Day 19: Kitchen Remodel

I am so close to the end.

I took a vacation day on Tuesday so I can gain some sanity. I was handing over my key to the apartment and still had to clear out the remaining crap. My house was still a shambles and nothing was set up.

The electrician came to finish his piece of the insane remodel puzzle.

Now my lights work and whatever crappy, illegal, hack job wiring that was done in my crawl space was removed and replaced with electrical work that won't set my house on fire. Score one for the electrician.

Today I stopped by to see my countertops being installed!

Day 12: Kitchen Remodel

Did a drive by yesterday and the last of the cabinets pieces are in.

How I feel about it.

The flooring crew kicked out the contractors before they could install the crown molding and kick stops. Getting the floors sanded and finished is the critical element here. 

Day 11: Kitchen Remodel - Cabinets

They're here! They're here!

My lovely Martha Stewart knock-off cabinets are here! And they're getting installed!

When I checked in on the house last night, here's where they left off. I"m loving the glass front wall cabinet in the corner.

Day 11: Kitchen Remodel - Electrical

It's been a week since I posted about the kitchen. After a few days of inactivity that caused some nervousness, there is a flurry of activity at the house again.

The electricians arrived and started making holes in the walls at proper counter height.

And that crazy old fuse box in the kitchen that still had some knob fuses has been removed.

And all those extra fuses have been relocated to the main breaker box. This was an upcharge. $$. Fail.

I now have a light fixture in the small hallway outside the bathroom.

Things are progressing, but slowly. Turns out the electrician crew did not run the outlet for my electric stove or move a light switch in the living room as requested. Fail again. They'll be back. 

Day three kitchen remodel

It's the third day and lo and behold, the sub-floor is cleared and the hole in the floor has been repaired. The wall has also been added. The shell of the kitchen is now complete. 

On deck are the hardwood floors that will occupy the kitchen. The floors throughout the house will be sanded and then the entire house will be finished together. Yeay hardwood floors. 

Boo price tag. 

Day Two: Kitchen Reno

It is a form of torture being at work, just two miles away from the house, knowing a transformation is going on. It was especially difficult this day because my attention was shifting from the house, to the poison ivy blisters. None of it was on my actual job.

I was thankful when it was 4:30 and I could drive over to the house to see the progress.

There is a clear sub-floor and the hole in the floor is patched. The walls are even prepped for a smooth coat of paint.

I can't wait to see what happens next.

No going back

Now the truly HGTV portion of my home-buying experience begins. The kitchen renovation.

Gone are the handmade cabinets. Gone are the layers of linoleum tiles.

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Instead it looks like this guy was let lose in my house.

Update: 

Here is the pile of cabinets and kitchen sink that will be donated to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Gotta pay it forward. 

Kitchen Dreaming

Let's talk kitchens. Because that is the main visible change that I will be doing to the home as part of my renovation.

Currently it's a mess.

There is a lot of unused space. 

The outlets are not properly grounded.

And there is this crazy access to get into the hallway that is practically unusable.

My vision is to add a wall where that access to the hallway is, creating a U-shaped kitchen.


Last week my contractors came to the house with the home inspection report in hand. They went around the property and did their assessment on the 'must fix' items that are going to be required by HUD in order to grant me my loan.

Then we talked about the kitchen. I told them of my ideas. They gave me some measurements and said my homework was to plan it out and get some estimates so I can get a better sense of what my kitchen budget was going to me.

So I went off to Home Depot and Lowes with measurements in hand and ideas in my head.

My original idea of white cabinets and dark countertop to tie in the existing white appliances was changed when I spoke with Brenda, the kitchen designer at Home Depot. She said there were a lot of shades of white, and considering the current appliances were from different manufactures their whites might not be the same shade. So trying to match different white appliances to another white cabinet might not bring the effect I was hoping for.

So that brought to thinking about painted cabinets. They would allow the white appliance to pop without having them try and be matchy-matchy. And if/when I make the upgrade to stainless one day, they will still match the style.

I loved that idea. And since my goal was to create a casual, comfortable kitchen, not a stuffy, pretentious one, color in the cabinets were the way to go.

Here is one option that I liked. Martha Stewart's Ocean Floor cabinets with Juniper Trail quartz counters.

The effect could be something like this...

Or maybe even a sunny yellow?

I'll leave the costs for all this in another post. *Sigh*