A Long Time Coming - New Flooring

We've been wanting to replace the flooring in our kitchen an eat in area for a couple of years.  Like some other things in this house, the contractor skimped on areas and the vinyl in the kitchen was one of them.  The only good thing I can say about it is it hid dirt well.

We had hard wood in our foyer, hallway and downstairs 1/2 bath but it was cheap also and I never really liked it, but we were stuck with it.

One of my goals was to replace the whole thing some day and this summer we decide now was the time!

 

Here's another view of the vinyl flooring we had.  The only reason I'm showing you photos of it is so you can see what a change the new wood flooring made.

Here's the after photos.......

 

 

We carried the wood into our hallway, foyer and 1/2 bath and I'm thrilled that we no longer have a transition between the kitchen/eat in area and the hallway.

I also love that we decided to do recessed wood floor registers.  We had two of them, one in the eat in area of the kitchen and one in the foyer.

We love our new flooring and think it was worth every penny we paid and the best part was we didn't DIY it, which we normally would, but decided.....nah.......   :)

Now that the flooring is done, I've been weeding out my cabinets getting rid of some of my kitchen goods.  I was using red as an accent color in the kitchen, but I'm little tired of that, so I'm slowing switching out some of my things and painting and upcycling others.   I'll share all that later.

Thanks for stopping by!  

Kitchen Love

I've promised that I'm going to share our kitchen update, I just have to get some time to get my photos organized, but in the meantime, I'll share something that makes me smile everything I open the cabinet.

Our colorful dishes!  I'm going to be adding another place setting in the new Lapis color soon. 

The Saga of the Kitchen Light Fixtures

We've been in this house now for almost 9 and 1/2 years and when we first moved in, we did change out quite a few light fixtures from the cheap ass brass fixtures the contractor had put in this house.  The very first ones we did were all the fixtures in the kitchen and family room since we spend the majority of time in those rooms.  I knew I wanted brushed nickel and the pendant I chose for over the sink was no problem....it's a pretty basic fixture, I liked it and still like the frosted shade and it puts out the right amount of light for the task and it's still hangs over the sink.

See those curtains?  I just replaced those with a very simple cream linen/muslin rod pocket valance.

So, to continue the saga of the fixtures....we also replaced the fixtures over the island and in the eat in area of the kitchen, but boy did I chose poorly......neither of those fixtures were ever right for the area that I choose for them, but I'd spent the money, we installed them so I had to live with my choices.   The fixture I chose for over the island was way too big and the one I chose for the eat in area was too big and the light shined downward and it made it way too hot.

Another HUGE concern for me was the location of where the contractor had put the eat in area light.  It was NOT where it was suppose to be and had a noticed it when we were buying the house, I would have made him correct it and move it before we bought the house.  It wasn't even close to where someone would have wanted to put a table.

For nine years, I've been telling i.e. bitching, nagging Fred that I want to move the fixture to where we can actually put our dining table under it, but he's never wanted to do it.  Too much work, whine whine, whine....then earlier this year, one of Fred's friends, a fellow carpenter that Fred worked with for years was over and we got to talking about the fixture and how I hated where it was at, and Lance offered to move it for me.....YAY!

Since the fixture was going to be moved and I've lived with the poor choices I made for 8 years, I decided to start looking for new.  I didn't want to replace the pendant over the sink, so whatever I found needed to coordinate with it.  

First up with the island lighting because Fred could install that and I wasn't dependent upon Lance.  He grumbled a bit, but he had it up and installed in about an hour.

I found both our new fixtures online at ATG Stores.com.  They were very reasonable and they matched the pendant perfectly.  The new island light gives off the right amount of light, it's more stylish and appropriate for the area AND I sold the other one on Craigslist, so win/win there too!

Here's what the old eat in area light fixture looked like.  It's not awful, it's just the wrong light for the spot and although you can't tell from this picture, it's way off from where the fixture really should be.  This one is going on Craigslist too as soon as I get some time.

Notice the old vinyl floor........

Finally this summer we were able to coordinate schedules with Lance and get him over here to move the light box and install the new fixture.......I was so happy that I would finally get to have the light over my table.  I still smile whenever I come into the room.  :)

You can see in the above photo where the fixture used to be and in the below photo you can see that it is now lined up with the island fixture and my table can fit under it.  I also chose a fixture where the light was reflected up and not down on the table.

 

Notice the old vinyl floor......

 

I'm so pleased with our new lighting and it's a huge deal to me that I finally got to have that fixture moved where I've wanted it...it only took nine and a half years.

 

Oh...and see that table....it's a cheap ass table that has served us well for 7-8 years but it needs a makeover.  Stay tuned for that.