From Drawings to Reality

OK, last entry about the kitchen...for now...I promise.

When we were at the house last year I sketched, on scrap paper, what I envisioned the kitchen should look like.

While sorting thru some papers, I was happy to find that the contractor had saved them. Yay David and Lisa!

So cool to see that the kitchen turned out almost EXACTLY the way I sketched it (will get to that below).

Down to the lamp, just the way I hoped it would look like.

Closing those shelves make the place look so much tidier. 

Great looking wall of cabs - amazing amount of storage!

Here is where we made a slight change. I skipped the plate rack and opted for a spice cabinet.

Amazing what can happen when you get the right team together. Thank you again Lisa and David and the rest of the crew!!

Aloha a Hui Hou

Befores and at the Moment...

It is nice to compare and to see how very far we've come since purchasing the house last year. At the moment my main focus is the kitchen, which was the biggest checkbox on my must haves for home for us - a beautiful kitchen.

As it was, the beauty was in the eye of the beholder. It was a neglected space. The laminate was nailed down in some places, in other spots it was totally missing. The sink and the faucet had reached the point of no return - but I saw the potential. The amazing amount of storage and counter space. Lots of natural light....so, so much potential.

And now we are so close to my vision becoming a reality.

This before photo was one of the original listing photos when the previous owners were still living in the house.

 As you might be able to see that we had this window made a bit smaller than before. 2 reasons:
          1)  Inorder for the dishwasher to fit, with out losing  cabinet space, the window had to be raised
       

         
          2) The porch roof had to be an addition to the house because the windows on this side are all blocked across the top by the rafters. The window was made shorter to get away from that.

Somewhere down the line we will close up the rafters so the wasps can't nest in there anymore. I hear if you paint the ceiling sky blue, they stay away. That is something I plan to try.

Aloha a Hui Hou!

New Outlook...

The rest of the windows have now been installed.

North facing side of the house. 

North facing window of the wood bedroom.

Looks like the lilac is blooming...I LOVE lilac.

West facing side of the house.

Look ho tall the grass (weeds) is (are)!

This is the West facing window of the light bedroom

These are the double windows in the front room

Picture window in the front room

East facing window of the wood room

view from the inside.

So, I just noticed something...as you see, this window is open to the rafters. I did not want it to be opened to the rafters. BUT if we had made it shorter, like we did in the kitchen, we would have to add wood above the window on the inside. There is no way that the wood would match...so we have to live with the window open to the rafters and maybe, just maybe, when the time comes to work on the back lanai, we could raise the roof or something so the window isn't in the rafters. /rant

Kitchen window - South facing side of house.

Kitchen window from the inside.

Looking good! And so pleased with the added insulation factor!!

Aloha a Hui Hou!

Today is the day

Today everyone is showing up at our house :o)

The carpenter is done and they will be putting the kitchen together on Monday. Once that is finished they will start putting in the rest of the new windows.

Lisa also let me know she has the tile and stone samples to hold up to the soap stone to see what matches best.

I guess once all the kitchen the electrician will come to install the under cab lighting and then they will get the painter to paint the cabs and stain the front door.

Bam! Bam! Bam! That's what I call making progress!!

Aloha a Hui Hou!

Frosted Window to the World

Got another sneak peek of the bathroom - they've put the window in and have added a nice chunky casing. In case I've never mentioned it, I've always loved craftsman design. This house isn't craftsman, but I'll get it one way or another! LOL

It will be painted white to match the built in. In the lower left corner you can see a bit of the tile from the backsplash around the vanity.

By Summer we should have new windows through out the house and they will all have the same casing, except maybe in the wood bedroom. Would like to keep the ones that are in there now so the color matches with the walls. Oh! And in the basement...won't have casings there.

The windows we picked out are energy star rated. They are gas filled and are supposed to keep the cold out in the Winter and the hot out in the Summer. Fingers crossed.

Talking about energy. Our contractors told us that the oil tank for our furnace was at 33" on December 22 and on January 10th it is at 29". Hope we can make it to March or April on this fill. Roger did the math and said that we use about 1% of the tank a day. He is so smart :o) It's good to have a Hubby that deals with volumes and liquids for a living. 

Aloha Hui Hou!