It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Merry Christmas to the Ryals – remodeling is finally picking up steam.

The biggest hang up with the kitchen was the counters.

These are faux butcher block counters. Caring for real wood is like having another child to care for. 

Supposedly, we have such odd taste that only one other person in the Tri-Cities has ever ordered the countertops we picked. I am not sure what that says about our style.

But hallelujah! They finally arrived and are being installed this week, as should my Ikea farmhouse sink, which is the only reason we decided to remodel in the first place.

We saved $70 bucks since we found the sink in the clearance section, but we are spending quite a bit more installing it. (Insert crazy face emoji.)

This will be our coffee bar. A friend made the floating shelves. If you look close you can see the hooks for coffee mugs. 

We decided to buy new appliances. I went with stainless. Not my first choice, but the price was unbeatable. I'll take any cleaning tips for those. 

More big news includes the demo of the bathroom.

 Our original plan included a new floor, but we decided to redo the wood floor and keep the farmhouse feel. The plan also include storage shelves made out of old pallets. Take that HGTV!

The bathroom was very outdated, but that wasn’t the reason we decided to begin this project.

There wasn’t a shower. I don’t know about you, but I can’t take a bath before work every morning.

Right now the bathroom has been gutted, and we have worked with the contractor and his crew to create a usable space.

Seeing this bare wall and all these materials makes me nervous. 

Michael and I agree on most things when it comes to the farmhouse. But there have been a few Pinterest ideas I love and he does not and gives me the look. But I give him the look back, bat my eyes and then tell him to go hunt. It’s a weird negotiation process but it works.

Now we need to use January and February to finish painting. I’m planning a painting party. So all of you who said you were interested in helping, bring your leftover Christmas cookies and wine, clear your schedule and let’s get this done!

We love parties and decided to have the family over for chili. So what if it was freezing cold!

Bundle up the children!

They loved eating in front of the fire. 

Around 20 family members showed up, ate chili and roasted smores.