It's been fun, but...

After a month without a refrigerator - I was downright giddy when it arrived today.

It really has been fun - An experiment - to see how dependent we have become on all of our modern conveniences.

The conclusion...

We are completely spoiled! 

Please don't misunderstand, we were not completely without a refrigerator, simply without one in the kitchen. 

(You'd be surprised how few things, my children consider, worth a trip to the garage.)

Fortunately, the timing worked out perfectly for us. The day before our move, I had a client call to ask if I could help find someone to remove an old refrigerator that had been left in her new house.

Bingo!  

I love when the stars align.

So we picked up her old fridge, and put it in the garage here at the new house.

This bought me the time I needed. 

It has not been perfect (it freezes everything, so all produce needed to be kept in a separate cooler) but it worked.

It took me a  long time to find the new refrigerator because we had built the kitchen to fit our old one.

(The one that the new owners really wanted - and we were willing to give up- to get the house sold)

 I thought it would be easy....go online... order the same one.

Sadly for me - that model was nowhere to be found. The 2012 model was available - but larger than my old one.

So...

After reading through countless descriptions and spec sheets & going to every possible store to see what I could find in person. (Not much- I found out that the stores don't  keep the counter depth models in stock)

I found THE ONE! 

And it fits!

I will admit, I was holding my breath as my husband was trying to push it back into the niche.

If it had been a hair bigger - I would have been listening to a whole lot of..."I told you so's."

Instead I was treated to... "Huh - that works"

Not quite the high praise that I had hoped for, but....who needs praise, when I have a refrigerator in the kitchen!

The one interesting feature, on this fridge, is the interior water dispenser.

I love to have cold water out of the fridge - but hate the drips on the stainless steel.

Hopefully this will avoid the drips and keep everybody hydrated.

Aside from unpacking and organizing - we have not made too much other progress.

We did, however, get the drawer pulls installed. (Note : I use the word "we" loosely)

Ahhh - to be able to open the drawers with ease is a dream!

I really wanted pulls for these. They were hard to find - or I should say...hard to find within my budget.

 I found these on Etsy.

I will attempt to add a link here...

Drawer pulls

The builder installed brushed nickel knobs, and these pulls are chrome, but I don't think it  makes a dimes worth of difference - and certainly not $10(more per drawer) worth of difference!

Now - if I could just get everything in it's place - I could get some whole room pictures.

Maybe next time.

Have a great day.

I think I will go get some refrigerated item from the kitchen - because I can!

Finished - bathroom mirrors

Finally got the second mirror  (the broken one) exchanged  and installed.

It is interesting to note....

Of all of the things I have purchased, online and in stores, for this project, I'd say 25% were broken, or damaged in some way.

The only positive side to this is that I have found Lowe's & Home Depot to be excellent about returns/exchanges.

Although we have barely unpacked, I realized around December 23rd if I did not pull out the Christmas "stuff", we were going to miss our chance. 

Although we did not pull out everything, there were enough decorations to make the new house look festive.

It was interesting to see the kids pull out our old things and find them  new spots in our new home. 

Now, post Epiphany, decorations down, I can say....We need very little to decorate this house. I'll have to add Christmas items to the long list of things that I need to purge!

Here are a couple of pictures of the decorations that I took quickly on Sunday  before they came down.

My daughter found this new spot for our Christmas cards.

We almost ran out of room - but it worked.

 We only needed about half of the greenery on the bannister - but...it looks much prettier than it ever did at our old house.

This week - I need to get the other bathroom mirrors and install them, and a few other small projects.

I will post the projects as I complete them. I hope this will encourage me to get them all done! 

Have a great day

Little by little

We are plugging along, trying to get organized.

Right now my art room is a storage room, the dining room is a storage room, the garage is a storage room, and... I had my husband put up a 20'x20' tent in the backyard as an additional storage room.

I just need some more time to figure out what is going to fit, and where.

In the mean time, we have been working on all of the little unfinished details of the house - i.e.: light fixtures and mirrors.

Here are the pictures from the boys bathroom.

I love the restoration hardware mirrors - but, I do not love their price tags.

So...

I found this Delta mirror @ Home Depot for less than a quarter of the cost of the similar Restoration one.

I know, it's not the same, but, I think it looks nice.

We still have 3 bathrooms that need mirrors, but we will get to those soon.

Although he did not help with this project - my 14 yr old has mastered the art of looking productive, while not actually doing anything!

There was a broken piece on the arm of the 2nd mirror - so that one has not been installed.

Once I can get it exchanged, and installed, I will add an updated photo.