The Light at the End of the Tunnel

The house renovation has slowed down a little bit due to Brian's increased hours at work. However, we are finally almost done! :)
It's been a long 2 months for me and I'm so excited to have my kitchen back soon. I don't think I ever want to eat a microwave meal again. Seriously!
Anyway, here is what we have been working on lately:

1. The Ceiling- We finally finished the entire thing and I think I'm in love!

This is a view of our living/dining room.

Close-up of our ceiling

View from the living/dining room into the kitchen

It took a lot of time to put up this ceiling, but I'm so happy we did. It was definitely worth it. In case you are interested in doing something similar to your house, here are the details.

We bought tongue and groove pine boards from Lowe's. Click HERE to see exactly what we purchased. It was $10.97 a package and each package should cover 14 sq. ft. I recommend buying a few extra packages because there were some pieces that were damaged (you can return them though). 

After we finished installing the ceiling we sealed it with this:

You could also use Polyurethane, but there were two reasons we chose this instead. 1. It has no odor. You aren't breathing in a bunch of fumes, which in my opinion is important. 2. It is water-based. Overall, it is much better for you especially if you have children. I also read online that the Polyurethane smells pretty strong for awhile. We applied one coat. You could probably do more, but we decided that we were fine with one coat (or maybe it was because our arms were really sore afterwards).

2. Our Farmhouse Sink:

This is a dream come true. I think it's beautiful and I can't wait to wash dishes in it. :)

Brian had to build a frame inside the cabinet to support it. 

The most terrifying part of it all was that Brian had to cut the cabinet in order to put the sink in. If you cut it wrong the first time, you don't get a second chance. And let me tell you, sink bases are not cheap, so it's a little scary. Thankfully Brian is skilled and was able get it right the first time. 

We have our appliances installed and our floors are completely finished. The cabinets will be finished being installed today and tomorrow we get countertops! :) We moved all our living/dining room furniture in last night and we are getting rid of our lovely pod. All we have left to do is the little stuff. We have some sheetrock work to do on the half walls surrounding the stairs. I need to finish a little painting. We need to put trim up and then we will be completely finished and it will be time for us to tackle our next big project ;)

When everything is completed, be rest assured I will be posting before and after pictures. It's quite the transformation.