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Consolidated my blog here: http://erikag.posterous.com/
Password is my dog's name.

Giant Leap

After a quiet two weeks, a lot of progress has been made in the past 72 hours. It's just a matter of time, and the two plus months spent in chaos will just seem like a distant memory. Take a look.

We walked in on Thursday, and all of the sudden we had cabinets.

They were not hung, but they were there, and gave us our vision.

We walked in on Friday, and our cabinets were hung. Holy shit.

Saturday we went on a circuitous journey to our contractor's concrete studio and picked out a selection of grays. We picked the one on the right. It is just the right tone, and depth of gray. One week, and it's installed. Can't wait.

New kitchen, old window. When they pulled out the casing, you could see the original double hung pulley system. So cool for such a nasty window. Happy to see it go.

We walked in on Monday to a sunny kitchen, hung cabinets, and crown molding. Our cabinets are tongue and groove, have the slow close, and don't fall out of the track when you pull it all the way out.

We also came home to ghetto house. The painters started by scraping off all of the paint on the south west side of our house. Notice the new kitchen window.

Having the windows covered sucked, and felt a little like we were caught a bubble. It only lasted a single day, amazing.

Tuesday we came home to finishes - trim, the paper pulled off the floor, etc. Worth it. So worth it.

We also came home to stairs. We thought we were getting a deck, but with the new roof, we had to settle for stairs.

Total paint. Our trim is next week. We pulled off our "security" bars. I hated them, and they never made me feel secure, they just made me irritated.

From today. The whole house was painted when I got home. I guess that's one benefit of a small home - quick to paint.

We get our appliances on the 30th, our counter on the 30th, and last but not least our paint job should be complete. The project is not over, but it's so close I can smell it.

Stuck

A sweet shot of my Niecey-Moo in her kick ass boots her auntie Ricki bought her.

I am back. Not much to update, but thought I would anyway... Last weekend, Jim and I hightailed it out of town on Friday, and planned to head to Leavenworth for the weekend. Due to the backassward technology at HoJo this did not happen, and we ended staying at Jim's parents Friday night. We intended to stay all weekend, but woke up Saturday morning to no water. We couldn't seem to escape the issues, and ended up heading home after cross-country skiing and a late lunch at Snoqualmie Brewing on Saturday. Bummer, we wanted one more evening of home-cooked meals.

As far as the house goes, we're in a holding pattern until our cabinets arrive sometime late next week. Because of the type of loan we have, we couldn't order our cabinets until the project had started, which means a 2-3 week delay overall. Sucks. Anyway, this week saw us get a new roof, interior paint, and a brand new closet for my preciouses. :-)

Cash and I went on a long trail run on Friday that got us lost in the woods around Beaver lake. It was awesome, and the weather was wonderful. Sunny, but cold.

Awesome shot with the reflection off the snow.

It's a well-tread path, but I saw no one, not a soul.

Saturday took us to the Iron Horse trail just past Rattlesnake Ledge. I couldn't believe the quiet, and the deep snow so close to Issaquah. We only ran into three other couples. Wild.

Ahhhh... Space. We basically duplicated the amount of space in our closet. I am breathing easier, and can see all of my clothes. Will likely result in less shopping. Cross your fingers.

To put in perspective, pre remodel.

Our freshly painted kitchen, trim and doors.

Our shabby little house with a sparkly new roof. An exterior paint project and new back door are on the horizon when the weather improves.

Stay tuned. Next update - new window, cabinets, and an end to the kitchen remodel. Holy cow.

The Light...

I wasn't going to post until the end of the week, but I couldn't help myself... MAJOR progress. I can see the light at the end of the kitchen remodel tunnel. I am breathing easier, the difficulties of the past two weeks seem like a figment of my imagination. I am overwhelmed. I am beyond excited.

What we came home to last night. Floors, and thank you lord they matched the tone of our house and the chimney.

What I came home to today... Holy daylight Batman!

Notice our new trim. It will be stained to match the trim in the rest of the house.

Notice the paper is off of our french doors to the future deck. The new back door, and the new not-so-sticky, kitty-holed basement door.

Notice how wide our new door is from the living room to the kitchen. Makes the space feel even bigger. We would have taken it down even more, but we would have needed to re-route our heading vents.

I think you get the best sense of how amazingly different the kitchen feels from this photo...

You can see the floor in this shot. Future home of our range, and refrigerator (I've typed this word so many times in the past two days , I don't need spell check to spell it right!).

The trim for the pass through to the kitchen. So bright!

This is the view out of the french doors. I can't wait for spring, when everything is in bloom and I can enjoy breakfast while looking at the garden.

Cash in the "work area" with his new "dead duck" Cuz. It' amazing they did all this in the snow today.

A view from the outside...

Dust and dervishes...

I broke down last week. The remodel finally got to me. My breaking point came when a drywall contractor in stilts surprised Cash at 7:30am on his way to finish out my closet. Cash freaked out, barking like mad. I was barely dressed, and here comes some guy into my personal space. I had to manage the barking dog, while not letting the drywaller get an inappropriate peek at my goods. With the invasion into my personal space, came copious amounts of drywall dust. A layer of white covered everything in my house. The lack of privacy, and dust pushed me over the edge and sent me east to my in-laws. It was lovely. I slept in a bed, enjoyed a peaceful morning, and went for a long trail run with Cash. We moved back in to our bedroom on Saturday, cleaned the house, and did boat loads of laundry. Life is so much better, and we seem to be working our way back to normal. Photos from the past week:

Me and my moo at on a lunch break from shopping.

Cashie on our trail run.

Trying to capture the happiness that came with the distance from the chaos at home.

Went on a walk at Lincoln with the dogs, Moo and Lana.

Pre break down. Drywall up, and finishing started.

In my new closet, not finished, but you get a sense of the added space.

Saturday morning. Houston, we have walls with pristine corners!!!

Complete, with primer.

My mom came over to do my hair on Saturday. We were in the basement, and left Cash alone upstairs. Dervish.

The result of rubbing an itchy nose on the kitchen floor. Cash resembles the rest of our house - a nice layer of drywall dust.

Floors, windows, doors, paint and roof (weather permitting) this week. Holy cow progress!