Updated Kitchen and Landscaping . . .

Yes, I know kitchens and landscaping really are not related, however that was the project task for last weekend. Now that the new floors are installed we wasted no time searching for new appliances . . . oh to have a working fridge and stove (drooling happening right now). We managed to score a great Craig's List deal on the stove, but did break down and buy a newer outlet fridge from Sears. Needless to say, they still make me happy no matter what the cost.

Our good friends, Wes and Katie, were kind enough to come back out and help with the heavy lifting and heavy kid entertaining.

Wes, holding up his end of the bargain!!

Katie and the girls having a good time!!

The fridge nicely covers up the odd wall installation done in the corner and the stove looks like it belongs. Next weekend I get to clean the stove . . . not so fun . . . and Gary gets to figure out how to connect 1960s plug to 2000 generation stove.

Girls in the "NEW" kitchen/dining room

Now onto a completely different topic - LANDSCAPING. Yes, many of you are wondering why in the world would you "landscape" an always changing, sandy pit. Our primary goal is to decrease sand erosion and to help divert storm water flow to the correct place (the road and NOT our garage). Lucky for me I have an amazing husband who can Internet search just about anything. Gary managed to find both a marine landscaping map of native plants for Washington + the yearly Snohomish native plant sale website. After comparing the 2 websites, we placed our order and picked up our plants at the Monroe Fairgrounds.

For those of you interested the plant sale is an annual event run by the Snohomish Conservation District, its a great organization with loads of great deals on native plants . . . http://snohomishcd.org/plant-sale

Baby shore pines all in a row!

Gary's new babies!!

New Floors . . .

The finishing of the drywall prompted the beginning of the next "big" interior house project . . . NEW FLOORS. In this case, we again opted for professional installation since we purchased a vinyl product that comes in 12 ft wide rolls. Last week we received word that the installation had gone well and that we could move back in at anytime. Gary was quickly ready to move all of our mattresses and couches over to the cabin. With a loan of Dad's trailer and a little help in loading . . . we left for Whidbey looking like the Beverly Hill Billys. Luckily everything made it to the cabin with no adventures on the way.

We picked out a warm maple pattern to accent our wood ceiling and opted for the "new" vinyl, which gives us durability and water resistance in one fell swoop. The results . . . lovely, lovely, lovely!!

Girls bedroom all decked out!


Our bedroom with a view of the blue door

Bathroom - most changed in the house with floors

Kitchen - wood floors adding that extra something!!

Living Room - ahh ahh ahh!!

The girls eating nook - improved!

The floors have added a whole new finished dimension to the cabin. I just love not worrying about water splatters and so far the floor seems to hide sand/dirt rather well. Its all coming together.

Now we just have lots of little projects ahead -- baseboard trim, window trim, bedroom headboards, moving in the dining room table, finishing up the kitchen and lighting!! Oh what exciting things to look forward to. I promise in future post, once we get everything situated, to do a really bang up before and after of each room.

Drywall Complete . . .

The inside of the cabin has finally taken one step further towards completion . . . after ripping out every bedroom wall and insulating, our drywall guy "Vinny" stepped in and made them look like real bedrooms. He even painted them for us, which saves us a ton of time and is well worth the money!! Here is the before picture . . .

Now the rooms look like "real bedrooms"!! I had no idea how much the wood was draining the "brightness" out of the rooms until everything was painted (Benjamin Moore - Linen White). There is also a sneak peak of our interior doors - I went BOLD. My favorite change is the master bedroom closet alcove. Before, I thought of it as the "yucky tunnel to dirtdome", now its my favorite space that I am happy to store stuff in.

My loves, the blue doors

Look at the beauty of drywall!!!

The closets - so worth the extra $$

"The Alcove"

Other than some angst over the outlets being pushed in and one bowed piece by a window, it was a good job. Gary was really excited about putting in the new outlet covers - now the house will not electricute anyone! The only concern we now have is . . . what to do with the drywall we purchased. Its currently taking up precious garage space.