Exciting Stuff

We finally have a working 2nd bathroom!  Yay!!!  It's only a half bath, it's very small and it also has no door or window coverings (yet) - but it works.

On an entirely different note, I've spent most of my spare time painting the baseboard trim while Trent has been carefully installing the cabinet doors and pulls.  Exciting, I know....but it is for us!

Cabinets: Part 2

We have about 25% of the cabinet work done.  Trent and his dad spent an evening this week hanging a few of the cabinets.  On our last project house I helped Trent hang the kitchen cabinets.  It became clear (within the first 30 seconds) that I was not the best helper for this project.  Thankfully, Trent and his dad were able to do a much better job on this project!  We still have another wall of cabinets, shelves, doors and pulls to install (the remaining 75%).

Cabinets!

This weekend we picked up our cabinets!!!!! I'm obviously a little excited to get the cabinets into place. Naturally, since we had an Amish man build them we had to pick them up (that would be a really long buggy ride from Wakarusa to Niles). We are thrilled with how they turned out. They are cherry and will get extremely dark over time. We chose to not stain them because we both like the natural cherry look. I finally found the pulls that I wanted and Trent is definitely looking forward to installing everything (note: sarcasm). Now I'm off to make some final decisions about counters and appliances. It's a good thing that I like to shop.

Slow Going and Half Decorated

We are at the point on this project where it feels like we are close to being finished. It's a trick. We are nowhere near completion. However, the things left (on the main level....we haven't even started on the basement) are all little, tedious items. Lots of trim work, lots of finishing items and a few major items (like kitchen cabinets, appliances and doors). Here are some photos of where things are right now. Personally, I absolutely despise having to put out any kind of decor items prior to everything being completed. However, we live here and I eventually caved in and realized that we needed a few necessary items (a couple of chairs, a lamp, a small tv, etc) to get us through this phase.

Work of Art

Trent is currently plumbing the half bathroom. He came up from the basement and displayed this contraption. His words: "this is a work of art." Dead serious. He then went back downstairs to continue working.

The Little Things

Trent is currently installing the lights, outlet covers and switches throughout the house. It's amazing how the little things make a huge difference. My idea of helping is to occasionally say, "that looks kind of crooked to me." Trent has it fixed before the entire statement is out of my mouth.

Buggy in the Background

My dad sent me this photo today of our almost completed kitchen cabinets. I know they don't look like much right now - but they will soon.

On our last project house we purchased off-the-rack cabinets at Home Depot. They were totally fine and did the job. However, when we started price checking this time we realized that for a very small amount more we could have custom, solid wood, beautiful cabinets. There was no decision to make.

My dad found an Amish man (Lester) who makes cabinets for a living. We went to his shop and selected the wood we wanted and gave him our designs (my engineer husband made incredibly detailed plans). Lester said they would be ready in a few weeks and the time is almost here.

We selected cherry wood and went with an extremely simple cabinet style. Obviously, these photos are just of the framing (not the doors, drawers, etc). In case you didn't know, cherry wood starts out very light in color and then over several months/years it turns into the dark color that most of us recognize (I only learned this in the past couple of years).

And yes, that is a buggy in the background.