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Life Minus a Few Boxes

Lack of blog postings, yes. But believe it or not, last week turned into a fabulous mix of relaxation and productivity. (First time for everything, right?) Early in the week I was still feeling “off” from that nasty stomach flu of the previous weekend. But that couldn’t keep me from my previously scheduled Spa Day on Tuesday! (So needed, so relaxing.)

Tuesday night, Mike and I decided to open and check the contents of every single kitchen box. (Since every single box was stamped in large letters “OPEN AND CHECK CONTENTS WITHIN SEVEN DAYS,” and the 7th day would be Thursday.) Luckily, everything looked great. No frantic calls to the company needed. We also discovered that we’re going to have one of those secret sponge holding compartments in our sink unit – I had no idea, so cool! And the lazy susan cabinet looked incredibly huge – a much more effective use of the corner space then our old unit.

Originally, the neighbors were scheduled to come over Wednesday and Thursday for more drywall. Originally, our cabinet installation was supposed to start on Thursday afternoon. None of this ended up happening. Turned out that this was just fine. Mike got some needed nights off and I finally started feeling digestively normal again.

Friday was my birthday! Mike got me what I really wanted – a composter! I had told him not to bother with it, that it was too expensive of a gift with all the renovations going on. Then, he happened to come across a free one, a brand new free one. I was excited beyond belief. He also got me the little kitchen compost can thing that you put your food scraps in. (That’s on order.) Just a few more weeks and it’ll probably be warm enough for me to start it up!

Friday afternoon and into the evening, kitchen installation began. It was weird to just let a guy into my house, show him where everything was, say “have at it,” and then leave. Mike and I discussed it as we ate out for my birthday dinner. Plenty of people do it all the time… hire people to do something and then just let them do it by themselves. It’s perfectly normal, so I suppose that makes us incredibly weird. We either do it ourselves or help the person who’s doing the work… the person doing the work is usually a friend or friend of a friend.

*Luckily, it turns out that we don’t have to move those two pipes. They can be worked around.

When we returned home from dinner, the base cabinets were all in place. They weren’t all fastened, but they were out of the boxes and in the kitchen! (And thusly, we reclaimed the mudroom and a portion of the living room!)



Here's the final paint job - I didn't get a chance to take a pic before

Saturday was a second installation day and a shoot day… and as the afternoon wore on, I began to understand why they told me the installation would take two weeks. Every single cabinet is meticulously leveled and straightened and matched to the others… And especially in an old home like ours, where nothing is level, plumb, or straight, this is a JOB. The shoot crew was in for a while, and once they left, I felt exhausted and napped into the evening. (Again, a little weird to go upstairs and nap while someone was downstairs installing my kitchen.)

By the evening, all the bases were actually fastened and the dishwasher was in place. (Though not hooked up yet.) The beginnings of a countertop was also cut and in place. Remember, we are getting another formica/laminate/whatever-you-call-it countertop. But this one will be a custom job! So in this first step, the “insides” of the counter top, you know, the MDF or whatever the stuff is, is cut to the proper dimensions and shape. That’s what we have sitting atop the base units right now.





Sunday, Mike took a much needed day off with his friends while I had another nice birthday dinner with Mikey at my parents’ house.

So you see what I mean by relaxing and productive. People who are stressed out by renovations when they’re done by other people need to just shut up. They don’t know how good they have it!

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