Just a reminder to stop and smell the roses

Whoa there flowers!

The flowers my mom gave me last year were nice last year, but this year they are beautiful and all of the plants are huge. The border lilies are just starting to bloom. Last year they had a bloom or two per plant but this year there are two or three blooms per plant and in some places more than one plant growing.
The knockouts that survived last year are doing wonderfully. One of them has 23 open blooms on it and even more than that in closed buds.

Also I must recommend Michigan Bulb Company. That's where my mom bought the plants for me. Since I had problems with the knockout roses and one of my hydrangea bushes last year, they sent me new ones this year. They actually sent more than the number that died, which was a nice bonus to receive.

The columbine plants aren't at their full bloom in these pictures. They were much more colorful last week. They're huge though. In the picture below, it's the tall plant behind the rose bush.

The geraniums (bluish purple flowers) should get more blooms later in the summer, but are looking nice already.

The very front of my yard

Veggie-garden taking shape

 About a month ago a friend came to help me get and haul forty pound bags of top soil to fill my raised bed. He helped me layer the soil with compost and peat moss to make this beautiful garden. We also used some of the compost from my bin and turned the rest. Thanks Steve! While we were working in my garden, my neighbor inquired about what I was planting and when I told him vegetables, he offered to share some seeds a friend had given him, so I started my 2nd round of seedlings (basil, thyme, peppers, and rosemary)

partially filled (April)

Since the likelihood of frost had passed, I planted my lettuce seeds toward the front of the garden; peas and sunflower seeds went in the back. A couple of weeks later some people at my work were selling seedlings for a fundraiser, so I bought 15 seedlings for $5. I bought mostly tomatoes (4 different varieties) and peppers (both bell and spicy). I also picked up some cilantro and basil. When I planted those, I added a row of carrots. I also planted seeds of the jelly-bean-tomatoes and eggplants that I wasn't able to get to grow as seedlings. I planted some okra too. And to round it all off, last week I got a seedling of a Thai green eggplant from my farm share. I'm still hoping to find a stevia plant somewhere. I'll call some local nurseries this weekend to try to track one down. Anyway, a month after filling, see the picture below of the status.

My animals examining hydrangea bushes.
Sunflowers and the peas are in the garden.

Lettuce and other plants
protected by poultry fencing (May)

SLIDESHOW - Kitchen Remodel Process

Remodel of the Kitchen
My initial demo Interior wall demo No wall or ceiling More demolition Widened doorway Looking into dining room Firewall between Duplex units Some drywall is up Still drywalling Breakfast bar shaping up Cabinets in place New Pantry Breakfast bar with counter Final Result from back door Final Result Fridge-side Final Result from dining room Final Result breakfast bar

List of items to pick for kitchen remodel

About halfway through the kitchen remodel process I realized that there were still a lot more things and details I needed to select. Below is a list of the obvious and the not so obvious selectable kitchen items/details. I have included some of the options (my choices are italicized) and comments in parenthesis.

1. Cabinets
1. Finish (stained, stained and glazed, painted)
2. Style
3. Features - (i.e pull-out shelving, trash can cabinet, soft-close cabinets/drawers)
4. Dimensions (I hope you have measuring tape) and locations
2. Cabinet handles (pulls or knobs or both?! color/finish)
3. Cabinet handle placement
4. Flooring type (tile, wood, laminate, vinyl)
5. Flooring layout
6. Grout color
7. Back splash (which includes layout and grout color if you use tile for your back splash. By the way... there are a lot of creative back splash ideas out there, so don't feel as if you should limit yourself to tile.)
8. Appliances - in addition to location, brand, and color there are options for each type
1. Refrigerator (side-by-side, bottom freezer, ice maker, water dispenser)
2. Oven (convection, storage/warming/baking drawer, gas or electric, 4 or 5 burners)
3. Dishwasher (hidden buttons, adjustable racks, smart dispense detergent - yes that exists)
4. Microwave (on counter/above stove/in cabinet, if one of the latter two then how vented)
9. Paint Color(s)
10. Counter top (Granite, Quartz, Wood)
11. Edging for the counter top (half bull-nose, bull-nose, flat, beveled)
12. Sink (double, D-shape, square - depends on the size of cabinet you can fit)
13. Faucet (there are a ridiculous number of faucet styles that vary on the number of holes they use, the finish, the height)
14. Disposal
15. Disposal on/off (switch or button)
16. Light switch and outlet colors (yes, these come in different colors)
17. Light switch and outlet cover colors, size, and style
18. Under-cabinet lights (how many, if any, and which cabinets)
19. Overhead lights (recessed, fixtures, fan)
20. Floor transitions into other rooms (type of wood or metal)

 I hope that knowing these details will help you with future decisions and budgeting. All of these choices have a cost associated with them, so it would be good for you to research these things and prioritize so you know where to invest your money. For instance, I heard the recommendation that the things you interact with the most, like the faucet, would be where you should invest your money.

Bluetape punch list

Earlier in the week that my contractors actually finished my kitchen, they informed me that they would be done with my kitchen on that Thursday. On Wednesday I made my final punch list for them to make sure that everything got done. The punch list wasn't a list on paper though. I wrote directly on blue painters tape and put it exactly at the area they needed to fix. [Note - this tip is only useful if you do not have walls and cabinets painted blue tape blue. And to follow that, another tip... don't paint your walls and cabinets blue tape blue :) hehe, just kidding. If you do, use tan masking tape.]

I have posted some pictures of my "on tape punch list." All of  my items got done, so I'd claim it to be a successful tactic.

"needs grout"

"make flush" (the fridge was not in the right place)

no explanation needed... just an arrow to show the crappy job

"caulk"

Great luck getting appliances (eventually)!

Picking appliances was THE HARDEST thing I had to do when I was picking things for my kitchen. There are so many types! There are so many brands! They're expensive!

I browsed the web, checked consumer reports, and went to stores trying to figure out what appliances I wanted to buy. I wanted to get all of the same brand because then all of the handles would match. It seemed like the best options for all black appliances would be to get the GE profile series. My contractors were able to get a pretty good discount through one of the vendors they know, so I just needed to decide which ones to buy (i.e. 5 burner stove vs 4?). I swung by a Bray and Scarff store because I was told they carried the brand. They had some of the products in stock, but it was still really difficult to decide.

Well, I ended up getting REALLY lucky. I was given tickets to a home and garden show, so one of my friends and I went. There ended up being a Bray and Scarff booth there and I noticed they had displayed a GE profile dishwasher, so I wanted to show her the handles so that I could show her my ideas for cabinet pulls later. The manager of one of the stores, being the sales person that he is, asked me if I could use some help and I mentioned I was interested in the GE profile appliances. He proceeded to tell me about the deal that they were running (yeah, yeah... I know that sounds like a "sale line" but this post proves that it is worth hearing them out). I already knew that GE was having a $500 rebate on 4 GE profile appliances - and I needed (1) oven, (2) fridge, (3) dishwasher, (4) microwave - so that didn't impress me much. Then he told me that Bray and Scarff was doing their own $500 rebate... he got my attention. $1,000 rebate sounds good... but would it just end up being a wash with the prices that I already had been quoted? I kept listening... "AND if you make put down a deposit today you'll get the deal that we're offering until 6pm tonight of 20% off." (I know what you're thinking... "sales people, they always have a 'limited time only' deal to force you to make a decision." Keep reading). He continued with "the deposit is 100% refundable." No catches?! Wow! He also told me that most of the delivery costs would be refunded through a rebate. Seriously. It gets better though... We started to pick out the potential appliances I would like and he gave me price quotes right there on the spot... and he took off even more than the 20%!!!

Being the cautious person I am, I was racking my brain for a reason not to put a deposit down that day. The only thing I was concerned about at that point was that I wasn't quite sure what dishwasher and oven I wanted. The manager continued to assuage by fears and said that I didn't have to make the decision that day. He just needed the 10% deposit (that was entirely refundable if for some reason I didn't want an awesome deal) and that I could tell him my final decisions when he ordered them.

Ok the post is getting pretty long, but here are the bullet points of the rest of the reasons this manager at Bray and Scarff is amazing:

1. He called me to let me know about the upgraded oven that I could get for the same price as a different one he had quoted me. I got a convection oven! Fancy!
2. When I didn't get my receipts in the mail in enough time to do the rebates before I left for vacation he did them for me. Let me say that again, he filled out my rebate forms for me! I mean, THAT is customer service. It was probably a mistake on their part that the receipts hadn't been sent earlier, but he made up for it 150%. And I have already gotten all of my rebate money.
3. The handle of the oven has a slight defect and they're ordering a new one for me and will set up a time for it to be replaced when it gets in.

It's refreshing to work with someone who goes out of their way to help. Readers in the DC metro area, contact me for information about this Bray and Scarff store\sales person.

Be the obnoxious homeowner

As my contractors were doing the kitchen there were things that I wondered about, but just assumed would be fixed by the end. For instance, when I first saw the floor tiling job, I thought that the tiles seemed a little uneven. At that moment I should have pointed it out and said, "I hope you plan to make those flush." Well, I didn't and they didn't. Many people probably wouldn't notice or care, but as a person who doesn't like to wear shoes, I can feel the unevenness of my kitchen tiles when I walk across them.

Tips: Pay attention to the details, ask questions, insist that everything is done just as you want.

Want to remodel? plan plan plan!

It's no surprise that remodeling a kitchen is a huge undertaking, even if you are not doing the work yourself. And it's all the more important if you are not doing the work yourself to plan plan plan.

Beginning was easy for me... I had a general vision of what I wanted, but a lot of it was hypothetical. I knew I wanted to partially open up the wall between the dining room and the kitchen if I could - (see there's a hypothetical). I also knew I wanted the kitchen to still look traditional to match the house, which was built in the 50s. I also knew I liked the look of raised panels as opposed to flat cabinets. I also like glazed cabinets, which tend to cost more, but I like that it gives them more depth.
It seems like I already had a lot planned, but those are only a few of the details you need to figure out for kitchen planning.


I received solicited and unsolicited advice about what what I should do with the kitchen. I liked listening to people's ideas. I'm the type of person who will listen to a lot of options and quickly weigh pros and cons in order to make my decision. I also know when I've made my final decision and am very careful to be clear about when I'm still in the "decision making process" and when I've made my final decision. Word of advice - If you don't want unsolicited advice, just politely let your friends know that it's something you would like to do yourself. However, I encourage you to use your resources... I asked certain people pointed questions (i.e. about brands of appliances that they have) and that's extremely useful to limit choices. But remember, the final decision is yours.

Anyway, I had the "privilege" of my kitchen already being partially demolished, so it was more simple to uncover obstacles. For instance, since I didn't have any cabinets it was fairly simple to use my crowbar, hammer, and studfinder with electricity alert (safety first) to find out what was behind the kitchen wall. Low and behold, the exact spot that I would like to open up the wall had duct work and plumbing. There were 33 inches of space near the exterior wall and about 24 inches near the doorway that didn't have ducts or plumbing. Tricky.

I used that information to go to Home Depot to come up with a kitchen design that would maximize storage space, but allow for natural light to come in from the dining room. Here are what my plans became (note - they're slightly different than the final product b/c I figured out an option that would be cheaper and would create more space)

These are only a couple of the views of the Home Depot design. I recommend doing this part of the process with Home Depot, Lowes, or some cabinet-maker either with your contractor or even before finding a contractor... just don't leave it up to your contractor to do alone. This way you can pick the cabinets you like and start to match appliances, tile, counter tops, paint, etc. 

So do a lot of measurements  and plan (1) design, (2) color scheme, and (3) appliances - type and size.

If you are unsure about plumbing, electrical, or gas be sure to discuss with a contractor before buying any items.

More curtains

My spare room has been curtain-less for a while. I've had blinds up for a while, but a lot of light still enters the room in the morning making it hard for my guests to sleep in. I have been working toward getting the room more guest friendly, yet maintaining it as my office. I bought a futon and made a cover for it (the covers made for it were BORING... sorry IKEA, but props on the quality futon)

It looks even cooler in person! The dog looks even sillier in person.

I was really pleased with how it turned out, but didn't manage to make curtains until more recently (I made this futon cover in December). I had extra futon fabric, so I decided I would spice up the curtains by adding some striped fabric to the curtains to help tie the whole room together. They required a lot of ironing in order to get everything to lay correctly and it was really hard to make sure that they would look even enough. They're definitely not perfect, but I'm pleased with how they turned out.

Next spare room project: finally hang ceiling fan!

Seedlings fail

Well I meant to do a post about my seedlings a long time ago. It's a good thing I didn't because I'd still need to do this post that would pretty much make any prior post obsolete. My seedlings ended up dying before I was able to plant them outside. I suspect that after they sprouted I watered them too much and the roots couldn't get a good hold. Now that there's not a chance of a frost I will throw some jelly bean tomato seeds (a small tomato variety) and eggplant seeds in my garden to see if they'll grow. I have started a 2nd batch of seedlings... this time of basil, thyme, peppers, and rosemary. One of my neighbors gave them to me when he saw me preparing my raised garden bed. I'm trying the every-day-spray-bottle method so I don't over-water them. It may be slightly more time consuming, but it's a good hand workout and will be worth it if they don't die prematurely.

Has anyone out there had success using egg cartons as seedling starters? I read that they work and I like reusing "trash," but I fear there are problems with them.

I made my own little labels with toothpicks and post-its covered with tape. That did work well. - minor victory.