Fun Kitchen Purchases

This weekend, while exchanging my brown shelf liners for tan (which B thinks are the same... but they are NOT at all), I made a few purchases.  Certain items in our kitchen just were not going to live up to the new kitchen.

For instance, old drying rack vs new sleek and easily hide-able drying mat:

See, much nicer.  AND it folds up and goes away when there isn't anything on it:

(there's at least one use for that drawer...

and yes M is down there trying to figure out what to do with the other shelves, she's a good helper)

The "Original Drying Mat" was a $4.99 purchase from Bed, Bath & Beyond. It was in one of those stands right when you walk in, and I fell in love, as much as you can fall in love with a drying mat... anyway, so far, so good, two days of dishes and I'm pleased. Also, it's machine washable. So what's *not* to love?

I then found some goodies for the utensils, see the old utensil holder and spoon rest versus the new ones:

Generic black, round, barely-big-enough utensil holder that just blends into the granite and the somewhat ugly red spoon rest (yea, we had a red theme going in the apartment - red spoon rest, red drying rack, and red pots and pans - not so much anymore), versus wooden, rectangular, plenty-of-room-for-all-the-stuff-we-use utensil holders and large spoon rest with a message (Live life passionately, Laugh out loud, Love unconditionally).  Also, the utensil holder has a REMOVABLE bottom for easy cleaning. Thank you Wal-mart for your fantastic wooden innovation - for $7.97. I still have the label on the other side, cause B seemed unsure, but I've decided its not going back. Spoon rest: BB&B, $6.99.  I think they give a more put together and thought out look.  Ok fine, they make me feel like a grown up. Don't ask why, because I don't know. But I'm glad to be done with the red spoon rest.

*Sidenote* A fun tip when dealing with flat top electric ovens: Don't put the spoon rest on the oven.  You will inevitably lay a spoon across an unused burner, and then accidental turn on the wrong burner when trying to boil water. And it will be the one you put the spoon over. And your spoon will start smoking, and you'll have to grab it and run it under cold water. And then your spoon will forever have a new texture, and you'll have to scrub the cook top (only with the special scrubby that came with the stove!).  Don't ask me how I know this.

I also bought some bright and fun place mats (for if I ever clean off the dining room table again...).  Our table is very dark, almost black but not quite, so I wanted something to brighten it up and break up the darkness.

Fun, no? If you don't think so, that's fine. They were ONE DOLLAR each. So I'm not worried about it.

Anywho, I'm done with my classes this term (too bad its only 5 days until the next term starts...) so I'm going to get to cleaning and *hopefully* picking paint.  Friday B's dad is coming to put the trim on the window, secure the dishwasher, add the panels to the peninsula, straighten the doors, add the softclose to the cabinet doors, and install the handles and pulls.

Ok, that's what I hope he's doing. The only thing I'm sure of is the window trim, but a girl can hope, right?

Oh, and here's a cute picture of M, because I love her:

Kitchen Renovation: Drywall and Sand Fun

The tile is installed! And just needs to be grouted tomorrow. It looks AWE-some. But I'm not going to show you now, cause I'm mean like that.

I wanted to talk more about last night first.  As you saw, prior to last night, we were down to studs on almost all walls, which meant a whole lot of drywalling (and insulating) needed to be done.  AND B had patched a few spots in the ceiling where we had taken down the track lighting, so some sanding and painting needed to be done as well.  One of B's friend's came up to help hang the drywall, and by 7 we had eaten dinner, the radio was cranked, and we were ready to go.  The first thing I learned, when sanding a ceiling, eye protection is key. Especially if you wear contacts.  A pair of cheap old sunglasses worked great.

Painting the ceiling was also interesting, since ours is textured - not quite popcorn, but not smooth either.  After a quick consult with a Lowe's employee, we purchased the Valspar ceiling paint that starts out purple so you can tell where you've painted, and as it dries it turns white.  We also purchased some all purpose sand.  I mixed about a half a cup of paint, with about a half a cup of sand, and used a brush to blot it on the ceiling. Aside from some of the sand raining down on me, it came out pretty damn perfect in my opinion.

It was still drying in this pictures, so the color didn't blend completely, but B painted the whole ceiling with regular ceiling paint today and you would never know that gross track lighting ever lived on the ceiling.

The other little trick we learned stemmed from an email B sent me while I was at work that essentially read "I'm going to try this tonight *random link*, do you have any bright lipstick?" Ummm....until I clicked on the link, where it was all explained.  See, the night before we had some issues in doing the cutouts on the drywall for the electrical.  Nothing a $2 stick of lipstick can't fix!

Basically, you take the lipstick and outline the electrical box:

Then, very carefully line up the drywall.  Be sure to have it at the correct height and lined up according to any corners or anything like that.  Press on the drywall in the area of the electrical box, and take the drywall back off, going straight out (don't let is slip up or down).  You'll have an outline, although probably not perfect, definitely enough to do an accurate cutout.  You typically want to go just outside the lipstick line, as that line is the edge of the box, and you want it to fit flush with the front of the drywall.

Alot easier and alot more accurate than estimating!  Of course, you could probably measure it too, but this feels much more creative.

I also learned how to apply joint compound last night, and I must admit, I enjoyed it.  Overall, last night was the perfect remedy to the frustration I had been feeling, I really just needed the chance to get hands on with the renovation and am now so excited for the next few phases.

Grout tomorrow, and then I'm taking Friday off to help B's dad install the cabinets.  The next two days, are going to be AH-mazing - I'll get some flooring pictures up tomorrow.