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Monday, April 2, 2012

The fun has begun...

The kitchen has been completely boxed up. (How do we have SO MUCH kitchen stuff?!!) The temporary kitchen is ready for business. The contractors have started swinging hammers. Oh and, of course, TubaDad is on a plane. Big day.

I promised my family and friends lots of pictures to document the process, so here goes.

First, the “before.” Not horrible if you’re standing 15 feet away, I guess:
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But if you take a closer look, you’ll see why we’re not refinishing these cabinets: cheap, yellowing, falling-apart builder-grade. Every drawer face has fallen off and been “mickey moused” back on. DSC_1132LR

Every surface has been scratched, damaged, and then “touched up” with stain in an attempt to conceal (done before we moved in) and some doors have been replaced with newer ones that don’t quite match:
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The tile countertops were haphazardly installed and are now showing bits of plastic through the grout lines, among other things. I really hate grout. Oh, which reminds me, the floor is red (SO not our taste) and has 1-inch thick black sunken grout, which mocks all attempts to sweep it.DSC_1162LR

Cannot wait to be rid of that floor. Or that oven, which is really not a bad little oven but has had a broken door that has been propped shut by a chair for the last two months because we knew it was going to be replaced and didn’t want to waste money repairing it:DSC_1145LR

By the way, our contractor just found burnt wires and connectors behind the oven. He said we were lucky we didn’t have a fire.

Here’s our temporary kitchen in the office and adjacent laundry room. We moved the old second island from the kitchen and set it up here and used an old wire rack bin from the garage as our pantry. The island will eventually be moved upstairs to the playroom to hold the girls’ art supplies. All TubaDad’s ideas and he did a bang-up job!:
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The fridge has been relocated to the family room for the time being, the front door is wide open (I always forget about that part of home renovation and am thankful we didn’t plan this for the dead of winter), and the demolition has begun.
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We’re going down to the sheetrock (and in some places the studs), and when all is said and done will have dark custom cabinets all the way around the kitchen (including in the new island and under and around the window), big veiny granite slab counters, and new stainless steel sink, double ovens, big rangetop, cream backsplash and tan travertine flooring. Woohoo!
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Alrighty, I hear a crazy amount of banging and ripping -- I’d better go take another picture or two. Cheers!

26 comments:

  1. I know it will all be worth it but my head hurts just thinking about the process. Good luck! :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks!! Day 1 and it's already WAY noisier and dustier than I imagined...

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  2. Shauna4/02/2012

    I can't WAIT to see the finished result, you have such good taste! Good luck :)

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    Replies
    1. Aw, thanks!! Hope it comes out looking like what we picture in our heads...

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  3. Wheee!!! Cannot wait to follow your progress! How exciting!

    How long are they anticipating the entire redo to take?

    Love all that you've chosen! It's going to be gorgeous!!

    I think a lot of take out is in order to help get you through this. Yay for take out!!

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    Replies
    1. They say best case 4 weeks, worst case 8 weeks. So probably 8 weeks? :-)

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  4. Good Luck.....we did that last year in the dead of winter but we survived. We set up a temporary kitchen in my husband's man cave. It took 4 weeks but was worth every minute of the inconvenience. My crockpot became my new best friend!

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    Replies
    1. Val, if you have any fave crock-pot recipes, please send them over!! It's going to be a looooong month...

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  5. Anonymous4/02/2012

    Hopefully you knew about all the kitchen "fixes" when you bought the place and were able to negotiate that into the deal. It's always a bummer (to put it mildly)*discovering* things after closing on the deal. That happened to us and it's not fun! Looking forward to seeing the end result!

    Krista

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    Replies
    1. Yeah the kitchen was almost a deal breaker, but the view and extra space upstairs trumped the kitchen, so we bought the house knowing we were in for some remodeling.

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  6. We've browsed some houses, and I've told Greg that we'll buy under our budget, because I'll need to bulldoze any kitchen in this city. It's the most important room in the house! I'm with you. That red floor GOTS to go. Starting over in the exact kitchen you want! Now that's going to be worth the pain! Good luck!

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    Replies
    1. Man oh man, I hopr you're right!! It will be worth the pain...

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  7. Anonymous4/02/2012

    Sounds incredible and I am glad it is you and not me :).

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  8. Anonymous4/02/2012

    So excited that the remodeling has begun. You are going to LOVE the end result...I just know it. Everything you picked will come together so nicely. It's going to be beautiful!! Woo too! Aunt Jane :-)

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    1. Thanks Jane!! It is so dusty here tonight it's crazy. It'll be awesome in the end though. Can't wait to show you guys.

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  9. M3- You can make rice krispie treats in your crock pot! Put in the butter, then the marshmallows, then the krispies- turn it on high for 1 hour, stir, press into pan! Viola! (i use a cupcake pan for 12 perfectly portioned treats!

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    Replies
    1. Judy, the girls are reading this with me right now and just squealed. We are SO doing this.

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  10. I love it all! I just chose that same travertine for my master bath overhaul. The old tile with the wide grout is awful. I can only imagine how glad you will be to get rid of it. A reno of a kitchen is one of the best things you can do for resale and also for loving your house again. When I did mine, I took all my odds and ends pots and pans and 86'd them. I bought one set of good Calphalon and that is all I kept with the exception of the cast iron skillet. Can't wait to see how this looks!

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    Replies
    1. Hm, maybe just maybe it's time to replace my decades-old Revere Ware...

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  11. We have the same travertine in our master bath. We want to do a complete kitchen gut in our new house. I'm terrifed.

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    Replies
    1. How do you like it? Because people either adore their travertine or despise it.

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  12. Gotta give you my two cents:
    a) buy locks for most of your bedrooms. you can lock up your personals and know no one will go wandering in there.

    b) same for the bathrooms.

    c) put a chain lock around the fridge. They'll go into your fridge and start snacking.

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  13. Awesome, awesome, awesome!!!! I love remodels! It made me giddy to read this.

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  14. Just thought you'd like to know about this film, which will hopefully come to be if enough money is raised. If your followers all kicked in we can launch this critical film for the adoption community!
    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/677091478/somewhere-between-a-documentary-film/posts/201068?ref=email&show_token=e8f47158d03a7d92&play=1#video

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  15. Anonymous4/03/2012

    Easy crockpot fav:
    2 pounds round steak, cut into 1" strips
    Top with 2 cans pinto or chili beans
    Top with 2 cups salsa
    Top with bell pepper(s), cut into strips and added for last hour only

    No stirring required.

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