Let There Be Light!

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". Dickens was oh so correct! And his closing lines from A Tale of Two Cities: "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done".

Things didn't start out too terribly well with the reno/demo this morning! I had chosen to spend the morning in my sewing room, which is just off of the old breakfast room/new kitchen. Thankfully, I had a French door to close, but I was still privy to much of the conversation as the crew hoisted a new beam in the ceiling. It was more than nerve racking! When "my boys" departed for lunch, I opted to seek shelter in my dyeing studio, where I have lots of reorganizing to do since the addition of my new cabinets. About an hour later, I heard a knock on the door and Pat, our contractor walked in, asking if I wanted to see my "new room". I wasn't sure what he was talking about, but I followed him inside.

Here's the before shot:

And here's the after:

This is the view looking from the pool patio back towards the foyer,with the pantry door on the right:

When I first walked in with Pat, I said, "Somebody's turned on a light in here." NOT!!! The light was simply the natural light flowing in from the diningroom! What a great decision it was to knock down that wall!!! If we hadn't gotten Lori Carter, our kitchen designer, to come in and take a look at our space, we never would have done that. And our contractor Pat suggested that we hire Lori to design our kitchen. So, I am eternally grateful to Pat for all of this!

James, our tile man, dropped in early this morning to check out the progress, and he approved of our tile choice. He will return when the cabinets have been installed. Tomorrow morning I will meet with Bill, the lighting speacialist, (thanks for his referral Elizabeth!) and Doug our Electrician. I am hoping to escape for lunch with my best buddy, Joan...........I am ready to be AWAY!!! Joani is in the midst of not only building a lavish new home but also planning a wedding for her lovely daughter Rebecca. I feel like such a wimp: she is building a house and planning a wedding and all I'm doing is remodeling a kitchen AND I HAVE TROUBLE COPING!!!

So while I was escaping the trials and tribulations in my kitchen reno this morning, I kept busy with some new toys. Here I've done some stamping with a new Ranger Distress Ink pad in spiced marmalade on a little remnant of my freeze dyed fabric:

Earlier in the morning I had read Virginia Spiegel's blog entry about Sue Lentz's Cyber Fyber Exhibition in Columbia, SC next winter. It piqued my interest, so I thought I would offer a few ATC's. Here they are:

This one was made from cropped off edges of "Preserve and Protect":

This last one is my favorite: it is a collage of trial pieces of "Preserve & Protect", plus some trial inkjet transfers on painted batting using Gerrie's and my favorite bumper sticker. I also used a bit of Ranger Distress Ink to make the lighter areas look a bit aged and distressed.

Oh, and so as not to keep you in suspense any longer, here are the results of our 2008 Atlanta Midtown Condo search: OUR choice was view #1 and our bid was ACCEPTED! WooHoo!!! There was no counteroffer by the current owners, so we are hoping that if all goes well we will close around the middle of March!

Here is the cute little kitchen:

While we generally do not do a lot of cooking or "eating in" while we are in the city, this is a nice kitchen in which to prepare the occasional meal.

Here's another view of the view:

You may well grow weary of pics of that view! LOL

Thank you one and all for your comments and "votes" for our condo-of-choice!

My heart goes out to my cousins Eva and Bertil tonight. If you feel the need, please don't feel shy about visiting with Eva on her blog and leaving a comforting comment. She and Bertil mean so much to me, and they have a long and rocky road ahead of them. Thank you!

PEACE