Kitchen progress!

Poor little kitchen! Well, we had weight-bearing studs taken out and joists and an I-beam put in back in March .... and then our contractor had better things to do, though he didn't exactly get around to making that clear. Cabinets arrived on May 8 and the boxes filled up the "dining room"- sans any other progress.

So I called two more contractors, both highly recommended and gung-ho, and spent the next few evenings meeting with them and going over the plans. A guy in the neighborhood dropped by and asked if he could put in a bid, too, and I told him it was a long shot and probably wasn't worth his time - well, contractor #1 also builds movie sets, and got called away to the set of "Drop Dead Diva". Contractor #2 had jury duty this week. Turns out the original guy got banged up in a motorcycle accident this week. Re-enter guy in the neighborhood. He dropped over again on May 12 - I told him if he could get it started this week, he had the job. Today, May 13, there are half a dozen guys in my kitchen working on plumbing and electricity - including pick-axing a trough for the electricity out to the island and making all the fire alarms in the house go off with the smoke that the saw are kicking up. But it's progress!!!
Here is the finished trench with the electric line for the island lying in itAnd the guys mixing cement to refill the trench with - that won't be going anywhere!!All the cans for the recessed lights installedMay 14 - all the cabinet boxes are now stuffed in our downstairs bathroom and living room - between Ed and his TV. :( This is what we were hoping would not happen, but now that we're here, we want to get through this stage ASAP!!May 15: Ed has done a beautiful job of installing the insulation - even our contractor was impressed! But we have a wedding to go to this weekend (May 16-17), as does our contractor, so work will take a break.Monday, May 18 - oh my gosh!! We have walls!!May 19: Dry wall is "mudded"- patched and ready to be sanded. But it has to dry for 24 hrs first.Cabinets are hung a day ahead of schedule! I LOVE them!!!

Ed and I spent 40+ hours over Memorial Day weekend painting and tiling - absolutely backbreaking done all day for days! Here's Ed painting...And tile day 2 - pretty good progress! You can see the diamond mosaic motif in the floor on both sides of the island.Close up of diamonds on the floor - those were fun!

Tuesday - lights!!Wednesday - yay! My gorgeous countertops!!

And at the end of the next weekend, after appliances, sage green paint on the walls, green tile mosaic backsplash, and dark brown stained wood outlet and wall switch covers (all of which I did - except for appliance installation) - FINISHED! I love it!