The Kitchen is Done

(The following post was written in June, 2010 right after our kitchen was completed)

As you may or may not remember from a previous post, our family moved back in December of 2009 from our cozy, much enjoyed (mostly by me) home of 19 years. My husband and son, Porter, wanted a change, a different challenge in life, new adventures, different scenery, etc. We didn't move very far. In fact we went North two blocks and West about a block. But as far as church boundaries go it put us in a completely different stake. So, after much arm twisting and temper tantrums on my part, I finally agreed to take on this new challenge as well.

The home we moved into needed some major upgrades and so we tackled the project feet first working morning, noon, and night. We basically overhauled the entire house. There were deadlines to moving out of the old house and it was obvious we weren't going to get the new house finished in time, so we ended up moving our whole house into storage and living with my mom for about 8 days. Then we went ahead and moved all of our stuff again into the new house with quite a bit needing to be done still, but we could go ahead and live in the house and still get the projects done while living here. The biggest projects being the kitchen and the railings!

Porter's all time favorite TV channel was HGTV (and maybe Disney too). He loved watching home makeover shows and enjoyed sharing his own ideas about this new house. The day of his accident I was downtown shopping and had texted some pictures to him of ideas for his bathroom. He needed a couple items and I wanted his opinion, which he gladly shared with me. One of his last texts to me before he died was him exclaiming what an inspiration he knew he was in home decor! It made me laugh, because I could hear the tone in his voice right through the text.

Well, now the reason for this post. We have lived in our new home for 6 months and finally today (June 9th) the kitchen is complete! We had the cabinets distressed, and re-stained and a new back splash put up. So many times through this project I could just feel Porter sitting on the stairway watching things happen and making sure they were happening correctly. Our main worker, Juan Avalar, who has become such a good friend through all of our projects even felt like Porter was here helping him make decisions and helping him get the stain color just right on the cabinets. Juan wasn't afraid to talk about Porter and did so often. Juan liked to talk about where Porter is, and about families and death. Juan isn't a member of our same faith but has talked to Mark about looking for religion for his family. Mark and I have shared our feelings about our faith and beliefs. It just may be time for a visit from the missionaries.

This photo was taken BEFORE any changes were made.  Actually this photo was taken before we even purchased the home.

When Porter was alive he kept telling me that the cabinets needed to be darker than the paint on the walls and I was having a hard time agreeing with his opinion. I was envisioning light colored cabinets to contrast with the dark countertops. As Juan worked and worked many hours in getting the color just right he finally got it perfect. I love my cabinets! They aren't light or dark. Just a nice, warm color. The important thing is they don't blend with the wall color. There is a nice contrast and I wish I could tell Porter in person that he really knew what he was talking about and that I was wrong.  Now that it's all completed we feel like Porter has been here in Spirit to see the kitchen completed and we feel certain he approves.

I love you Porter♥