Changes Around Here

Should I just list them? Or should I explain them? Changes...changes. First of all, we had the kitchen cabinets painted. We hired our former neighbor Aaron Wigington to do it. They look fabulous. I am so glad I didn't have to do them. One too many DIY (do it yourself) projects for me right now. His price was so reasonable that it was well worth it. ($800) It took him and his painter Roberto about 3 days total to do it. In the midst of it, I even cooked dinner. I'm crazy.

See my dinner in the Crock Pot?

This is why I paid someone. I HATE the prep work involved in painting

Boxes all sprayed and waiting for doors to be hung

Doors and drawers in...waiting for knobs to come in mail

The knobs are here and it's all done! I LOVE IT!

I thought we would have to replace the countertops, but the whole kitchen looks so great now that it's not necessary. I did decide, however, to replace the green chairs that were in the family room next to the kitchen. I got some dark brown bonded leather chairs. They are actually recliners, but don't look like recliners at all. Yeah! ($700)

With the kitchen looking so great and the family room looking equally as nice, it made me re-think the front living room. I decided to move that furniture out and move the basement furniture up. Blue leather couches ended up in the living room. They needed some pillows to tie it all together. I could picture what I wanted. Was going to make pillows, but couldn't find the right fabric, so we bought some. ($80) They added just the right touch.

Ok, so now the basement has only bean bag chairs for seating. I began my search for a sectional on KSL.com. People list things they are selling. The trick was to find one big enough to seat us, but in small enough pieces to get downstairs. It was a beast to get the couch up from the basement and I swore I wouldn't do that again. I found one! Sandy and Matt Hewlett and Sandy's brother, Scott, drove me in Matt's truck up to Draper to get it. I also got an ottoman for even more comfortable lounging ($450 for both). Sandy tried to talk her down since we were helping her move her furniture downstairs after emptying her basement, but I was pleased with the price. It was so nice of them to take me. I was planning on making multiple trips in the van if needed. Keenan is in Hawaii with Allie, so it would have been up to me and Kamiko to do it all. I owe someone some cookies. Now it's time for me to list my couch, 3 chairs, and recliner on KSL. I can recoup some of my costs. I feel like I have a new place, but I didn't have to move.

The sectional. I was so worried about it being too long to get into the basement that I forgot to determine if it was too wide. It was. It took Kamiko and two friends and myself quite a while to get it down. Now I have to do some serious patching of the door frame. Yep, had to remove some of it to get the darn thing down.

In the midst of this, I also worked in the backyard, finally placing some stones as paths in the flower beds, weeding and talking to my plants to make sure the yard thrives. It's looking good.

The view from our kitchen door, out onto the deck that uncle Mike Sears built (with our help). I have always loved the flower beds we cut out of the yard to soften the edges of the yard. I think our place looks great. It's been a good 12 yrs.