I can not believe it has been a week since my mother-in-law moved in. She is doing great and we are all settling into a nice routine. There is still a lot to do in the house, but we are slowly putting it all back together and trying not to stress about it ( that last bit was for me). But in the meantime, fun things are still happening. The electrician installed the pendant lights over the island and I was also able to work on the hutch I started to refinish. Those of you that follow my Blog will notice that the pendants lights are not the ones I chose. In the original post, I wrote how I really wanted oversized lantern lights, but the cost was prohibitive. Instead I chose a very nice globe light at a great price. As the renovation moved on and it was getting closer to putting up the lights, I began to have second thoughts. My ideal light fixture over the island was always a lantern, so I decided to give it another try. I looked online and found one that had been out of stock before, and now, was available again. The best thing about it was that it cost even less then the globe pendants! When I ordered them, the delivery date we received was not until January 17th , but I was willing to wait. We had put off some of the trades when we went to Binghamton to care for my mother-in-law, and one of them, was the electrician. He rescheduled to come and finish off all of the electrical work on December 6th. Unbelievably, just a couple days before he was set to come, the pendants arrived six weeks early. It was meant to be!
This is Matt, the electrician that did all the electrical work on our house. He and John, his partner in crime, have been just great. A usual job for them takes two visits – one to rough in all the outlets, switches and fixtures, and the second to install everything and finish. They have been to our house a total of five times. We really appreciate the time they gave us and of course the amazing work they did!
Now that I see them side by side. the lantern was definitely the way to go for me. The globe was very nice, but the lantern just speaks to me!
They look beautiful all lit up!
I don’t want to share to much of the kitchen just yet. In last weeks Blog, I said I would share a video on all the progress. Unfortunately, Mike from VHI Cabinets had to reschedule the finishing touches on the kitchen cabinets and is coming tomorrow. I will put out a video during the week to show all the updates.
However, I can share what I have done with the hutch I started to refinish!
This is the hutch in its original state. Beautiful, just not my style.
After I took the doors off. It immediately made it look less formal.
I chose Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Coco. The color is so rich!
Once I got it all painted I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Wax in clear, white and dark to give it depth.
I worked in clear wax first, then added the white. Once it looked like I wanted it to, I used dark wax for some aging.
I m really loving the way it is turning out. It still needs some work though. I filled in the places where the hinges were. After I sand them down I will put a piece of molding on to give it a finished look. I also have to find new drawer pulls.
Make sure to look for the video later this week! Can’t wait to share the progress!