The Addition is Finished!! (Kinda Sorta, for the Most Part)

I’ve been putting off posting about our addition project because I’ve been waiting on all the “punch out” list items to get finished.

Which is taking a wee bit longer than I thought.

But we are LIVING in the new space now and enjoying running water and a bathroom on the first floor.

And having an oven again??

I’ve baked 6 batches of brownies.

Not all at once.

It’s wonderful to have meal options beyond what we can microwave and heat up on the hot plate.

But I can’t find my cook books.

And some other things that we packed away for 

the construction and can’t seem to find now.

I’m hoping they are in the basement which is a disaster from our flood and having all the carpet ripped out with all the furniture still in it.

Oy!

So here is the kitchen reveal:

Our builder has been bringing over perspective clients to see the space and they always ask specific names of colors and products and where we got things.

I’ll try to list everything while it’s still fresh in my mind at the end of this post.

Just leave me a question in the comments section if there’s something you’d like to know that I didn’t mention.

Every morning I walk in, I’m so happy it’s still here and not all just a wonderful dream.

 I love my island!! And I love that vein right in the middle. I can’t believe the fabricator tried to direct me away from it.

I wipe the counters down twice a day. The construction dust is still settling and coats everything. I love to run my hands over the counter tops but don’t love getting construction dust all over my hands.

These bar stools are so nice and heavy. They are adjustable and can spin up higher or lower depending on your preference. The seats stay still when you sit on them except one needs to be tightened. We don’t let Ellie sit in that one because she can’t sit still for a second. It’s very distracting talking to someone who is spinning back and forth.

You know what’s crazy? The stove sits right where it did in the old kitchen. Doesn’t seem possible. I love all the bright lighting and the hood!! I had them make a ledge so I can put something up there. Haven’t figured out what that something is yet.

And the three brown animals all in a row in the decorative tiles, 

TIC TAC TOE, don’t bother me AT ALL 

because I’m cooking!! On a real stove!! What is there to complain about?!

Actually, I will say this. Our new smoke alarms must be terribly sensitive because every time we use the oven they go off. Even if it’s empty and just preheating. 

I’m hoping there is just some residual construction dust inside burning off.

 It did sit right in the middle of our living room throughout the project. 

I really don’t want my meals to be smoke alarm associated.

I have SO enjoyed ALL THE SPACE of these open shelves!! I’ve mentioned before that I’ve always had open shelves rather than upper cabinets in my kitchens. But I didn’t have a ton of space so I still had to store a lot of stuff.

Now I can have ALL the plates out! I picked up a few sets of white plates at a thrift store last year to use for our women’s luncheon. I had to store them away when it was over. Now I actually use them. It’s great to have people over and KNOW FOR A FACT that I have enough plates for them and we don’t have to use paper plates. Which I vow to NEVER buy again after eating off them exclusively for 6 months!

The only new thing we bought for the kitchen were drinking glasses. We still had the thick hand blown glasses we got for our wedding with the dark blue band on the top.

I love them because they are so heavy duty but the blue drove me crazy on the shelves. It was the wrong shade. Plus, we didn’t have enough of them.

I’m keeping them in a lower cabinet so we can use them on the patio this summer.

We found these online from Crate and Barrel. Not sure you can tell but there are little bubbles in the glass.

Having a single deep sink where the entire baking sheet fits right in and whole skillets are easily washed out is amazing!

The fridge that started it all in its final resting place allowing for full door opening and usage. We added the cabinet to the right of it at the last minute to house our trash and recycling. I’m so glad we did! The drawer has become the junk drawer. So has the counter space.

The outlets on the wall above the counter have USB ports allowing us to charge our phones directly. Yet, we don’t as you can see from the photo. Interesting…

Ignore the dead tulips.

This is a view from our side door into the family room. My dad made the farm table.

We easily sat 8 people around the table last weekend. We use the chairs on the wall on the ends of the table for company.

The rest of the time, they live right here.

Our fireplace and built-ins.

The mantle is an Indiana barn beam and over 100 years old. I love the hole in the front.

The reclaimed wood behind the shelves is from a red barn and grey horse stall back in Indiana. One of the construction workers said he could smell horse every time he cut those pieces.

Organizing the shelves has been one of my favorite things to decorate.

Monte ordered that gator head on the top shelf for himself for his birthday with the specific intent for me to display it on these shelves.

Don’t you think it would be funny if we hung it 

on the wall like a deer head??

The workers and I do!

Monte doesn’t.

He takes his gators very seriously.

My friend Karmen painted that picture of Nigel and I love how it pops out on the shelf. More people have noticed that than the gator head.

Just saying…

The huge sectional that we worried wouldn’t fit.

I allowed myself to really fret over what rug to buy.

What color? 

What size? 

I went to 142 stores and looked at 4,074 rugs. 

Then I just decided one morning that it was a stupid rug that we were going to walk on, for the love of Pete!

So I bought a super neutral one on the smallish size. 

I love it.

The coffee table is our old one from the living room that I’ve painted and restained many times. One of our construction workers is going to take it. We are just using it until he does. We are going to use an old trunk in this space that used to be my great-uncle’s sales equipment trunk. It’s really neat.

We thought we wanted a round coffee table but couldn’t bring ourselves to fall in love with anything we saw. Mainly because they were all $400-$800.

For the love of Pete!

Also, I love the story behind the trunk.

We bought this big clock in my hometown in Indiana while home for Christmas. It’s the only thing that has been hung on the walls. And that’s because I had the workers do it. I’m not used to drywall. All my walls are plaster which does not require all the anchors and whatnot. It just explodes most of the wall all over your hair when you hammer.

I’m enjoying the extra brain space that having empty walls has given me. It will drive me crazy soon enough but for now…happy sigh. 

So from this:

Plastic brick archway that housed the oven and two cabinets.

To this:

From small sun porch turned into den sometime in the 70s:

To this:

I’ll take it!!

What’s left?

Our back yard looks like the surface of the moon. 

The April showers might bring May flowers but they do not help the patio go in any faster. We are hoping that starts this week.

We hope to get steps to our side door installed then too. It’s a long jump down and even harder jump back in when we take the trash to the garage.

We need the new front door installed since ours is old enough to have the three little windows staggered diagonally. The door is featured in most of the old black and white movies from the 50s and 60s.

And most of the wood surrounding the front door is rotten and needs replaced. 

We are getting new lighting too.

And we have to figure out new flooring for our basement so we can put it all back together. We’ve missed having it as an option to send the kids when they have friends over and want to be loud. We are learning that sound really carries with the high ceilings of our new space. The basement is so nice and insulated that we never hear loud giggling teenagers.

We also need to start transforming our old dining room into an office so the girls have a quiet place to do homework.

I’m thinking a barn door to close it off 

from the kitchen would look FANTASTIC!

So there you have it! I’m so glad it’s kinda sorta, for the most part done.

Details:

Counter tops:  Typhoon White or River White granite
Cabinet color:  Brie
Cabinet hardware:  Rusticware knobs and 10-inch pulls in oil-rubbed bronze from PullsDirect.com
Sink:  Vigo single-bowl stainless steel from eBay.
Faucet:  Giagni Fresco from Lowe’s
Stove Hood:  custom built. Painted Snowbound from Sherwin Williams to match cabinets. Wood corbels from eBay.
Open shelves:  custom built. Painted Snowbound from Sherwin Williams.
Backsplash:  White subway tile; Winter Grey grout
Lighting:  island pendants and over the sink:  Pottery Barn. We bought them deeply discounted over the holidays.
Bar stools:  World Market (sorry, can’t find the name of them)
Dining side chairs:  Light Walnut finish, French Bistro side chair, World Market.
Dining end chairs:  Linen Maddox, World Market.
Wall color in kitchen and family room:  Repose Gray, Sherwin Williams
Chandelier over table:  Objects for Home, local.
Built-ins by fireplace:  custom built. Painted Snowbound by Sherwin Williams.
Iron Shelf brackets:  House of Antique Hardware