Wow, it's been a year

Oops.

Last fall/winter, we made a big push at getting some work done in the kitchen.  And I had all sorts of posts floating around in my head.  There's even one on insulation drafted, but unfinished.  I'm sorry if anyone has actually been reading this.

What we got done last year was to take down a cabinet over our stove, put in a nice mosaic backsplash, and install a new vent hood that *gasp* vents outside!  It's one of those fancy stainless chimney-types, with a glass dome.  It looks awesome.  I have pictures.  Sadly, those pictures aren't here where I'm typing this.

Our walls have been insulated to the best of our ability, and sheetrock covers the walls.  I have even done some amount of mudding and taping.  Our ceiling is halfway sheetrocked, but we've discovered that the joists on the other half aren't at all even, so some furring is going to be necessary.  Our goal is to have the ceiling done and walls painted by the week before Christmas.  We'll see.

Other things this past year has brought to our house include a ceiling fan/light fixture in our living room (~D's anniversary gift - bronze was the theme this year, and it's an antiqued bronze).  We moved the chandelier that was in the living room into the dining room.  So we have light over the table now!  Our dining room had had a hole in the ceiling and a covered switch box on the wall, but we discovered those were disconnected knob and tube.  We had a punch a small hole near the ceiling in the foyer to thread the new wire, but the damage was confined.

I finally put in a nice perennial garden in the side yard.  I shouldn't have to worry about planting that one anymore.

We finished the kids' play structure in the backyard last spring, and I put in a small patio for the play house, so it's no longer a mud pit.  I even put in a bit of white picket fencing around the side and back of it - some of the short flower bed edging from Home Depot.

Hopefully I can get around to some more in-depth descriptions and pictures of what our kitchen work has entailed soon!  I think once the walls and ceiling are done, the counters and floors will go a lot faster.

Until then, stay warm and safe.