Why do I have to keep reading these technical manuals - KITCHEN PART ONE

We've all had enough of some things. I've had enough of unsalted butter. Like, why? I know that there is the odd occasion where unsalted butter is required for cooking, but if you serve me up unsalted butter in a restaurant, I will lose my shit.

The other thing I've had enough of: not waking up and having had a beautiful transformation. You know, girl goes to school one day, ugly ducking but cracking sense of humor, comes back after the weekend and hello! Would you look at that transformation! Think Princess Diaries. Or perhaps akin to when that slightly dorky librarian takes out her bun and shakes out her gorgeous glossy locks and whips the glasses off and again, phwahh!

UNIVERSE: WHY YOU NO GIVE ME TRANSFORMATION?!?!

While I may not ever get this transformation, I'm going to take comfort in the fact that our kitchen has got its transformation. For comparison: the old kitchen! Resplendent in mission brown and apple green glory.

Admire the carpet which leads right up to the kitchen; the freestanding stove which was caked in.... *shudder*... I'm not sure... and the weird sections of chipboard attached under the bench on the left there, like, what?... and the fan hanging at a height that is sure to lead to an accused murder trial. And the off-cream walls. Mmm. 

And the mood tiles! Which were permanently green. Which Google tells me means "Active, not under great stress". Well, the tiles might not have been under great stress, but looking at them sure put me under great stress. 

So, we ripped it out. Without doing any research into kitchens whatsoever. Which was, I repeat, not due to lack of protesting from Squirrel, who is risk averse (read: chronic worrier)

Then we ripped out the flooring, including the tiles, and we took the fan down, removed the flouro lighting (industrial chic though it was) and stared at the empty shell of a room we had made. 

It was only then that we sourced quotes. Finally settling on the local Cabinet maker, we put in our plans (with the help from the beautiful Stac!) and sat back to wait!

Then, on the most magical of Saturdays, we were joined by the talented and handsome Mitch and Mr Bennett (who has no compassion for my poor nerves - for you Pride and Prejudice fans out there. Except that he does because he's kind of awesome). The sun was shining, the BBQ was finally assembled (which will most certainly not be a blog post) and they got stuck into it!

Progress shots!!

Everyone knows renovations are 30% work and 70% standing around looking at the work. 

After lunch, things kicked up a notch.

Happy smiling Mitchy! 

It was at this point that Squirrel solved a problem that had been stumping the boys for a bit just re:some electrical work! I knew making all those maps of electrical work would pay off! 

We were then joined by the conveniently very tall Brendon who helped the boys lift the overheads into place - unfortunately this was the point where we discovered that the walls were not square and this required nearly an hour of staring at the cabinets, suggesting things at random, and finally, the removal of the door frame. 

At this point, Squirrel ducked back to her parents house and made some hamburgers, potato bake, and gathered up some steaks and snags. We dined like kings, Mitch did another hours work and we called it a night. So this is where we are at! 

Fridge will move back into that alcove there. So what's next? Well, this week, we will see that the electrical work is completed, and the dishwasher and sink are hooked up by the plumber. Also throughout the week, Mitchy will be stopping back by to complete the fastening of cupboards and attach the bench. Then we'll need a fair bit of beading ran around the tops and bottoms of cupboards and I will add photos Part two! Squirrel will also have to work out how many tiles to order and hopefully these can be picked up in the following fortnight. Having the dishwasher in will be great, so that the various kitchen stuff purchased over the last 5 years can start to be washed and put away rather than all over our kitchen table and lounge room floor.

This week will be particularly brutal, given that the end of semester for Squirrel fast approaches, bringing with it a tonne of work. Add to that the beginning of a new job which requires 50 hours of training over the following two weeks in conjunction with this uni work load. Plus sorting out the tiling, getting ready to move into the house, etc etc. So Squirrel is feeling fairly anxious at the time of writing this. Bring on the next fortnight! Let's get it over and done with!