The benefits of a leak...

Back in February, just as I was getting ready to go and visit Holly and Matt in Jersey City, a crazy thing happened.  I was in the kitchen making Tiffy's food to take to Grandma and Papa's....she was staying with them while I was gone...anyways...I was cooking and doing dishes at the same time and "lo and behold" (that's a direct quote from my mom) I noticed that my checkbook was a little wet (it was sitting on the edge of the counter) so I wiped it off. I continued my culinary task for Tiffy (CTT) and noticed that, yet again, my checkbook was wet. So again I wiped it off and went about my business.  And I was either experiencing a "hat trick" or "three strikes and you're out" but I noticed it was wet yet again. What the heck was going on??  I looked up and noticed a big bubble like thingie in my ceiling above the kitchen counter directly above my checkbook.  Ah ha...we have a leak. It was coming from the upstairs bathroom down to the kitchen counter (thankfully it was clean/clear water).

I quickly called the plumber who then called the restoration company who had to come and set up for an emergency dryout in our house. Yikes, I'm flying out in the morning, what am I going to do?  "No problem they said, it will take the whole weekend to dry out the house so we can just remove all of the big fans when you get back".

So I figured if I am gonna have to file an insurance claim I might as well take advantage of the different trades coming in to do the repairs and do some upgrades we have wanted to do for a long time...after all, we have lived here since 1987 and man oh man was our house dated. Total 80's house. That was about to change.

Here are some great before and after pictures....

We removed the drop ceiling and added...

Recessed lighting...on a dimmer no less.

I'm not a big fan of granite for my counter-tops (man I never realized they looked so awful)...
so I decided to keep my cute white tiles and get the counter tops stripped, cleaned, and re-grouted...amazing!

After!!

I had always thought about a backsplash..I think they look so beautiful...

I think I found just the right one.

I love, love, love my backsplash.

Notice my beautiful white cabinets. I love them too!

No more yucky linoleum...we have pretty wood floors now.

We put this beautiful flooring in the entire down stairs...I think it looks so rich.

Looking from the top of the stairs down to the livingroom

The finished product

Holly and Matt introduced me to accent walls..our color choices.

I decided on this color.

So when all is said and done...it was a long 6 weeks, Tiffy was at my mom and dad's house the whole time but so worth it. I love the way our house looks now. So pretty, so updated, so fun to be home and just enjoy it.