Range Hood & Cabinet

Today, we finally got what I wanted for the range hood done! I'm so excited! My husband did a fantastic job. While he worked on this, I was gardening and staining the deck. Occasionally, I would stop in, snap a photo and see if he needed an assistance.
Time: 9 hours (with lots of breaks!)



I started by sketching a drawing of what I wanted it to look like. I'm not a very verbal person, so I prefer sketching what I envision. What you may want can be interpreted differently.


We picked up the 30x18 cabinet last night.


Keith measured 18" up from the bottom and began chiseling away at the soffit. The duct got punctured during the sawing process, but that is easily patched up with duct tape.


Size Does Matter...Looks as though he's going to get an elephant out of ceiling.


After a great deal of measuring, he made his own compass to draw a circle where the duct would pass through. The opening at the top of the cabinet was NOT in line with the opening at the bottom opening, so thorough measurements were necessary to ensure all would go well.


Drill a very large hole in the center.


Using a jig saw, start from the center and begin sawing in a swirl until you get to the edge of the circle and then cut the hole out.


The hole.


Using a stud finder, locate and mark your studs on the wall. You must screw the screws from the cabinet to a stud in order to hold it up securely. Otherwise, the cabinet and screw will rip out of the dry wall as soon as you put enough weight in the cabinets. Then transpose that measurement to the back of the cabinets. Ours were "off center". Mark.


Predrill holes at a diameter smaller than the diameter of the screws. By doing this, you don't lose sight of where the studs are on the walls. It also helps get things started, so you can quickly put the screws in while holding up a heavy cabinet (on your wife's head).


We needed a 3rd person to hold it up while Keith screwed the cabinet into the wall. I gave up my Tiny Tim post and made sure the cabinet was level ("straight"). Use a level.


Turns out the wires were located incorrectly to go into the opening that is in the back of the range, so we had to cut a little path to locate it correctly. Looks like Tetris is missing a piece. Fortunately, there wasn't a stud there to block us from doing this.


The range hood then screws into the bottom the cabinet from the inside of the hood. With a sharpie marker, we marked where the holes would have to go from the range to the cabinet. Take the hood back down. Predrill the holes into the cabinet where the marks were made. Then, I held it up again while Keith screwed the screws into the range to the cabinet.


Before doing anything involving wiring and electric, turn the power off in your house. Then, we reconnected the wiring. Afterwards, I spent the next hour cleaning and de-greasing the range.


We were also puppy sitting for our neighbor which was a real treat. It seems like every time we work on the kitchen, we're also dog sitting. His name is Carmel (as in Caramel) and he's such a good dog. It almost makes me want one. Almost...


Then we vacuumed and cleaned up. Since I knew the kitchen would be out of commission today, I cooked pot roast in the crock pot on the porch. It was so delicious and really hit the spot after a long day of work.


Tomorrow I will spackle the areas of the soffit that got chipped off and give the kitchen walls a second coat of paint which I have been meaning to do for a while now.

Still Staining

I hope to have this done by tomorrow.

Staining the Deck...still

Yup, I'm still at it...



Plank by plank...


It's been very buggy outside and I've been bitten up all over again. The best time to do this is during the early morning. I hope to have this finished by the weekend.

Bird Themed Fabric

The project that I look to the most after the kitchen is finished is to sew some curtains and fabric covered canvas' to hang on the wall. Here are some that I like, but I'm going to hold off on until the kitchen is complete. I haven't decided what the accent color will be yet. I was just going to let the materials of the cabinets, tiles and appliances kinda speak to me.

The Drawing Room by Anne Marie Horner



Starling in Pink by Alexander Henry



In particular, I really like these "fat quarter" bundles sold on Etsy. These are from FabricWorm on Etsy. August Fields by Amy Butler.



There's a new store called Spool in Center City Philadelphia that sells all these cool fabrics. I'm going to head down there one weekend and shop around for something that suits.

Birds and Trees

Help me choose one. I have been thinking about painting something in our kitchen when it's complete. I'd like to do a branch and a bird of some type. I found these decals on etsy.

What do you think? Something cutesy like the first one or something more realistic like the second one.

#1-
By SingleStoneStudios on Etsy


#2-
By BadAssDecals on Etsy

Let There Be Light!

One more thing we can cross off the To-Do list! We popped in the trim to the lights today. It was really easy once we found the trim. We had to go to a few stores before we could find what we wanted. Here they are!

Cost: $50



Before:



This weekend, I'm looking forward to tying up some other loose ends around the kitchen.

Fried Rice

Fried rice is a meal made with leftovers from the week. Often times, my family had rice leftover from dinner each night. On Friday night, my mom would chop up all the leftover meats and veggies and combine them with the leftover rice to make delicious fried rice! It's so yummy because it has all the seasonings already from the leftovers.



Ingredients:

1. Leftover rice - If you make fresh rice, let it sit uncovered over night in the fridge.
   
2. Vegetable or olive oil
3. 2 Eggs
4. Diced onions and garlic
5. Diced meat and veggies
6. A drizzle of soy sauce - I recommend Kikkoman for fried rice.

Heat up the wok until it's hot. Add a drizzle of oil. When the oil is hot, add the diced onions, garlic and rice. Give it a good stir until it's brown and toasty. Then add the diced meat/veggies. Drizzle some soy sauce. It's not necessary, but some people like it. Stir it all around.

*If you're using raw meat and veggies, cook that with the onions and garlic first. Cook the meat until it's fully cooked. Then add the rice and soy sauce.*



The last thing you do is add 2 eggs. I crack the eggs into the center of the wok and scramble them up. Then I stir everything together and it's ready to eat! Re-season if necessary with salt and pepper.



(I used leftover baked chicken and broccoli tips).

Enjoy! Let me know if you try this!

Outlets

We've been really busy, so we've been doing what we can with the kitchen. Today, we replaced all the outlets and the plate covers. We did it simply for cosmetic reasons, so that it looks updated and will match the rest of the soon to be updated kitchen.

We replaced 12 outlets and it cost $40.

Before:


After:


Pretty!

Our New Addition

The hubs found this piano on Craig's list for free and we picked it up this morning. I have always wanted a piano and it was just what our house needed. We hope our someday children will enjoy it too!



Our neighbor was nice enough to help us pick up the piano and move it into our house.


He pulled the car up right to the door.


Moving it into the house and exhausted...


We arranged the piano under our wedding photo. It's the focal point of the living room.


Then we spent the rest of the day trying to figure out an arrangement that would work for the rest of the furniture. Our living room dimensions are just shy for modern furniture and nothing seems to fit just right. We finally came to this arrangement that would give us a cozy gathering area, but avoid making the tv the focal point.


Now, we just need to brush up on the piano basics and learn some Christmas tunes this year.

Water slide!!!

It's our annual block party and guess who had the privilege to have this baby in their front yard? Yup, you guessed it. The coolest people on the block!



Our neighbor Mr. C was generous enough to donate this to us for the party. The kids are going crazy over it! I love it too! How cool is a waterslide!? It's huge too. There's the big slide that wraps around and then a little slide for the younger kids that comes down the middle. Then there is a crawl space from the back of the slide to the pool.

Available at Costco and Amazon for approximately $299-399.

More block party pictures to come...

Dining Room

Hung some sheers up. It really makes a huge difference in the dining room.



BEFORE:


Hung up the painting of our house.



Still Needs:

• Drapes
  
• Large rug
• Large mirror
• Sconces
• Remove Bar
• Do Floors

Slow work in progress...

Sewing Project #3

Back in May, we bought a roll of drapery fabric from a yard sale for $10. It was a real nice deal! Finally, I took the dive and attempted to sew some curtains for the living room. It's really easy since they are all straight lines anyway.

For the curtain on the door, it was simple. I just examined how the old was assembled. Sew all the edges over 1/2 and inch. At the top, sew 2 "lanes" where the curtain rod will go. Sew the bottom edge up about 3". This gives it a nice, crisp edge and gives it the weight it needs to hang nicely.



Then I sewed tie backs for the curtains. I angled the ends and pinched the middle. I think I need to tack the ties to the back of the curtains. I also want to add a sheer behind the curtain.



Cutting out the pillows.



I gutted our old pillows for their stuffing.



Viola! The pillows.



Why stop there. I continued to sew valances for the windows that go up the stairs. They were in 2 pieces.



Since these are in 2 pieces, I found that the important thing was to make sure the center was the same height. Also, after the valances are done, join the 2 pieces and run it through the sewing machine again at the center.



I used about 4 yards of fabric. I would like to sew 2 more valances for the living room windows, but using more of a swag style. I feel really proud of myself. I hated that I couldn't find what i wanted in stores and now I can make them!

Pink Thumb

For the summer, I'll be blogging over at my garden blog - Anita's Pink Thumb

Using the vegetables and herbs in our garden, I have been coming up with simple summer recipes that bring out the natural flavor of the vegetables. My latest was this Basil Lime Sorbet, which is incredibly fragrant and refreshing.



Read more here...