Olympia Field Trip

4th and 5th Grade field trip to Olympia.

tiles are in!

We finished the tile work with help from Gerrit who has done tiling before. We also did quite a bit of touch up painting on the trim. We are also getting our cabinets restained and that is about half done.

We got carried away painting.....

This last weekend we painted the kitchen. Then we decided....since all
the supplies were out, let's tackle the dining room too! In the 12
years we've lived here, the dining room has been under used and, well,
ignored. It was previously two shaded of off- white. And despite being
seldom used, was somehow dingy and scuffed up. It's now quite spiffy,
with chocolate brown lower, and a pretty fawn color above. Chair rail
and baseboard got a new coat of white trim. We're very pleased with it
(last step- we want a new chandelier to replace the dated brass-n-
glass one we have...but that will wait for a bit).

Kitchen design

For anyone wondering, we chose tile option #1 (see below). Tile has
been ordered, but we spent much of this last weekend painting. The
kitchen is now a slatey blue (although in all honesty, I thought it
was going to be a little bit greyer than it turned out, but I still
like it). Tile should be here in about a week or so, so we hope to be
done, done, done by end of January.

Bellingham

The boys and I spent 3 nights in Bellingham at nice A frame cabin on Sandy Point. We walked around downtown, WWU, Fairhaven, and even did some shopping at Bellis Fair. On New Years Eve day we went up to Mt. Baker and saw the snow. Meg's cousin Matt's wedding was New Years Eve in Bellingham. Meg and Ann joined us for the wedding and we were all able to stay up late and see the new year in. Here are a few pics. more on my flickr page.

Kitchen Design Advice

We've been working on a kitchen refresh, and are close to being done! But now I'm in a design quandry, and need advice/input from all you family and friends.

We've got new countertops that are dark chocolate, fairly matte finish (made of a cool product called Paperstone). The appliances are mostly black (double oven, cooktop, and fridge) except the dishwasher (won't replace until it breaks). The sink is dark grey granite. Cabinets are honey-ish oak, and floors are oak with a darker brown stain.

My design indecision comes down to the tile backsplash and wall paint color. Walls are current eggplant (I know it sounds weird, but it looked good with prior tile/counters). I feel like with all the brown, we need a splash of color. We have good lighting in the space, although it gets a little dark under the cabinets.

Here is current state (taken on the iPhone, so kinda blurry....Bill has the good camera).

Option One: 1" glass tiles in a mix of almost black, mocha brown, slate blue, and super light light celery green.


Paint would be either a light celadon, or a slate color.

Option 2: mixed tile - various sized, and composed of different shades of browns with some reddish tones and a beige granite. I like that it brings together many of the other shades in the kitchen, but fear it may be, well, toooooo much more brown! Walls would be neutral/light.

Option 3: mixed tile - various sized, and composed of blue, greeny-grey, and a beige granite. This one is nice because it introduces different sizes, and also material texture. Wall color would most likely be blue (note, blue paint chip is softer blue-greyish than the photo implies)

Here is options 2 & 3 against counter/cabinets, for context.

So.....what do you think? Now is your chance to influence the Nyland kitchen? Leave us a comment here on the blog, or on Meg's FB wall. Thanks!

Xmas pictures

We had a great time with the family at the beachhouse for Christmas. Highlights include:

Walk at the state park on Hood Canal in the fog.

Excellent appetizer spread on Christmas Eve.

Lots of Video game playing.

Standing Rib Roast Christmas Dinner

Scrabble and other board games

Crafts including the rundown gingerbread shack that the kids made before we got there.(picture on previous post)

Jess and I had an excellent xmas day kayak around the island at sunset.

White Elephant present exchange with many strange presents.

We came home on Saturday and went to dinner at our friends, the Knutsons. Jess is spending a couple of nights at Malik's house. On Sunday we are going to Mukilteo to have dinner with all the DesJardiens. Monday we get our new refrigerator and on Tuesday the boys will be heading North for a few days in Bellingham while Meg has to work.