we prefer the term “extreme multitasking”

the dining room is mostly done.

the family room is mostly done.

our room just got torn up to move my sewing stuff in to make room in my “sewing area” for guinevere’s homeschool stuff, and that’s “in progress” and mostly done.

the living room needs a thorough cleaning and some serious updating.

the outside could use some attention.

so hey, why not start some major stuff in the kitchen?

okay, it wasn’t really the plan. the kitchen was gutted and redone about 5 years ago. but, as is typical of us, it wasn’t TOTALLY finished. the shape of the hood vent is still sketched in pencil on the wall where we drew it five years ago, and the tile under it is still ungrouted. we never got all the barstools that we needed. never put up crown molding around the tops of the cabinets. never finished painting. basically—just little odds and ends that kept getting pushed to the back burner as we moved on to other projects.

but then the dishwasher just went crazy and started spewing water all over. it happened once, and we got it fixed. it happened again, and jeremy fixed it the way the repairman showed him.
but it was a stubborn dishwasher. and sneaky. eventually this happened:

ruffles have ridges. floors are not supposed to have ridges.

cue major sad face.
i love the look of the wood in the kitchen. i don’t want to replace it. and more importantly—where will we get the money to replace it???

this floor—IKEA laminate—runs through our entire house, save the two bathrooms. i like that unity. and the kitchen is in the exact center of the home (with no windows, which is why i’ll never be a food blogger).

so we hemmed and hawed. what to do. and then we had a bright idea—hey, isn’t this something that homeowner’s insurance covers?
well, DUH. in my brain homeowner’s insurance = major disaster. i.e. fires and break-ins. but i called, they came that day, and by the end of the week we had a check.

yay!

so it’s out with the not-really-too-old and in with the new!
we’ve already replaced the dishwasher. thought about taking the old one into the field and having at it with baseball bats. man i hated that thing.

and today jeremy took my van to a warehouse in philly and loaded the poor thing up within an inch of it’s life with 1100 lbs of ceramic tile we ordered online.

but not just any ceramic tile—this tile:

(this is just a sample piece. the actual tiles are 6x24)

it’s textured and looks so much like wood that you have to touch it to know that it’s not.
and the best part? look how it matches the flooring through the rest of the house:

woot! now i’ll still have the seamless look, but no further worries about water leakage destroying laminate in the kitchen!

so the kitchen just got added to the list. or, technically, bumped up to the top of the list…since it was already on there, just slowly pushed down further and further over the years.
but i’m excited. it’s the heart of our home—both literally and figuratively, since it’s positioned in the center of our house. and it will be nice to have it finished.

plus, surprise surprise, in the last five years my tastes have changed a bit. so i’m ready for a bit of change to the decor in there—what little there is.

nothing crazy, just some updating to the items on the shelf…new rug (which is needed anyway). that sort of thing.

i think because it was never actually FINISHED it never really looks finished, if that makes sense. there’s alway something sitting out on the counters or lurking somewhere without a home. even when i clean up in there. and just once i’d like to see it completely 100% done and clean.
then i’ll die a happy woman.

so here it is: my kitchen, in all it’s glory.