Kitchen Reveal! The Before & After

The kitchen is practically, almost done! I’m not sure that it will ever be “done” but at this point it’s close enough to call the project complete. This has been a giant project for us. We did everything ourselves, except outside brick work, wall texture, and countertop installation. So, now it’s reveal time! I can’t wait to share it!

Before 3

Yes, if you opened the dishwasher, fridge, or oven while someone was at the cooktop they would be trapped!

First lets take a look at the kitchen before and what we were working with. I’m pretty sure this layout is the definition of the “one person kitchen”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now here’s a picture from taken as it looks now… Continue reading

The Kitchen Remodel – Part 4 Walls & Floors

Cabinet We’re finally starting to see the end of the tunnel on our kitchen remodel. Well, really at this point it’s more like a half-house remodel! At the last update, we had just finished framing walls and installing utilities. Next we installed insulation, sheetrock, mud & taped, textured, and prepped the floor. All of that was a little bit of an adventure, but then we get to the stuff that really starts to bring it together – floors, paint & lower cabinets! Below are pictures, with a more detailed explanation each step of the way.

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The Kitchen Remodel – Part 3 Rough Construction

The kitchen is slowly humming along and we’re now starting to build it back up. Rough construction includes framing, utility installation and other things that will get covered up by the “finished construction” phase. To get all this done on the weekend, we’ve been spending every Friday night at Home Depot.
Home Depot
As we get into this phase, the trade knowledge necessary to keep things moving is increasing. This means sometimes its easier for The Boyfriend to do things either by himself or with a friend who is also skilled. I’m a quick learner but we’ve realized where I can be most helpful is to be the “Logistics Officer” (we’ve definilty taken too many incident command classes). I’ve been picking up and dropping off rentals, making phone calls, running errands and making sure everyone gets fed and takes breaks. I’ve also been the lead sweeper/cleaner-uper, and hander-of things (especially into the attic or crawlspace). Of course i’m still assisting with the physical work a lot too, but dividing the work this way seems to be working out pretty well. Continue reading

The Kitchen Remodel – Part 2 Demolition

I hear from a lot of people that demo is fun. And The Boyfriend was the only one I knew that hated demo, and I mean HATES it. I thought it was just because he did construction for a living and was just tired of it. I mean, who doesn’t love breaking things? However, after our own demo I have come to agree with The Boyfriend. I think people that love demo either, 1. really just love the IDEA of demo (and maybe have never done it), or 2. have done smash demo and haven’t had to clean it up. Our kitchen demolition took four full days of work and resulted in sore muscles, a few minor injuries, and frustration. But at least it’s done!

Demo 2

Kitchen Remodel Part 1 – The BEFORE

I have a great house. When I bought it, at first I was surprised that a family hadn’t swooped it up right away. And then I tried to cook something, and I understood!

Our kitchen has an insane layout. I have a good sized living and family room and then a teeny tiny kitchen shoved into the back dark corner of the house. Opening the dishwasher means you can’t open the fridge or oven. Plus you’ll block someone in if they are at the stove or sink. It just didn’t make sense. So, I immediatly started a remodel fund so I could one day fix the tiny inconvenient disaster that is my kitchen. Well, the day for the kitchen remodel has arrived!
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We have plans, we have a binder, we’ve ordered materials, and we’re ready to go. We plan on doing most of the work ourselves (The Boyfriend used to be a contractor, so really HE will be doing a lot of the work… love you babe!). Since we both have full time jobs (and have been working long hours recently), most of this work will be on the weekend.
For reference, here’s a drawing of our floorplan (with the old layout).

Paint Pens – Relabeling Plastic Measuring Cups

IMG_2236 We’ve been crazy busy the last few weeks, mostly because we’ve been camping three weekends in a row and are going again this weekend (crazy? most definitely!). So all i’ve had time for was a quick craft. I have some measuring cups that were developing a problem. The numbers were wearing off. Heaven forbid I mis-measure while baking! This is a great set that comes with both a 2/3 and 3/4 cup so I wanted to fix them up. Enter paint pens! These might be one of my most frequently used craft materials. They work great on a variety of materials, including plastic.

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Drawing a Floor Plan

Right now, I’m starting to plan a major remodel of my kitchen. While I’m not planning to start work right away, the first step is just figuring out what I want to do and a budget for it. Especially for a project this big, but even for a smaller event like buying new furniture, drawing out a floorplan can really help visualize the space.

Close Up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve also found that it helps me see the space more objectively and find new solutions that I don’t see while looking at the actual room.

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