Lilley of the field

And now... the stage that has been the most fun and most rewarding so far. In one day it went from a big ol' space with pretty flooring to something that resembled our future kitchen. Also, this step required the least amount of physical energy. Every other Saturday we've been crawling into bed exhausted. After this day- we went for a canoe ride and paddle boarding adventure with some friends. Oh yea. Have I mentioned before that I LOVE Ikea? The assemble was awesome and now I can say the installation was awesome. They use a rail system. So you measure and screw the rail into the wall. Then you slide the cabinets in, make sure they are level, and tighten these little screws at the back and screw them into the cabinet next to it. I was kinda scared they wouldn't hold up, but they are sturdy as ever. Our first cabinet in! Success! They come with super easy to follow instructions. This was my kitchen drawing with the Ikea program and all my mea...

Wow... we are so behind in the kitchen blogging here... but who cares really? Mom, dad, Nana- I know you are enjoying these. Ha! This was a fun day (see pic below)... NOT! We saved lots of money by purchasing materials through ebates on Lowes.com and then having it shipped for free to the store- or  if it is was already at the store, just picking it up the next day. It's nice because someone else gets all the tons of materials on a cart AND loads it in your car! Yes please. Sign me up. BUT once upon a time, a Lowes employee pulled the wrong size window and we realized Sunday evening at 6:50pm when the old window was already out and Lowes closed at 7:00. Oopsie. Luckily the Lowe's one town over closed at 8 so Aaron rushed over to buy the right size window. Oh my. Hello summer bugs- come on in please. Note- when you go to Lowe's more times in a week than you take a shower- you should maybe be concerned.  Moral of the story: Double check every single thing your buy...

So... floor removal. "This is the floor that never ends- yes it goes on and on my friends." There was ugly taco bell colored tile and my incredible husband chipped it all out with a crow bar, mallet, and this funny shovel looking thing. On of our wonderful lunch ladies at school kept sneaking me cardboard boxes for weeks and my job was to keep piling the broken tile into boxes and then carry the boxes to the garage. This was the one stage I was most nervous about because I thought it would be really tough and take forever. Thankfully aaron did most of it because I was still in school and didn't have energy on week nights to do much kitchen help- also I do more of the finishing details, painting, and patching- so we make a good team. Looking back it was too too bad, but definitely not too, too fun either. In future kitchens in may be something we pay someone to do- like pay someone to do the demolition work and then we put in the cabinets and countertops and everything...