Week 14: Appliance Selection

Hello everyone! Our kitchen appliances came in today! HH Gregg was advertising a fabulous sale on a GE suite (refrigerator, stove, microwave, and dishwasher) so we decided to go in and check it out. Unfortunately, the fridge included in the sale did not have an outside ice and water dispenser, so that was pretty much a deal breaker for us.

However, upon talking to the salesman on-site, he told us that we could pretty much make our own package of appliances to create our own deal, how cool is that? So...in our custom designed GE suite we were able to get the fridge with the ice/water dispenser, the gas stove (which surprisingly cost as much as the electric), the over-the-range microwave, and the upgraded dishwasher with the stainless steel tub for...drumroll please...under $3000! I thought that was a great deal considering the Samsung fridge that I originally had been drooling over cost the same amount! Although, I like the fancy things in life, this girl has gotta be practical, especially when it comes to kitchen appliances. After all, Justin  will be using them the most, not me! :)

Anyway, the appliances were delivered to our house shorly thereafter. Here is the dishwasher. Since I am the one that does the dishes, the is defnitely one appliance that I'll be using. To demonstrate its quietness the saleman put his cell phone in the floor model dishwasher and let it ring. I swear, I couldn't hear a thing! Not like I was ever bothered by a noisy dishwasher, but the fact that it was so quiet was pretty cool!

Here is the stove. We got a gas stove because we have gas lines for it (It's not like we switched from electric or anything). We opted for the four burner top, as opposed to the five burner, because we didn't really see ourselves using all five burners at the same time. For just the two us and the way we cook, four burners would be more than enough.

Lastly, is the fridge! I really wanted a fridge with the freezer on the bottom.  In the past, many frozen food items have fallen on me in both my parent's side-by-side fridge as well as Justin's former apartment's top freezer. For both my sanity and my toes, a freezer drawer was a must have. For Justin and the gallons of water he drinks, the water dispenser on the outside was a must for him.

Note: There are no pics of the over-the-range microwave because it was still in the box.

Update: So far we are loving our new appliances. However, one of  gas burners on our cooktop isn't working (is that an installation issue?) and the plastic area over ice/water button on our fridge has already started bubbling. Boo hiss! Probably due to overuse. In the future, I would opt for SEPARATE ice and water buttons. No big deal, but aesthetically it doesn't look too hot.

Week 13: Wood Floors Are In

I think I'm on a roll...let's see how many "catch up" posts I can put up in a day? This post is going to be short and sweet, 'cause honestly I don't have much to say (yes, work on the house has been that slow, but that's another subject altogether). As the title indicates, the wood floors are in. Initially when we were starting the renovation, we considered getting ceramic tile floors (e.g: in a dark slate color which look really good!) but then we found out how much they cost (pretty pricey) and then I thought about how cold it would feel on my feet on winter mornings so I got a change of heart. Yes, I know they have heated floor systems to solve that problem, but again that would cost more money. By selecting wood floors in the kitchen, it brings a more continuous look between the kitchen and the dining room. 

This is a pic where the new wood floor and the old wood floor meet. Can you tell the difference? In this picture you probably can't, but in real life I can kinda see the difference. I figure once the cabinets are installed you won't be able to notice. 

This part of the floor is the new part.

A pic from inside of the kitchen looking out. Can you spot my darling husband's red tie? Can you see our old red door?

That's all for now, hopefully I can get another post out before the day is over! Wheeeee!!!

A Chi-rish Wedding Weekend: Congrats James and Anne!

Yes! I'm back! And I'm actually going to post about something that just happened over the weekend. Justin and I just returned from a fabulous weekend celebrating James and Anne's wedding in Chicago. We had such a blast hanging out with everyone. It was both a beautiful ceremony and fun reception. Although I didn't take too many pictures here are some shots that  I took:

Here's Justin and I enjoying ourselves at the reception (he was a groomsman, not a Chippendale's dancer, lol).

Here is a pic of the guys getting their picture taken in front of the church:

Here is a pic of the lovely bride and groom (borrowed from my friend, Rich!):

Did I mention that this was an Irish-themed wedding? With both the bride and the groom being of Irish descent, there were tons of Irish touches. From the wedding itself being St. Patrick's Day weekend to the kelly green bridesmaid dresses and the bagpiper playing at the end of the wedding ceremony, you could see Irish details from beginning to end.  However, it didn't stop there! The following clip is what totally blew my mind:

Irish dancing! They started off playing a song about the Southside Irish (since Anne is from Southside Chicago) and then I was completely floored when a circle formed on the dance floor and members of the bride's family and friends started Irish dancing! I can honestly say that I've never seen that at a wedding before and to have your loved ones performing makes it that much more personal!

I had not been to Chicago in a couple years and it was so nice to come back for such an occasion. Congratulations again to James and Anne!

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Week 12: Green Paint Overkill?

Here I am backtracking on blog posts, trying to get you all up to speed on what's going on with the house. Anyway, this week the kitchen and room formerly known as the pink room* got a new coat of paint. In the kitchen, I selected Benjamin Moore's Gulliford Green and in the pink room I chose Kittery Point Green. Unfortunately, I can't find a new pic of the "pink room" now "green room", but here are some pics of the kitchen...

The picture is kind of dark but Gulliford Green is more of a green with a tint of grey which I thought would be nice for the kitchen...

I chose both of these colors from the Benjamin Moore Historical Colors palette.  According to the Benjamin Moore website, "This palette of 174 time-honored colors is our most popular. Inspired by the colors found in 18th- and 19th-century U.S. architecture, these classic, inviting hues continue to serve us well today." I don't know about you, but I think that screams Capitol Hill rowhouse don't you think?

 

The thing about the Benjamin Moore Historical Colors is that they are timeless and traditional, however, they are a bit muted. And...through no fault other than my own, I just picked shades of green for two of the rooms in our house. Hopefully it won't be green overkill. As much as I love the look of the historical colors, I'll try to mix it up with some new colors. For a house that was

built in the 1900s, I still gotta keep it fresh for the current era. J

*We named our third bedroom/den the pink room because it was painted pink and it used to be the room of the daugher of the previous owners.

Week 11: Ready for Our Close-Up

Not much going on at our house this week, however, the big news is that the crew for the "mystery show" that we've been filming for came back to finish our episode...Here are some pictures that should give you a clue on what show it is. For those, who already know what the show is, no ruining it for everyone else so "SHHH!" or I will delete your spoiler comments! 

Here is a picture of the cameraman, Bruce...

Who is that person the camera man is filming? It kinda looks like Eric Bana from behind...

I know who it is--Do you?? That's your first clue...if you read my blog you should have a good idea...

Now here is a shot of Justin with the whole gang (audio guy, camera guy and producer). Where the heck is he? (That's your second clue)

I can't wait until the show airs! The network bigwigs told us that it will air between now and the end of the year. That's a really large window, but Justin and I don't mind because once it airs it'll play over, and over and over again. Until then, happy guessing!

Week 10: Oh, what a feeling...

When we're dancing on the ceiling! Lol! Here's a little secret. Justin once confessed to me that Lionel Ritchie's video for "Dancing on the Ceiling" used to be his favorite as a kid because he really thought they were dancing on the ceiling. I had to chuckle because I thought that everyone had gone through the Universal Studios tour where they show you that is not the case...hehehe...anyway...

As you can see from the following pics the ceiling is now dry-walled. Unfortunately, things aren't moving  as fast as we would like with the renovations. You would think by week ten we would be done by now, but we're not done and we are just trying to get through it. We are still happy with each renovation milestone we reach, but we wish we were done and living in our house already!

The row of recessed lighting...

Our pantry cabinet and fridge are going to go against this wall 

Some close up pics...

Week 9: When One Door Closes, Another One Opens

While many of you know we are undergoing a major kitchen renovation, it is important to note that the rest of the house still needs some work. One thorn in our side is the front door: Come to think of it, I don’t think any of our doors are all that great.

Take the old kitchen door:

This pic was taken during the demo phase of our renovation

Take a look at that gap at the top of the door. I just see money escaping through the door in the form of air conditioning and heating. The prior owners energy bills had to have been pretty high.

It is now been replaced with this:

Taken from the angle from the dining room entry way

Lovely and nicely weather-stripped, complete with energy efficient window.

Anyway, back to the front door.  Although it is a beautiful red on the outside (which we love because it really pops against the façade of our house), it is down right crappy. It has huge gaps in the woodworks and you can literally see right through it.

See? I wasn’t kidding. And you thought the kitchen door was bad. No need for peepholes here…lol. But seriously though it looks like it’s haunted. It reminds me of the door from the Poltergeist and I’m the little girl saying, “They’re heeeeeere…”

Anyways, we asked our contractor if he could replace the front door along with the basement door. We figured since all his tools were on site it would be easier just to get it done while he was around. In an attempt to save money (and to possibly keep some historic charm) we headed to Habitat for Humanity ReStore and Community Forklift on a productive Saturday to see if they had some used front doors. Unfortunately, the ReStore near my parents’ place mostly contained leftover items from new construction, which wouldn’t fit the aesthetic of our house, so we headed to Community Forklift in Hyattsville.

Doors Galore

Where's Justin?

At Community Forklift we encountered the opposite problem. There were so many different kinds doors (e.g.: interior doors, doors with windows).  And they all came in a million different sizes too! It was hard to find one that would fit our doorframe. After sorting through rows and rows of doors we ended up not finding a door. At least our effort should be applauded because we had talked about visiting Community Forklift for the longest time.  It is a really cool place where you can find some really great stuff for older homes! Although, we did not find a door there, we did find something else for our house, which I will tell you about in another blog post.

Paint and storm door coming soon!

In the end, we ultimately chose doors from good ol’ Lowes and opted to get a storm doors as well.  Unlike our old door, a little insulation never hurt anyone.