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As you may have read in yesterday’s post, the first two days of my aunt & uncle’s visit didn’t go as smoothly as I anticipated. But after a little bit of help from Lumber Liquidators, Wednesday (or Staycation Day 3) was a BIG day for the Ugg-Duck. We didn’t know exactly when my new walnut butcher block countertops would arrive to my local store, so the plan was to keep ourselves busy until we got the call. In an all-hands-on-deck situation, it’s kind of amazing what a group of people can accomplish in just a few hours.
My aunt was busy painting all of the new molding in the dining room…
… while I made a makeshift table outside to do a couple more coats on the upper cabinet doors …
… and my uncle and Timmy organized my garage and completed my work bench (in a fit of frustration, I sort of left it 75% complete in the garage and distracted myself with other things for a long while – which they both promptly made fun of me for not finishing, but hey… it’s done!). To think, now you can actually move around in that one-car pileup.
They also fixed the powder room light fixture and hung a new mirror (you’ll catch that in tomorrow’s video update!). In short, these guys were badasses, and I was along for the ride. And oh yeah – they removed my (now OLD!) kitchen countertop, too (more on that gross shit in the corner in another post… you know how I like to show you the UGLY truth of owning & remodeling an old home!).
The back yard is probably less redneck than the front, don’t you think?
Eventually, we got the call and it was time to pick up my butcher block. We had a little assistance getting the two heavy (!) blocks into the truck (My uncle wanted to prove his Superman strength and just plain lift them, one by one, into the truck. I’m glad I was convincing enough to save their backs & get heavy-duty help at least this once).
It was a true nail-biter driving the six minutes back to my house. But eventually, we had our first reveal in the front yard:
And then, a dry fit in the house:
If you’re wondering, yes: I petted my butcher block. More than few times.
Up until this point, the weather had been a bit iffy. We weren’t sure how long the rain would hold out for the rest of the week (spoiler: it didn’t), so everyone wanted to get a move on with cutting things as soon as possible. I’ll have more on the specifics we learned about the angled corner cut in a post for you next week. By mid-afternoon, I had to run off to class (to my surprise, it started a week earlier than what was listed on my course calendar). My uncle subsequently cut the corner angle and remaining pieces for the counters near the stove and fridge over the next several hours. I came home to an empty house smelling like sawdust.
Which is just about the happiest damn smell ever.
More Butcher Block
Butcher block is a beautiful way to add warmth to a kitchen. See how we installed my butcher block counters during the kitchen remodel and more info about how to care for them!
Kitchen Remodeling Guides
Yayy! excited to see the rest of this update :)
Love- I would totally pet that countertop too!! In fact, when we got our new countertops a couple of years ago, I believe I did pet them!! Can’t wait to see the end results- oooh lala it’s going to be fantastic!
The walnut butcher block counter top looks great and so much progress in a short time. Can’t wait to see the final project all done. but I know that won’t be for a bit.
Petting–totally understandable! When I saw the picture I said (in my mind) “Oh yeah baby”. SO excited for you!!!
Question for you–Where did family stay while in town and how did you feed them?
Wow! That countertop is AMAZING!! I can’t wait to see the finished kitchen! :)
OMG the suspense is killing me!!!! I just want the finished photos already!
Ha, I’m sorry – too many photos for one post! I’ll have a little house tour video tomorrow that will give you more of a sneak peek.
It’s going to look so good!!!!! I <3 butcherblock!!
Oh that butcher block is gorgeous! I think I would sleep on it at night!
Those counters look delicious!
I wanna pet it toooo!
I’m a sentimentalist, but your Aunt and Uncle showing up to work so hard for you is just so heartwarming. You have a great family! And the countertop is gorgeous!
I can’t even begin to imagine what that ride home with the two counter top sections must have been like. And it looks great. You’re blessed to have family helping you the way they have been.
How totally thrilling it must have been just to actually see what it looked like in place!! I am happy for you :-) :-) and it looks awesome!! Beautiful!! So nice you had all that help! :-)
How are your walnut countertops holding up? And would you install them again? I replaced my center island with a walnut countertop and painted the cabinet a dark blue. My idea was to replace the rest of the counter (an L sorta like yours) with granite, but haven’t really found any that I love enough to do so. So, now I’m considering replacing the rest with walnut butcher block as well, and painting the remaining cabinets this off-white..
All of this also leads me to wanting to replace my kitchen floors, lol. They’re the thin plank (1″ or 2″) oak.
I still love them and get compliments on them ALL the time! I covered a few more posts about them since I get asked about them a lot. In 2016, I covered a few more details and updated pics, such as how I treat them and how they look around the sink (where moisture is the biggest challenge), check out this post.
Thanks! I’m pricing out the cost of having an installer. I figure once I have the quote I can convince my dad to come and help, lol. He helped me build a deck last fall, but thought the mitered corner would be too easy to mess up to try.