A couple more shots...

I see I posted the same picture twice in the previous post, and had forgotten one I intended to post. So here's the one I forgot, showing some more colorful decor in the living room. Also here's a shot of the peace sign wreaths we created for the front porch. The peace sign part doesn't show up much at night, but it looks pretty cool during the day. And finally, a shot of the giant ornaments in a hanging basket on the porch, along with a scene of our snowy neighborhood. So, now you have the complete picture...

Christmas Decor and Party

Hi - had our Christmas party last night, which was fun. Food all turned out good, and everyone loved the kitchen. That's of course where everyone was hanging out! Here are pics of the party, and of our holiday decor :-) We went with bright colors this year in the living room, which was fun.

Thanksgiving

Here are a couple pictures of our Thanksgiving table. Notice the individual salt cellars at each place, as well as the pattern glass goblets. Very classy if I do say so myself. Food was great too, but our friend who took the picture of the devastated kitchen hasn't sent it to us yet, so I don't have one to post. We will be hosting the UMKC department party at our house this weekend, so I'll get some more decorating pics up after that.

Uncluttered Pictures

Here are 8 new pictures showing various aspects of the kitchen, this time without all the clutter. The first one below is a pic is of our new dishwasher. We went to Sears and got a JennAir. It had the features and look that we wanted, so that's what we chose. I am running it right now for the first time. So far so good. Also, I've discovered that you can click on any of these pictures if you want to see an enlarged version. Then just click on the back arrow to go back to the blog. Enjoy !

Pictures

More Pictures

The whole mural

Here's a better picture of the mural, followed by some explanatory notes on the detailed pictures. We had our open house yesterday, and everyone ooohed and awwwed at the kitchen, which was fun. The pictures I took that day didn't turn out very well, so I've included this one, which is good of the mural I think, but the kitchen looks a little messy. Rest assured that it looks even better when its neat :-)

Mural finishes

In response to Liz's comment, I made some notes on various parts of the mural to explain the finishes, which are varied. Here they are...

C'est Fini !

It's finished ! Gina finished the wall mural about ten days ago, and we have been getting used to everything. We love it ! Have done some cooking and baking (made cookies for book club) as well as just staring at it. I still haven't got everything organized and decorated just the way I want, but will be working on that over the next couple days. We are having a "reveal" for friends to come over and see on Sunday afternoon so I will have to have it whipped in to shape by then. Got out some Fall/Halloween decorations so will work with those.

This picture doesn't really capture the wall, so I will try again and also post some party pics after the weekend. Bye for now !

Details on the mural

Here are some close-ups of the mural wall, showing the colors and textures.

Say goodbye to the dish drawers...

We're going to return the dishwasher drawers, and I am so sad because they LOOK so cool ! Function is not so great though. First of all, stuff doesn't get dry after the wash cycle, even though it blows a fan for quite a while. Secondly, nothing really fits properly in the drawers. Our dinner dishes didn't fit, and nothing very tall fits. So we are back to square one and will have to go shopping again for a new dishwasher. The installers are coming to get this one next week...

Latest acquisition

We decided we just couldn't deal with a white dishwasher in our stainless kitchen. Our new Kitchenaid was installed on Thursday. Have only run it once so far, but it seems great. We can run more often/more efficiently by only running one drawer at a time. Plus it is just really cool.

Wall mural update

Great progress on the mural this last week. Here's what it looks like now... Only a few more days and it will be complete !

Kitchen Mural

Here's the mural as it is developing....
More new posts below.

New wall decor

Took the clock and plate off the wall in the dining area, and replaced it with this bamboo wall installation. Its actually a room divider that we bought at World Market. We didn't put the feet on it, and hung it sideways on the wall. We really love it - great color and texture. We may hang the plate or other things on top of the bamboo, but haven't gotten around to that yet.

TV room arrangement

We got some new furtniture for the TV room - two new recliners and a couch with chaise. [sold our old recliner loveseats on Craig's list almost immediately after we listed them.] We've futzed around with arrangements in every which way, but this seems to be the only way everything works the way we need it to. Its all pretty comfy and we're happy with the way its turned out. The red cabinet in the corner is also now - Asian style storage for our computers etc. Also moved the big clock from the dining area to above left of the new red cabinet.

Dining area, New light fixture

The TV/dining area is all painted now, and we really like it. Here are some pics of the dining room wall. THe clock is new; we bought it over the weekend. The white plate we've had for years, and it looks good on the dark wall. Have also included a pic of our new light fixture over the dining table. we're really happy with that look. However, looking at these pictures makes me think the clock and plate don't give quite the dining room feel I had in mind. Will probably move the clock to another wall and find some more arty piece for the dining wall. Always a work in progress....

Kitchen Wall

Progress has been pretty slow on the kitchen wall art project. This is Gina the artist, and Bryan helping her with her drop cloth. Gina is taping off the design here, and there is now some color on the wall. But I'll wait for more progress before more pictures...

TV room paint

We painted the dining/tv room over the weekend. Chose a dark gray-green, with a light gray trim. It is dark, but we like it. Check it out Liz - its almost black in some lights, like the pic you posted on your blog.
We are still waiting for our new furniture, which is a drag. Just posted our recliners on Craig's list tonight, so hopefully someone will buy those and we can start to put the family and living rooms back together.
More pics coming this weekend - Gina the muralist has started her project, and the cabinet guy is supposed to come tomorrow to finish up. I'll believe it when I see it. Stay tuned...

The big picture

Well, here it is. I'm standing on a stool in the family room taking the picture to get everything in.
We spent the weekend putting stuff away, organizing, etc. Went to Target and Bed Bath & Beyond on Saturday to get some organizers and stuff. Also bought the bar stools at BBB. It was really fun.
Two things are left to finish in the kitchen - (1) the cabinet company still needs to come back and fix some doors and drawers that aren't quite right. (2) The "back wall" still needs to be painted. We've commissioned a local artist to do an abstract painting on that wall. We met with her over the weekend to finalize design ideas, and we're pretty excited about it. Obviously I'll post pictures to show how that develops.
Guess that's it for now... Not much more to post, but I'm sure there'll be a few more shots to take so stay tuned...

The deck

Here are a few shots of the new deck. I stained it earlier this week with an oil-based sealant. It turned out darker than I was picturing - I thought I was getting a clear stain and didn't really realize what it was going to look like till I was about 1/3 done. Too late then, so I just kept going.
The railings are polished copper tubing with rebar inside for strength. It has a clear coat to protect the finish and keep it shiny.
My next plan is to put some pots with flowers, a bistro table and chairs, etc to decorate the space. Right now we're just enjoying the pristine beauty.

Almost finished !

Here are a few pics of how things are looking now. Things are almost complete!