The Kitchen Construction Is Done!!!

After 2 1/2 months, we are almost done! I am so happy to wake up this morning and not have any workers in my house. For the past 3 weeks, we have had people here and I feel like I have to be dressed early and just sit around and do nothing all day but wait for them to get finished and leave.

It all started with the floor on December 26th. The dust from jackhammering up the old floor was unbelievable. I still have it inside my cabinets. The floor came in more colorful than the sample, so that threw everything else I had picked out off. After 10 trips to the granite warehouse, I finally made a decision. The sink was back ordered and it took several weeks to get it put in. In the meantime, I had my "bad painters" remove the popcorn from the ceiling, texture the walls and ceiling, paint the base coat and refinish the cabinets. They were very nice and I was pretty much okay with everything except they were very messy.

They came back after the sink and granite were in and "faux" painted. It was just terrible. My Vietnamese remodeler said that it look like my grandchildren had painted it. On top of that, they rinsed the cream paint from their paint brushes in my new black sink repeatedly. I had to get a toothpick to clean it out of the cracks. They must have also had some serious stomach issues because they spent about 1/2 of their days in my bathroom. I would be sitting in my bedroom chair and they would go camp out in the bathroom. I got to where I was so embarrassed for them that when they went in, I would go upstairs or hide out in my bathroom. It happened at least 10 times a day. (Since I am so bathroom phobic, I did not use that bathroom until after my cleaning ladies had come.)

They finished on Monday and it was so bad that I started calling other painters immediately and started repainting the base coat myself. I couldn't stand to look at it. I had lined up a 2nd painter to do just the base coat, and he did not show up. I waited all day Friday and he came around 4:30 and said he would be back on Saturday at 9:00. Pops waited all day for him and he never showed. Finally he came around 10:00 on Monday and at that point, I had finished,

My new painter started on Tuesday and finally finished yesterday, after 7 days. I am very pleased with the faux finish and about 70% pleased with the accent painting. I showed him a picture of what I wanted and color swatches and he didn't do it the same. It needs some tweaking and I will like it. I was not happy with it when he was packed up to leave and luckily Jennifer came by and we both told him changes that needed to be made, like "this side needs something yellow", "more leaves", "this needs to be darker", etc. It improved, but I still see things that would make it look better.

He was not as messy as the first painters, but I had to get mineral spirits, steel wool and re-stain a few areas and chip paint out of my sink. He left the air vents white so I had to go get paint and paint and replace them. All I have to do now is find some switch plates that match. I still need shutters, black refrigerator and my table, which will take about 3 more months, but I can be patient and wait. My physical work is done and I am happy of that. I am tired, but I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to do this.


Best of all, here are my little girls that help with the whole process. We had many picnics in the bathtub and spent lots of time upstairs locked up in the game room.



They both are so good and SO sweet. I love them to pieces.