I Wanted To Go Green

When we first walked through our house as potential buyers we knew we would want to take out the wall between the kitchen and family room. The kitchen was 30+ years old and would need some changes. So for years now I have been thinking and daydreaming about how our kitchen remodel would be. And I wanted to go green.

Bamboo floors- a fast growing hardwood, awesome! And then we heard from several people that bamboo floors do not do well in New Mexico because of how dry we are here. No to bamboo floors.

Paper counter tops- made from recycled paper and pressed, supposedly looks similar to stone. The company that used to sell them no longer carries the product because as it turned out, they are not great in wet areas. I know, that seems obvious. The magazines I had read about them in said they were a great "green" option but apparently they were unaware that the warranty had been dropped. The recycled glass countertops? Jason thought they were ugly.

Cabinets- I liked the color of our old cabinets just fine. I looked into revamping them with pull out drawers and new doors and hardware. As it turns out it was cheaper to just get completely new cabinets. So I was excited to go with a locally made and locally owned cabinet company. We came to find out they make the pieces in the northwest and stain them in the south and assemble them here in Los Lunas (just south of Albuquerque). Our cabinet installers claim Gov. Richardson attracted the company to NM and lets them put out a lot more VOCs than they were aloud in NV. Hmmm.

Appliances- Energy Star. Which are expensive. We ended up buying appliances that were scratch and dent or out of the box which has really saved us a lot of money. And money is kind of green, right?!

Dishes- pick out one plate, cup and bowl for each person and wash them after every meal. I tried that for maybe a week or two before I caved and bought a bunch of paper/Styrofoam plates, cups and bowls.

So I really wanted to go green. Well... we have painted the walls green, Soothing Avocado to be exact. So there.

Have you seen the Goode Family? I think I'll go take a shower in my rain barrel.
*A quick note since I wrote this post almost a week ago. First of all, I couldn't find the wide angle lens so you could see the whole kitchen with the cabinets now installed. Believe me, that was not without some heartache and a couple of trips by the company to fix things. They will have to come out one more time still. But yes, the walls are painted and the cabinets are basically in.

We have recently found out that maybe we did NOT have to do all that digging. It is a long story and an issue of the city saying one thing and the electric company saying another. Again I feel crummy even complaining at all. It's not just one thing, it is the layer of everything happening. So maybe I didn't have to take out all those trees, kills bushes and flowers and bulbs, not let my children go out in the back yard for what seems like forever now, my garden over growing with weeds until I can get to it. And let's not even start with the amount of money spent for that ditch alone. The worst is the kitchen would be already done long before NOW. Aaaaauuuugh!!!!!!!

Serenity now! Serenity now.