The Fruit of Doug's Labor

THE FINISHED PRODUCT:







































Hello, everyone!

Doug had his (self-prompted) list of things he wanted to accomplish before the baby is born. He has definitely whittled away at the list! He took one of his architecture tests last Thursday. He wants to start studying for another architecture test before the baby is born. One of the projects on his list was our kitchen-remodel. Doug wanted to have this completely finished before the baby arrives...Down to the drawer pulls and door knobs!

We began remodeling our kitchen in late September. With the help of a Home Depot Kitchen professional (our buddy Brandy :-), we were able to make our kitchen much more useful and updated. HD offers this service free of charge, in hopes that you will use their installation services. Fortunately Doug is the handiest of people I know, and loves to save a buck... He measured and remeasured our kitchen to ensure he could do it himself and that all cabinets would fit. I was his apprentice, I suppose!

We now have an updated kitchen with more counter space, more cabinet space, a deeper sink and a more quiet dishwasher (from Sears). Yeah, buddy!

We entirely gutted the kitchen. I removed wallpaper (this is one of my least favorite jobs in the world!). Doug installed the Thomasville cabinets (cream colored with an antiqued-finish) and crown-molding himself. The new laminate countertops were installed by a local installer for a great price. We would've loved to install Silestone countertops, but couldn't bring ourselves to spend $1300 more on countertops when the existing laminate have lasted 20 years in this house. We painted the walls with a Venetian plaster (a buttercream-yellow color called "Grazie"), as the walls were pretty "marred" from past owners and the previous wallpaper application. Doug had to do some handy-dandy electrical work, also, to move some outlets to new locations.

This is the last room in the house which needed such attention. We're glad we're done with it! Thanksgiving Day, after visiting Anna and Kenyon Fletcher and their new baby (Ryan Ashton) in the hospital, was spent amongst power tools and drywall dust in our kitchen. Luckily our stove was still in working order and accesible. The dinner menu at Chez Carey's that night came a la Honeybaked Ham (along with all the fixins'). Good times!

I attached the before and after pictures, for posterity's sake.

Hope you're all having a great week!

With love,
Shelly