About Me

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I am a daughter, sister, wife, mom to three cats and one dog (each with their own personalities), working woman, renovator, landlord and friend. I love to laugh, read a good book, enjoy spending time with family and friends and hanging with the Zoo! This blog is keep track of the comings and going our house and this great adventure called life. Enjoy!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Kitchen redo

Over the last month, we have changed this house around ALOT!  Painting, rearranging, tearing apart the basement multiple times...one more big change to the kitchen and we might be taking a break for a while...

We did some demo upstairs this time :)  The kitchen overlooks the dining room I guess you'd say with the stove top, range hood and upper cabinets backing into the dining room.  Yes, that's a more accurate description.  We wanted a more open space, so Turkey Day weekend we tore some cabinets down and gave them a new home. 

Jay was ready to jump in (we aren't very patient people) when he came home from work Thursday evening at 11pm.  We had decided to take down the cabinets above the stove top in order to open up the space to the dining room.  About ten minutes after he was home, we tore into those cabinets and were able to take them down in one piece strategically.  The range hood came down too (nasty, dirty thing) which vented through the cabinets out of the side roof eave.  Once everything was down, we felt accomplished and exhausted so decided to get some sleep.  Given that our kitchen looked like a bomb blew up in it, I gave in to the fact that it would be more clean tomorrow and called it a night. 

Taking down the cabinet fronts (notice the dining room isn't done yet (post timing issue)


We both had Friday off work (yay!) and we jumped right in where we left off the evening before.  Maybe you're wondering where these cabinets now call home??  Our newly white/old ugly blue sponge wall is the perfect place!  Jay measured and created a 'third hand', I'm not sure what it's truly called, but was a 2x4 screwed into the wall to set the cabinets on.  While he did that, my kitchen OCD kicked in and I was cleaning behind us, straightening tools and throwing away scrap materials - hahaha!  I helped hold the cabinets up with all my might while he screwed them into the wall until they were secure enough for my tired arms to take a break.  It truly looks like the cabinets belong on that wall.  It gives the kitchen a more open feel and is such a better utilization of the space it's ridiculous!


Fabulous!
Unfortunately during this project, the Husband didn't feel so hot and decided to lay down now that the cabinets were up and in place.  He was burning up but felt cold, turns out he had a temperature of 100.5!!  Poor guy was fighting something nasty, so he grabbed a sweatshirt and I wrapped him in blankets for a much needed nap with Hunter curled up beside him (love that!)  While my boys were resting up, I was in heaven rearranging and organizing our new kitchen cabinets!!  Everything now makes much more sense on the walls - with coffee cups by the maker, not over the stove; the plates, bowls, cups and glasses all in one large cabinet; the cooking items by the oven and over the baking items.  It's fabulous!  In the 'new' cabinets I was able to fit all my wine glasses, which don't get used often yet I feel they need to be in reach (plus they are beautiful and I have a collection going); Hunter's treats; extra set of bowls; Magic Bullet and accessories.  I screwed the cabinet doors back on and wiped down the counters, OCD'ed myself into oblivion within my kitchen space.  It was such a relief to put it all back together.  The Husband woke up to not knowing where I single item in the kitchen was :) but feeling better than earlier.  We ordered Chinese in and relaxed for the rest of the evening, climbing into bed early. 

We still had the range hood to figure out, which Jay did excellent handyman work one morning while I was at work.  He was able to use leftover materials from other projects and hang the hood by chains over the stove top and created the duct work also!  I must admit, I was a bit apprehensive when he told me about the chains, but it turned out great.  He is so much better at seeing the picture in his head, whereas I have to literally see it in person (this is our largest difference and biggest challenge probably, but I trust his instincts).  Our last piece of the project is to add a counter under the 'new' cabinets.  We originally were going to use an old door from the basement, but it's hollow core so won't work very well.  My Dad might have some leftover Corian at his shop to help us out, but for now it's still open and Hunter's crate is using the space up nicely. 

The kitchen/dining room space has changed immensely in the last month!  It's fitting into our lifestyle and our wants...slowly but surely, it's coming together.

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1 comment:

  1. Ok better late than never...

    Wow! You guys are really getting some stuff done around that cute [big] house. Funny how a contractor lives in my house but yet it seems more work is happening there at the zoo.

    The chain idea for the hood was a great one! Very industrial looking. Way to have a vision Jay!

    I too have been a cabinet holder. Very tiring ;) No worries about all the OCD cleaning and organizing that issue will resolve itself once you have a precious little girl sitting under your kitchen table tapping on your shoe as you try to write a response to a blog post.

    The work going on there is very impressive! Neat how renovations not only grow a home but also a marriage as well :)

    Happy remodeling!

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