kitchen renovation continued

Hello Friends and Happy New Year!

Baby has no idea what's going on! 

assuming you aren't totally annoyed at all my kitchen renovation posts, I'll share the latest: It's coming along beautifully and I LOVE IT!!  Such a sweet labor of love

Here is the brick back-splash going up.

Jake had some extra brick at the shop, 

("lick 'em, stick 'em" he calls them).

They are real bricks, just cut in half so they aren't so heavy.

He tinted the mortar to be a dark espresso color 

which matches the countertops. 

Here's the beginning and end of the wood floor being laid.

The final board went in 2 weeks ago at 12:50am!!

Just in time for Christmas!

BEAST!  He just kept on going and going, 

I said it's not a big deal if it doesn't get done, but "my tools are out and I'm not getting them all set up again" he said!  And wise he was, it rained and snowed and got fiercely windy the next few days!  

He would bring each board from the garage to the deck and then sand it down out there, then bring it in and lay it.  

Before the stain:

(you can also see some of the new appliances 

and the repainted kitchen cabinets).

During the stain: (english chestnut by minwax) 

After: he coated it with some varnish as well so it has some more shine then this picture indicates.  We had to pack up and spend the day and night elsewhere because it was such a strong smell throughout the house!  We lounged at Grammy's house and played games, spent one night/one day at my parents and spent the next night at our neighbors.  

 It was, as the kids say, "an adventure!"  Our sweet neighbors Ron and Sandy use to own a bed and breakfast so when they heard we had varnished the floors they invited us to stay the night.  "I won't have that baby sleeping in that house" they said. It felt like a mini vacation, (with four kids in a tiny house), but nonetheless, a treat.  They prepared a beautiful breakfast for us the next morning! 

We have so many wonderful souls in our lives!

Thank you to Grammy, Dad & Mom and Ron & Sandy for your kindness and hospitality to us ALL!

It is "livable" at this point, but not organized or completed. 

We are figuring out some last minute pantry space, etc. So until then I'm waiting to get "everything in it's place."  However, I don't need much space to make monster cookies.  In the picture below you can see the new sink and faucet, (she's a beauty) and the new record player, a Christmas gift.....from myself. How obnoxious is that?  And yes, I even wrapped it and put it under the tree.  I use to mock my Mother when she did that same thing and now I do it too!  

Oh, the circle of life!   

"Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true."
~Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850