Oh dear, it has been happening to me as well. Have not had time to sit down and roll it over...i need a test post me thinks....

Congrats on your progress. About to do a little tiling myself. Tiny counter and backsplash.

And this site is weird. Sometimes I can get photos uploaded and sometimes no dice.

test...... my new-to-me car I got on Thursday

nice ride! shopping for a new truck next weekend.

Maple water with ginger. Added fresh lemon slices...all gone.

...all pics post if i respond to a post, but not if i start a new thread....

Annie, try adding a pic now. When i tried to add a pic of pastry last week in a new thread...a candale'...it was rejected.

now it posts no problem...go figure.

Annie, your new backsplash looks so good! Outta sight!

Who is your interior decorator?

dcarch :-)

Well, hooray. And Phooey on Houzz, I can't make it work from one day to the next. This kind of fuzzy shot is over my kitchen sink, but the light coming in the window throws it off a bit. Remember, I still need a trim strip at the ceiling on this part, I just haven't figured it out yet.

This is the part under the counters...

And here's a bigger shot of the whole shebang...

Dcarch, I'm not sure there IS an interior decorator anywhere within 100 miles, LOL, and somehow I'm sure we wouldn't agree anyway. (grin) Just as well to do it myself.

Jasdip, nice ride! I'll be putting the Jeep up for sale, I'm afraid, Elery is finding it hard to get into and out of it, with both his hip and his knee going kaput.

Sleevendog, now that's my kind of picture. Nice healthy water in the first one, and a whole plate of goodies in the second one. It makes for a balanced diet, LOL.

agmss, it's getting easier and easier for me, once I got comfortable. This is the "new" bathroom. It's the second bathroom, and small, but the ceramic tile on the floor looks like wood, I like it so well I wish I'd have put it in the kitchen instead of Pergo.

Annie

Lovely, Annie! I love how you've meshed contemporary style with farmhouse coziness.

Annie, you are doing a great job. Kitchen is warm and lovely. Great food will be born. You will be happy you got pergo as ceramic is tough to stand on. Hurts knees, backs and feet. And Elery will be much happier. Good choice in PErgo. Backsplash is cool and creative.

Looks really good. For a trim strip, have you considered a coved strip of wood stained to match the cabinetry, or a white one to match the ceiling?

Your kitchen is so warm and inviting and gorgeous. So much room and storage!!! LOL

I'm glad you didn't go for tile in the kitchen. That's one place I'd never put ceramic. It's fine in the entrance/hallway, but it's a killer on my back when I was at Mom's.

What a cool sink and vanity!!!

It all looks amazing. I knew you'd do well.

:)

Trim? That's the one thing I can't do. I can seal plumbing pipes, cut 2X4s for walls, install drywall and sand it down great, paint... but trim? If you want it to look good, don't ask me! I use a lot of caulk to get it to look "reasonable". Good luck with that!

That is stunning! for someone that does not like to decorate, you did an outstanding job. can't wait to see it in person.

Love the kitchen tile .....especially the scrolling narrow trim.....and love love the deep sink window sill.....we have a couple of those deep window sills in this old house.

You forgot handles for the cabinets. :-)

dcarch

That is so pretty! looks like you did a great job, plus it is NOT like a gazillion other kitchens you see these days. It looks timeless, not trendy, and actually useable.

Awesome big kitchen with a lot of cabinet space! And I LOVE the shower curtain! Did you make it?

I am beyond impressed. The kitchen looks great!

Serious cutting board. Love it

Thank you, everyone. I actually like it, and only had to pick out two tile patterns, so it wasn't so bad. It did, however, take me 4 months to pick out those two tile patterns, I just kept gravitating back to plain subway tile and nothing else, LOL.

dcarch, I know I have no handles on the cabinets. I've looked, but I haven't found anything I like that costs less than $5 or $6 each, and I need 27 of them. Yeah. Well, I did find one that was ok, for $1.50 each, but of course the local place doesn't have them in stock and I have to drive to Grand Rapids to get them. I just haven't cared enough yet to do it.

L, I didn't make the shower curtain, I found it on Amazon. Well, actually, the Princess found it. I was going to just buy a dark brown one, and her "fashion sense" just wouldn't allow it. (grin)

Westsider, the cutting board was here when I got the house, it was originally set into a cut out in the old pink ceramic tile cabinet tops. It's a really nice board and reminds me of Mr. White, the prior owner (who was a friend of my Dad's), so it stayed.

Shirl, I was planning plain biscuit colored subway tiles, but I really liked the pattern on that trim, you can't see it, probably, but it's a group of three leaves, different shades of brown. We had to have that deep window, because we built a kind of fake wall to hide pipes, and to add enough insulation that those pipes didn't freeze!

Peppi, I can hardly wait for you to come and see it. Molly is waiting for Emma too.

Olychick, I on purpose made it not "fashionable", I don't want everyone who walks into the kitchen 5 years from now to remember "when that was popular".

pllog, that's funny, I purposely was trying to avoid the "cozy farmhouse" look, LOL. Elery is not a fan of that particular decorating style. He thinks barns should look like barns, but houses should not. (grin)

Jasdip, truthfully the jury is still out on the Pergo. So far I'm not a fan. It's hard to keep clean, difficult to get it to ever look clean and every spill has to be promptly wiped or the finish will "bubble". I sweep the darned stuff about 3 or 4 times a day and it still looks awful pretty much all the time.

Rob, so you are saying you don't want to come and help me with trim? :-)

Colleen, I'm thinking even more simple than cove molding, maybe just a square piece the width of the space between the tile and the ceiling. I have a "spare" cabinet that came damaged, and I could cannibalize that for parts and have trim that matches the rest of the cabinets, if I can make it work...

So now I still have cabinet handles to choose, gotta get a pot rack up, hang Ann T's knife holder, get a cabinet next to the pantry so I'll have a bit more storage, some good gel mats for the floor, stools for the counter, a bigger rug under the dining room table, curtains in the dining room and smallest bedroom and then decide what I'm going to do to make that awful island presentable. I already have a butcher block top to be installed, but haven't figured out the rest of the "rebuilding" of that yet. Oh, we did hang one mirror yesterday, but all other useless and decorative items are leaning against walls, waiting. And Elery has already told me that he thinks I should tile the front entry in the next couple of weeks.

It's a good thing he's here to keep me moving, or that John Deere green-and-yellow indoor/outdoor carpeting in the front entry would be here for another 20 years or so, I'm ready to just quit and say it's good enough. If he thinks I'm picking out any more tile, though, he's sadly mistaken. I figure it's going to be the same stuff I put in the pantry. Light tan and cheap, but I'll just do the big tiles and ditch those little decorative PIA ones.

Annie

Annie, I think we have a different definition of "cozy farmhouse". I didn't at all mean that it looked like a barn! How about "warm and unpretentious" or "simple and welcoming". While yours is definitely a contemporary kitchen, for your backsplash you don't have the fussiness of contrast diamond tiles at the points of the squares, and haven't gone with stone or metal, which are colder (looking) and harder than the warm and light squares you've chosen. And squares are classic, whereas pencils and pennies are definitively of the right now and give an instant dated look. Your border also evokes that warm look, without being kitsch or retro. And you have a percolator on the counter, for Heaven's sake!

It most definitively looks like a proper house.

eh, for you, I'd do trim. I'll come have a meal with you. I'd even make it. But if you want it to continue down the path of gorgeous, keep me outta the crown cutting!

Love it, Annie. Nice work. Don't feel bad about not having a tile floor. I have one in my kitchen and I hate it. It's too hard, freezing cold on bare feet and everything I drop shatters. I'd love a Pergo floor.

Great job on the tile, Annie! I love your kitchen and the tiles you chose -- your kitchen looks so big and bright. The only time I'm held up on choosing something is when I don't like any of the choices I'm given. :) I have my eye on that cool shower curtain too! lol.

jasdip, nice new ride!

How in the world did my cabinet doors wind up in your kitchen? ? ? :>)

And I purposely do not have handles on them, for a couple of reasons.

I couldn't find anything I liked, prices were (are) ridiculous, and the main reason is the doors are easier to keep clean without the handles.

Seems like I always end up with dark stains and smudges around the handles, and they are a pain to clean around.

So I had finger slots cut into the bottom of the doors, they are easy to open and no smudges on the doors themselves.

Plus, I just plain flat like the uncluttered look of no handles!

Your tile is very pretty, too! Again, I love the clean, uncluttered look of it!

Rusty

AnnieB, I'm like 90% excited at the progress you've made, and 10% exhausted 'cause it took me 10 minutes just to sign in.

According to Houzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, I fudged up my own name. However, multiple attempts (typing the same freaking name), finally got me in.

Anyway, it looks like you're going hell for leather on your kitchen project. And I like everything I see, including the tile inlay above the window, and your faucet - the 'Gooseneck 5000.' I have the 'Gosling' special.

But, there are plenty more reasons I'd love to catapult back in time and punch my con-tractor in the face.

Sol

plllog, I guess I didn't really mean "barn", it's more that he doesn't want decorative chickens or rough wood, or that rustic hickory flooring, he's barely OK with the birch tree shower curtain and I have a brown/rust/yellow tablecloth with maple leaves that he hates. So nothing "country", barn wood belongs in barns and trees and leaves belong outside and since we have chickens we don't need any fake ones, LOL. Fine with me, the fewer decorative accents I have to clean and dust, the better. (grin)

Rusty, I will get handles, although I kind of like that uncluttered look too. But my cabinets all have those easy-close doors and drawers and so I have to get my fingers under the edge and really pull, which is hard on the carpal tunnel, so it'll be handles. Eventually. Those cabinets are birch with a mocha glaze. I kind of wanted white or cream, but Elery most certainly did not. Although not my first choice, they were acceptable to me, so here they are.

party-music, you just need to borrow the Monkey Princess, she'd be glad to help you. Ahem. She loves Amazon shopping.

Cathy, there is nothing here of any interest or value on Freecycle, mostly just junk, although I've given some stuff away there. In Newaygo County the percentage of population below the poverty level is nearly 20% and the per capita income is about $20,000 a year. Most people reuse/recycle and then turn the leftovers into chicken coops and dog houses! I have tried the second hand stores and places like Habitat for Humanity Restore, but since I don't want anything sparkly, anything with colors or animals or flowers, and I'd prefer handles to knobs, well, I'm just too picky. I did find some that were acceptable for $1.50 each from the place that sold me my cabinets, and I'll pick those up the next time I wander down to Grand Rapids, but I'm not really in a hurry. There are just so many other things that need to be done, like gardens and fences and getting some more hay brought in and planting raspberries and pear trees. Oh, and all those dreadful, dreary house things mentioned above.

dedtired, I've already had the Pergo "fixed" where it came apart, so I'm not impressed so far and it always looks dusty/dirty/awful I'm kind of limited in my choices, since the house is on a cement slab and I have to install over that. So, no hardwood, nothing that needs to be nailed down, etc. I'm stuck with tile, carpet (oh no, not in the kitchen!) or laminate, it seems.

Rob, come on up north! I'll cook for you and the boy and I won't even mention trimwork. (grin)

Annie

Sol, I'm about 90% excited to be nearly finished and 10% tired of the whole darned thing. Or maybe the ratio is opposite. (grin)

I can't punch the contractor, though, because most of the work was done by Elery and my son-in-law Dave!

Annie

Photo of the island please, I want to feel your pain! :)

Time to give Annie a hard time. :-)

No GFP electric outlets near the sink?

dcarch

LOL! Oh, dear! Annie, I get Elery's point! I have never actually seen that kind of stuff in a real farm kitchen. Maybe an ersatz French provincial pretend farm kitchen, but all the ranch and farm kitchens I've been in (West Coast), have had more of a functional aesthetic, with plain cabinets, utilitarian counters and easy to mop floors (except for one idiotic ranch in a wet climate that had indoor/outdoor carpet in the kitchen, and cats and dogs tracking in mud, which I refused to walk on barefoot (Lord knows what was ground into that, and I'm not talking about the mud!). They all have this warm, comforting appeal that has to do with living well, rather than in a magazine shoot, and from lots of scratch cooking and life and water boiled in a kettle rather than a microwave.

So my comments were about your place being quite current in style, with fancy cabinet fronts and granite and all, but still retaining that warmth and comfort that I associate with farm kitchens. It really was a compliment.

Annie,

When we redid our kitchen I found cup pulls and knobs I loved
but they were anywhere between 9 and 14 dollars a piece. I looked and found
then both on eBay for $1.50 for the cup pulls and $1.00 for the knobs. I bought
1 of each to see the quality and they were exactly the same ones same manufacture
and all. I needed 54 cup pulls and I can’t remember how many knobs but I saved
a bundle. Have a look at eBay!

Love your new kitchen I think you did a really great job on
the tile. I can do lots of things but tile isn’t one of them. Did you ever sell
the other house?

Claudia

dcarch, Elery says the plug near the sink is protected from the breaker box, and gave me a long explanation about "tying them in" from somewhere. The other two are far enough away from the sink that it isn't an issue, but Elery says thanks for reminding him, it's something he's been meaning to do. He also says they are called GFCI, Ground Fault Circuit Interruptors. Yeah, he's the electrician, that's HIS job.

Thanks, Claudia, I haven't tried eBay, I didn't even think of it, I haven't looked at eBay in a long, long time, since it became more a sales floor than an auction.

L, Elery calls this the "SS Annie". I'm leaning toward a stainless steel cooktop and covering the sides with cherry to match the trim...

This is the front, I just ripped the front of one drawer off today, of course. This is the back side, the tile will be replaced with butcher block. And the Pergo needs cleaning. Again. I just did it this morning. (sigh)

You can't really tell from the picture, but the tile is pink. It's gotta go!

Thanks, pllog, I wanted it to feel comfortable and warm, but not necessarily "country/farm". It had to be usable, of course.

Annie

I'm jealous...I would love an island but no room :(

Claudia, I thought the White Cloud house was sold, then the FHA loan became a Rural Development loan, which eventually fell through. Those kids just really couldn't afford a house anyway, so I feel badly for them, but if a single expensive thing had gone wrong, they'd have never been able to fix it. It's probably best for them, anyway.

So, next week a new roof is being installed and it goes back onto the market. We still have a few pieces of furniture to move, Elery had to fix the furnace, I've done some spackling and touch up painting where we had hung pictures or mirrors, and we need to clean the garage and shampoo the carpet. I told the grandkids that if it's still for sale in the summer they'll just have to come over with me once a week to "clean" the pool, LOL.

Cathy, I really like the island, it's just the right height for me to roll out cookies or knead dough or make pasta. The downside is that it's right inside the door, so everything gets put there and I'm constantly cleaning it off so I can use it.

Annie

Ha! I am not done giving you a hard time yet!

Why no light above the sink?

dcarch

dcarch, I considered that and rejected it, as I get a lot of light from that east facing window, and the "can light" in the ceiling is nearly centered in the sink/window space, and just slightly out from the counter. You can see that in the last kitchen picture, where you can see the entire space. I might get some small LEDs, though, and install them under the cabinets, that corner is a darned dark space...

Annie

Terrific job on the tile, Annie! Your kitchen is coming together so nicely.

We did under cabinet lighting in our new kitchen and it's one of my favorite changes. In addition to illuminating workspace, I love the soft cozy feel it provides at night.

Congratulations Annie & Elery! You have made amazing progress and the kitchen looks great thus far! I applaud your choice of backsplash tile! Is there anything Wonderwoman cannot do? LOL I'm sure you're going to love that island when it's all done! Is there anywhere to stow that microwave? Can you build one into the island?

I dunno Annie, I kinda like the idea of pink tile . . . :) You need a bulkhead built into one end!

Ugh, no pink tile. Of course, before I have orange formica, LOL, so take your choice!

Ellen, I think the microwave will eventually be moved back onto the pantry metal shelving, but first I have to get the cabinet that goes there so I can put other stuff off the shelves and the pot rack to hang the pots that are currently on those shelves. All in good time....

Thanks, amck. I think under cabinet lighting at least in that dark corner would be nice, and I'd like some place up off the counter to put Elery's netbook, I don't use it for anything except recipes, and it takes counter space now.

Annie

Annie, It's fun watching your kitchen come together-just wishing you could come do mine! I love that you have such a sunny window over the sink and the depth of the windowsill should be great for plants. I am amazed at your talent/skills (and envious, too). Is there anything you can't do?

Lizbeth, there are lots of things I can't do and most of them pertain to math or decorating, LOL. For instance, I painted every room in the house the same color because I CANNOT match colors and no matter what paint I choose, it doesn't come out the color I think it is/will be. If I start putting swatches on the wall I'll have a dozen and hate them all because I dislike colors in general. I hate red the worst, it actually makes me claustrophobic. I have no "vision" so if I have an empty room, well, I just see an empty room, not what it could become. I don't decorate well because if I put one thing on a wall I think it's enough. I drive Elery completely bonkers. And if I measure something I can guarantee you it will be wrong. We bought nine trim strips for the pantry when three was enough, but I had to order two more of the tile strips because I was short and I'd measured it three times. (sigh)

Give me a barn, though, and some cows, and I'm in my natural habitat and comfortable, no decorating required!

Annie

OK so now we know how you feel about red Annie, how do you feel about orange? ;)

After those counters in the White Cloud house? Nope, I hope to never see orange again in any decorating. Orange can be hunting clothing, i.e. "hunter's orange", or it can be pumpkins and squash and sweet potatoes, or it can be orange marmalade. Other than that, no orange. Not yellow either, although I have finally caved in on the stark white and moved into the "beige" color palette, LOL. I even kind of like very, very, very light gray!

Annie

I second under cabinet lighting. You won't regret LED lighting strips for all the aforementioned reasons. My kitchen was done in 2002-- before LED lights. However we installed them in cabinets in our den and office in 2011. What a difference! No bulbs to burn out and they don't raise the temperature in the cabinets! Are you going to remodel the island shape or just resurface drawer fronts?

Wall color is a good thing and white is for trim. Orange is banned! LOL

I'm with you on the measuring thing. I paid extra for all installers to come and check our measurements for window treatments etc. I can't trust myself to be accurate!

My new home...maybe 8yrs now?....was built in '62. Not sure how the original owners survived with no lighting...but it was so 'clean' i doubt they cooked much. Very dark kitchen with no under counter lighting. It does have a skylight and fine during the day. I took a chance with led's. And after 5yrs i can soo recommend 'inspired led'. It is a bit of a dyi but you and Elery are handy. Such good clean light for under counter. As clean and bright as daylight. One run of led's over the sink and counter is on a dimmer, 1-4. I leave it on 'one' all night as a good night light and has been that way for 5yrs now. Never had problems like the horrible vent over the stove lights that burn out every other month and rarely use them...darn stupid expensive halogens. They run so hot and are shadowy. Horrible light.

I did a trial run with some h-depot ones and some from ikea but not impressed and returned them.

During the dark winter months i often prep and cook late at night after work. I so appreciate the under counter lights.