And Then There Was Color!

So the kitchen is painted!!!! They need to come back and do a little touch up, but it's mostly done. And go us, we like the color.

It's hard to tell from the pics below, but we tried to capture the color. We also had the upstairs bath painted, which we will share when it is done (other stuff needs to be finalized, the paint is done).

We're off to the beach on Friday morning (with Ezra and the rest of the Zibel/Kolb clan), so enjoy your respective heat wave weekends!

Tried to do a close up here:



Under the bar (stools to come):



And in the context of the kitchen:

Granite? Who Needs Granite!

Many months ago, while just in the planning stages for the kitchen, we picked out the world's most expensive granite (we didn't know it at the time). As we were trying to reduce the price tag on the kitchen, we opted to go with silestone, a quartz composite that is more environmentally friendly and allegedly better than granite (even though it does not have the chi-chi value that granite does). It was also the original counter material we wanted (before falling in love with the previously mentioned granite).

NOW, we look wise beyond our years! Yesterday's New York Times article about radon seems to have started a firestorm of granite warnings (maybe it wasn't the NYT article that started, but that's what started it for me!). If you haven't heard about the granite-cancer connection, check out the Times story and this Washington Post blog.

While I am totally using this to make us look smart, this will probably get filed in the same category as "saccharin and Nutrasweet might give you cancer," but we all drink it anyway. In the meantime, however, lots of soccer moms are going to be very stressed!

Let There Be Light!

So the kitchen folks were back yesterday to put in 2 of the 3 pendant lights - the last one is backordered. The light by the back door (which might have been the worse specimen of everything that has been removed) was also replaced.

Today we had a different electrician come to put in the new chandelier.

Now that the electrical work is done the painting can commence! On Monday, the kitchen, upstairs bath, and various touch up work downstairs will begin.

We have decided we live in a totally different house than the one we bought 2 years ago!

See pics below.

Wall-E (And EVE)

Wall-E is the cutest movie I've seen in a long time. It's a love story with a healthy dose of social commentary - they earth is SO polluted that all the humans had to leave and go to space. And in space, they have all become slovenly. But the humans aren't the main characters. Wall-E is a robot left behind to clean up and EVE is a droid sent.. oh wait, don't want to ruin it for you. SEE IT!

Coming up soon: My review of the Dark Knight (hopefully we will see it this weekend!).

Changes to our blog...

In case anyone out there is reading... wanted to highlight the changes to our blog. I am trying to make it a little more dynamic, adding links to our friends sites, barackobama.com, and pandemicfluandyou.com (my organization's micro-site on pan flu information). Really, I am just trying to compete with Dan's new facebook obsession. So I'm working on making it an interesting site. Let us know if you have suggestions!

FINALLY... some new pics!

Sorry for the long delay in posting... we meant to update over the holiday weekend, but getting the house back together seemed a bit more important.

SO, the pics below illustrate and almost done kitchen. The pendant lights are still on back order and painting won't be done until the end of the month, but it looks pretty much what it is going to look like and we love it! And most of our stuff has found it's new home in the cabinets.

The plumber was here again yesterday so we finally have working ice maker/filtered water to drink.




The hood went in early last week and the exhaust fan nearly blew us away as it is really powerful.

Our afternoon with Ezra

On Saturday afternoon, we got to spend a wonderful afternoon w/ our favorite nephew.  Click here for photos of our fun day with Ezra.

For those of you who are simply interested in our kitchen, the latest update is below (including photos).

What a week!

So we apologize for the lack of photographic updates to the blog.  It's been quite a week.  We survived the Great Israeli Countertop Scandal of 2008 and have suddenly found ourselves with a functioning kitchen!

The counters went in last Thursday.  The backsplash tile also went in last Thursday.  On Friday the plumber came to hook up the appliances. (Sadly, he had to come back on Saturday -- but that's neither here nor there.)  The plumber should be coming back on Monday to hook the water/ice line up for the fridge and to put our much-needed heat in.   At some point, the electrician needs to come back to finish the lights.  The hood also needs to be put up. We assume that's happening in the very near future.

But as you can see -- we've got a kitchen!  The pictures don't quite do it justice.

We have counters!

We apologize for the lack of pictures, but we are happy to report that we do in fact have countertops!

And, we love the last minute substitution more than the original one we picked out.

Fingers crossed that our appliances go in today. We will post pictures over the weekend!

Countergate

So hopefully, countergate is coming to an end. We met with Joe on Tuesday morning, to select new counters. Needless to say, we're sticking with non-Israeli counters, as apparently the counter top industry in Israel is in the middle of a crisis. Oy vey.

Anyhow -- we've moved onward to a coffee brown silestone, a material which which should match the kitchen quite well. Apparently, it's somewhat environmentally friendly quartz. The current plan is for the counters to be installed on Thursday, with the plumber coming on Friday to get us functional.

Why you should always buy American...

So if you've been keeping track, things have gone very smoothly with the kitchen, except for the countertops. The plot thickened today when we found out that the replacement for the original material had a similar streak in it as the first. Turns out, the material is fabricated in Israel. So if we want to wait for a fresh piece, we're talking 6 to 9 months. Thus, tomorrow we will pick out a new countertop.

Schlueter Strips

In an effort to avoid our continued posting about nothing in light of the delays... we can proudly report that we have received our schlueter strips. Yup. That's right. We have a set of schlueter strips in our living room, waiting to be installed.

What, you ask, are schlueter strips? They are apparently strips that will be the edge of the backsplash tile. Not very exciting. But we've got 'em!

Joe (the designer) was at the house this morning. Counters are now supposed to be installed either Monday or Tuesday, and then -- as soon as the plumber comes -- we'll hopefully have a functioning, though not finished, kitchen.

Not to sound like a broken record...

But we are really at a stand still now. The material for our counters was not up to snuff when the company received it so they are not going to fabricate the counters with it. Which means about another week. SO sad. But it's still been less stressful than we thought so we can't complain that much (Dan, who was the messenger of this news this morning, however, might disagree with the concept of me not complaining about it!).

Second in a series of...

...movie reviews.

Dan indulged my need to see Sex and the City this weekend and didn't even make fun of me for crying through the ENTIRE movie - through happy and sad, hysterical and dark. It was quite an emotional roller coaster if you had invested 5 or so years of your life (as had I) with Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha. And I think that is what made it fabulous. If you hadn't invested those years, been through everything with them like they were your own best girlfriends, then it will probably fall short for you. But it is important to note that it is pretty dark - at one point Dan turned to me and used the word "depressing." They rally though, like only those girls can!

A few weeks ago, I made the mistake of saying that the bond between women goes "deeper" than the men they love - I am still atoning for that I think. And that's not what I meant... A movie like Sex and the City though does illustrate that very special bond between women and their friends that goes beyond the men they love. It's a different bond, but a powerful one nonetheless. (Hopefully, I won't get in trouble for that adjective!)

The acting was pretty good, the fashion was to die for (and I don't even like fashion), and the story a little long. All in all, worth it if you love Sex and the City. If you don't, you might want to skip it.

Update... Sort of.

So we've hit our first set back - the counters, which were supposed to go in yesterday (Monday), are delayed until Thursday, so we are really at a stand still now. That said, we are hoping the plumber can hook everything up Friday so that we are at least functional while other finish work takes place. There is a little more electrical to do, but we are close on that front as well.

Sorry for the lack of pics, but there really isn't much noticeable change to photograph. (BRAND NEW MOLDING just doesn't really come through the computer!) Stay tuned, but probably no updates until Thursday night.

Now no pictures... and no progress

We seem to have hit a standstill.

There is no news. We do not think anyone was here today. Except for Mr. or Ms. Verizon -- who fixed our phone service. Phew. If only Mr./Ms. Verizon could install countertops and finish the plumbing/electrical. Then we'd be golden.

Progress Without Pictures...

So in the sty that is our house right now we can't find our camera... and due - we think - to the storms that swept through the area yesterday, we don't have phone or internet.

Thus, we thought we'd pass along the progress the old fashion way... by word of mouth :-)

Our new refrigerator is plugged in (albeit without the water hooked up) and the old one has been taken away (may it rest in peace). The new microwave we bought over the weekend is sitting on it's own personal shelf, and both the dishwasher and range are in place, though not hooked up, as the plumber needs to do that. The new radiator is sitting in front of its assigned wall also awaiting the plumber.

Additionally, the dust wall and all the dust mats that were covering the floors are gone so cleaning can happen soon. The contractor thinks we may be done (with the exception of some minor fixes) by the end of next week (for those keeping track, that would be the end of week 4).

Hopefully, we will find our camera and Verizon will fix our service today (I think the former is more likely than the latter).

We're absolutely floored!!!!

Literally.

It truly is a historic day in America. The great divide has been bridged. It's amazing. No longer will anyone be able to look at our floor and see plywood. It's been tiled.

Actually, the kitchen really looks a lot like a kitchen. We've got the new flooring, the dishwasher is in place (though not hooked up), and most of the molding has been finished. The counters are in progress, and are supposed to be installed next Monday. There's still a lot to be done, but they seem to think we could be nearing completion by the end of next week!







But we still have 2 fridges in the living room... which should we use?!?!??!?!

Housing Crisis?!?!?!

Despite the fact that the WCPHD Honorary Kitchen Project continues, that doesn't hide the fact that there is still a crunch in the housing market these days. For an in-depth, hard-nosed interview with the CEO of Freddie Mac that aired on C-SPAN this weekend, click here. See if anyone looks familiar.

But back to our kitchen...
As of last night we had hardware on the cabinets, and we have been told that they measured for the counter yesterday (which takes about a week to fabricate).

And, we learned this morning that it's not a bunch of house elves that do the work, as we met one of the carpenters. We might have a floor later today!!

non sequitors

So it's been a quiet weekend on the kitchen front. But that doesn't mean we don't have lots of other news and exciting tidbits to share!

On Friday, the U.S. District Court in Washington ruled (and correctly so) in the voting case Dan worked on at Wilmer. Click here to read the story from Saturday's Washington Post about the case. Or, if you're really brave -- click here for the opinion. It's a bit of a long read!

On Saturday, we went to visit little Ezra. He's getting big! And after our visit with Ezra, well... it was just Manny being Manny. We went to the Sox/Orioles game, and saw Manny Ramirez hit his 500th home run.

Stay tuned... we're hoping for more excitement this week!