Shelves in the closet. Happy thought indeed.

Ten points if you can name the movie this post title comes from.  We've been getting organized around here, then we've been bringing more boxes over from my parents and start all over with the being unorganized.  It's coming along though.  

We bought a spice rack and Kyle installed it in the cabinet. 

It was nice to get that cabinet organized.  Somehow I had collected multiples of several different spices and they were all open.  Now everything is combined and refilled with the extras downstairs in the "Family Store" as the kids are calling it.

Awhile back we bought some shelves from Ikea for this really deep cabinet that wasn't really great for storing anything we wanted to access.  We also found some side panels in the as-is section which made the whole project much easier than it would have been if Kyle had had to create the side panels himself.  I think he's going to write up a post about the whole process but short story is that we went from this:

To this:  (It still needs a couple of shelves in the middle skinny area- it will be perfect for cereal and bags of chips.

Kyle cut one of the original shelves from the previous cupboard down to fit in this one- and created a "mug" shelf.  

I also thought of something to corral all the sandwich wraps that end up everywhere.  

Kyle has been doing a lot of work in our closet too.  He put in a slide out scarf rack.

Several pants holders

And slide out baskets in some of the cubbies.

We also got our bedroom cleaned up.  It feels so much nicer in here now.  We also have room for the kids laundry baskets so we can put clothes in the right basket as we're folding (well as Kyle is folding).

We hung a clock and my jewelry holder in the bathroom.

We hung stuff on the walls in the living room (the watercolor with the gold frame is waiting for our next trip to Ikea to get a bigger matted black frame so it will match some of the other artwork we have in the room- the bigger frame will balance things better too.  The trick with this wall was the awkward position of the thermostat.  

My friends got me this print as a housewarming gift.  

I put the shelves in the bathroom closet and started filling them with my supplies.

I put together these shelves (though we need a few more shelves to finish it up) for our "family store".

Kyle assembled this one.

We put shelves in the closet under the stairs for holding games.

We have a TV downstairs, and are debating whether it is a terrible idea to put the wii down there.

Kyle got the projector almost all the way installed.  He needs a longer cord to finish.

Countertops and more Driveway

Two more sections of driveway got poured today.  I think there's maybe one more big section and then a small section and replacing the sidewalk and the approach.

Kitchen Countertops- All ready for the dishwasher (and faucets).

Island- I'm hoping Kyle hooks the cooktop up tomorrow.

We had the kitchen windowsill be granite too, instead of cultured marble like the others.

Farmhouse sink.

Hall bathroom.

Basement bathroom.

Master bath.

Kyle loves the countertops.

Alice just wants to move in.

Carpet and HVAC (and fridge)

The missing bathroom vanity got installed.  Now we're ready for those countertops, any day....

We were trying to pick a carpet that would go with gray tones in the basement, and brown tones upstairs (although really it's just the carpet on the stairs, in E's room and our closet, everything else is tile).  We picked a grayish carpet that had brown flecks in it, when I saw it outside in the truck the carpet guy brought it in, I thought it was UGLY.  It looks much better in.  

Carpet on the stairs (yes, that is painters tape on there still...).

 Carpet in J's room

Carpet in the family room.  

Return air vent covers installed.

Air conditioner.

Floor vents.

Toe kick vents.

Fridge!  Kyle also put the washer and dryer in the laundry room, but we didn't take a picture.

Ceiling vent in A's room.

Kyle did these awhile ago, but I hadn't noticed them until recently.  These are little lights in the study nook's in J's and A's rooms.  There will be a built in desk with shelves above at some point in the future.

We could not find the cover for this, luckily the HVAC guy found it by the furnace.  This is our heat exchange unit, it brings fresh air into the house and transfers the heat/cold from the old air to the new air.  Or something like that.

Kitchen

Yesterday the cabinet installer (Jason, I think) came back and finished the kitchen cabinets.  I was a little worried because the glaze didn't show up on the drawer fronts and we have a lot of drawers, but I think it's going to be okay.  

I didn't take a picture of inside, but the cupboard over the fridge has metal dividers in it to hold cookie sheets and muffin tins (and maybe big cutting boards?).  The cabinets over the microwave and the oven space (which is to the right of the fridge space) are also extra deep, so we'll have plenty of room for storing big popcorn bowls.  Right now it feels like we have so much storage space.  I'm sure that will change once we start unpacking our stuff and aren't living in a house with two households worth of stuff and people.

Trash can/Recycling cans pull out from this cupboard next to the sink.  I'm glad the planner-people suggested this.  I wouldn't have thought of it, because we always kept the trash cans under the kitchen sink, but our under-sink cabinet is a bit short because of the farmhouse sink.

Here's the island. I'm excited about keeping pots and pans under the cooktop (which is in the center section).  

The countertop measuring person should be coming tomorrow.  

Cabinets

Last week the bathroom and laundry room cabinets were all installed.  The master bathroom cabinets were too big, so the installer framed up the center for counter top measuring purposes while we wait for the replacement.

Laundry room cabinets.

Kitchen!  The cupboards above the microwave, fridge and double oven are all extra deep.  

Just for fun we put the sink in the spot where it goes. The cupboard to the right of the sink has our garbage and recycling cans in them, it pulls out.

And the microwave (it looked much bigger in the box!).  

Even More Siding, Vent hood and other Inside Work...

Kyle worked all day yesterday and got a lot of work done.  Our mechanical room didn't get drywall for some reason, so we bought some wall panelling and he cut that and installed it.  We'll need one more panel to finish it off.  Then that room will be ready for the water heater and softener.  (If you have a water softener that you love, let me know because I've never had one before and have no idea what to look for.)

This is just to show the wall board, but that mess of stuff is for the fire sprinklers.

The most exciting thing Kyle did yesterday was work on the vent hood for over our cooktop.  We looked at our options, which were limited since we have an island cooktop.  The vent hood would be one of the first things you saw when you came through the front door, so we didn't want it to draw a of attention.  We debated a downdraft vent, but they don't very good reviews.  Some of the fancier vent hoods that might have looked good were prohibitively expensive.  We finally decided to buy an oversized, overpowered (for the size of our cooktop) insert, which we'd install as high toward the ceiling as we could, and Kyle would build a surround to put it in.

The frame.

We used the same trim that heads the doors.

Test fitting the unit.

Finally, he installed it, and trimmed around the top with the same hardwood sheeting that he used for wrapping the cooling chimney beams.  Now all that's left is to fill nail holes, sand, and paint.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and even more pleased that we didn't have to go buy more trim to finish it off. 

 The siding guys were here  and finished up the south side of the house.

Including the gray that we deliberated over so much.  I kind of wish we had gone even darker than we did (we picked the darker of the two options we were looking at) but we were worried that it would be too close to the roof shingle color.  As it is, I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.  Also, the above picture was taken this morning, but the below picture was yesterday- wasn't it a beautiful day?

Kyle also got more of the solar tubes put together- he finished the ones in our closet and bathroom, but was short material for the one in the hall bathroom, so it will have to wait for the extension piece to finish up.  He also got the wiring done for the motor on the window in the cooling chimney.  This was tricky because it didn't come with parts that he could just hook up to the wiring he put in for it.  It was kind of ridiculous, the wire was barely long enough to install the switch (do they not think about how high the windows are that people are buying electric openers for?).  I got to help pull a piece of metal through a small hole we made in the drywall in the bathroom, so Kyle could tape the wire to it and pull it back up.  That was fun- peeking through a tiny hole trying to grab a piece of metal with pliers.