Dream House: The Pantry

A huge part of my dream kitchen is my dream pantry.  I already told you about the breakfast nook that I dream of.  Well, right next to that built in dream nook is my dream pantry.  

Do you see that door there next to the nook?  That's where my dream pantry will go.  Yeah, I know that I've put too much thought into something like a pantry.  Some people dream of walk in closets.  I dream of walk in pantries.  ;)  (Seriously, Philip uses WAY more closet space than I do!  And he even has a lot more shoes than I do!)  

I love organization.  It will become apparent through all of these dream house posts.  The pantry is no different.  In my current pantry, everything has a place (hence, Philip isn't allowed to put away groceries -- he puts them in the wrong places!  Don't worry... he doesn't mind!).  However, my current pantry is tiny and doesn't have nearly enough room in it (Philip and I have a lot of gadgets that we don't want on the counter 24/7.  Right now they're all cramped into a bottom cabinet.  I'd really like to be able to get to them easily without having to dig out a dozen other items to get to them!  Plus, I love to stock up on food so that I don't have to run to the grocery store if I suddenly have the urge to cook something!).  My dream pantry won't have that problem!  

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I love the door on this pantry.  I like the fact that you can see into the pantry.  I love the organization.  I just wish it were a little bit bigger (yeah, I'm aware that I'm nuts).   

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This one doesn't really appeal to me visually.  It's very bland.  However, I love that it's enormous and so organized.  I'd have to add a little pizazz to it.

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This pantry is beautiful.  It's so open and huge!  Our pantry would definitely have a lot more stuff in it though!   

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This one is not deep enough, but I do love the doors to this one.  I like that you can see into the pantry.  It's appealing.  My pantry would need more light though.   

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This one is so pretty.  I love the dark shelves.  However, I don't want to pantry to be open to the kitchen.  It needs a door... just a door that can be seen through.  Again, yes, I know I'm crazy.  ;)

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This one is just very pretty.  This one really would be a dream.  It's huge and beautiful and the organization is appealing.  I love the wine rack.  The basket drawers for fruits and veggies and whatnot are a great touch.  

So, basically, I want a huge, walk-in pantry with nifty organization that looks beautiful.  Oh, and it must have a door that can be seen into.  And it needs to fit next to the breakfast nook in the kitchen.  Yep, I think that about covers it.  ;)  

Our Dream House: The Kitchen

First things first here!  Let's start with the heart of the home: the kitchen.  It's my number one priority in our dream house.  I already have a list of things that our dream house's kitchen needs to include:

• Double ovens (it would make holiday cooking so much easier)
• Lots of cabinet space
• Lots of counter space
• An enormous island
• A big pantry
• Stainless steel appliances
• Cabinets must go to ceiling height
• Lots of natural light
• Open, not cramped
• Tile floors

On top of all that, it's going to be decorated in cream and dark red.  When Philip and I were on our honeymoon in Italy, we picked up 2 potholders and an apron.  They are red and cream and have our names embroidered on them (our first names on the potholders and our last name on the apron).  I plan to use them as decoration in the kitchen of our dream house and that will be what our color palette is designed around.  I love the idea that the heart of our home is designed around an element we picked up on our honeymoon.  :)  

Okay, enough talk.  Let's get to the inspiration photos!

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I love this kitchen.  It's gorgeous.  It's really open and not cramped.  It has lots of cabinet space.  Most of all, I LOVE that island.  It's perfect.  It's enormous and beautiful.  :)  

However, this is not my dream kitchen.  I don't want a white kitchen (white seems to be the "in" color right now for kitchens).  It really is a beautiful kitchen, but with four dogs (and hopefully eventually a few kids), it would be next to impossible to keep that darn thing clean!  Basically, I love the set-up of the kitchen but it would need to be in creams and reds instead of whites.  And replace the white cabinets with light or natural maple.  Like this:

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I love the color and the glaze really sets it off!  Beautiful!  

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This one is gorgeous, too.  I think I'm decided on having an "L" shaped kitchen.  No "U" shapes or hallway kitchens.  I want it to feel really open.  This kitchen has the double oven I want, but it needs stainless steel appliances.  It also needs tile floors instead of hardwoods.  I like the countertops but the kitchen feels too dark.  

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This one is just beautiful.  It's actually an Italian kitchen (pretty fitting!).  I love the details and glazing on the cabinets.  I also love the countertops and the big, bright window.  And, of course, I love that giant island and the tile floors.  :)

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These cabinets are about perfect.  They go to the ceiling and the color/glaze is just fantastic.  I like the giant island, but I'd prefer that it be more square instead of rectangular (hey, this is my dream house.  I can be as picky as I want!).  And, of course, I love the stainless steel appliances!  It just needs tile floors instead of hardwoods.  

Also important, I really want a big, beautiful vent hood.  And then I'll stash the microwave on my giant island.  :)  Like this:

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That sliding spice rack in the island is pretty nifty, too!  

And one final kitchen inspiration photo... This isn't necessary but I found this photo and just thought it was awesome.  How cute would backsplash like this be:

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I think it fits with a kind of Italian vibe, but I'm not sure it would go with the red that I have in mind.  

I think that's all I've got for right now.  I know I said a large pantry, but that gets a post all its own!  Yep, it's that important!

The good, the bad, and the ugly of my weekend...

Joe and I got a lot accomplished. The house is relatively clean and organized finally. However, the wall that I was supposed to be repairing in the kitchen just will not work.

The cabinet people tore off some laminate that was the back-splash before. We were leaving it on the wall because it was glued on and the wall was damaged behind it. Well, of course, the people we hired can't do anything on their own, but when we want them to leave something alone, they don't ask and just do it themselves. They can't turn on a light because they didn't ask, but they can ruin the wall in my kitchen without asking. Their excuse for tearing it off? "We thought you wanted it torn off." Did we ever tell them that? No. Was there any reason for them to think we wanted it torn off? No. They're just stupid. And I better be getting a damn discount because now I have to have new wood or laminate put up there. I tried and tried to sand the glue off of the wall. I even bought an electric sander to try to sand it down. Nothing. I got a chisel and hammer. That worked-ish. It damaged the wall as much as it got the glue off. Zach is coming in to put in the new whatever hopefully today or tomorrow. It shouldn't be too expensive, but I know where I'll be sending that damn bill.

I thought that the countertops looked lighter than what they were supposed to. I figured that it was just because they looked different when there was a lot more of it together. Well, I found the sample in a box this weekend. It is definitely darker than what they put down for us. And that pisses me off. Can't these people get anything right?

At least we are just about finished. I'm done with all of this stupid crap even if it doesn't look right in the end. This has been absolutely ridiculous.

We paid a lot of money for tile that isn't right (the floors aren't even and the grout lines don't line up and it took FOREVER). We paid a lot of money for countertops that aren't right. We paid a lot of money for plumbing that isn't right. We paid a lot of money for electrical that isn't right (we paid Paul Kitchen to put in a vent fan in our bathroom. It doesn't work).

If I ever think about hiring someone to do remodeling work for me, someone please just knock the ever-loving shit out of me. I deserve it. I should NEVER forget this hellish experience.

Some Random News

I got some more painting done in the kitchen. I have to fix the walls before I can do any more painting. We got more stuff organized and unpacked. The house looks like a home. :)

I am tired. I just want to go back to bed, curl up into a ball, and fall asleep for a few more hours. It would be so nice! I plan to do some sleeping in on Saturday. I haven't really been able to do that for a while. It will be fabulous!

I need to find new chairs for our dining room table. The ones we have are not good. In fact, I would go as far as to say they are bad chairs. Ugly. Bad, bad, bad. And in our nice new house, bad chairs are especially bad. So, I want to replace them.

My mom just finished the Twilight Saga. She really liked it as well. She's probably not nearly as obsessed as I am though. I downloaded the Twilight Movie Companion book last night to my kindle. I haven't started reading it yet though. I had too much to do. I was going to read a little before I fell asleep, but my kindle was going dead and I wasn't sure where my charger was. I need to find it. Joe and I will be going to see the movie on November 21. It's the day before Joe's birthday.

Speaking of Joe's birthday, I will be having a party for Joe. Nothing huge. He doesn't like big surprises and he doesn't like for all of the attention to be on him. So, we are going to play ultimate frisbee, eat dinner, hang out, play some games, maybe play the wii, and smoke the hookah. It should be a good time. So long as all of the cool people can come. :)

Closer

I don't really feel like blogging. That's why there hasn't been an update in the past few days. I get irritated and stressed out when I do an update. So, I decided to wait until some good things happened for me to do an update.

Friday, the countertops were promised to be in. They weren't. No one knew what was going on. We finally got a hold of someone. They promised that if they didn't make it Friday, it would be Saturday morning at the absolute latest. Well, the plumbers came to do the bathrooms and kitchen on Friday and since they couldn't do the kitchen (since there was no sink or countertops), they just left and didn't even do the bathrooms. I was not a happy camper. They came back on Saturday. Well, the countertops still did not arrive. No one would call us back. I was beyond pissed. But, the plumbers hooked up the bathrooms.

We got most everything moved in and I got a lot of organizing done. The house feels a lot more like home now.

The countertops were installed yesterday morning. Finally. They look okay. Not as good as I had hoped, but at least they are in. Unfortunately, the paint does not match. You might remember that Lowe's formula for Slate Green is incorrect. They give me a paint which is not Slate Green, but instead it is a yellowy green color. It's not good. So, I picked out another color a lot like Slate Green, but darker. I thought it would be okay, but it doesn't match the countertops. So, Joe and I are going to try to match the Slate Green color. We're hoping that Sherwin Williams can help us. ** Fingers Crossed **

The light fixtures in the kitchen and the bathrooms are supposed to be installed today. Also, the countertop people have to come drill the hole for our faucet because they didn't do it yesterday. They better get it done today. I'm sick of having to wait. We can't do the plumbing for the kitchen until they finish! Grrr...

But, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Please, don't let a train come before I reach the end. :S

Another day, another problem... with the house.

Yesterday, the vanities were installed in the bathrooms. The one for the master bath is wrong. Of course it is. Because nothing can go right with this damn remodeling project. It was supposed to be a really dark brown wood. They sent us a really red wood. So, it doesn't match the rest of the bathroom. And, because they took over a week longer than they were supposed to, we now do not have time to get a new one in before the appraisal. So, we will have a beautiful bathroom with a vanity that does not match. Wonderful.

The countertops for the kitchen are being installed today. Finally. If they aren't right, I don't know what we will do. I'm just hoping that they are perfect. Just give us this one thing! Because that would be it. That would be the only thing that didn't have something go wrong. It's really hard to stay positive while remodeling. I get more depressed the longer it takes. Not just in that it's taking forever, but in that absolutely nothing has gone the way that it was supposed to.

Tomorrow, the plumbers are coming back to finish up. They have to hook up the sinks in the kitchen and the bathrooms.

I still have to finish painting the kitchen. I have to finish hanging the doors for all the rooms. I need to replace the handles for all of the doors. We have to have the locks changed for the house. And we still have to clean the entire house. We've been cleaning, but it will need more cleaning. And then we have to actually move in. Almost all of our stuff is still sitting in the garage. Yay.

I will never, ever do this again. EVER.

AAAAHHHHHHHHH!

That pretty much sums up my life right now.

Just a quick update...

1. The house is still not finished. Buddy is still not finished with the tile despite all of the promises to be done by the time we got back. I don't think he even started until yesterday. Buddy didn't even touch the tile in the half bathroom. The kitchen STILL is not finished. The master bath is starting to resemble a bathroom now, but it is probably going to take Buddy weeks to get any further. However, if he's not finished by this weekend, he should be hung until dead for being such an imbecile. The plumbers did not do all they were supposed to do and now we have no hot water (which is an absolutely wonderful thing to come home to... NOT!). Our hardwood floors have been refinished. They look wonderful. The countertops were delayed. Again. They're supposed to be in next week. They won't tell us an exact date. Jerks. The plumbing in the kitchen can't be finished in the kitchen until the countertops are put in, so we have no water in the kitchen either.
   
   
2. The GraphExpo was incredibly boring. I met some people. I wandered around and got blisters on my feet. Joe and I went to the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum while we were there. We also just wandered around the city. We had to do some shopping on Sunday when we arrived because we couldn't do laundry before we left (the plumbers cancelled 3 times in a row so we had no water), and therefore, we had no clothing to pack. I got some new clothes out of it, so at least something positive came out of it.
   
   
3. We are almost finished with the house in Crackton. I am leaving work early today to finish cleaning it up and to do some touch up painting (the power will be turned off at 4:30 today). All of our stuff is out of that house. And most of it is sitting in the garage in Shelby. We started moving some stuff in last night. However, there is only so much we can do when we can't use our bedroom, our bathroom, the half-bath, or the kitchen. It's so incredibly frustrating.

It was nice to at least have a few days away from it all. Now, I'm way behind at work, and only the tiniest bit further to being done. Yay.