal memory, eject the USB drive, then it would reboot automatically after it disconnected. Hooray it worked! The image isn't huge, but still larger than recipe index cards. ;) I definitely would not go any smaller than the 10.4" diagonal image size though if you're going to use one for your own recipes. Unfortunately my nice sale price has gone up $100, but you can still get the frame without the Bon Appetit preloaded recipe collection for $200. The king cake recipe was too long for a screencap, so I cobbled that together in Photoshop (InDesign would have been better but I didn't want to deal with it with my headache last night), and now all my Mardi Gras recipes are on my new "kitchen computer" in time to use for the party in 2 weeks!

In other Mardi Gras news, my fairy wings are complete enough to wear but I would like to embellish them more...but since the dress & bodice are barely begun, those will come first. The Creole Chicken Skewers are prebaked & in the freezer, and the spinach ball goop is in my fridge ready to be rolled into balls & frozen. Glad I have a 3-day weekend inbetween to decorate & make party food! :)

The reveal isn't quite ready yet for the new kitchen decor, but I've done the major switching out of the ivy kitchen theme I've had for 10 years(?!?), washed & cleaned everything, and it's still a good quality set, so I'll try listing the large matching set on eBay since there are no listing fees through tomorrow. I found a good box, 15"x15"x9" and have crammed everything neatly inside with the towels serving as cushioning for the basket & ceramics, so it's as light as possible, and still about 10 lbs, so shipping is not insignificant. We'll see if I get any bids, but at least it's not costing me anything to try.

Wish me luck!

Current Location: at work