Kitchen Update

Thank goodness, some things are finally beginning to come together in the kitchen again.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  There will come a day when I can remove the pots and pans from my guest bed and place them back in the cabinets.  Today is not that day, but it's a start!

The concrete countertops on the two accessory cabinets are essentially done.  They are stained and sealed, only lacking the final shine.  I'm pretty excited about the results.  I will say, however, that there is a bit of a learning curve.  The rate at which the concrete absorbs the stain is something to be marveled.  I chose two colors, golden brown and gray/black.  The plan was to give the counter an all-over coating of the brown and later add accents of gray/black.  The brown went on without a hitch.  The black was slightly scarier.  The initial blob that went down soaked in much darker than I had anticipated.  Since this has been such hard work and the stain is very permanent, I lost a few years off my life when I saw the initial clash.  I quickly wiped it with a damp rag.  Thankful for water-based stain, I watered down my mixture and gave it another go.  Whew!  All is well.  The three coat staining process probably only took one to two hours, and I couldn't be more pleased!

Now, on to the next goals of finishing the bar for the cabinet, pouring the countertop around the sink, and a new tile backsplash.  A girl's work is never done!  (Well, a girl's husband's work is never done.)

Prime Goal

I love photography.  It's what I read about when I'm not reading school books, and it's what I do when I go somewhere new and intriguing.  One thing that I've read over and over but never committed to doing is using my prime lens more.  I love the flexibility my kit and zoom lenses give to me, but looking through my photos, the ones I really feel like I nailed were often shot with my prime lens.  It is a 50mm lens, and when the depth of field is perfect, the clarity is fantastic.  So, here, before you all today, I commit to more readily using my awesome prime lens.

These photos, from a session we did of my nieces, were both taken with my 50mm Canon lens.  These girls are beautiful all around.  They are kind, thoughtful, funny, talented, and just plain wonderful.  They melt my heart, and I think the use of this lens truly made the difference in bringing that feeling to life.  

Jenna

and Janie modeling like her big sister

This photo is a bit older and sports a completely different look.  We did a green screen session of Jessie for her Sweet 16 photos.  This, too, was done with the prime and is one of my favorite pictures.  She is deep, intelligent, free-spirited, imaginative, and lovely - another capture from the clarity of the prime.

The Difference A Day Can Make

Seriously.  One day...  

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to change up our kitchen.  We had an old bar cabinet in the garage that matched, and since we needed more storage, we brought it in to replace the smaller one we were using.  Although I painted it a nice rustic black with gold edging for an antique feel to compliment the rest of the house, we were presented with one major problem.  The countertop didn't match.  Navy blue on black is not just a clothing no-no.  For this, we came up with the idea to replace all of our laminate countertops with concrete.  We could pour it ourselves to save money and have awesome, solid-surface countertops.  

We started out by practicing our technique on our old bar.  We moved it to the side, and it will be great extra storage in our dining area.  L-O-V-E it!  We have stain and sealer on the way.  It will be amazing when we are done.  

Next, we knocked out the countertop on the new island (and by "we," I mean Donald...)  Did I also mention this was all extremely messy?  Still, the end result- FANTASTIC!  I'm still in awe.  

(Don't worry.  There is a drawer for beneath the stovetop.  We just haven't put it back yet!)

The stovetop had previously been in the corner of our main cabinetry.  In it's former location, it was impossible to have any more than a one-man operation in the kitchen.  The oven, stove, sink, and dishwasher were all on top of one another, so moving the stovetop to the island solved a world of problems.  Plus, it looks totally sharp with that black cabinet!  

Moving on, I'm sure you are still wondering why we have a gigantic, gaping hole and missing walls in our kitchen now.  The plan was simply to pour new countertops on our existing cabinetry there as well.  The kink in that plan, as it turns out, is that the cabinets had been "modified" by someone previously.  We had worked on them before to put the laminate countertop in, but it became apparent that a complete overhaul was in order for them to support something as heavy as concrete.  The paneling behind the old cupboards was also not in great shape, so here we are.  We have demolished the old walls.  We're correcting wiring and adding more outlets, putting up backer board in preparation for tile backsplash, and adding new paneling for behind the cabinets.  Oh, and we're waiting on Monday to roll around so we can purchase the new cabinet we didn't know we were going to need.  Eek!  On the bright side, I have the vision.  It will be grand, eventually.  If it were easy, we would have done it a long time ago.  

Here are some more pictures of the project!

This was the island before.  It was a lovely sway-back shape with chipping white paint and navy blue top.

Jazz had to check it out.

Sanding. Sanding. Sanding.

The first coat of black.  Donald was worried at this point :)

Yeah, I went there.  The polyurethane was excessively stinky!

A few days, three coats of black paint, antique gold edging, and two coats of polyurethane later, this was my finished product.  I love it!  Now, if i can only get the rest of the kitchen back together!

Welcoming the New Year with New Posts!

January 1, 2014

If You Do It, Do It Well

Happy New Year!  Today, I accomplished the impossible.  I flushed a toothbrush down the toilet.  I know what you’re thinking.  How might one achieve such a feat?  I was flushing murky cleaning water and forgot it was in there.  No sooner had I watched the brush spill from the bucket than the toilet automatically performed it’s magical flush, as it does when too much water is added, and swallowed up my utensil.  I had to confess my error to Donald since it’s definitely causing a problem.  Sure, I could’ve tried the denial card, but what do you say when your husband pulls a toothbrush out of the toilet when unclogging it?  “No.  I have no idea how a toothbrush (that looks exactly like the one I was scrubbing with earlier today) got there.”  Besides, you can’t see it, and I didn’t want him to, ahem, USE it, not knowing there was an issue.  The only thing I can imagine that would be worse than a toothbrush in the toilet is chasing said toothbrush with a little bit of poo.  Looks like a trip to Walmart for a new toilet seal is in order.  The porcelain throne must be temporarily surrendered from its resting spot.  Sigh… Life without me would be dull.

January 3, 2014

The Great Rescue

A few days of trips to the bathroom downstairs and several failed attempts at extraction later, we finally removed the toilet and jabbed anything we could find in all directions to free the toothbrush, all to no avail.  Even with the toilet freed from the floor, there was no reaching the spirally abyss of the inner chambers to remove the foreign object.  Our final efforts included placing the magical poop dispenser in our shower, filling the bowl and tank with water from the shower hose, and flushing a long piece of twine repeatedly until something wonderful happened-- Finally, after hours of interesting maneuvers involving rubber gloves, the twine grabbed hold of something.  We carefully pulled the string, and I SAW IT!  The toothbrush breached the entrance of the watery labyrinth, and the crisis was over.  The throne is now freshly sealed in place once again, and I vow to only dispense of my soapy water outdoors.  Forever.