Additional Assembly & Shopping Required

Happy Lunar New Year! Welcome to the Year of the Cow. Bit by bit, I'm making progress on my kitchen. There are still no new countertops. I'm washing dishes in my bathroom sink and tub. That is getting old fast.

The good news is that my building contractor came and successfully installed my Arietta range hood. They had quite a time doing it too.

So here's my new pet peeve. If they sell it at the Big Box store, they should have the other pieces you need to make it work. After all their motto is, "You can do it. We can help.TM" I bought the range hood at their store and knew enough to get an elbow and side wall vent. I should add that I asked an employee for the pieces that fit (pointed to) that range hood. Well, lo and behold the elbow and vent pieces they sell don't fit the range hood they also sell. It turns out that the range hood requires pieces that are not readily available at the Big Box stores. My contractor had to go to a mechanical supplier and make some of the components. Not planned, not scoped, not cool.

Homework for the Week

My homework for the week was to pick out a color for the balcony carpet and hang my Capiz shell light. Both are now done! For the most part, my bedroom is complete. I think next week's homework will be to finally hang a mirror in the bathroom and list the extra furniture sitting in my garage on craigslist.

Rumor has it that my countertop will be measured this week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Balcony Love

Living in a small space (less than 700 SF) means maximizing the outdoor space as well as the indoor space. Well, here it is. My balcony is finished and ready for someone to sit outside and enjoy the nice cool weather. The carpet team installed the chestnut carpet on Saturday. I talked my shopping friend into helping me move my bubble couch from the garage to the balcony, "It's really light, I promise."

While I would have preferred two individual bubble chairs, that is not what was available and on sale at the model home warehouse. If you aren't paying retail, you don't always get exactly what you want. Regardless, I'm happy with the final outcome. Time to sit outside and read the Sunday paper!

Copper Tan or Chestnut?

Always have two options. Sometimes colors are discontinued or not in stock. If you want to save some time, always have two options. If both colors are available, we'll go with the least expensive color.

The balcony is currently covered with shingles like a roof. While this is a great topping to minimize leaks, it makes it difficult to walk outside without shoes - and I have a no shoe house. We decided to go with a fake grass like covering. Since leaves and acorns from the adjacent trees land all over the balcony, I decided to pick a color that matches the leaf piles. This way if I don't sweep it off quickly or it stains, it *should* blend in nicely.

The official price quote is forthcoming, but initial estimates are $400-$500 installed.

UPDATE: My contractor is awesome. Chestnut is available and less expensive. The total cost is $387 and he will be here on Saturday to install it.

Finally - Kitchen Progress

I was going to give it another week before I went ahead and installed the cabinets myself. I busted my butt putting together the kitchen cabinets, only to have them sit for two months! Lo and behold, this is what I came home to yesterday. They even made a few extra fixes - leveling my refrigerator and tightening up the drawer face. I'm so happy that all my pantry items finally have a home. No more searching through boxes for a bottle of vanilla.

My homework this week is to decide on a backsplash for the range and color for the balcony carpet.

Height Matters

Who knew that choosing and installing the right curtains would take so long? And, once they were complete, I had second thoughts. All is well now.

My makeup studio has some wonderful curtains in the window facing the street. They are shear and a plaid of yellow, green and blue. I thought that I would have to look for the fabric during one of my trips to Atlanta, but I found something similar locally. The colors are a little different, but it works. A local seamstress hemmed and finished them for only $20. What a deal! I could have done it myself, but then I would see every little imperfection. To all the engineers out there, yes I know that the patterns don't line up and I'm okay with it.

As soon as they were complete, I hung them on a curtain rod and hated it. I second guessed the fabric and location. Maybe I could put them over the frosted windows? After I raised the curtain rod, I realized that it was a height issue. I didn't hate the curtains, I just didn't like the height. They also serve as a headboard for my minimalist platform bed. Don't you just love dual purpose items?

The next little project in this room is to hang my capiz shell light fixture. It will go above my butterfly chair on the left.

Inspiration Kitchen

Maybe it is because the kitchen in the main house is so narrow, but I've fallen in love with kitchens without upper cabinets. Everyone tells me that you can never have too much storage and I'm crazy, but who cares. It is my kitchen and my money. The inspiration kitchen above is Drew Barrymore's office kitchen, as shown in last April's Domino magazine.

The minimalist side of me doesn't even want shelves. Here's where I'll compromise. Now, the question is do I get the stainless steel IKEA Mossby shelves or wooden shelves that I can paint?

New Year, New Kitchen

I've decided that every day will be a good day. Really, it's that simple. Today's good news is that my kitchen contractor came by this morning. He left lots of tools, measured stuff, ran the dishwasher and will be back tomorrow.