Sunday, October 1, 2017

Kitchen Remodel Update

They key to not getting behind on blogging is to actually blog occasionally.  So here I am--trying to make sure I don't get hopelessly behind again.

The kitchen remodel is over the hump (I think), where we're into more of the fun stuff now and over the worst of the not fun stuff.  Things that have been accomplished:

--kitchen cupboard fronts taken off, sanded, washed with TSP, primed and painted,
--kitchen walls painted,
--new Ikea cupboards put up underneath the microwave and around the fridge,
--new stove was acquired from Idaho Falls,
--new carpet and laminate was picked out and ordered,
--and lights are now in and working in the music room.

Phew.  I basically didn't do school with anyone but Miriam and Cowen last week because I was painting.  I still have to do the second coat of paint on the cupboard boxes (bases?) in the kitchen then all the major painting will be done and we'll just have touch-ups left.

The pictures won't be in order, but it will still remind me, when I'm 90, of what we did and what it looked like before and after.

 That tall cupboard used to be by the fridge.  We carried it outside a few minutes after I finished taking photos.  The desk area was taken out and replaced with actual cupboards.

 The fridge area after we ripped out the old cupboards, but before we painted and put in the new.

 The man who does all the work.

 Cupboard drawers all taken out from the around the fridge cupboards.

 This is good to remind me of the color of the cupboards before I painted them.

 I interrupt this broadcast about the kitchen to post a picture of the mantel I painted white.  Timothy sanded it for me (I hate sanding) and then I did two coats of primer and three coats of paint.  It was a pain-in-the-neck project because even the two inch roller was too wide for most of it, so I had to do a lot of brush painting.

 You can see the white paint above the mantel where I messed up.  That is all fixed now and it looks really good.  I'm not in love with the grayish tile around the fireplace and I still need to spray paint the gold parts, but it is coming along.

 We moved the piece of furniture that is usually in the music room holding drums and amps into the library for the duration.  Harriet loves to sit there.  The music room plant also hangs out in library right now so we have a little plant menagerie (or jungle, as the kids like to call it).

 The kids fight over the ladder all the day long.  Ladder horsies are all the rage and Oskar is a ridiculously cute cowboy.

 I took some pictures just to remind myself of how it looked before.

 I'm super excited about our flooring choices.  That was the most expensive part of the project, mostly because we bought super nice carpet and because we're putting the new laminate in the kitchen and dining room so it will all match.


 Blue countertops.

 Cupboard doors a little worse for wear.

 Let there be chartreuse everywhere!!!!  I love how the walls glow in the sun.  I love it, love it, love it.  I really quite enjoy painting--especially now that I'm good enough that I don't tape anything.  Sadly, some of my enjoyment is lost when I struggle to keep kids out of the painting zone.  The kids are pretty much done with mom being busy.  Tomorrow I'm painting the second coat of white on the cupboard bases and organizing my new cupboards a little bit (I'm sure things will get moved around a bit when everything is done) and then there isn't anything else I can do to help Timothy.  Starting Tuesday it is back to mothering and homeschooling full time--YAY!!
 My cupboard front painting zone.  Nobody is allowed to go beyond the yellow couch right now while the paint cures.  We're not attaching them until the new hardware arrives because we don't want them getting messed up right away.  Theses cupboards turned out better than any others I've done.  I am assuming that is because Timothy is really invested in this project so he did the sanding for me.  I'm not a perfectionist and he is and the sanding makes a difference.  The final product looks amazing.  I love it.
 Old vinyl that will soon be replaced.  Wahoo!!  I think that will make the biggest difference--even more than the paint on the walls or the white cupboards.
 Doesn't the white look crisp and lovely next to the chartreuse?  I love it.  That area under the microwave was where the desk was.  We didn't use it as a desk so we replaced the desk with cupboards from Ikea.  Look for them in the picture with Harriet.
 Timothy had to move that outlet for the cupboards to fit.  There was WAY more electrical in this project than I imagined, even though Timothy warned me there would be.  It is a good thing Timothy knows how to do everything.
 Boxes from Ikea.  FYI, the bar isn't going to stay chartreuse.  I showed Timothy some white and wood looking options that I liked and told him to do what he wanted.  I'm curious to see the end result.
 The new stove is being kept under wraps to protect it from all sorts of people and things.  I painted a quick coat of chartreuse paint in the music room just to freshen things up in there, so it looks so good right now!
 New cupboards!!
 We're going to try and use appliance epoxy to freshen up the fridge.  It looks a lot older and more tired now that the fresh new cupboards are in.

New cupboards under the microwave!!  One side has the slide out drawer for garbages. I am super excited that our garbages will be hidden so that babies are less likely to pull things out of them and/or knock them over.  Tis awesome.

Next on the agenda:

1) putting a counter over the new cupboards under the microwave,
2) second coat of white paint on the cupboard boxes,
3) building bar,
4) doing the countertops,
5) flooring,
6) putting the hardware on the cupboard fronts,
7) reattaching the cupboard fronts.

We're almost there!!

4 comments:

Kami said...

I am SOOOO EXCITED TO SEE THIS in person!!!! Also, with the floor done and countertops. Its looking so amazing!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Andrea!!! It is going to look wonderful!!!!Mom

Kayli said...

You are amazing, and your kitchen is getting amazing. However, this also makes me cry and want to go hide in a corner and also I am sure now that I will never redecorate, I will just live in a house that is old and out-of-date or move. The en.d.

Marilyn said...

Looking so so good. I am so impressed with you (and Timothy too!!).