Extreme Makeover: Error Edition

I loved my childhood, the memories that I made, the places I went, the friends that I made, and the homes that I lives in; but I have always lived a very modest life. I have never wanted for anything that grand, or had certain expectations, I have always enjoyed what I was given. I was raised to the tender age of 13 in a moble home.....aka I was trailer trash, which is usually what the kids at school would call after me and my brother. But to be completely honest I have the most wonderful memories in that trailer, I doubt my childhood would have been any better were it have been spent in a house. My mom made it cozy and warm, and turned it into a home. That has been my belief with anywhere that I lived....as long as you made a house, apartment, condo, trailer, tent a home...it would become your castle, your sanctuary, a place for you to be yourself and be surrounded by family and friends. So when Marc and I bought our old brick house in Salt Lake near the hospital, it was nowhere near as nice a place as we could have gotten on the outskirts of town. But as they say in real eastate...."It's all about location...location....location". And right now we needed to be close to the hospital, so we were bound and determined to make this old house into our own sanctuary, or castle, our home.

Thanks to Obama, we had a very nice tax return coming our way and we had big plans for that. Sure I was tempted to want to splurge on an exotic trip to Hawaii, or maybe even look into getting a new vehicle; but our plans were far bigger. Not that our kitchen was unlivable, molding, and falling to pieces, we decided that is where we wanted to invest our hard earned money. Growing up through college I have lived in some pretty shady places, and to be honest our old kitchen never really bothered me, I hadn't really had a nice kitchen before. So the thoughts of granite, tile, and a convection oven sounded pretty grand to this country girl. The thought of being without a kitchen for over a month and a half had my inner chef a little wiery...no matter though...where there is a will there is a way. After some good recommendations from our realtor we had our contractor picked and began the long process of designing and creating our kitchen. Honestly the mess wasn't that bad....I think the fact that we were gone everyday for 10-12 hours sure did help us not notice how long it was taking and how messy it got. We got pretty good at washing dishes in the bathroom sink. And let me just tell you, there are about a thousand things you can do with a rice cooker besides cook rice. I'm sure that if you were to ask Marc, some of my best recipes and meals were cooked while the kitchen was under construction. Outdoor grill, rice cooker, crock pot, flat griddle, and microwave......America's Top Chef here I come.

We were pretty fortunate during the remodel that we didn't run into anything too scary, typically with these older homes...there are always some bones in the closet that you would rather not have discovered. So after countless phone calls, and trips to Lowes, Home Depot, Paint shops, Cabinent shops, and Granite shops we had it all planned out. And now the moment you have all been waiting for....our new kitchen!!!

Pearl Umber Cabinents, Grey Granite with strikes of black and silver veins, Black appliances (that Marc labored diligently over picking them online through consumor report, and then praying that they would show up in an orderly time and in good condition. Needless to say that didn't happen. No we did not want a white dishwasher and no we are not going to wait 6-8 weeks while the black one is on back order. In the future I think we will stick with the good old fashion  mom and pop stores). Mint green walls that make me think of ice cream every time that I walk into the kitchen. Actually I was told that that color is the one that they put in interigation rooms to soothe criminals into spilling the beans....maybe we should just stay here after Marc is done with residency....I'll know exactly how to crack the kids:)

We did switch up the layout of the kitchen. Originally the fridge was splitting up all the cabinent space that I had so we moved it over by the door and put the range where the fridge was. We also got a normal sized dishwashers.....I am going to miss our old midget one....that thing was a cleaning machine...another reason not to judge a book by it's cover.

Our cabinent maker designed a custom pantry for us, it's so big I am sure you could fit at least three to four people in there...not that I would ever need to stuff 3-4 people in my pantry. And one of the best features of our new kitchen is the sliding window that has replaced that nasty yellow tinged non ventilating window that had been there. LIGHT!! I love Light, and a nice cool fall breeze...it's going to be so nice.

The journey to our completed kitchen was long, and definitely frustrating at times as we had to return and re-return things to Lowes that didn't quiet work, coordinating and planning with the different contractors, washing dishes by hand in the smallest sink in the world, and living in a dust pan. But to be honest, I would do it again. We are turning this house into our home, our castle, our sanctuary, a place that the spirit can be and we can feel everday.