It's nice to have so much of the house back the way it was 'before'. Rooms look the same, but better. No more popcorns on the ceilings! That is a subtle, happy change. 

The floors make a statement throughout the house. People come in, look down, and they smile. I look down and smile with them! This is not a look that would work in every house – I am grateful that it works here. If it hadn't I would not have been able to change it. 

We are not putting rugs back in either the dining or breakfast room. These rooms look finished without rugs. The orange rug that used to be in the dining room is now in the living room…

The brick hearth in front of the fireplace is gone, and we don't miss it. The tile in front of the fireplace is level with the floor and, because it doesn't stick up, walking through this area is smoother.

One of the things I did myself was to change the door hinges and knobs throughout the house. No more old stained brass. Steve helped me with the cabinet hinges.

This was not a big expense and it was easier than I thought it would be. I am happy every time I turn a knob.

Both bathrooms have new Ceasarstone countertops. My old soap dispensers didn't look good on them so I bought simple white ones. The little green vase I used to have my makeup brushes in no longer worked so I am now using Jeff's (youngest son) pewter baby cup! 

I put a glass vase inside it to hold the brushes better. I tried to give Jeff his cup years ago and he didn't have room for it. I suppose if he ever finds a place for it, I'll give it to him – but right now I'm enjoying it.

In the next photo, notice the low triangular shelf in the corner. That's where I rest my toes when shaving my legs! Rick (the contractor) suggested it.

On the down-side, our oldest cat, Emma, has decided that our shower floor is enough like outside that she wants to pee on it. It must be the rock floor. I suppose it could be worse – at least the shower is easy to clean. But still, Steve and I would like her to quit.

A friend, Jacquie, suggested that we put smells in the bathroom that Emma won't love: mint, eucalyptus, lemon. That's why there are cotton balls at the edge of the shower. It worked at first, but Emma has learned to tolerate the scents. I bought a bottle of Nature's Miracle No More Marking today. I hope it works!

I think that covers the highlights of the remodel project. I hope that some of what I've shared with you comes in handy when you work on your own homes. Now I am going to get back to work, in a house that is clean and tidy and not full of workmen. Oh happy, happy day!

We have lots of drawers under the counter. Shallow drawers, like this one that holds the knives. Steve made the knife blocks years ago and they work in the new drawer.

The drawers pull all the way out so it's easy to get to everything. So much better than trying to reach way back into a low cabinet…

I bought several more of these Good Grips containers. They work so well! However, from the top, they all look the same. I made labels for the tops to make it easy to find what I'm looking for.

Our refrigerator is not quite as big as what we might buy next so we had the space built for a bigger appliance. What's nice is that there is room for a skinny step ladder next to the fridge. If you remodel, think about where you might stash a stool like this. We are already using it a lot.

And, the last thing from the kitchen is the tall cabinet over the fridge:

It's not a space that either of us will get into often but it's perfect for the tall glass things that I don't use often.

Here is a view through the kitchen, in one direction. We were able to use the same rug that we had before. We kept the dishwasher, refrigerator, and vent hood as well. They work and were too new to replace. I'm glad we kept them. I might have been tempted to go with stainless steel appliances otherwise and it turns out that I like them white. They disappear.

And here's the view from the other direction (I should have tidied up the the towels on the oven):

The microwave is built in over the double oven. I ordered the hardware for a mixer shelf, which you can see below. It was about $80 and it was worth it! The mixer rides up easily and it works better on this shelf than it ever did on the counter. I can get around the mixer and I had no idea how handy that would be. 

Luckily I can open the oven while the mixer is still out. 

The top oven has convection. I've never had a convection oven but so far it works very well for cakes and cookies. 

Steve likes a clear countertop and I've gotten to the point that I like it too. We had a space for the toaster oven built in to keep it off ov the counter. 

The backsplash is 3×6 subway tile with an accent strip of 1/2" tiles. They aren't all white, and they aren't all glazed which makes these little tiles more interesting in a subtle way.

There was enough granite for the window sill which is really nice! I moved some of my favorite paperweights to this window. Why didn't I think of that before!

There are two false drawers under the sink that pull open to reveal a tray. Great place for the cleaning brush.

The granite is really interesting to look at. There are bits of color every now and then – burgundy, orange, gold…

That said, granite is unforgiving. There has been a little bit of breakage. (Honestly, I never liked that sugar bowl very much anyway.)

You might be wondering about the baptism… Bear is such a cheerful baby! He rolls with whatever is going on. After his third baptismal dip he decided that he had had enough and he cried for about 10 seconds. Once he was back with his mom, he was smiling again. 

I'm sorry I haven't posted but I have been so very busy unpacking, cleaning, finding a home for our stuff, making other stuff go away… it was a little over-whelming. But now, it's done and can share what I think are the best bits. 

Best Bit #1: We had an excellent contractor, Rick Owens. He has an amazing crew. I have absolutely no complaints. How often do you hear that about a contractor? If you remodel, I hope you can find someone as good.

Best Bit #2: Everything feels so very clean. All of the trim was repainted and most of the ceilings. The white walls (in the few parts of the house that have white walls) are freshly painted. 

Best Bit #3. The white kitchen is light and airy and open. Yes, I'll have to keep an eye on the cabinets and wipe them often. I can do that. In fact, I'm happy to do that. When I had darker cabinets the dirt was there, I just didn't see it. Ick.

Best Bit #4: The natural hickory floor we chose is amazing. It looks more patterned in photos than it feels in person. It feels light, Scandinavian almost. It suits us well. And so far I can tell you that dirt hardly shows. 

Look at the before photo, below. Notice the fur down (or fir down, or soffit) above the cabinets in the breakfast room. 

It was 1' of dead space and it was over all of the cabinets here and in the kitchen as well. We turned that space into cabinet space, with solid doors, not glass.

The actual cabinets in this area didn't get ripped out. William, the cabinet maker, made new doors and drawers and built the cabinet to replace the fur down.

The plate mosaic looks much better surrounded by white. The wood floor adds color and texture. You might also notice that Orville trimmed out the shelf in the wall on the right where we put coffee mugs and Robert painted it. It blends better now.

Best Bit #5: We gained some excellent storage space! What is going into the new fur down cabinets? Things like the cups that go with my punch bowl. I don't plan to stuff these cabinets full but they are great for over-flow.

I'll show more beginning Monday. Bear is being baptized this weekend – in our pool tomorrow night with about 30 people in attendance to celebrate. There will be a more formal celebration at church on Sunday, followed by brunch here. I am oh-so-happy that the house if finished!

Janice, among others, commented that she really wanted to see the neutral quilt. I can't show the whole thing because of the 'surprise' factor – gotta save it until the book is closer to publication. But here's a little bit of it:

Quiet, with a very cute little bird!