What we did over our summer vacation- part 1

We had lunch at Ikea. We never go there. I swear, some people just love that place. I like it ok but I am not an Ikea-maniac. It is only like 15 minutes from my house, I hear people talking about their out of town friends and family spending entire days there when they come to visit. Ugh, maybe because it is so dark and dreary in ours, I can't imagine. I didn't buy a thing on this trip, other than food. I'm a weirdo.  Give me an outdoor flea market any day, I'd be a happy camper. 

 I do like how family friendly Ikea is. That's cool.

 Ice cream on the way out. A treat for my kids being so good and walking three thousand miles in that giant place.

 Parker is obviously ready to go home.

 At home, was the biggest mess you ever saw. See. My living room.

 My foyer/hallway.

 My kitchen.

 I think they put something in those holes. A time capsule. Sorry future homeowners.

 My biggest nightmare. Really. Asher saw all the goodies in those drawers and he went nuts.

 Junk food on my kitchen table, eww gross, it was for my laborers. Along with parts of our stove, trash, appliances, so awful.

 What the heck were we doing? Well, we got new countertops. Not granite. I told you, I am not a granite girl. We were so sick of everyone who came through our house telling us it was outdated, we decided to do a mini upgrade. We got laminate. Kiss off all you haters who are going to rip on the laminate. Within 2 hours of having the new counters in, grape juice all over them. Easy to clean up? You betcha. Granite, stained for sure. Limestone or butcher block would be my ideal but for now, it's laminate from Menards.

We picked out the color in about three minutes. No kidding. I saw the backsplash tile and  said, "that's it." 30 seconds. Seriously. My Big Tall Hubby kept saying, "are you sure?" He kept bringing home more and more samples from the store. I was like this, "I said I want that one and I am positive!!!!!" Insert naggy tone, sorry Big Tall.

So it took forever for us to measure, we have the biggest, most cornered countertops in the world. We got the template and then finally got the pieces delivered about two months later.  Those boxes were in the way for about a week until we could find a day to install them. Big Tall Hubby asked a Big Tall Friend to help and that's how the kids and I ended up at Ikea for the day.

During the weekend, I saw lots of booties and cracks. It was kind of annoying.

 But this is what it looks like now.  :) Cup not part of the countertop of course.

 I lurve the backsplash. But I have decided I hate cleaning up grout, it is the biggest mess. I am still finding chunks of it.

 Don't my Longabergers look so pretty now?

So we wanted to get new appliances but they are just too much money. Our cooktop is almost $4000 to replace, our ovens, almost $3600, a new fridge and dishwasher and well, you get the idea. I like the white (I know, I am a granny) and it doesn't bother me. I don't like stainless, the only reason I would get it is to appease a home buyer and we spent a ton on this project already. Laminate is cheaper than granite but when your kitchen is as big as mine, nothing is cheap.

Anywhosie, I like the upgrade. We've only had one showing since we put the new counters in and they said they liked it. (They also put in a purposefully lowball offer and then when we countered, they ignored us, jerks!) So if nothing else, we have a nice newish kitchen to enjoy.

More updates later.

Have a great day!