Not sure if many people are reading today (due to the impending turkey-related holiday) but we wanted to stop in with a quick kitchen update. We officially got our counters templated (aka: measured so they can be fabricated and installed within the next hopefully two weeks). And this finally means our sinkless days are finally numbered. Huzzah! For anyone who missed the counter discussion, here’s what we’re getting.
When they came out to template we did learn that we would need reinforcement to support the 12″ overhang on two sides of the peninsula, so they quoted us $300 to build in some steel rods when they fabricate the counter or offered up the DIY option of buying some brackets (either decorative ones that will be seen or hidden steel ones – we’re leaning towards the latter) that we can add ourselves… to the tune of about $15.
Guess which option we’re going with? Haha. Yes, option two. So we’ll share the process of installing those brackets (four on the long side and two on the short side) before the counters go in, along with all of the other kitchen projects that we have on our “Soon” list (demo-ing out the tile backsplash, removing the spent plywood backing and adding cement board in its place in preparation for backsplash tiling, etc). And of course we’ll be back tomorrow with some sappy Thanksgiving goodness for ya (hope there’s time for you to stop by between stuffing and pie).
karen says
omg..clara’s video’s are awesome!! what a smarty pants! I vote more clara vids :)
Diana @ Boy + Girl says
One step closer to having counter tops! Yay for you guys! I think you made a great decision regarding the supports. I love the look of a decorative bracket if done right. And lets face it. You guys will do it right.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving!
heather says
I took today off of work, so I was thrown off and forgot you guys were still posting. I sat down to look something up on Facebook and saw your post! Woo to the hoo. Super snowy day (here) update from YHL land. We had 4″ at 5:45 this morning. I love it.
I’m in the process of finishing up the painting in the office today, updating the blog about it once I’m done, playing with the pooches on the day off, and laughing at my antsy husband who was building a retaining wall until he woke up to it entirely covered in snow. We’re at about 8″ right now.
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- eight inches of snow! Have fun!
xo,
s
heather says
Haha yep, it almost goes above my boots by now. I’d say we’ve topped out between 8-10″. It’s great snowball snow too. It doesn’t really seem like a lot, but it’s enough to keep me from driving around today until the roads are cleared a little better and my studded snow tires are on!
Susan M. says
Gotta love that she already makes sure to measure twice. So cute!
Amy @ A New Old House says
Whew- I almost thought you weren’t going to post today! Those of us stuck in the office today are very thankful you did- a bright spot in this S-L-O-W day!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Lauren says
ok just STOP IT. Clara is TOO CUTE FOR WORDS. I can’t handle it anymore! I hope your sweet family has the happiest of Thanksgivings! Gobble gobble.
Jen @ The Decor Scene says
I’m here!!! YAY counters in about 2 weeks. That is awesome!!! Can’t wait to see them. So you are going with hidden brackets instead of pretty ones for all to see?
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, hidden will look more balanced since the three chairs on the long side of the peninsula will be centered on the counter (and not on the cabinetry under it, since there’s an overhang). So hard to explain, but we want things to line up and not look staggered and off!
xo,
s
Jen @ The Decor Scene says
I can totally understand that. Makes sense. Happy Thanksgiving to you, John, Clara & Burger!!! Enjoy! :)
Mary B says
Love the videos! My 3yr. old Wyatt has a “Clara Crush” (sorry, Will Bower :) Every time I hit play on her vids, he comes running to watch “Baby Clara”. Loving all the kitchen reno – we have a 4 yr. old house that I love, but I was never crazy about our backsplash – so looking fwd to seeing how that’s done. Happy Thanksgiving – I’m thankful for the little break you give my SAHM days!
Mary B
Barbara says
I take it with all the remodeling, you won’t be having Thanksgiving at your house! If you are, you are brave soldiers!
It’s hard for me to believe Clara has gotten so big so quickly. It seems like yesterday that we were waiting for you to have her!
Give Burger a Thanksgiving kiss for all of us here…and happy turkey day to your family!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Barbara! Happy thanksgiving to you too! As for Thanksgiving, we’re doing a little dessert thing, but thankfully it’s nothing too heavy duty! Haha.
xo,
s
Wrenaria says
Cute videos. Looking forward to seeing your counters in place!
Darcy says
Happy Thanksgiving yous guys!! Sorry — thats my Philly comin out!! LOL!
That Clara video is about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! I definitely need to bring out the tape measure more so my little guy can say tape measure too!! The cute thing he’s been saying recently is “snow, snow, everywhere” and “turkey – gobble gobble!”
Being the super deal seekers that you are, do you have big shopping plans for Black Friday? Or will you stay safely home?
YoungHouseLove says
We have actually never really gotten into black Friday stuff since we extend family stuff a few days since folks are in from out of town. Maybe we’ll end up at Target or something, but no crazy getting up at 2am or anything. Haha.
xo,
s
Meg@Keeping up with the Jenks' says
Is it super crazy for me to say that I just love her! I guess since she and Isla June are just a month apart, it gives her a special place in my heart- I love seeing what new stuff she is doing!
Oh, and P.S., she’s brilliant- but you knew that, right?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man I love your daughter’s name so much!!!
xo,
s
Mari says
I have a question from Monday’s post when you took down the upper cabinets. Now that we can see the whole wall, how can your open shelving be symmetrical when there is less space to the right of the future exhaust fan/apparatus and more space to the left? I just can’t envision it now. Will one side of the shelving be longer than the other?
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, it will be balanced but not perfectly symmetrical if that makes sense (the objects that we put on the open shelving will make sense of things and add visual balance). So many other things in the room will be perfectly symmetrical (there will be 14″ of open wall space on either side of the sink for example) so we think it’ll be a nice mix.
xo,
s
barb says
Will the painted fireplace hearth be replaced with someother material? More cork or stone or tile?
YoungHouseLove says
We’d definitely love to find a complementary tile and redo it!
xo,
s
Izabela says
I am reading and Clara is adorable :)
Senora H-B says
I’m here, digging the Clara videos. She is so freaking cute! So adorable.
Kacie says
What a good little measurer! Hope you guys have a wonderful holiday!
Kacie
http://www.acollectionofpassions.com/
Kristen says
Ha, Silly Petersiks! Of course we will all be checking in every day (even on a holiday)! because we LOVE YHL and we can never get enough! :-)
Side note, I didn’t notice the label on the first video, and was reading the text where you said it would give us a good idea of what templating counter tops really means. I thought to myself, well good, (since we’re redoing our kitchen in January), this will be helpful.
And then…well Clara was measuring something, right?! So cute!
Enjoy your turkey day and love to all of you! :-)
Ariane says
You just did the perfect post for me to explain why I love saying “Good job John”.
I’m French and I spent a year as an Au Pair (up in Connecticut) back in 1994-1995 (I know — no need to say that the kids I used to take care of are now both in college …) Anyways ! At the time, Laura was 3 1/2 and John was 19 months old and … you guessed it ! The same way you say “Good job Clara” in the video, we would always encourage John with a lot of “Good job John” !!
The thing is I still say it now that I don’t have little John around, and he is very proud this phrase has now entered my ordinary language.
You now have the story, and you know why I wrote John a “Good job John” once (and I probably will do it again).
And happy Thanksgiving ! take care !
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, makes total sense! Love it.
xo,
s (and good job John)
kim says
Love how Burger hides under the table as she approaches with the tape measure. I’m the mom of 3 boys and a boston terrier who also knows when to hide under the table. Such good dogs. And C. is pretty adorable.
kim says
The dog hides under the table…not me. Hope that was clear, lol. However, I may or may not be guilty of hiding in my closet.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, got it!
xo,
s
Sarah says
So cute! Clara must make your DIY hearts nearly burst with pride. :) Happy Thanksgiving!
Lesley L says
Super sweet! She is a little DIY’er in the making.
elaine K says
I love tape measures and use them sometimes in my work as a pediatric PT–they are a great distraction when you have to stretch tight muscles. Love the videos!
Laura says
I think you guys are smart enough to think of this, but I’m just sharing because we thought our building crew would have thought of this and didn’t….. We went the bracket route to support our overhang on our kitchen island. The *helper* installed the brackets but we weren’t there to inspect them before the countertop install. He didn’t make sure that they were perfectly 90 degrees, or level or whatever. The countertop installers applied some sort of adhesive, slapped the countertop (quartz) on and left. When we arrived at the job site we had brackets that didn’t meet flush with the bottom of the counter, with a gap of adhesive, and basically they were not supporting it. GRRRRRR….we tried bending them up by propping them up with boards for a few days, but ultimately they had to come back and fix it.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip! We are actually responsible for hanging the brackets ourselves so we an to use a spare piece of plywood laid across the cabinets to simulate counters so we can be sure the brackets are supporting it before the installers come!
xo,
s
Lynn says
My YHL reading knows no holiday. You guys post…I read. :)
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!!
Lynn
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Lynn! Happy thanksgiving to you too!
xo,
s
Kim says
She is so cute! Believe me, those are all real words, just not clearly spoken yet. Her verbal abilities are way up there! Bet she will be a great writer, too! Happy Thanksgiving!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, we always tell ourselves she’s talking in full paragraphs, we’re just not savvy enough to “get it” yet. Haha.
xo,
s
Gabbi says
Clara is just too dang cute!
And I love that you guys just got your countertops measured, because we did too! It’s a race to see who gets theirs installed first hahaha!
We need bracket support too because we are having an 18 inch overhang on our bar area. We are still undecided which route we’ll go…decorative or hidden. I am leaning towards hidden so that no one is banging their knees against any supports while sitting at the bar.
Can’t wait to see how your counters turn out!
Happy Thanksgiving! :)
Kristi says
WOOT-WOOT for counters in two weeks – that’s like no time at all!! What work do you have to complete for they are installed? Also – I am a new homeowner, so this may be a silly question – but are the new cabinets you installed for the peninsula attached or secured to the floor in any way?
Wishing you a very happy, safe, relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Those cabs are installed to the wall and to each other with a few long heavy-duty screws so they’re not going anywhere! As for what we have to do before counters, we still have to demo out the backsplash and replace the plywood behind it with backer board to get backsplash ready!
xo,
s
Lizz says
Happy Thanksgiving! I’ll be back to check tomorrow. :)
Hannah says
The counter installation and the redone cabinets are going to be the biggest transformation! I can’t wait to see. Are you going to be doing the cork floors last?
Clara is adorable, and she seems so patient! Can’t believe how much she has grown in the last 6 months that I have been reading your blog.
Have a great Thanksgiving!
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, floors will be nearly last since we don’t want them to be damaged or scratched during demo stuff or dripped on by paint.
xo,
s
Stephanie says
Looks like she has the tape measure skills down!
Just last year I got my eye cut open when someone retracted a tape measure and the metal tab sliced my eyeball! Talk about a freak accident!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh! So glad you’re ok!
xo,
s
Jillian@TheHumbleGourmet says
Yay for counters and sinks! I’m curious to know how the whole “feeding yourselves while having a not completely functional kitchen” thing is happening for you guys. Do you eat out a lot? Or no-cook options?
Love you blog! Been following it for about 2 years now!
YoungHouseLove says
We’re so lucky to have a functional stove and oven and fridge and dishwasher, so we can still eat at home like normal (well, normal-ish since we are sink and counter-less).
xo,
s
Procrastamom says
Clara is so adorable, mimicking what she sees the adults do. Reminds me of when my oldest daughter (now 20) was Clara’s age. I remember my Dad was building a deck at their cabin and my daughter would walk around the building site with a pencil behind her ear, just like her Grandad, and then she would make marks on the wood with her pencil right beside his marks. Made it very hard to see where to cut! If you want to thrill Clara to the max*, give her a real paintbrush and a bucket of water and let her “paint” things outside (when it’s warmer). She’ll probably spend hours doing what Mommy and Daddy do.
(* Oy, did I just type “to the max”??? What is this 1983?!)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, love it!
xo,
s
seansmom says
LOVE the Clara videos!! She’s quite the DIY diva, and reminds me so much of my son at that age…his favorite tv show was ‘This Old House’ and he’d run around the house saying “me Norm”!! ha ha!
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha, hilarious!
xo,
s
Leigh says
Clara is too stinkin cute! Love those videos. Happy Thanksgiving, Turkey Day or whatever you call it! Gobble Gobble
Brooke says
I’m in the middle of a kitchen make-over and just had our countertops installed yesterday (woo hoo!) We had to remove the bottom row of tile from our backsplash in order for the installers to get the countertops installed…and surprise surprise…the tile was placed directly onto the sheet rock…which means we had to tear out our ENTIRE kitchen’s backsplash to the studs. Boo!!! BOO!!! BOO!!! You should check out the pics on my blog…it ain’t pretty…
I can’t wait to see your countertops installed! I sincerely hope that there is some backer board behind your backsplash tile :)
YoungHouseLove says
There’s just plywood, so we have to do the same thing! Haha. Wish us luck!
xo,
s
dinah says
Oh man. Clara saying Tape Measure just killed me. I’m dying of cuteness overload! So sweet, thanks for sharing!
Jessica says
So cute! She is talking so well!
Jenn says
When we replaced our counters and decided to extend our breakfast bar further out, we had to use some supports. Because our breakfast bar sits between two walls, we picked up some L-brackets and attached them to the side walls and painted over them–they’re barely noticeable when we’re looking at the breakfast bar head-on.
Katherine says
Cute Clara! Do you have the best “purse” toy? The retractable sewing tape measure. I’ve seen them in different stores for about $1. Hours (okay, at least minutes!) of entertainment, and in a quiet way, too.
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! I have a sweet flowery one that she loves! Keeps her busy in the home improvement store while we debate options!
xo,
s
T.D. says
Absolutely loved how you worked Clara into this post! She is totally one of the stars of this sitcom?!
P.S. I really don’t think of you guys as a sitcom, in case the sarcasm wasn’t read right.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, the sarcasm came through perfectly. Love it. Clara is totally the star. And Burger too.
xo,
s
Alice H says
One time at band camp (no really it was like in 7th grade during Social Studies or something) I slit open my ring finger on my right hand with a tape measurer. I am not even sure why we had one in the classroom or what I was even doing with it. But it happened. I still have the scar to prove it. True story!
Clara is adorable saying tape measurer!!! You have a tool-loving little lady and I have a make-up brush loving little boy. My 21 month old watches me put on makeup every single day and he likes to steal my brushes. I hope he turns out ok ;-)
Have a great Thanksgiving!!
Linda says
Just back from Trader Joe – and of course had to stop by….and what a reward. Those videos are just great – I loved that Clara is already so handy with a tape measure, and of course measures twice! What a clever clever girl! And so grown up already with her long legs and that elegant dress.
That was great of the counter folks to offer a safe DIY option. I’d go with the hidden ones myself – less chance of banged knees or banged toddler heads, I’d guess.
Have a great holiday and please take some time for yourselves and the family!
sandrine says
clara is so cute and i always read your blog you guys everyday twice a day. happy turkey day to you.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks so much! Happy Thanksgiving right back atcha!
xo,
s
Veronika says
OMG I just wanna squeeze Clara!! So cute!
I’m really surprised she can say sooo many words at 1.5 years!!! Such a smart girl!
GreenInOC says
Clara’s adorable!!
Based on the videos, I’ve started her Christmas list:
http://madeinusaforever.com/hawotoytobox.html
http://www.ustape.com/servlet/-strse-21/U.S.A.-USA-american-dsh-made-contractor/Detail
http://www.etsy.com/listing/85134032/happy-tape-measure?ref=sr_gallery_3&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=tape+measure&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade
http://www.amazon.com/Hi-Viz-Yellow-Hard-Hat-Americana/dp/B003JNCXC8
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, cuuute!
xo,
s
Justine says
That video of Clara measuring is probably the cutest one I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying a lot considering I also have an 18 month old who is pretty dang cute. :) My son was born the same day as Clara and I love seeing her grow up on your blog along with my son (I did not mean that as creepy as it came out sounding!).
Happy Thanksgiving guys!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw happy Thanksgiving to Ckara’s birthday twin!
xo,
s
Nicole says
Love those belly pics! So cute! Crazy to see her walking around saying “tape measure” now. Haha!
MJB says
I am one of your – ahem – “older” readers with two middle-school kids. I miss the Clara age… everything is a discovery. I love how my kids are at this age too, but I sometimes long for the days when they thought everything was exciting.