Update on renovations

We are progressing on renovations, so thought I would bring you up to date on some things and let you see what is happening:

We have worked on outdoor living spaces:

We put a nice glider on front porch next to the fountain.
It is fun to sit there under the fan and listen to the fountain.

Alan put the porch swing we brought from Woodridge
 in back under the screened porch, near the pool 
We have other chairs there, also. We had a small pool party recently,
and folks who didn't want to float hung out in this nice shaded area.

Alan didn't like the steps that were in the pool because they took up
almost 1/3 of the space and weren't very sturdy, so he replaced them.  

The major thing going on inside is the kitchen renovation.  We knew when we bought the house that we would change it.  It had dark, faux oak cabinets without a large enough spot for a modern over-range microwave.  They had a microwave sitting an a metal shelf connected to the top of the stove. The undercabinet lighting was burned out and wired in a crazy way.

This is what kitchen looked like when former owners had it. 
They took the round island with them.

When the upper cabinet and over stove shelf were removed, this is what we found!

They hadn't done the tile backsplash all the way down!
I almost had a heart attack.  Why would anyone do this?

Luckily, Alan found some extra tile in the basement, and the contractor can do tile work. It is enough to bring down below the level of our present stove with controls on the back.  However, we want to get a new stove with controls on front, so need tile to go all the way down to counter level.  Alan went on quest to tile stores and found one that would order this discontinued pattern.  Hopefully, it will all work out.  I don't want to remove the nice slate backsplash at this stage.

This is what kitchen looks like now.

The black flecked granite countertop will stay. We are having new cabinet and drawer fronts built in a Shaker style, and they will be painted an off-white, sandy color.  Contractor refaced cabinet fronts and sanded them for hours. Even though they used the vacuum with the sanding, it has been a mess.  Shelby terrified of noise so hid under bed until we moved her downstairs.  Contractor building a new rectangular island that will go where the old round one was.  It will be painted a pretty dark blue green, called Stratton Blue, with a light granite top that we still need to pick out.

New cabinets above and to right of stove to accommodate the new above-range microwave.
Otherwise, original kitchen configuration the same.

In the meantime, we can't use kitchen until everything is finished, which will be several weeks, so we moved kitchen activities downstairs to the guest suite.  We don't have a stove, but so far, it has worked out fine.  Tonight, pot roast in the crock pot for supper.

If you come to visit us, which we hope you will, this will be your space.  There is a full bath down there also, and a door to the outside area where the swing is.

The kitchen renovations are only the beginning.  Much more is being planned. 

But that will be for a future blog.