House Project 1: Shopping

So of course, after finding out that our offer was accepted on the house, we instantly had to go to work buying everything that we needed to fix it up. We set our budget, and I itemized every single thing we would need for the house - things like the appliances, countertops, cabinets, sink, garbage disposal, ceiling fan, dining room light, entry light, blinds, curtains, paint, tools, etc. I had never really thought about how much goes into a kitchen before this (since everywhere else I've gone has already had a kitchen in place), so this was a big learning experience for me.

It was fun, too, of course! I think my favorite part was picking out the granite. When we bought our other house, the event of picking the granite consisted of the salesman giving us a card with about 10 different 2-inch squares of granite on it as samples that we could choose from. Custom granite is much different. We went into the warehouse and, after putting on our hard hats, were greeted with a selection about like this:

I didn't even know where to start! They were all so beautiful! Granite absolutely amazes me. Seeing all of the slabs, there are so many different variations! Plus, granite by itself is so ugly! If you look at the backs of the pieces, they are dull and boring. It is only after the polishing that you get those beautiful colors. And, in case you were wondering, granite varies enormously in cost, depending on where it comes from, the colors that are in it, and other factors. Some pieces are only $4 a square foot, whereas others can be over $30 a square foot. (Our first choice, of course, ended up being about $26 a square foot, so we had to pick another...)

Our granite looks a little bit like this:

We are so excited to get our new kitchen started!