Kitchen è Finita!!

Yes, that's right - the kitchen is FINISHED! Can you believe it? I can't...it seems crazy that we actually finished such a huge project. And I'm SO happy with how it turned out! Here are some pics from our super fun "Kitchen Open House" where we showed off our hard work to all our friends and family!

Final Kitchen Breakdown

Kitchen Costs Final Break Down


Demo: FREE!
Dumpster rental: $215 BGI Waste Services
Cabinets: $3411.58 Ikea
Extra stuff: $103.63 (Drawers that were out of stock when we purchased the cabinets, plus dish drawer organizers and spice drawer organizers) Ikea
Cabinet installation: FREE!
Cabinet pulls: $161.59 Ikea
Cabinet dividers: $38.83 Ikea
Countertops: $1,280.40 (Including installation – awesome deal!!!)
Faucet for sink: $147.66 Lowes
Fridge: $1622.98 ($1593.10 plus $29.88 for delivery) - We splurged. :) Brandsmart
Oven: $754.32 Sears
Microwave: $234.20 Over-the-range venting microwaves are expensive! Brandsmart
Stovetop: FREE! (We kept our old one)
Materials for new wall: $100.06 Home Depot
Labor for new wall: FREE!
New door for pantry: $83.51 Home Depot
Pantry shelving: $161.98 Ikea
Installation for pantry shelving: FREE!
Paint for pantry: $37.64 (Including supplies and chalkboard paint for the door.)
Plumbing: $550
Appliance electric work: $140
Flooring: $638.27 Floor and Décor Outlet
Flooring installation: FREE!
Misc charges: $153.96 (random things like nails, paint rollers, caulk, hacksaw, etc.)
Backsplash: $375 Design-4-less.com (plus grout and other supplies from Lowes)
Backsplash installation: FREE!
Labor to vent dryer & install heat/air vent in laundry room: $450 (didn't realize THAT would be so expensive!)
Lighting: $101.60 Ikea
Ceiling patchwork: FREE!
Ceiling paint: FREE! (A gift from our real estate agent)
Labor to paint the ceiling: $249
Lighting electric work: $559
Total: $11,570.20

Done!

Now we can start saving some serious cash for traveling and future-baby-D! :)

Wordless Wednesday

:)

Kitchen Costs Update

I was curious how we were doing on our budget for the kitchen, so I thought I'd total it up again!

Demo: FREE!
Dumpster rental: $215 BGI Waste Services
Cabinets: $3411.58 Ikea
Extra stuff: $103.63 (Drawers that were out of stock when we purchased the cabinets, plus dish drawer organizers and spice drawer organizers) Ikea
Cabinet installation: FREE!
Cabinet pulls: $161.59 Ikea
Cabinet dividers: $38.83 Ikea
Countertops: $1,280.40 (Including installation – awesome deal!!!)
Faucet for sink: $147.66 Lowes
Fridge: $1622.98 ($1593.10 plus $29.88 for delivery) - We splurged. :) Brandsmart
Oven: $754.32 Sears
Microwave: $234.20 Over-the-range venting microwaves are expensive! Brandsmart
Stovetop: FREE! (We kept our old one)
Materials for new wall: $100.06 Home Depot
Labor for new wall: FREE!
New door for pantry: $83.51 Home Depot
Pantry shelving: $161.98 Ikea
Installation for pantry shelving: FREE!
Paint for pantry: $37.64 (Including supplies and chalkboard paint for the door.)
Plumbing: $550
Appliance electric work: $140
Flooring: $638.27
Flooring installation: FREE!
Misc charges: $153.96 (random things like nails, paint rollers, caulk, hacksaw, etc.)
Backsplash: $375 Design-4-less.com (plus grout and other supplies from Lowes)
Backsplash installation: FREE!
Labor to vent dryer & install heat/air vent in laundry room: $450 (didn't realize THAT would be so expensive!)
Lighting: $101.60 Ikea and Progressive Lighting
Ceiling patchwork: FREE!
Ceiling paint: FREE! (A gift from our real estate agent)
Labor to paint the ceiling: $249

Total: $11,011.20

Still have:
Lighting electric work: ??

Then we're done!!!!!!!!

I'm sad that we went over our $10,000 budget...but I think it looks like we spent way more! :)

Backsplash Bliss!

Ahhhhh....so pretty!

Catching Up

Ok, I've been a bad blogger lately. Work was super busy...and then when it slowed down, I kind of lost my mojo for writing. But I'm back! To catch up...

Work's been better lately. A bit slower paced -which has been nice after the last few months. And praise the lord - our company is doing well and we're actually getting raises AND bonuses! Thank God!

And...I don't want to jinks anything...but the hubs and I may be planning a trip for the fall. A trip of a lifetime! More about that later though. I'm scared to talk about it too much since I REALLY want it to happen...I'll give you a hint though:  :)


We're going to Vegas the first week of April - I'm super excited about that. Staying at the Luxor - so cool! Can't wait to party it up!



I went to my first "club" in Atlanta a few weekends ago - the Gold Room. Yes, I'm 26 and just now went to my first club. Well, except for lame-o Club Europe that I went to when I was 18...but that doesn't count cuz it's an 18-and-up club and it was...well...lame. :) But I wasn't impressed with the Gold Room either. I think I'm more of a bar girl. I like places where there's less pressure to dress super hot, a place that's calmer, quieter, and a place where a rum and coke doesn't cost $9. But we were there to celebrate my good friend Veena's b-day and I DID have fun hanging out with her and dancing the night away!

We might be getting roommates - my best bud and her hubby might be moving in for a while. I think we'll have a ton of fun!

We haven't made much progress with the kitchen. I still can't make up my mind about the backsplash! I've got one more sample coming in the mail that I want to look at and then I've GOT to decide. We're so close to finishing!!

I think that's about it for now! Tonight we're heading to Dave and Busters to celebrate another friends birthday. Tomorrow we've got a church event...which reminds me - I want to write a blog post about our church....gotta remember to do that!

Happy Weekend!

Break it Down Now!

Now that we are nearing the END of the kitchen renovation (which I still can't believe we're so close to being DONE!!!) I figured I would break out the costs. I'm actually a little scared to see how much over budget we went...here goes!



Demo: FREE!
Dumpster rental: $215 BGI Waste Services
Cabinets: $3411.58 Ikea
Extra stuff: $103.63 (Drawers that were out of stock when we purchased the cabinets, plus dish drawer organizers and spice drawer organizers) Ikea
Cabinet installation: FREE!
Cabinet pulls: $161.59 Ikea
Cabinet dividers: $38.83 Ikea
Countertops: $1,280.40 (Including installation – awesome deal!!!)
Faucet for sink: $147.66 Lowes
Fridge: $1622.98 ($1593.10 plus $29.88 for delivery) - We splurged. :) Brandsmart
Oven: $754.32
Microwave: $234.20 Over-the-range venting microwaves are expensive! Brandsmart
Stovetop: FREE! (We kept our old one)
Materials for new wall: $100.06 Home Depot
Labor for new wall: FREE!
New door for pantry: $83.51 Home Depot
Pantry shelving: $161.98 Ikea
Installation for pantry shelving: FREE!
Paint for pantry: $37.64 (Including supplies and chalkboard paint for the door.)
Plumbing: $550
Appliance electric work: $140
Flooring: $638.27
Flooring installation: FREE!
Misc charges: $153.96 (random things like nails, paint rollers, caulk, hacksaw, etc.)
Grand Total: $9,835.60

Wow! I really thought we'd be more like $12,000 in right now!

Of course, we still have the following to do:
Lighting electric work: ??
Backsplash: ??
Backsplash installation: FREE!
Labor to vent dryer: ??
Lighting: ??
Ceiling patchwork: FREE!
Ceiling paint: FREE! (A gift from our real estate agent)
Labor to paint the ceiling: ??

So I know we're not going to come in under our $10,000 budget. But I'm still pretty impressed!

When we met with a contractor, his quote was $8,071 for labor alone. Then, when you add the rest of stuff we would have paid for separately (the cabinets, countertops, flooring, appliances, etc.) to the $8,071 - it comes to around $16,600! So I think we've saved about $6000 doing the kitchen ourselves. Sweet!!
Josh's dad is coming down tomorrow to help us finish up some stuff. Woo hoo!

I'm so ready for my kitchen to be DONE!

Kitchen Renovation Weekend #8

Geez! When are we going to finish this kitchen?!?! It feels like it's taking forever!

The weekend before last (Jan15th) we we finished up most of the flooring. Just one row left! Too bad it's the hardest row since you have to cut every piece of laminate lengthwise...which is why we still haven't finished. Boo.

Last weekend we hit up Ikea and bought the EXPEDIT bookcase in white. We decided to use this for shelving in our pantry instead of building shelving or buying cheap looking wire shelving. And I have to tell you, it looks AWESOME! I painted the wall behind the bookcase a butter cream color (so pretty!) and then loaded it up with food, paper towels, dishes, bake wear, and all the other crap I haven't been able to unpack since we've moved because I have a ridiculous amount of that kind of stuff and not enough storage! :)

Anyway, here's some pics!

 Pantry 

Stocked up! 

Pretty yellow! 

6 foot tall by 6 foot wide.  

The redneck way we're venting our dryer. :) Gotta call the heating and air specialist soon! 

New tablecloth! 

Kitchen with the pretty new flooring. 

Other view...man we've got to get the ceiling painted. It's ugly!  

Still needs lots of work!

Kitchen Renovation Weekend #7

WOW!!! Look at my new stainless appliances and my beautiful granite! I feel like a rich person! :)

So after a month and a half, I finally have a functional kitchen. It's still not pretty (LOTS of work left to do) but at least I can cook again. Which will be great for my waistline - I've gained WAY too much weight eating out so much!

Still left to do:
Trim (near the ceiling and under the upper cabinets)
Kickplates
Go to Ikea to pick up the 2 drawers they didn't have in stock when we first got our cabinets (where the blue tub is sitting in the picture)
Backsplash
Drywall & paint around window
Replace trim around window
Flooring
Repair/paint the ceiling
Lighting

Uggg - the To-Do List really points out how much more we have left to do...one of these days we'll get it finished!

Oh, and P.S. - installing all the appliances, adding a new electric outlet and moving the electric work for the dryer only cost us $140! Def keeping the contact info for this electrician! Super affordable!

2.5 more days until FREEDOM...sweet freedom!

Yeah, that's right. Only 2 and a half more days until I have 11 straight days off from work. Eleven!!!!! Christmas Eve through the first Monday in January. AND that's only using 4 vacation days! (Because that's all I have left after using 5 in June and 1 in October. Boo.) I'm "working-from-home" on the 24th, taking the 27th as my Christmas holiday, using the 4 vacation days on the 28th through the 31st and then taking my New Years holiday on the 3rd! I can't WAIT!

Since we're not going anywhere, I'm making a list of fun stuff for me and the hubs to do during our time off. I'm sure we'll work on the kitchen a lot too. (P.S. - the electrician is at my house RIGHT NOW installing my oven, stove, and microwave!!! I can't wait to be able to cook again!)

I also need to start doing meal plans and setting some exercise goals. We've been eating out so much (since there's no kitchen) and I've been too busy to do much exercising...I think I've gained 100,000,000 pounds.

Well, I've got lots of scanning to do, so off to the copy room I go.

Can't wait until Thursday at 5pm!!!!!

Kitchen Renovation Weekend #6

Well, really it should be "Kitchen Renovation Monday" because we didn't actually work on the kitchen this weekend...but today we had our granite installed!!! It's beautiful!!

Ahhhh....so much counter space!!!

Kitchen Renovation Weekend #5

More progress!

Putting together the lazy susan:

Finished lazy susan:

Cabinets with the pulls! (We're still missing two drawers that Ikea didn't have in stock. Hope they come in soon!)















The granite guy came today to measure for the granite template. I've changed my mind 3 times already about the granite color...I just can't picture what it's going to look like...

I'm ready to be finished!