We went with the Korel tiles from Costco. Measured the area and ordered them online. We couldn’t decide on our glass tiles, plus the granite is busy enough. If you see one section shiny and another not shiny its just light reflecting from that section. All the tiles are not facing the exact same direction and it gives off that half matte half shiny look, but when you stand in front of it its all shiny. I think the flash of the camera makes it worse actually.

Barstools added. We got a great deal on 4 barstools in the style we wanted from The counter also has under cabinet lighting using the Dioder’s from Ikea which are LED lights. They are also used in our under cabinet lighting.

Here they are. Dioders.

The faucet is a Hansgrohe single handle pull out and the sink is Elkay.

We took off our old window treatments and haven’t replaced them yet. Loving all the light that comes in every morning though. You can also see the high bar section on the right in this picture. I really don’t know what to call it – “high bar.” Its where our garbage can and recycling bin are as well as our “home center.”

That red table near the window, also purchased from Ikea, was going to be set behind the couch and used a computer workstation where the display would be projected onto the tv. However, there isn’t really enough room there, plus when sitting on the barstools your legs won’t fit underneath, so we moved it over to the window and we actually think its a better spot for it. One of the things before the kitchen remodel was that we had to replace those high hat lights frequently. However the two above this picture (which you can’t see) are on a dimmer switch and we have rarely had to change those bulbs. So we put a dimmer switch on the main kitchen lights to save energy/bulb replacement costs.

The kitchen and this family room have been Feng Shui’d.

TV stand and shelf from Ikea also. We went Ikea nuts. New TV, HD receiver, Wii, and plant.

You also get to view a hint of the backsplash we used more pics to come later.

Here are a couple of shots of the stair rail being lit up in the dark. These pictures that were taken in the dark were taken after the rail was not wired neatly. The one above is the final product.

You can also leave this on all night without worry of it costing that much money. LED’s are the most efficient bulbs and can last in the neighborhood of 20-50 years before having to replace the bulb.

We interviewed with 4 different companies that specialize in popcorn removal and we found Renew Ceilings on Angies List for the South Florida area. They rated high and were extremely good at what they did. We hired Renew Ceilings to do our drywall cutout of our pantry as well as the popcorn scrape. They brought in a crew of at least 7-8 people and got it all done – the whole job inside one day. Everyone we talked to said it would take a few days and some said we can’t stay in the house overnight. These guys are professionals and they left the place clean. It would have been a tremendous undertaking for almost anyone else we interviewed to get the job done in the same amount of time.

C’s parent’s just used this company the week before we did to scrape their ceilings and C’s mom told us that the primer was the reason she had a headache for 3 days. Well we’re eco friendly. So I haul butt down to Home Depot and pick up 4 jugs/gallons of this Freshaire Drywall primer. This paint and primer is sold only at Home Depot and has no VOC’s which means no headaches.

It costs a little more, but the amount is negligible when weighing in the discomfort and potential health issues from exposure to VOC’s from traditional primers and paints.

Ok so I was trapped upstairs during the process, but I took a shot through the plastic. They plastic up the area that is being scraped – walls, floors, you name it. In this case it was the area of the kitchen, living room, dining room, laundry room, and downstairs bathroom. We couldn’t only scrape the kitchen because now with the wall knockdown it transitions into the other two rooms. The whole enchilada would need to be scraped.

This picture shows the wall not fully taken down yet, just the hole cutout. The electrical had to be rerouted here and the doorbell was moved. Its that black thing in the foreground near the ceiling.

Here is why you want to remove the air vents before popcorn scraping. Actually the company we hired should have taken these down. It was two screws…

Closeup of popcorn scrape, primed, but not painted yet:

Here are some shots after they cleaned up the popcorn from all over the place and the drywall was well, drying.

Everything from cell phones to laptop computers are full of hazardous materials that pose serious risks to human health and the environment. The growing concern is that gadget hoarders will eventually run out of space and “take a bunch of stuff at once and fill their landfill.” Don’t do it. Resell or recycle them instead.

Get more info on how to do this….you will be reading a good article too.

Check out these stylish “bring your own bags”:

You can get 5 for $35 at Envirosax. If you spend $20 on Method products, you can get their cool canvas bag for free. Yansny has some really chic ones, although a bit on the pricey side. Then of course there is reusablebags.com and I’m sure if you ask your local supermarket, they have them available as well.