Vecchio Oro, Cucina Finito

Hi all, the kitchen is done! We had the counter tops installed today and it looks great. So, we're going to be taking a break for a while now. I'd like to do some yard work, but that'll be a slow process. Take a look at the finished kitchen below and stay tuned for before and after pics of the whole process. Thanks for sharing with us!

Dining In

Hey kids...Jen here. Frank finally told me the log-in again;). Seriously, I'm just not good at remembering passwords!

Wanted to pass along the latest pics of the dining room. It's really coming along although is in serious need of some new furniture and window treatments. All in due time, I guess. We'll have it in by Thanksgiving. Don't think we can host 9 with our current table for 4. Anyway, enjoy...

Dining Done... Almost

Wow, what a difference. My uncle and dad boxed in the door and pass-through. We hooked up the oven and and the new hardwood floors are in! I think we get the granite counter tops in this week too. We're really almost there. We can't believe how far it's come. It's really a world of difference.

Almost There!

Hey everyone, we got our appliances and Monday we have the countertops templated! The countertop we ordered is call Vecchio Oro, which pulls color from the walls, cabinets, and the floor.

Cabinets!

Alright! The cabinets are in. Now we wait for the appliances and counters!

Curb Appeal

Hey all (or shall I say the Campbell bloodline - our loyal readers!). So I've finally wrestled control away from Frank and am allowed to post on my own:). It's been a good weekend, although not as house-centric as usual. We took a break on Saturday - Frank's co-worker Liz invited us to the Mets game, so instead of sitting in the hot sun on our lawn, we sat in the hot sun at Citi Field. We had a really great time, actually, and it was so nice not to think about the house for a few hours. Today we were back into house mode - we finished up the flower bed with mulch and edging. We've also planted a Japanese maple in our front yard. Right now it's so tiny but we have big hopes for her! Poor Frank tried to plant it in one place but hit such a huge root so we had to move it over. Lord only knows where that root was coming from but now we have a dirt patch to deal with. But that's for next weekend! This week we'll welcome our first house guests - Anna and Kate (separately). We're hoping that they can overlook the lack of guest room furniture and absence of a kitchen and still enjoy our new place with us. We shall see...

Some Painting and a Little Gardening

Well, we're about 2-3 weeks away from and kitchen with cabinets. Hopefully the countertop is not far behind. So, to prepare we finished the electrical, we painted, and cleaned. We still need door/window frames, but at least it's ready for the cabinets. We're so tired of painting. Thankfully there is only one more room to go.

Memorial Day weekend wasn't all hard work though. Jen and I planted out first bush and made a little flower bed in our front yard. It was actually a lot of fun. Oh, and we also changed our white shutters for black ones. Take a look at the pics! Hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday!

Walk-through

We've Moved In!

Sorry for the super late post. April was a little crazy, we had a lot going on, but we're back and though this is just a brief post we'll be posting video tomorrow with a new home walk-through.

The living room and master bedroom are, for the most part, complete. We're just, slowly, putting up art. The other day we had the Blind Spot guy come in and install our blinds. They are really nice. They're called Woven Woods by Hunter Douglas and the ones in the living room open at the top and bottom (crazy). The ones in the guest bedroom only open at the bottom. We have some pictures of them below.

The guest bedroom and office are still a mess. The office just needs to be organized, but the guest bedroom is on hold until the kitchen is done and speaking of kitchen, it's coming along very nicely. Again, thanks to my uncle and his friend who have been a huge, HUGE help the walls are up, the plywood for the floor is down, and by next Tuesday we'll have tile in! Electric and plumbing are a go (all with proper permits) and we're ordering the cabinets tomorrow, Gibson Maple Wheat by Thomasville. We got them in Pearl! Not sure what the appliances are just yet, but we have 3-4 weeks before the cabinets are done.

We got our carpet in the master bedroom and it's hot! No, really it is super hot, like oppressively hot up there now. The second day, of that extremely hot weekend, we went and purchased and air conditioner.

Be on the lookout for our video tomorrow, it should be up later in the day!

OMG!

So tired...

Real quick, we finished painting and thanks to my dad, uncle, and their friend upstairs got a huge makeover. Watch the clip and see!

Day 2!

So, another productive day. Carpet gone, completed some major painting. We had a lot of family come over. Some who helped and some who guided. Thank you Kate and Mike for helping that was awesome! So, I think we're doing pretty good so far. Sometime during the middle of the week we're going to finish painting the living room and hallway and we're also going to pick our stain for the floors. Friday more family help! My Dad and Uncle are going to come by and help with the second floor and we're going to do some yard work. Here is a quick clip of what we did!

Primed And Ready

Today was a lot of fun. It was the first day we spent in the home all day. We met with a lot of people with some good and some bad quotes and even purchased a carpet too! We're installing it on the steps leading to the second floor as well as the entire second floor. A locksmith came around and changed our front door lock. We got two quotes on refinishing our wood floors (second guy $350 cheaper). One guy was selling us on a water based stain while the other pushed oil. Interestingly, the oil base stain was less expensive. We need to do some research. Anyone have any suggestions? Today was crazy busy. While meeting with them all we applied a thin coat of primer to the living room, hallway, and guest bedroom. Poor carpet guy leaned up on the primed wall... oops. Finally, a contractor came in and looked at our kitchen. He didn't even give a quote, he's gonna email us, so that's a little scary. We got a lot done!

Anyways, WE HAVE VIDEO! Tomorrow we rip up carpeting and paint!

And We're Closed!

Well, we closed on our new home today. We're very excited and can't wait to put the shoulder to the wheel. We're very grateful to all those who helped in the process (you know who you are). It was interesting, the lawyer for the seller lives in our town and is actually going to run for Mayor.

So, things are all good. We plan to paint in the next week and we already have contractors coming in to give estimates on flooring. Take a look at this site, Service Magic, their motto is no joke. It really is your home improvement connection. We put in our projects and literally within minutes we had multiple offers to come in and bid.

Anyways, we celebrated with a Maggiano's dinner and are now heading to bed.

Swatches!

So, we found this paint manufacturer, Freshaire which is pretty much an environmentally friendly paint. No VOCs! We like the idea of preserving air quality. Anyways, we think this is going to be our color palette! It's very soothing. Nothing too bright, but still fun colors. At first we thought brighter, but it was looking too clownish. We figured the new muted colors would work well with our bright art and such. Please click on the image to enlarge.

Almost there...

Well, the last time we tried to do a blog I ended up in the sickbay of a huge cruise liner, at 2 in the morning, with allergy shots in areas I won't explain... epic fail. So, lets hope this pans out a little better, haha. Okay, well we're a week and a day away from closing on our new home. We're very excited and barring any unforeseen problems we'll be signing the contract on March 2nd! There isn't much here now, but Jen and I will be updating this frequently with posts, before and after images, and even video and we would love for you all to join us in this transition. There is going to be a lot to do and some of the stuff won't be able to be addressed until a few months into this thing, but it will be fun!

Just to give you an idea of what we'll be doing.

-Painting
-Taking out carpeting
-Replacing and finishing floors
-Replacing duct work
-Remodeling an entire kitchen
-Putting carpeting in
-Putting drywall up

So stay tuned!