This is the true story of a big disastrous leak with a happy ending.

One day our upstairs bathroom suddenly began to rain into our kitchen. It was bad enough that it penetrated a layer of ceiling plaster with drywall on top. The good news is, we got it fixed really quickly. The better news is, my husband tore down the rest of the double hung ceiling, and the walls too. Cut to one of those “while you’re at it you might as well…” situations. So here we are in early November with no ceiling, no walls, no floors, no countertop, or backsplash and lots of fun ideas spinning though my head.

Our goal is to have the kitchen at least 90% complete before Thanksgiving so that we can host my family here. Lofty goal for sure, but I’m feeling optimistic.

The good news is, we’ve gotten tons of support from a local tile shop: Ideal Tile and Kitchen of Philadelphia. They’ve been super helpful getting us materials in a very timely manner at fair prices.

So far we’ve picked out this 16x16 slate tile flooring…

and a Dekton countertop…

If you’re not familiar with Dekton, it’s a porcelain composite. Very durable, and also stain and heat proof. It gives all the marble feels without the marble maintenance and upkeep. A total win in my book. It’s supposed to be installed on the 21st (fingers crossed).

We’ll be keeping our kitchen cabinets because even though they’re old, they’re solid wood with inset doors and they’re in pretty good shape. We have a painter lined up and ready to go, so I’m currently trying to decide on a color.

These are two of the main contenders…Campfire Ash and Toasty Grey (both Behr). I’m trying to land in that oyster meets mushroom place. Currently leaning towards Campfire (left), but I’m also considering getting a sample of Silver Drop which is in the same realm.

We shall see. All I can say is, I won’t be deciding on color until all the kitchen lights have been installed. Because as you know, lighting drastically affects paint color. And if you don’t know, now ya know.

Labor has been a slow moving process due to the demolition, the reframing for straight walls, and getting all the electric up to code. We should be on our way to four walls, a ceiling, lights, and a floor this week. Fingers crossed all goes as smoothly as possible from here on out. Luckily we’ve got awesome contractors on board who have been a Godsend throughout this process. If you’re local (Philly) and you’re in need of an A+ team let me know.

That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next week with November’s artist of the month. Meanwhile, please send me all your good reno vibes so we can keep this baby on track for Thanksgiving.

Wishing you a beautiful week ahead.

-Sara