Slow Progress

So, it's gotten a bit tougher to write posts because our visible progress has seemed to get really slow.  We have painted 435 coats of paint on the paneling and it's still looking a little stripey... anyone with any advice?? We got our first coat of white on the built-ins today and it looks FABulous! Definitely needs at least one more coat, but the difference between the dark wood and hunter green and the white is huge! Here is a "remember the before...." photo of the den: 

Here are the fresh and beautiful built-ins! (The doors will be put back on, so it will be solid white)

The cute Chelsea-sized roller I used on the built-ins! So much faster/easier than a brush!

Here are the walls now.. see how there's a faint stripe after 2 coats over the OBP? Very interesting...

I also have to give a GINORMOUS shout-out to my mom for her help with the new cooktop.  The old one worked, but it only had 2 burners, was about 20 years old, and shook the whole kitchen when the downdraft fan was turned on.  Seen here...

We bought a new one that was the same brand and size and everything that... didn't fit.  

So close...

 So, mom helped us buy a jigsaw to cut the laminate out a little bit to make enough room for it to slide down.  This was definitely a 3 person job, as the cooktop weighs about 75 pounds. It is huge when you take the large fan underneath into account.  We finally got it in and it looks really pretty.  We are planning on upgrading our counter tops to probably black granite, which I think will only make it look even prettier. Here it is in the hole:

Hi Brent!

So what's the problem now? Well, it doesn't work... We got it all hooked up and everything and... nothing.  Not a light, nothing.  The Jenn Air people are going to come take a look at it soon, so keep your fingers crossed it will work! Wedding season is about to come into full swing, so we will be pretty busy these upcoming weekends.  We will update as much as we can!