Going with the flow

I am very grateful for all of the advice I received after my mention of choosing a Viking stove . Silly me I assumed it was a good solid brand , now actually and personally I don't know , but from what I hear I am choosing not choose. We were also thinking of this model , the GE monogram dual fuel , its got a lot of great features and has a great warranty. No appliance is perfect , right?

The other stoves we are still considering are the Kitchen aid commercial style gas and Jenn Air. We don't want to settle for something ho hum...good looks and function is not too much to ask.

I would love more thoughts , anyone want to chime in on their PERSONAL experience with the stoves I have mentioned ???

Some exciting news , I received a Delta faucet for my new kitchen , I will show you a little later, and sounds like they are ordering our railings as well the kitchen should be in on the 10th of December so I hear.You will see me with my nose up against the windows peering in .....such an exciting time.

Decisions decisions

Sometimes making the smaller decisions is harder than making the big decisions.
Now that we have sold our house we finally feel free to plan and choosing appliances is at the top of our list. We will have a bar fridge , microwave and a toaster oven on move in day for sure but we will need some harder working and larger appliances to truly function.

 How come we could choose the house in about an hour and choosing a stove can takes days and days. Normally I am a fan of the smooth top stove because of the ease of cleaning , but of course I love the look of a commercial gas range. I do have a little fear of gas but I am going to try and get over it because there is nothing like it or so I hear . But we could never afford a Viking or a Wolf , unless there was a ridiculous instant rebate , then wouldn't it be crazy to not get this top of the line stove? This is still such a tough decision, we needed to sleep on it. We measured and looked and looked and measured so so many models , from Ge to an Italian beauty and then Viking.
Did you know that the interior space of a 30"commercial range can be significantly smaller than a regular 30" stove, and that is can take 45 minutes or more to heat up a 36" stove because of the extra width now if you have kids you know that is a lot of extra time at dinner. Still Viking are you freakin serious !!! Ok it is only marginally more than a very nice GE Cafe model I had some what decided on, and I think we would be regretting not getting the one we really love. We are giving up a warming drawer but I think we can live without that . Adding a beautiful color is an extra $1000 so that is a NO. Sounds like we've made the decision, doesn't it?
We will be sure to save on all the other appliances , I don't need a fancy washer and dryer and as long as I get a tall tub stainless dishwasher I'm good it doesn't need to be high end.
 Splurge and save right , well this is really both splurge and save.

I saved here , I found this light which is normally $149.00 for $50.00 at a used building store , it is new in box and everything, I got two actually. 20 more lights to go...I have always wanted one of these lights. I think they will end up in the entry hall.

 Making over the standard cabinets is a huge save , I will be painting the cabinets and adding a frieze as well as crown moulding. I will also be customizing this fridge wall,  I love this area, I think it will look great when completed. I toyed with the painted cream cabinets that were very nice but that upgrade was more than my new stove , so that was an easy decision and as well I can go with a custom color of my choosing and I will always be able to do touch ups.

I will be adding a farm house sink just before we have stone counters installed, I found a farmhouse sink for $600.00. Instead of eliminating our standard laminate counters we had our friends choose something that they would like , there was no benefit to eliminate it, and now they can take our new counters and cut them down to their kitchen and can even have the kitchen sink. Everybody wins and we move into a house that is ready to use. I'm still working on the kitchen sink wall, I think this layout keeping the uppers to the right and open shelving to the left maybe what we need. I added lots of drawers to the kitchen , going from 4 to 10 , how exciting.

I have noticed lots of people in the blog world who have recently completed a kitchen reno have gone ahead with carrara., I was so thrilled to find out that it is well priced . I will be sure to keep up on the sealing to prevent damage because there is nothing like it , this is a definite splurge but a huge savings sourcing it ourselves. This will be my dream kitchen , I plan on living in this home for many many years so I think its a good decision to do it right once.
Saving will come with me doing everything else , like the hardwood , maybe tiling the floor spaces that need tile, definitely the back splash , all the lighting , so much painting , lots of moulding, landscaping... its gonna take years I tell ya, but that sounds fine to me, I'm a girl who needs a project.
In sad news I just found out that my dream island lights are $1250.00 each....each! Well it makes my other choice look like a bargain now , because I need two for over my island. I would not spend $2500 on two lights , not ever.

I am on the hunt for great deals , Happy Holiday's everyone.

Sold

 Do you see that sign ? that's right , our house is officially sold. Exactly two weeks after we listed with a local agent , who we are just thrilled with, we got three offers in one night. How amazing is that ? super amazing. We are very happy for the new owners , we know they love this place as much as we do.

I wish them so much happiness and many happy years of cherished memories.

I was getting emotional the other day thinking back to all the years we have spent here.

When we moved here Mason was 4 and Sophie was 18 months old, just babies.
So many birthday parties with jumpy castles , so many Christmas mornings with waffle breakfasts and Thanksgiving dinners. Lots of fights and tears , laughter and fun. So many firsts like potty training, learning to ride a bike out front , learning to read and write, learning manners , getting new puppies. Everything seems to have happened right here. I have never lived in one house so long in my entire life, I will always feel attached to this house, although I am excited for the new house it will be very hard to say that final good bye.

Now we have peace , everything is going as planned , the new house kitchen is coming in early December . We will now focus on Christmas and then the mammoth task of packing and decluttering , donating and selling things will begin , but that is a task for January. For now we relax.
We will be moving on February 29th , we wanted that date because its a leap year and that's just cool , and that is the closing the new owners wanted as well, it seems meant to be .

So happy relieved and now relaxed, we are a very lucky family.