Baumhover Babble: July 2011

I know I'm way behind on updates. It just seems I have less and less time. You know, between chasing the kids, cleaning up after them, working on some birth announcements and photos shoots, picking out paints, etc... there hasn't been much time for anything else! Luckily, the kids started a 3 week morning gymnastics and swim camp last week, so I have been busy in the kitchen! Not cooking, of course. We haven't been able to do that since we got back from Santa Fe. Progress is slow, but we are moving in the right direction.

Lucky for us, our neighbors are also under renovation (by professionals of course) and their dumpster has come in handy, I must say. I neglected to report in the last post that we ripped those lovely corian beasts off and hauled them to the graveyard. I'm sure the former owner would be horrified. She loved blue, as was evident from not only the kitchen, but from the blue beams in the living room and the electric blue carpet in the bedrooms. I'm sure in 20 years someone will say..."what was she thinking with all that white." Oh, and speaking of white, the kitchen cabinets are going to be painted white. I have spent the last week de-glossing and sanding all that lovely 80's oak. Whew. How did I get that job? We will be using an airless sprayer to paint them, like the pros ya know. We just need that bad boy to arrive. Should have been here Friday. Oh, no. Now it's scheduled for Weds. We are on hold right now waiting for it to arrive. Everything is ready. Oh, except for one thing. Still can't seem to pick a white. Lesson learned... be sure to pick what brand of paint you plan to use first. That narrows it down considerably. I thought I had it picked, but colors by the same name are NOT the same from brand to brand. Now I'm back to the drawing board. Some look too gray, some too yellow, some too stark. With only a 2"x2" piece of the countertop and a small section of the tile backsplash, it's hard to envision. I know, I'm obsessing about small details, but I don't plan on painting these cabinets again, so I want to get it right. I must decide tomorrow. No other option. We need to start painting asap. I need my kitchen back!!!

Despite the fact that I still haven't picked a white, I am proud to report that I did pick a sink. Single bowl, white Silgranite. It's large and just about indestructible. I found a faucet. The countertops are ordered and will go in next week (which is why we need to get busy painting). After agonizing for weeks, we finally settled on a very neutral and subdued granite (what I swore I wouldn't use). I drool over marble, but knew that just wouldn't work in our kitchen. I'm too messy of a cook and it scratches and stains too easily. One day, when we hit the jackpot and I have a personal chef, I will have marble and they can be clean as they cook and keep it perfect. Sorry, I was dreaming there for a minute. In this life, we go for practical, but still pretty. I found lots of other GREAT options and fell in love with a natural quartzite. Of course, it blows marble out of the water on price. So back to the drawing board. Brian didn't like the look of Ceasarstone (too manmade looking for him apparently). So, just when I was ready to sacrifice in every other area to get the quartzite or give up completely, I set out to see every slab of granite in the city. Not kidding. I think I hit every slab yard. I ended up back where I had found the quartzite and asked if they might have a granite I could live with. Sure enough, there it was. It works really well in our house and blends well with the limestone, and it was far cheaper than anything else I had seen.

After all that agony, I picked a tile for the backplash in less than 5 mins. There was no question. This staggered Calcutta Gold marble mosaic looks perfect with the granite.

Marble... I can have marble???? Turns out marble is much cheaper in small tiles, and I don't have to worry about upkeep since it's just on the backsplash. Hooray.

So, we wait. Hopefully the first coat of primer will go up on Weds night and by Thurs night we will have paint. Yes, provided I can pick it. This indecision madness is getting old. I'm going to be rash from now on.

By the way, I took these photos tonight with my phone because I was too lazy to find my camera in this mess. And anyway, life's too short to make everything perfect. Truth be told, there is more to why I haven't posted much lately than just not having time. I have this fear that since I'm in the design/photo business, people will constantly be judging my work. Not just my official work, which I take great care with and have high standards for and expect to be judged, but my personal "work" I display on this blog, which is mostly pictures of the kiddos. Yes, I love the art of photography and want every photo I take to be beautiful. But honestly, they are not all beautiful. It takes time, patience and often some editing to get a good one. And as you can see, sometimes I don't have time for that, so I shy away from posting anything at all. I've been thinking a lot lately about how much pressure I put on myself to have everything just right. I then I remember, nothing on earth is perfect. God knows that, and I'm sure my readers, all 5 of you :), do too. Wow, if only I can remember that tomorrow when I hit the paint store.

My indecision board

New window trim.

New molding on top

I need a few more hours in the day and then maybe I will be able to keep up with this blog. I am so behind now I fear I may never get caught up! In the midst of our busy life, we have decided to give the kitchen a little facelift. Simple enough, right? Paint the cabinets, pick out a countertop, sink and faucet, refinish the floors, and do it on a very tight budget. Oh, and let's do it all ourselves, cuz we have all kinds of free time with two kids, work, and traveling over the summer. Who needs to use the laundry, kitchen sink, or dishwasher for a while anyway? And let's do it when it's 1000 degrees outside too. Throw in that the "designer" (i.e. ME) happens to get a little OCD when it comes to picking things out. I blame it on my background as a researcher. I would never have thought deciding on a kitchen sink would drive me this crazy! Single bowl, double bowl, single bowl, double bowl. You get the idea.

Can you tell I'm excited? No really, I am. I can't wait to see the finished product, but the process is a little daunting. We are making progress though. Brian dug up our floors to run a gas line, patched and refinished the wood floors, we've cleared out all the cabinets and set up a make shift kitchen in the dining room (one perk, no one expects me to cook), and now we are adding some trim to the old cabinets and prepping them for a paint job. Now, if I can just decide on the color. How many shades of white does the world really need? Gheez.

Here are a few photos of the progress so far...

Oct 2009. Where is all began...

Oct. 2009. Within days of closing... the popcorn on the ceiling came down, and the wallpaper came off. This is pretty much how it has looked since we moved in.

I don't have photos of the floor destruction since I was in NM, but here it is post patching and sanding with the first coat of poly going on. Boy howdy, did it smell good in here last week.