Walls, and floors, and lights, oh my!

I'm in love, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it! … Can you say that about your kitchen? Whatever, that’s how we’re totally feeling right now. Here’s the lowdown from the past week:

Last Tuesday, we had an electrician come and rewire the kitchen. For two days and nearly 20 hours he worked his magic, moving all of the wires that were in the soffit, plus a whole lot more. We’re so glad we hired someone for this job because we would likely still be at it if it was just us (or let’s be honest, all Derk.) Afterward, we had someone install drywall. Again, we are happy that this was someone else’s job because otherwise this whole overhaul would take two months. As soon as he left, we painted the ceiling. My, oh, my, what a difference a crisp white ceiling makes. After that dried we could finally wire in the recessed lights. As soon as those went on it was like BAM! Let there be light! It was pretty amazing. We have all of them on dimmers so when we want to create a romantic mood in the kitchen, for say like washing dishes, it’s possible.  

We raised the cut-through by about six inches since we're going to have taller cabinets. Also, take a minute to admire those wires. They cost us a lot of money.

You spend your Saturday nights painting too, right? Riiiight?

Proof that I do more than just blog about this kitchen renovation.

Recessed lights that dangle - could be a future trend. 

But they do look much better in the ceiling.

The next thing to conquer was the hardwood floor. D’s dad graced us with his presence again and was such a huge help. All day Sunday they measured, cut and nailed each board into the floor. It was no small undertaking. We were under the impression that the floor would be basically one color. We soon realized that there were big variations in the wood color. We found this to be such a good thing though, and we absolutely love the finished look. We have enough to do the entire first floor and I have a feeling that after we finish the kitchen, we’ll be itching to do the rest of the house ASAP. The old crappy laminate next to the new, beautiful bamboo is like night and day.

Laying the first boards. 

Handling the nailer like a BOSS.

Getting close!

Well deserved exhaustion at the end of the night. 

Check out that beauty up close. 

This week and coming weekend our main jobs are paint and hang cabinets. (Yeah, just hang cabinets. No biggie.) We’re still on schedule (woot woot) and everything is turning out better than imagined. Here’s to that streak continuing.

Now excuse me while I go do another happy dance on our kitchen floor. 

Wowzers.