Top Counters!

The counters finally went in today! Here is a pic in the daylight of what they will kind of look like.

We spent two days sanding the oil finish into the wood. John wanted to do a wet sanding situation where you start with regular 220 sand paper, then add the Liberon oil and use a 320 wet/dry sandpaper. Let it dry 5 hours, then oil and sand with 400, then dry for 5 hours and then sand with the 600. You end up with a super smooth surface. Really soft. And water resistant. Then you have to maintain it every 6 months to a year. Good times.

We had a lot of fun cutting everything to fit non-plumb, non-square cabinets. And we still have some work to do to make it look right. But here is the photo of the counters installed:
Right now it's so lovely I'm scared to actually use them or set anything on them. But I'm sure that'll change in like 2 days. When I have screaming children demanding quesadillas and milk.

Okay, I took a photo this morning...that's better...







Oiling the Plank

This is what our counter has looked like for the past week. Not only because I managed to get myself an ear infection, (what the what?!), but because they don't sell any type of proper wood finishing oil in the state of California.

On Monday, I dragged my unbalanced self to the nearby Rockler to procure Liberon Finishing Oil, the perfect oil for finishing wood counter top that will be installed around a sink. And was informed that they no longer carry it. And the website won't ship it to California. The VOC level is too high. Which is annoying, because when dry, it's food safe!

So, I spent a day trying to find an alternative and then sort of lucked into getting it. Magically. From the universe. Unfortunately, it won't be here until Wednesday. And it's supposed to rain all weekend.

So we've had this kitchen for a week and a half.
No counters, messy kitchen, sink full of dishes. The towel is protecting the wall from water.

I'd been in bed all week ignoring the intense ear pain, until it got so bad I walked into a doctors' office next to the ghetto Rite Aid and said, "I have insurance can someone look at my ear?!"

She took a look and then made a pity face at me. And then hugged me. She gave me a prescription and I filled myself with advil. And I finally feel a little better. Oh,  I had an iced coffee this morning.

I'm still walking like I'm aboard a boat, but I actually feel like eating again. Baked potato, anyone?!

Speaking of boat, here's the counter top waiting to be oiled:
John did a great job cutting it. Especially considering that nothing in our kitchen is plumb, or square or level...

Redo and flu






My husband did all of this, I was in bed with the flu. He's pretty cool.

What have I been doing?

Before...

During:

And After:
Now the real work begins...

A tisket, a tasket...

I found this amazing basket today at a thrift store! Finally, my losing streak is over! It was $12.99, but luckily was wearing a 1/2 price orange tag. So, $6.50! (Is it just me or are LA thrift store more expensive than most?)

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it...can you guess?

Here's the before:
Now, don't get me wrong, I love my little chandelier, but it was looking a bit too girly in here! If you're working in the kitchen, there's enough industrial/modern Ikea stuff to not look like The Maxi Pad. But this pic with the coral and the magenta and all that is so,..."pretty."

And, I like pretty but I need a little something,...earthier...?

So, I installed the basket as a pendant shade!
Much better! And less twee...
It just needs to be moved over to the right a tiny bit and it will be perfect! Well, that and get rid of the swirly, twirly gumdrop florescent lightbulb.

Anyone try the LED bulbs yet? Is the light pretty? Less blue and more yellow is my favorite.







Country Chicken, City Chicken

This delightful chicken came to me via Cost Plus World Market. I didn't mean to buy it. But my sweet Hartwell brought it to me, before he knew how to read, and said, "Mom, this says, 'open' and 'closed.'" Well, yes it does! So in a fit of pride that my son was learning to read, I bought the silly chicken.

It hangs in front of my lovely pink cabinets and whenever I want to photograph my kitchen for the blog, I have to remember to remove it. Otherwise it's a bright red scourge on my otherwise pretty picture.

But how to fix it? Or do I even bother?

Then I saw this Alpine Cutie at Beaux R'eves!
Before:
And after:
She's a genius! She just painted color over the red parts with a new color! Brilliant!

So I busted out my tiny can of paint:
And the offending chicken:
And I painted it:
Much better! I used a black sharpie to write "Kitchen is," and I kind of wish I had a nice thin paint pen instead. But who wants to run out and buy something in the middle of a project? And it could use a little blending at the edges, but it's no longer the bright red country eyesore it once was.

Also? My kitchen has been closed for a while now. It's a very convenient sign...