I know you’re all anxiously awaiting the final reveal of our kitchen – at least I am.  Maybe we’ve procrastinated so long that you’re past the point of climactic excitement.  You’d think that after 18-or-so months of this project that I would be past that point as well, but no dice.  I’m just as excited as the day we started.

But it’s still. not. done.

Still.

We have the simplest of tasks yet to complete, but it might as well be a 20ft. cement wall we have to scale.

So instead of showing you mine just yet, I’m going to show you more of Alaina’s kitchen.

When one of our own projects starts to get daunting, I find it’s sometimes therapeutic to immerse myself in someone else’s mess for awhile.  After all, nothing will make you feel more accomplished than witnessing someone just getting started.

Poor saps.

This is pretty much how A’s house looked after demo.  Completely destroyed.

Notice, however, subtle signs of change.

Close up the window to the right of the screened porch?  Check.

Build a pony wall (aka. half wall) for the raised bar?  Check.

Run new electrical wiring?  Check.

Install new recessed lighting?  Check.

You see, everyone thinks that demolition is so exciting – so fun.  But it can really be traumatic to see your biggest investment, your home, ripped apart at the seams.

To distract herself from the carnage, A did what any red-blooded American woman with a credit card and kitchen budget would do – she shopped.

Boy, did she shop.

Here’s a little preview:

She also shopped for granite, another fun (yet necessary) distraction.

Here are just a few of her options:

And while A was off salving her wounds with lighting and stone, the new space was starting to take shape.

Drywall, for example, has the magical ability to make a ruin look like a room again.

Drywall also has the ability to dust everything in the surrounding vicinity with a fine coat of white powder, the likes of which would make George Junge look like a pitiful amateur.

But that’s okay.  This mess too, shall pass.

And soon you will have new views.

And new windows.

And new doors.

And wonderful, exhausted husbands who try their damnedest not to show it.

Keep paddlin’, buddy.  Keep paddlin’.

And by the way…

Just sayin’…