Watch out Uncle Mark

 

Last week, Andrew and I were discussing how he is never going to grow up and leave me.  Or I was telling him he was never going to grow up and leave me.  He said, "But Mommy I can't live in this house forever!"  I told him when he got married, he could move out.  I asked him who he would want to live with.  "Aunt Maura, she be really fun."  Then he put his hands over his mouth, like "Whoops!  Did I just admit I have a crush on Aunt Maura?!"

2013 Apple Picking!

Every year we visit Neimann's orchards in Cedarburg.  It is never too crowded, you get to take a bumpy tractor ride out to the orchards and they are very friendly.  This year we were joined by both sets of Grandparents - lucky kids!  It was super sunny and Mae was a little grumpy, so we have a lot of sour puss and squinty eyed pictures. 

 

Happy Halloween!

 

This year we went trick or treating in Shorewood, and we had a great time.  The weather was great and the kids were all into it. 

 

  Andrew was looking fierce in his batman suit!  Grandma Jane made that for him, what a lucky boy!

 

Grace wore last year's costume minus the crazy wig.  Check out last year's post if you don't remember.  After a year in the dress up bin it was even more out of control.  Like seriously out of control, when we threw it away it took up half the garbage can.  Next year she is due for a new costume.

It took Mae a little bit to catch on to the whole trick or treat thing.  At the first house there was another little girl there playing inside the door wearing Mae's favorite horse dress.  Not sure if Mae wanted to play too or thought that girl stole her dress....but she was not too happy.  Then she kept trying to go in everyone's house.  Once she finally got the hang of it, she had fun.  Well until she fell and hit her head on the side walk. 

This is the cutest costume ever but the head was a little big, perhaps that is why she fell.  What we do for fashion right?

 

The best part of trick or treat was our little elephant companion, Evelyn!  Here Mae is pointing out that she is a "Baby!"

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday from Grace

Today is the pastor at St. Jude's birthday.  Grace's homework was to make him a birthday card. 

          

 "Father Charlie, Happy Birthday. You are really good at singing. I like you as much as others."

 

 That's funny, right? Who are the others and do you really like them Grace? Really?

Mud Room Remodel

Along with the kitchen remodel, we updated the adjacent mud room area.  Originally we were going to gut the space, but we could not come up with anything that was more functional than we already had. Plus if we dug into this room, we would have had to make changes to our heating system which I was unwilling to do.  So, we simply painted everything white (Benjamin Moore Super White), refinished the floors and bought some new storage pieces.  We even left the ugly tile counters and they totally blend in now, well at least I don't notice them anymore!

 

We replaced the light fixture with a school house fixture from restoration hardware that matches the kitchen.

We bought a few new organizational pieces to store all the "stuff" the kids bring into the house. 

Unfortunately, I could not find any before pictures of the back stairs and landing area.  They were cracked, ugly linoleum.  We tiled the entry with the same tile that we used in the new bathroom.

We also had the stairs refinished and the risers replaced.  Like with pretty much every project in this house, it was a bit more work than we anticipated...but we love it!

Kitchen Remodel - details!

We got 2 new windows.  Marvin double hung, so easy to open and not drafty.  Now I want all new windows - uh oh!

 

We got a few new appliances.  A vent hood (broan), refrigerator (kitchen aid) and basic microwave (panasonic).  We replaced the cooktop (GE cafe), oven (maytag) and dishwasher (kitchenaid) in the past few years, so we were able to re-use those.

 

For countertops we chose soapstone and carrera marble.  So far we love our choices.  We have some etching on the marble, but no stains.  The soapstone does scratch, but not very easily.  The scratches blend in nicely with the veining.   I have not oiled it at all and it was not oiled at install, but I am sure the scatches would be invisible if I did.

 

Backsplash is basic off-white/bone color from the tile shop with mobe pearl grout.  The grout line is 1/8", in case anyone cares.

 

 

I love my new faucet, I used to have a pulldown which was great and I do miss that a little bit.  But I love the traditional look of this one (Rohl country kitchen
"cinquanta" w/sidespray in polished nickel). 

 

I love my tiny island, it is totally functional but doesn't take up too much space. 

 

Love this detail on the base of the cabinets, even though it will get totally beat up.

 

Good call was putting applicance pull on my trash pull out to hang a towel on. 

 

Instead of getting a double oven, we bought the breville smart oven and I use this more than my big oven.  It is great!

 

We have some recessed lighting, a pendant over the table, lights in our vent hood, and 2 schoolhouse flush mount fixtures.  No under cabinet lighting, which must be very popular.  I kept getting asked, "Wait you don't want under cabinet lights?  Are you sure?" 

We debated about doing a built in corner booth here, and we may still do that.  However, for now, I am happy with our new table and chairs.  The pendant is from restoration hardware (clemson in polished nickel w/ prismatic glass).

Kitchen Remodel

Finally I am getting around to posting some pictures of the finished kitchen.  But first you have to suffer through the before pictures...

 While we had a great space, it was very dysfunctional and poorly designed....and ugly.  There was very little counter space and my refrigerator & pantry were built in under the stairs...which meant it was hard to get to and small.  We loved our eat in space, so we wanted to keep that.  And, while we used the pull up island seating we had to lose it.  So far we don't miss it too much.

We are the new space!  I will post some detailed pictures in a few days.