Carpet and Clean Dishes

I just put away the dishes from the first successful wash cycle. "Ahhhh" You just sensed me having a huge sigh of relief. It is almost over! That is until I see some crazy episode on HGTV that inspires further action. Actually, I promised Scott I would put all my energy into saving mula. So, I should pretty much cancel the cable subscription!

Last week the carpet was installed and the base trim work was finished including the transitional wood piece between the dining area and the kitchen.







While my parents were in town they were nice enough to purchase us a wall mounted shoe organizer. It is genius! My dad worked really hard to hang it in a way that optimized the use of the very small back entry. Thanks mom and dad!





Here is the pictoral proof of our working dishwasher (note I took a photo while it was in the "washing" part of the cycle":

New Kitchen Flooring

The marmoleum was installed by Artistic Floors and Design today. The trim still needs to be added including the transition piece between the kitchen and dining room floors. It will be much easier to clean than the sticky vinyl tiles I had previously.







In other news, our dishwasher is not working. For those of you keeping track, yep, that's right, the sole reason I wanted to renovate this kitchen was to have a built-in dishwasher! So, it is funny (and not ha-ha funny) that it is the only thing that isn't working! The plumber says it is a problem with the appliance. Let's hope that Sears doesn't say it is a problem with the plumbing! In the meantime, Scott and I will hand wash our dishes and enjoy spending even more time in our new kitchen!

Note the temporary window shades! I found out about these from my friend Heidi when she moved into her new house. They are genius! You will also notice we used the scraps to cover the window on our back door. I am guessing our neighbors are bummed they can no longer spy on us at night! I am thinking that I will replace the temporary shades with the same white wood (faux) blinds I have in the dining/living areas but I am open to other ideas- thoughts?

Update in photos

My parents are on their way over so I don't have a lot of time to write an exstensive update. Here is the lowdown- cabinet/countertops are done, kitchen plumbing is done, electrician is here today, living/dining room painting is almost done.

Cabinets!

Today was full of ups and downs and I was quickly reminded of the stress involved in a remodeling project. The cabinet guys (2 of them) arrived a little after 10:00 AM as they had a 98 mile drive with lots of traffic. They were fast though and although they left around 3:30 PM, they were able to get most of it finished. They would have completed the job if it hadn't been for a couple of unforeseen problems. First one of the base cabinets was too long and in addition to trimming the sides down they had to cut into the beautiful trim Aaron created around the opening in the wall leading to the dining area. Second, in trimming adjusting the base cabinet it created problems for the countertop. I guess what people say is true about remodeling- it always costs more than anticipated and there are always problems!

Here's some photos but note that our camera lens must have some residual bread ingredients on it as some of the photos have strange spots on them.

View from dining area (with and without countertop):




View from the back door:


Close up of the countertop:


View looking at the range/microwave/refrigerator wall:

Kitchen Therapy

Scott's birthday present (purchased in October) must have been a sign that I would be craving time in a kitchen. On Saturday, January 10 Scott and I spent 4+ hours in a bread baking class at The Kitchen Window in Uptown.

This is the course description:
Join Jessica Anderson, renowned pastry chef for Nick & Eddie restaurant, to learn the secrets to baking the perfect loaf of bread – as well as other recipes straight from the restaurant. You’ll spend four hours learning bread basics from one of the Twin Cities’ premier bakers. The menu includes classic PARKER HOUSE ROLLS, a great introduction to quick breads. You can use this versatile dough for many variations. Next is a SEMOLINA BREAD, a great all around bread to have in your repertoire. Then we move on to master BIALYS, chewy yeast rolls similar to bagels. However, bialys are baked, not boiled like bagels. Finally, we finish with BRIOCHE, sweet dessert bread with a rich flavor and flaky texture. This bread is delicious on its own – and if you should happen to have any leftovers, it makes fabulous bread pudding. Don’t miss this chance to spend an enjoyable day in the kitchen learning from the best.

Ambitious, right? We made the dough for the brioche first and then we moved on to the bialy dough and then all hell broke loose because we were way off track with time. I could see the volunteer helpers getting frustrated and there was clearly a lack of communication between the pastry chef and the rest of the team. That being said, it was a lot of fun to learn the art of making bread dough by mixing it with your bare hand. You'll see Scott displaying his own take on kneeding dough- man meets machine I'd say.

I will be going back to the Kitchen Window someday but I will avoid classes that seem to take on "more than they can chew" (that's for you dad!).


We are working on the brioche dough. Apparently we were not supposed to add the full 4 cups of flour- which Jessica the pastry chef shared with us AFTER most of the class used the entire 4 cups of flour. Thankfully our dough came out OK in the end.



Brioche has lots of butter in it. It also involved fresh cream and fistfuls of sugar. I am thinking those calories didn't count cause it was therapy.



We didn't actually get to the Parker Roll recipe (above) but I learned how to make those cute little butt shapes.
We also listened to Jessica talk about Semolina bread and the only thing I took away was the fact that the "fancy" flour in the recipe can only be found at the Eden Prairie Cub Foods. Odd.

I do want to try out Jessica's restaurant Nick & Eddie. So, I definitely recommend taking classes at the Kitchen Window and soon they will take place in their remodeled space!

Painted kitchen and new appliances

Although Minneapolis had an all-day snowstorm, Operation Little Green House as Scott calls it was a success today. Both missions were accomplished: the kitchen painted and the new applianced delivered.

Since I worked from home I was able to capture the first paint strokes:


The finished paint job:




Even though it was a winter wonderland...


... the appliances were delivered!


Next to having a built-in dishwasher, the in door water/ice is going to be my favorite outcome of this renovation! I am thirsty just thinking about it!

Construction Schedule for the week of January 12

My Little Green House blog will likely be updated every day this week as there is something going on everyday! Here's the line-up:

Monday, January 12
- New appliances delivered; old hauled away
- Paint on kitchen walls

Tuesday, January 13
- Cabinets and countertops installed

Wednesday, January 14
- Plumber Phil will hang out and install the diswasher, sink, sink faucet, and disposal. We will find out what needs to be done for the ice maker/water dispenser because we can't move the new refrigerator into the kitchen until the floor is installed. Phil will also install the bathroom shower/tub faucet and remove the drain cover on the tub.

Thursdsay, January 15
- Electrician Harry will hook up the electrical for the dishwasher and microwave and then put the covers on all outlets and switches.
- Surface Renew will resurface our bathtub.

Friday, January 16
- Tile Guy Jed will seal the tile and do some other finishing work that I can't remember!
- Janelle and her parents will clean, clean, clean!