Chapter 14: Kitchen Renovation

Oh happy day! The granite for the kitchen arrived last Thursday! It felt like Christmas and because I was so excited, me and my belly even did a little happy dance for Keith. At least it got the hubby out the door for work with a laugh and a smile on his face. :o)

A nice perk of my job is that I have the flexibility to work from home one day at week. So it made our kitchen renovation process especially convenient because I simply arranged my schedule to work from home on the days the contractors had to be at the house. Although I have to admit it was rather difficult to work during the granite installation because they used some type of nasty smelling chemical which forced me to take my bump outside on the patio in the blazin’ 90 degree heat. Not fun, but well worth it in the end.

What do you think?

Of course, I was snapping pictures right away when they brought in the first piece!

The granite is a beautiful beige/grey/black/brown swirl of color. It truly is a perfect match with our dark stained maple cabinets.

And look at that perfect hole for my big, one bowl sink. Heaven!

When Keith came home is was especially pleased! Remember, this was his first time actually seeing the granite in person since he wasn’t with me when I went to pick it out. He knew I wanted a lighter countertop to balance the dark cabinets, but I think he had this slight fear that the granite was going to be super, super light – like almost white. (The guy still can’t forget that I painted one room in our old house bright orange so I think he’s waiting for my next big design screw-up.)

Sigh of happiness!

Now, I must admit that the day didn’t go entirely smooth. There was a brief 3 hours when I thought the granite wasn’t going to get installed. The installers thought one piece didn’t match and told me they had to take it all back. In my head I’m thinking, “You’re telling a pregnant woman what?” But the general manager wanted to come and inspect the situation and he was an hour away. I was slightly annoyed because he came and left fairly quickly without speaking to me about the problem. The next thing I know everything is fine and they are going to complete the job…huh?

Here’s where the pregnancy hormones kick-in. I kind of freaked out and told them they weren’t moving forward with anything until I had further explanations. So I made a few panic-stricken phone calls to poor Keith and Paul from Columbus Brother’s for help. I think the “I’m going to burst into tears at any moment” look on my face had the installers on edge so they called the general manager to come back to the house to actually talk to me about the situation in person. (why he didn’t talk to me in the first place is beyond me)

And what it all boiled down to was the fact that he’s the professional, the piece in question was completely fine, the installers should never have said anything to me – crazy pregnant woman – in the first place, and we’re good to go.

The next day, Joe, Jim, Jimmy and Paul came to the house to hang the glass cabinet doors, hook-up the plumbing and make a final inspection. They all agreed the granite was completely fine and the kitchen turned out beautifully. Reminded me once again why I love those guys!

So we still have a few tasks remaining before I consider the kitchen renovation done….painting, finding bar stools and decorating. But that will get done soon and I’ll post a few more updates so stay tuned!