Kitchens

Mom, we love you, but not this much.  There are trusses delivered and sitting up at the Momplex right now.  And nobody wants to see that roof go up more than me, but with temperatures in the heat of the day rising to "extreme cold" with a feels like temperature of -26 degrees below zero, even if we did love our Mom's enough to work regardless of the weather, our tools don't love Mom that much.  At these temperatures, air compressors act funny, nailers don't nail, drill batterie

I wish I could say we are one roof closer to Mom moving into the Momplex. But we are instead dealing with record smashing cold in Interior Alaska, according to the Washington Post, my toes, and any other exposed skin as I run from the house to the garage.And we are not one roof closer to building two homes for our Moms.  Not today.  But we are also NOT $2000 closer to being out of money to keep working on the Momplex.  You know this crazy Momplex dream is what keeps me driving

I've been dreading writing this post. This is not easy.I hope you understand that we are real people, working with real limitations on a budget, and there is no midnight crew making things happen magically. It's just us, one family, trying to build two houses in one for our Moms. We have been waiting and waiting for a break in the weather to put the roof on the Momplex. The trusses are sitting there, ready to shed snow, if we could just get a week of no snow, no wind, and decent temperatu

So where were we ....

We got kitchen cabinets built, 

then we DIYed a laminate countertop, 

Now it's time to install them!!!

Most countertops are just glued down, but remember us? And our overbuilding, do-it-right-the-first-time issues?  

Yeah, glue just not going to be enough for us.  I know it would work just fine .... but why not add some screws too?  Help us.

Thank you for your comments and advice, real ideas that have helped shape the form of our first Momplex kitchen layout.

It took us two tries to get you all the deets on installing the Microhood ... good thing we got two moms and two Momplex units to finish up!

Microhoods to me are like toilets or power lines or my big toes....  function over form here, especially when space is at a premium.

The good news about every microhood I've been a part of installing is they come with pretty darn good instructions and hanging hardware.

The tem

For me, the sawdust is where it is AT.

Wood is my medium of choice.  I love how easy to cut wood is, how naturally beautiful it is.  I love how it smells when you work with it, I love how functional it becomes when you use it.  I love that wood is renewable, and while it renews, it renews our air.  I love working with wood.

But while taking on a Momplex, we've had to work with alot of other mediums.  Styrofoam blocks, poured concrete, and drywall. &

You know how you sometimes get that super annoying feeling that you are forgetting something? Well, it's been nagging on us for a while now. What have we forgotten? There's something that's been put on the back burner and forgotten about, and it's about to boil over.

UPDATE: Congrats to megcaton for winning this giveaway! This giveaway is now closed, thank you to everyone who entered! A very Happy Friday to you!  

I'm so delighted today to share with you one of my favorite sawdust-free projects with you that we've done on the Momplex.  Of course, I'm partial to all things made of wood - but really, the same basic skills that help you make wood projects nice, translate to other mediums - like tile!

We've been working hard a