Just upgraded Expression Engine to version 1.3. It’s a great upgrade – especially the update to the Control Panel. The new Control Panel looks very slick. Some of the new features including the Quick Save option are great. I recommend any EE users upgrade to the new version (a bunch of bugs are fixed too). If you don’t use EE then there is also a trial version you can have a look at.

So the first post about our renovations. Now I know I am turning into a boring old fart. So kitchens huh? Well serendipity was at work at the first step – finding the kitchen has turned out to be really not overly painful. I am still waiting for the other ten pound weight to fall on my head because it seems to have been remarkably simple. Last weekend we started looking. We went to a kitchen place. Got a kitchen measured up and thought ‘Cool we have the first quote – now lets get a couple more.’

But during the week as I thought about the kitchen we have got specc’ed I more and more decided I didn’t like it and it sucked. Which was bad because we’d set a budget and the kitchen was in the budget and if that was all we were going to get for the budgeted money then we were going to be fairly unhappy about the kitchen – which to me is a fairly fundamental problem as it is room I spend at least 50% of the time I am not on the computer in.

So today we ventured out again to go to deepest darkest Auburn and Libcombe to look at two other kitchen places. Needless to say hopes were not high. We detoured via a hardwood floors place where we also choose the wood we wanted for our floorboards – kempas we like or maybe red gum. Given that the red gum is twice the price of the kempas I figure Lu is going to settle on that. And the hardwood flooring place also had a Greek Orthodox shrine packed with icons and crosses in one corner. Somewhat odd but I digress. We picked up some wood samples and on we went.

So we’re progressing – slowly up Parramatta Rd – which is a total fucking gridlock nightmare with all the people heading out of town for the long weekend – and I spot a kitchen place. At the same time Lu spots a Fisher & whatever they are called showroom. We both yelled ‘Stop!’ and Lu proceeded to demonstrate that it is never too late to want to become a rally car driver by crossing two lanes of Parramatta Rd without indicating and making a squealing left hand turn into the car park.

After some time recovering from Lu’s driving we proceeded to investigate. Turned out the damn appliance showroom was closed but the kitchen place was open. We strolled on in and propositioned Natalie – the rather foxy (stop reading for this sentence or two Lu okay?) German receptionist – to see if someone could design us a kitchen. And low and behold the first stroke of luck – Joe the kitchen design man had a cancellation and off we went. And design he did. We told him the budget and he looked worried. Then even worse from a budget point of view he persuaded Lu that ‘we must use granite benchtops.’ And I though to myself ‘dear god I am not going to leave here with my Visa intact.’

Then Lu started choosing stuff and I just knew I’d not walk out of there with any of my Visa card intact. She liked this kitchen and annoyingly as the work progressed so did I. Finally three hours later we have a kitchen designed and off Joe trots to print off the quote. He comes back and I close my eyes and whisper a little invocation to the home renovation powers-that-be that the quote won’t make me bitter and disappointed and hideously unhappy about choosing another kitchen because I like this one so much and we can’t afford it… I open my eyes and read the final number and go ‘Oh okay. We can afford that.’ And then ‘OH GOD WE CAN AFFORD THAT.’ And to top it off Joe then goes ‘and that figure includes installation and delivery.’ Well you could have knocked me over with a feather. And I just know I am going to regret this next statement – ‘and I thought this renovation business was supposed to be hard?’

P.S. The kitchen is black. Jet black marble benchtops. Glossy black doors. White panels and probably white splashbacks. Lots of beautiful black.