Jen Caputo

Kitchen Renovation: Day 11

So it's almost like I have a real kitchen at this point. If the countertops were in I bet they'd be done in another day or two!

Speaking of countertops, this is a sample of the lovely Silestone quartz we picked out:

It's 'Ivory Coast' and it's going to be gorgeous!

So.. the little things they got done today:

• All the appliances except for the dishwasher are installed and operational
• Floor trim is all done
• Vents installed in the toe kicks
• Micro-hood vented to the outside
• Trim underneath the cabinets to hide the under-cabinet lights
• Crown molding around the ceiling
• Painted the ceiling
• Painted the craft room closet
• Installed light fixture in the closet
• Installed the light fixture above the sink.
• Hid the pipe that was exposed to the upper right of the sink

Close-up of the under-cabinet trim:

Tomorrow, the popcorn ceilings in the living room go down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 10

2 Things:

1. We have appliances!
2. My living room no longer looks like a Dexter kill room!

I'm not exactly sure why they put the appliances in already but oh well, they seem to have a reason for things.

The countertop guy came this morning to measure for our new Silestone Quartz countertops!

You may not notice but there's something else brand new in this picture. Jeff asked us the other day if we wanted this nasty old storm door replaced:

 

The old storm door had 2 broken hinges, was rotting away, and as anyone who has ever tried to open it before knows - is very picky about deciding whether it will or will not let you open it.  It usually won't.

The new door opens like butter! (If butter opened... I need a better simile here...)

Kitchen Renovation: Day 9

A little late getting home tonight. We went to see Willie Nelson! They were doing a taping of Soundstage tonight and Adam got us tickets. We sat in the third row, right on the aisle in the center section. The camera guy was next to us or behind us the whole night so I'm pretty sure we're gonna be on TV a bunch when it airs :) 

Best part of the concert: Willie had all the lyrics on a TelePrompTer at the back of the room. It had the name of the person who wrote the song and the guitar key to play as well. Pretty funny! It was like live-band karaoke!

The counter-top measuring dudes come tomorrow so today they finished up the cabinets, installed the under-cabinet lighting, installed my beautiful farmhouse sink, and started installing the handles.

I thought I'd point out some of the extras in our cabinets. The big tall one is a pantry cabinet of course with pull out shelves. To the right of the stove are vertical slats for storing baking sheets and cutting boards!

Over here, we have a pull out trash can/recycling bin. Our city doesn't ask us to separate our recycling so it will all just go in the one bin with trash in the other.

Above, the corner cabinet has a lazy susan. The bottom corner one has a lazy susan too but I could only open so many cabinets at the same time.

The current view from the living room is shown above. It makes me so happy! Remember the old one:

Ha!  This is so exciting.

A break from the kitchen reno!

I thought I'd take a brief break from the kitchen renovation to talk about our super fun weekend!

We started off by heading up to Pontiac, MI to see Sufjan Stevens at The Crofoot. He hasn't toured in 2 years and wasn't playing here in Chicago so that concert was the basis of our whole Michigan trip this weekend.

 

As always, Sufjan was amazing! He even played Majesty Snowbird which is my fave unreleased Sufjan song ever!

We had to wake up bright and early on Saturday morning (in the 5:00am hour) to head over to Ann Arbor to start tailgating for the Michigan vs. Indiana game!

And wouldn't you know it - we won!!!

That's 4 straight games so far this season. 1 more than the entire last season. 100% less losses than last season too! 

Speaking of last season, when we got home from the game, I was checking my email and up popped this one from Scrapbook Trends.  See that scrapbook page? It's mine!!!

The page is called "The Worst" and it's about the Michigan vs. Purdue game we went to last season. Both teams had the worst ratings in the Big 10 at the time and we took an early lead which made us start chanting "We're not the Worst!" over and over. 

But then we lost... so we were, indeed, the Worst...

At least it got me published in Scrapbook Trends!  Look for that layout in the October issue :)

By the way, it's a hybrid layout that uses one of my templates from Sketch Collection #26

Kitchen Renovation: Day 8

Oh My Gosh!!! They got soooo much done on Friday!

We were home for a bit while they were here so I was able to catch them in action installing my barn door!

Isn't it cool?!?!

They also installed a light in that closet and had it done about 15 minutes after I asked them if they could put it in. They rock :)

Oh.. right.. and then, there's the cabinets!

Obviously they aren't all installed yet but they are definitely more than 1/2 way done!

Isn't that pantry closet glorious? It has really nice roll-outs!

 

The cutout for my farmhouse sink makes me so excited! You can also see our lazy-susan corner cabinet here, the cabinet next to it is a trash/recycling pull out and the angled one on the far right looks like the perfect spot to store some shoes instead of on the floor :)

I did not put her in there... she jumped...

and then couldn't figure out how to get out... As you can see, the door is starting to open though, she wound up kicking it with her feet and fell out while dangling on the edge.. LOL

It's not too hard to see the changes in these two shots is it?

Kitchen Renovation: Day 7

Bye Bye Neon Green!

They finished all the drywall sanding, primed the walls, made all the electrical outlets nice and pretty (I mean there are switches and actual outlets there now)

I think this means I'm going to have to decide on a paint color soon... Eek!  I'm thinking of a super light beigy color... I don't want to make another horrible neon green decision :) 

The cabinets are being delivered in the morning. We're playing hooky tomorrow at work so we may actually get to see them right as they show up... don't expect my Day 8 post until Sunday though as we're headed to Michigan for the weekend to see Sufjan Stevens and then the Michigan vs. Indiana game on Saturday.  It's nice that we've been keeping ourselves busy over the weekend so that we aren't stuck cooking 3 meals a day without a kitchen.

Kitchen Renovation: Day 6

The floors are done!!!

They are mostly covered up by cardboard though so you can't see how pretty they look... but the entrance way isn't covered up and this is honestly my favorite part. It was so ugly before!

Kitty wanted to help show it off.  To compare, this is the best before picture I have lying around:

So it appears they are ahead of schedule! They start putting the cabinets up on Friday and the countertop folks are coming to measure on Tuesday!

I have to say, so far this hasn't been nearly as bad as everyone has made it out to be. My guys are doing an awesome job cleaning up every day when they go home, they cover up all the furniture, the house is really not all that dusty. Cooking hasn't been that bad (although a dishwasher would rock). And they're ahead of schedule!!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 5

Woohoo! They started the floors!!! I'm pretty sure he told me they weren't gonna do the floors until Friday but they started them already! Does this mean they are ahead of schedule? I can't wait to talk to them tomorrow morning and find out.

This post is kinda late, I didn't get home until after 9 today because we met pretty Erin for dinner at Bigby's Pour House.  There was literally one person working tonight. He bartended, waited tables, and cooked the food.  Great waiter and bartender... but he burnt the food :( I was so bummed, I raved to Adam about how good the food was when Erin and I went there the first time but tonight it was all burnt :( Please be better next time, Bigby's :)  I'll keep coming back for your affordable wine flights and great craft beer but I would like to also come back for your fabulous food so no more burning it please!

back to the kitchen.... I've decided that the cats pretty much need to be in all the pictures from now on since for the past 5 days they have wandered into every shot. They will be like the grasshopper and the spider in the Little Critter books, you need to find them in every picture.

ok so... big changes for today:

• They started the floors!!!!
• Lots and lots and lots of drywall mud - nearly everything is patched (not sanded yet, it's kinda still wet... I'm not gonna lie - the house smells right now like wet mud)
• it seems that all the electric is done, they even moved my lightswitch for me!
• New gas line is run.
• The old gas line is gone.
• Framed out the rest of the old pantry/new storage closet in the craft room.

The daily side-by-side:

Kitchen Renovation: Day 4

Hm.... ok, I'm thinking today was lots of behind-the-walls type stuff because superficially I don't see a ton of changes.

What I did spot:

• The remaining recessed lights were installed
• The hole from where the ceiling fan was opened back up (I think that's my fault.. I asked them if they could move a light switch across the room and I think they were trying to find the power to drag it over)
• Cable outlet installed where we will put an under cabinet TV
• Hole for the new gas line drilled
• electric box for my over-the-sink light installed with two light bulbs hanging down from it (not sure what's up with the hanging light bulbs).
• some plumbing things (the lines look different and they called me at work to ask where the water shut off was)

Based on all of the cables and wires lying around as well as this stuff they left out I'm pretty sure they spent the whole day doing wiring/plumbing related things.

The daily side-by-side, let's see if we can spot anything new this way. (Be sure to click and make it bigger)

Nope... don't see anything else.

Oh, I took a picture of us cooking dinner on the coffee table last night to show you how we've been getting by.

We basically just threw a bunch of leftover stuff from camping onto this plug in grill... Fresh tomato and cheese curds from the Madison, WI farmers market, basil from our backyard, olive oil, garlic and bagel chips.

It tasted way better than it looks...

but washing that grill off outside in the rain kinda sucked. Why did we think melting cheese on that thing was a good idea?

Kitchen Renovation: Free Garbage Disposal!

Of course the contractors didn't work over the weekend so I don't have any updates of that nature to share, but my new garbage disposal showed up so I did have some kitchen renovation excitement to discuss!

I knew I wanted a new more efficient garbage disposal so I started researching and reading reviews on Amazon. I came upon the InSinkErator 74028 and the reviews were pretty much flawless. On to my wishlist it went.

Alas, nobody bought it for me.  And $175 seemed like a lot of money for a garbage disposal. So I had to figure out a way to get it cheaper.

Instead, I figured out a way to get it free!!!

I've mentioned Swagbucks a few times before but I'm in love with it even more now that it bought me that Garbage Disposal. I saved up all the $5 Amazon Gift Certificates I earned by searching through Swagbucks and in just a few months I had enough to grab that classy beauty :)

So if you haven't signed up yet, what are you waiting for?  If you aren't earning $175 in Amazon gift certificates for doing nothing more than searching the internet then.... well that's $175 in Amazon GC's that you could have had that you don't :)

So go sign up. And then tell your friends. Because their referral program is pretty much the best there is and that's how you will really start raking in the 'bucks.

Kitchen Renovation: Day 3

Lots of fun stuff got done today!

First off, you may be wondering "Jen, where did that pantry door go?"

Why, here it is! In the craftroom!

He will soon be fully framed out and will have an awesome barn door to slide him shut! Kind of like this:

Image above was taken from one of my inspiration kitchens, right here. Go check out her fabulous space!

As for the rest of the kitchen - all the electric is run for the under-cabinet lighting

Some of the recessed lights went in and that ugly ceiling fan is gone!

The recessed lights are so cool!!!

Have you guys noticed how the cats are in the exact same spot for every picture so far? It's almost like I planned it or something... (because as everyone knows, cats always do exactly what you ask of them)

As a reminder, here is the Day 2 Vs Day 3 side-by-side comparison. Click it to make it bigger.

Now I gotta go pack, we're going camping and getting out of this dust fest!

Kitchen Renovation: Day 2

Say it ain't so... I'm not already to the point where I'm coming home and saying "did anything actually get done today?"

Good thing I'm taking all these day by day pictures because when I actually compared them side by side I saw that in fact, some things did get done!

Ok, clearly there are changes.

Most obviously, the studs between the two rooms came down.

What else?

• Framed out the header of the support beam that runs the length of the house
• Cut down most of the wall that we had the height chart on.
• Removed the vents and all the wiring on the wall between the two rooms. The vents will come back later in the toe kicks.
• Pulled up a layer of subfloor (there were 2). They needed to pull up the top one so that when the put down the new hardwoods they are even with the old ones.
• Got lots of dust everywhere!

Whew! Ok... progress is getting made. If you are wondering where my stove is, it's now outside in the backyard. Why? I have no clue... maybe that means they are putting the hardwoods in tomorrow? It seems like they have lots of drywall that needs finishing first...

Only time will tell!

(all of the doodle arrows were drawn by Miss Ashley Olson)

Kitchen Renovation: Day 1

It's the end of day 1, a day of hidden treasures.

For instance, this view! When I walked into the house this evening, I let out the biggest shout of glee when I saw this view! Two more windows are now letting light into the kitchen! I can see Mr. Meowmers sitting on the couch from the kitchen. Yep, I love this view, I will not be getting sick of it anytime soon :) Of course a few studs need to come down and half of the exposed area will be covered with cabinets but I'm still so geeked at how much this opens up the house (literally I guess)!

Next hidden treasure: wallpaper.

My house was built in the 1950s. How many times would you gather this room has been wallpapered since then?

I count at least 4!

And of course, where better to do your homework or remember which wire is which than right on the wall?

Weeee!!!!  This is pretty fun so far :)

Kitchen Renovation: Day 0

Well... this is it, time to say goodbye to this:

(excuse the filth, we haven't been too tidy when cleaning it out since it's going to be demo'd in the morning)

and hello to this

Goodbye to this

and hello to this

And no, those aren't the light fixtures I've chosen, they were just the last ones I saved in my photoshop drawings...

We had a little gathering this weekend and decided to let our friends draw on the wall... it's pretty darn fun if you've never tried it :)

A bunch of folks spent the night and when we got up on Saturday morning we saw that they'd even started a height chart

Kitty posed next to her line so you'd know she wasn't a liar! She really is the shortest 'person' we know.

You can see Mr. Meowmers in the background, I couldn't get him to come up for the picture.

For the next 4-6 weeks we will be kitchenless.  I rolled our kitchen cart into the living room though, so here is our lovely temporary kitchen:

 

I'm so excited to see the demo, I'm not quite sure I'll be able to sleep... be back tomorrow!

Ok Mr. Meowmers... we get it

Since our whole house is pretty much going to be torn apart anyway, we decided it was a perfect time to swap out the 2 windows in the living room that are original to the house (the only original ones left).

We'd been debating between a normal or a bay window for the front one.

I came home yesterday to find Mr. Meowmers lounging in the sun on our kitchen table. Ok, we get it.

Bay window it is...

Now please stay off my table!

(1 more day till they start demo!!!)

2009 CBS Picnic

The annual Chicago Beer Society picnic is something we look forward to all year. For just $5 you get all the fabulous microbrew you can drink, and you get to sample the very best ribs, salsa, chilis, and desserts the Chicago beer community can cook up.

In previous years, Adam has won 3rd best salsa, and 1st best dessert.

This year he decided to enter the salsa, dessert, and chili competition (having never made chili before in his life!)

He started at the farmer's market to get fresh tomatoes for the salsa and fresh sweet corn from the farmer's market.

Then he headed out to our garden and finally picked this super ripe Jalapeno that has been on the vine for about 3 months now.

While he was out in the garden he realized our hops were finally flowering!

Yum!

The tomatoes got roasted

as did the peppers and garlic

It all got blended together and was fabulous but it didn't win any awards. Adam blames me. When people asked us what number our salsa was I kept telling them we were 18. We were 19... Salsa #18 placed third.  Oops. And you're welcome #18!

For the chili, Adam smoked 3 chickens the night before. We shredded them in the morning, added chicken broth, beans, the fresh sweet corn and spices..

He served it with fresh chopped cilantro, lime wedges, sour cream, and jack cheese.

It took 2nd place!!! (Out of 20 chilis!) Not bad for someone who has never even made chili before.

For dessert, he cooked up his famous (and 2008 1st place winning) Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies.  This year they took 3rd.

Unfortunately they gave out the awards in the final seconds of the Michigan/Notre Dame game (we'd brought a TV out to the picnic so we wouldn't miss it).  Adam ran as fast as he could when he heard his name and only left because it was a commercial.

Congrats Adam!!

Friend and 2008 chili winner, Thomas, took home the big honors again this year for best chili!

 

A few pictures of Charlie, Adam's brother's girlfriends dog. He's like a big bear. He got to enjoy many of the delicious ribs :)

Now to start planning our entries for the 2010 picnic!

Sale Reminder

Just a reminder about my big 40% off sale (with coupon code: jc-popcorn40)!

Check out this awesome banner Kitty Chen made me for the details!

 

Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend, I'm so excited to start tailgating tomorrow morning - Go Blue!!

Eww!!!! Popcorn Ceilings :(

Can you guess what that is? (If you read the subject of this post I bet you can...)

Yes, it is my hideous popcorn ceiling that makes my window filled living room look like a cave because it sucks in every speck of light into it's hills and valleys and makes the ceiling one giant shadow.

Here's the deal, I want to get rid of that ceiling while they are doing our kitchen.  But it's not cheap. Adam said I could do it if I raised enough money.

So guess what that means. New Product!!! Sale!!!

I know you guys love to help me out of a crisis and things don't get much worse than a popcorn ceiling so I'm rallying my digi scrapping troops (if there are any of you still out there) and asking for your help!

Ok first, check out this new product.  I'm really excited about it because as far as I can tell, it hasn't been done before!

These templates allow you to add the look of a photo mounted behind tabs with realistic shadows to your digital scrapbook pages. You can move the frame anywhere on the page and it will look like notches were cut out of your paper and the photo was stuck behind them!

For example (paper by Flergs):

And a few sample layouts from my lovely ladies

You can pick them up right here BUT because I really want you to buy them along with anything else you might like in my store, use coupon code jc-popcorn40 through September 8th to get an extra 40% off your entire purchase!

So go shop, have fun! As always, tell your friends :)  Let me know what you think of the new product as well!

Newsletter subscribers should watch their mailboxes for an extra discount!

Be gone popcorn ceiling!!!!!!!