Kitchen Reno - Part II

And the saga continues.

Again with the whole iceberg thing: you see one project and feel confident it won't take too long to tackle. That project ends up being imperceptibly and indelibly connected to 8 other projects that you are then forced to tackle before any one of the projects can be satisfactorily completed. One of the rules of Home Renovation 101.

This month we started by ripping out ugly old linoleum and ended up pulling baseboards, painting walls, painting door knobs, ripping off 40 year old 'tile' and rock-hard adhesive from our back splash, removing a massive range hood ... I think that's all. Oh, and of course spending as much time at Lowe's as we have at home. Here are photos of the 'progress' if you could call it that ... more like chaos.

And I have a party to host on Saturday! Yikes!



After just one coat. So pretty and crisp against the freshly-painted door/trim.





The blue looks COMPLETELY different on this wall. Crazy, color-changing paint.





Awful adhesive! And the little tiles we had to chip off one by one.





Kevin pulling more tiles. They used to be vintage green. The ones behind the oven were never painted.





All the tiles are OFF. Now to get the adhesive off.





Most of the adhesive is off. Now to smooth the surface, patch holes and retexture.





The fruits of our labor? or ... whatever. ;)



My Birthday

So my birthday is in 5 weeks. I have scheduled a party that's happening in 4 weeks. Honestly, I'm not sure what I'm going to do, what food I'll serve, if there will be a theme. The idea of a birthday slash apocolypse party has been tossed around, considering the recent end of the world craze; heck, since the world will may be ending on May 21st, I may not have to worry about planning it at all. Even if we make it to December, this will be my last birthday on dear Mother Earth so might as well go out with a bang, right?

I have a few ideas so far. I just need to bring them all together. I have previous party planning experience and possibly even (a little) prowess in the arena. Of course, that's mostly when money is no object - and when it's someone else's money - but I am sure I can pull something off that is budget and guest friendly.

My first requirement is cake balls. This idea is genius incarnate. My cousin had these at her graduation and my admiration - both of cake balls and my cousin - were firmly cemented when I saw the cake ball displays and tried one of them for myself. I've had cake balls before but these were the balls to beat. (hmm ... moving on) They were red velvet which honestly you can't go wrong serving red velvet *anything*. Plus they were on these long kebab skewers which are a fun way to display them on several levels, in different vessels with beans or marbles to hold them up ... pretty cool.

Oh, and obviously there have to be French Macarons. Obviously.

Also, I want a signature drink. This is an important element that confirms to your friends that you mean business: you have a signature drink ergo your party is cool (even if it really isn't, the drink makes them think it is). I'm thinking something seasonally appropriate, of course. Since I have a Summer birthday and I love, love, love all things Summer (except of course for the nasty TX heat), I think something coconuty and limey with lots of rum and maybe a colorful sugar rim. Oooo, or maybe melon? I saw a billboard this morning advertising flavored vodkas and one was watermelon - cool and refreshing.

I want a mix of indoor and outdoor areas for eating and mingling. We have a little covered patio in the backyard and a lovely tall tree. I have this (completely inflated and idealized) vision of strings of lights strung up from the tree and also going around the edges of the patio and some lanterns hung in the trees throughout the yard ... what a lovely way to light up the space on a warm Summer evening while playing croquet and sipping a signature drink. Ahhh