Nesting

We have begun to prepare the nest for Bebe LaPointe and it's an absolute disaster area:

We've been without a working oven since the great spatchcocking incident of Thanksgiving '09 (thanks, Martha Stewart).  We knew we would eventually renovate the kitchen, so we didn't go out and buy a new one because we wanted to wait until we were ready to buy all new appliances and update the kitchen from top to bottom.

Well, that time is finally upon us.  Lowes usually offers 10% off of all appliances over $400 over Fourth of July weekend and this year, they offered 20% off of Whirlpool ones.  Fortunately, I had the foresight to acquire an additional 10% off coupon that could be used on top of that sale so Saturday morning we went to Lowes in North Bergen (which is an urban district and thus charges only 3.5% sales tax) and purchased new stainless steel appliances (a must in Hoboken for re-sale): a new French door refrigerator, a glass top range, an above the range microwave, and a new dishwasher.  Of course, we didn't buy a single Whirlpool appliance, even though I went in there with the model numbers of the four I was determined to purchase but we got great deals on Samsung and Frigidaire.

We then went to the stone yard and chose our countertops - thank GOD we only have 30 square feet to cover because stone is expensive!  I knew what I wanted when we went into the show room but I was open to other options.  Once we were in the yard looking at the slabs, my original choice was confirmed and that was that!  I think our salesperson was impressed with my decision making ability; what can I say, I know what I like and I know what sucks.

Sunday morning, Matt went to Home Depot and bought a hand truck and by noontime, the grease covered oven range was on the curb marked "free" and five minutes after that, it was gone.  He is such a champ - he thoroughly cleaned the empty space and got to work ripping off the old laminate countertops and hauling them to the curb.  I finished reading about Haimish Macbeth's latest adventures in the new M.C. Beaton mystery.  Pregnancy does have its advantages, I guess.

Today, Matt went back to Lowes and Home Depot and I trekked up to Washington Street to the paint shop to check out colors for the cabinets and walls.  Thankfully, Benjamin Moore offers little $3 sample pots of the exact colors I was looking for, so I purchased some of those and returned to Headquarters to experiment with cabinet finishes.  In between layering colors and attempting antique faux finishes in the 97 degree heat, I dunked my head under the bathroom spigot.  When Matt returned, he got to work on installing the kitchen floor and I returned to the couch and an afternoon/early evening of HGTV.

It's all coming together, so tune in for updates!