Wow! Where has the weekend gone? We've been so crazy busy over at the house - the floor is *almost* done! We hit a major snag in the master where it turns out, the subfloor is very, very uneven... Fortunately J's dad is working to fix that (and I can hopefully show you the finished floor shortly).

Meanwhile.... my mom has been helping with the backsplash in the kitchen - and it looks fabulous! We went with classic white subway tile and a pretty oyster grey grout. Also, since I last posted a photo of the kitchen I've finished the cabinets and attached new hinges and pulls. Behold:



We also removed the cabinets that were over the sink and window to the living room, not only because it was a little oppressive in the smallish kitchen, but because we've decided to put in a floating shelf for the items we use most (good incentive to keep the place neat and clean, huh?)

Sorry, no house work for me this week/end - we're celebrating my grandmother's, dad's, and brother's birthdays (and then J's is next week!). That's right, lots of birthdays.

I just wanted to pop in real quick and show off this weekend's project:


That yummy thing you are seeing is a Chocolate-Peanut Butter cake. I used Smitten Kitchen's recipe with one key change... I made the cake organic! Yummmm!

J and I looked around quite a bit at flooring options. Ultimately we decided on laminate wood flooring and did some more searching and settled on Ikea's Hemse. We like that it is made with renewable wood fibers and that it is ultimately recyclable. Oh yeah - and it's only 75 cents a square foot :)

For the past week and a half J, his dad, and my brother have been installing the floor. They've got the 2 spare rooms, part of the hall, and a teensy bit of the master already layed.

Pardon the quality/color in the photos - I only had my cell phone that day:


{My office/the guestroom}


{A corner of the master}

We've been working our butts off every chance we get to go over to the house! With J's wonky work schedule we haven't been able to get quite as much done as we've hoped, but while I've been working on the kitchen, J and his dad have been painting. (J's dad is a professional painter, so he's been a real perfectionist - to our benefit! - with the paint and he's even been coming by to work on prepping and painting on days when J and I can't be there! How awesome is that?)

Back to the kitchen! The cabinet bodies are primed and I've got almost all of the doors primed and painted!



Here's another view in the kitchen - can you believe the transformation a little paint can make? (Also - I just love the natural light that filters into the kitchen!)


{Lovely, huh?}