First fire

After a few days of unseasonably warm weather that melted all the lovely snow and put an end, for awhile, to the skiing, it cooled down again enough to justify our first fire.

Having bought 100 pounds of coal on-line, we took the lazy route and just used the bags of SimpleFire that we found in the closet.  We had no idea what it was, so of course we googled it.  We were pleasantly surprised to discover that it is processed from recycled paper and burns cleaner than coal, wood, or natural gas.  It comes in a paper bag and all we had to do was light the bag.  After a few minutes, we had beautiful flames although neither the smell nor sound of a wood fire.  It was supposed to last an hour but was really only good for about half that time.  Maybe it's old and a little dry?

The second time we used it we tried to light the coal with it but that didn't work.  I suspect it doesn't burn hot enough, so we'll have to try a real firestarter next time.  Still, it was lovely to have a fire during cocktail hour, and SimpleFire would certainly be easier for our Frog Room guests to use.

Janet & Sunny

Living room fireplace

The Buckeye and the Frog in Winter

Came back from a trip to sunny and hot Cuba to a foot of snow in Oberlin.  Perfect for cross-country skiing on the golf course!  Not to mention sledding, snow shoeing, and hiking.  Too cold for snowmen.

The house looked so pretty in the snow that we had to take some pictures.

Once is never enough

I'm getting very frustrated with the way nearly everything has to be done at least twice in order to be done right.  The latest case in point is the appliance store, who failed to order a critical piece for our cooktop-ventilating system (I won't even go into the rotisserie piece that never made it).  But it seems that it's been this way for nearly everything:  the countertop people had to come back to recut the granite (NOT their fault - they did an amazing job with amazing service); the wrong toilet was installed; the front stairway carpeting was measured incorrectly; the furniture is 2 weeks past its latest delivery commitment, and after a phone call and a face-to-face all we can find out is that it's "in the warehouse," whatever that means ...it goes on and on.  Waste of our time to have to keep following up and extremely annoying.  Where's the quality control?  Where's the professionalism?

Post-Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is over and all our guests left this morning.  We had two wonderful sets of guests - could not have been nicer - and most interestingly, one of the Ganzel "girls" and her family stayed with us, the first time she'd been in the house for 7 years.

Our appliances were all hooked up and ready to go, except for the dishwasher, unfortunately, and we used them all to roast a turkey, bake a pie, and make lots of breakfasts.  We had a record 7 people for breakfast the morning after Thanksgiving, as Kate's mother and daughter joined us.  (note new lace curtains!)  We served fresh pineapple, baked French toast, and Amish sausage; everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Our kitchen designer is coming over today to work up a "punch list" with us; top of the list is choosing the backsplash tile.  Then no more projects for awhile!  At least not until after the first of the year.  Hopefully our new dining room set, which is already 1 week past the latest delivery time, will arrive soon.

Almost-After Pictures

We're not done yet by a long shot but it's starting to look like a kitchen, and what's done is beautiful!  To give you an idea:

The cooking peninsula

Almost done

We are in love with all of it:  cherry cabinets, granite counters, and the wonderfully unique parquet floor that Brian installed.  That's our antique Hoosier on the right.  Not shown:  the refinished pantry doors.

Yet to be done:  wait for the floors to  cure, reinstall appliances, hook up cooktop, add trim, (choose and) install backsplash.

I haven't even mentioned yet the little bathroom that Kim has completely redone, including building a maple and cherry vanity.  Haven't taken any pictures yet so I'll save that for another post.

Kitchen progress

Well, we made it through parents' weekend with our kitchen in complete disarray, cooking from our old stove and microwave set up in the basement and washing dishes in the utility sink.  Big thanks to Sally, Gabriela, and Carolyn for their understanding and flexibility during their respective stays.  (At least we got our kitchen out of the dining room!)


Big progress was made today as the corner cabinet was installed as well as the new floor in the pantry.  The plumbing seems to be done, or nearly so, and the back entry is painted.  What a difference!  Kim has laid the tile in the little bathroom and today is painting.  Nothing is done - and we're still cooking in the basement - but we're getting there.

Maybe the best news we got is that the granite countertop will be installed on Friday.  That means the appliances can also be installed!  Dom's and my main to-do at this point is to choose tile for the backsplash.  Of course, he's in Harrisburg this week but that will have to be the main focus on Friday.  However, we want this to be right and if the tile isn't installed for our party, so be it.

Here are a couple "work-in-progress" photo from a few days ago:

We love our new parquet floor!  Nice work, Brian.

 We uncovered this historical treasure written under the cabinets above the sink.  Too bad it's not dated.  I'm afraid it's under a layer of drywall now.

Kitchen redux

The remodel of the kitchen is finally and visibly underway.  We really started several weeks ago with planning and design with Kim Annable, and Jeff Wooster has been building our cabinets in his workshop.  Kim also scraped all the old nasty finish off the pantry; with a new, flat finish, the beautiful cherry wood is really going to glow.  And we picked out new Thermador appliances several weeks ago from Home Appliance:  gas cooktop, electric convection oven, microwave, and warming drawer.

This is how the kitchen looked up to yesterday evening.  Kind of sad that our "before" pictures were our "after" pictures less than a year ago.  We didn't think we'd need to remodel so soon...this picture of Sunny and me was taken just last January and I can see I have my construction clothes on.

But yesterday we emptied all of the cabinets and today Brian and Christopher began demolition.  It's a big mess and has entailed removing the dishwasher, range, and microwave, so no more cooking for awhile.

 Demolition will continue for another couple of days, then the new cabinets and cabinet doors will be installed on Thursday.  On Friday we should be able to get Brian from Solid Source to come out and template our granite countertops.  I think the new appliances will be installed on the 12th but we should be able to use the old ones until then once demolition is done. 

Choosing the granite was a process in and of itself.  We were sent to Mont Granite to choose from I don't know how many colors of granite; I had no idea there was such an amazing diversity.  We finally narrowed it down to four then made our final decision on Saturday.  This is what we chose:

It's called "Fire Bordeaux" - is it gorgeous or what?   I'd like to take a piece of whatever's left over and put it on a wall somewhere.