Adventures in Remodeling - Kitchen

So, while refinishing floors and tearing out a bathroom I also decided to go ahead and take the kitchen apart because, well, it just needed it.  And I wanted it.  I figured if it wasn't there, I'd have to do something new rather than just dealing with it until god knows when.

So this was the kitchen, in all it's splendor and glory, completely unchanged from when I had owned the house 10 or so years before.  Oh yeah, I owned the house when I was married and it was foreclosed on and I lost in in the divorce.

From the lovely dropped ceiling to the doorway that you could barley fit through because the stove stuck out into it, the particle board cabinets that were falling apart and had things in them that were indescribable and the darling blue, again with the blue, linoleum flooring.  There was also a sliding glass door that didn't work and the whole thing was just UGLY.  To be nice about it.

Ryno and my good friend Judy getting some demo done.

The appliances that came with the house were sitting in the middle of the floor because they wouldn't fit out the back door.

Sink portion of the demo was left til last because I didn't have plumbing tools (yet) and none of us were sure how it came apart without flooding the whole house.  I know now :)

And so we got started - my son even got in on the demo because really, demo is fun.  EVERYTHING came out of this room.

Once the walls had been removed, along with everything else, I came in to survey the situation and try to formulate a plan.  The dropped ceiling had come down in the hope that the actual ceiling above would be salvageable.  I soon discovered the reason for the dropped ceiling (cracks, shoddy wiring, etc) and it was determined the ceiling also had to come out.

The plan: My friend and I would cinch our hoodies up around our faces, wear a mask and goggles, stand two ladders in the kitchen and just start swinging away at the lath and plaster with crowbars and hammers.  We nicely laid a tarp on the floor to catch the debris and went to work.

The point of the tarp was so that we could drag the stuff that was falling on our heads out as the space in front of us filled.  That plan worked out........not at all.  The lath, plaster and black shit falling on our heads and floor was much heavier than the tarp could handle and after the first attempt to drag the loaded tarp through a less than average size sliding door we abandoned it all together and opted to start piling in on the back porch using shovels, in-between bouts of crowbarring the ceiling to death, because it was close and it was roughly midnight at this point.

The pile of ceiling got to be so big on the back porch, combined with some of the kitchen walls and I believe the lovely blue bathtub, that it eventually just took out the railing and it all just started to spill off onto the ground.  In the yard.  Where I left it.  For a long time.  Hey, it wasn't in the front yard! But the neighbors were starting to wonder if there were any insides of my house left.

We made quick work of the ceiling, it only took a couple hours with another hour or so to clean up which had to be done because I had to get a certified person out to redo all the wiring and convert the kitchen to gas so we could insulate and stop heating the outdoors.  In February.

Another friend came over and helped me strip about 9 layers of linoleum off the floor, we were there for HOURS with crowbars, hammers and anything else I had that would serve to pry flooring up.

In hindsight this was all a really bad idea, and probably toxic.  But, what's done is done.  I know now that there are other options.

Peace out - I think I want to die...

I'm not even sure how I was able to smile in this pic - the Zags logo was once white, not any more.

Later I had a guy come in and rewire EVERYTHING, add multiple outlets so I had more than two, replumb for the space the washer and dryer would be moved to, convert the dryer and stove to gas, and since he was there stub in a gas line for a new water heater so it would be available when it became necessary.  That was EXPENSIVE!  But very necessary and definitely above my skill level.

I knew what I wanted, I just didn't know how to achieve it at this point.  I had a couple friends come over and assess the situation. Some decisions were made, some demo was done and a sawsall was purchased.  A cheap (ish) one because I thought for sure I would never use that tool again.  I love that tool.  It has been used more than I can say and I don't know where I would be or how I would have gotten sthere without that tool.  It has served me well.

The exterior walls had to be insulated and drywalled as soon as possible because the heat was just pouring out of the walls and I could just see the money flying through the cracks.  The slider was replaced with a regular door that was framed in glass, the doorway to the kitchen moved over about 18 inches so you didn't run directly into the stove when entering, it was also widened to a "normal" size and centered with the back door as much as possible to maintain flow.

I went to a local ding and dent store to shop for appliances and found what I needed, had them set aside a dishwasher, fridge and stove for later delivery (when the floor was done) and went to work trying to figure out cabinets.  I quickly found out that what I wanted and what I was getting were two VERY different things.  Either way the cabinets had to be ordered and would be delivered in X amount of time.

I don't have any pictures of the in between time, the wiring, the plumbing, the flooring, insulation, drywall and paint.  Suffice it to say, it happened in quick order and all those memories are in my head because the evidence is on a broken hard drive.  Sadness.

This is my exceedingly nosy dog checking out the cabinet delivery (as you can see the appliances had been delivered by this point).

This is my super awesome roommate at the time trying to devise a plan and muttering under his breath, "what the fuck have you gotten me into....".  But not really muttering, or under his breath.  David just kind of liked to say it like it was.  He has since brought his wife to the house to show her how capable (awesome) he is.  I think she was impressed.  Very.

Cabinet delivery on the other side of the kitchen with the dishwasher in place.  Taking inventory, making sure we have everything.

And this is where we started.  We figured we had to start somewhere and this was as good of place as any.  That lovely piece of OSB holding the drill with the missing battery would be the only counter top I would have for many many months.  Many.  The distance between the counter and the cabinet above, yeah - that was a guess - no idea if its right or wrong.  I was trying to make the kitchen appear larger by opening up the space under the cabinets.  I had 9 foot ceilings so I thought I should use it to my advantage.  The kitchen is galley style and cramped but I think I made the best of it.

Here we are working on the other side.  The space with the wire hanging out is for the future microwave/vent that I didn't have, didn't have picked out, had no idea how much they cost and no clue when I would be able to get it.  But I had a space for it dammit!

This is he day I finally got counter tops, note the date, almost 8 months later!  I found the granite on sale, $2/tile or something ridiculous like that, bought everything they had left after a quick dalliance over solid black or this multi-colored green/black/other stuff, so glad I went with the multi-colored.  I had been using the sink on a piece of plywood for months because I just couldn't keep washing dishes in the bathtub, it was murder on my back that I had royally effed up in Feb the same year.

The other side of the kitchen the day the microwave/vent was installed.  I shocked he hell out of my little brother during installation because all the breakers weren't off to the kitchen.  Ooops!  We laughed about it later.  Much later.  While drinking beers.

My little brother painted my little chef painting.

Pics above are a year later, Feb 2009 when I finally decided on and put up a backsplash.  By this time, reno was deeply embedded in my skin and throwing up a backsplash was just one of those things you do after work.

Two years in the making and my kitchen was finally done.  Almost. I was still searching for the perfect light for above the sink.  And when I say perfect, it had to be something I liked that fell into my budget.  It couldn't be one or the other, just like everything else in the house.  A lot of thought, probably too much and close to obsessing went into everything I did to the house.  After all, I was going to be here for a very long time.....or not.

Lovely

Far too expensive but much needed and dearly loved stacking front load W/D

Above 3 pics are from May 2011, just before I moved out.  Yes that is a W/D in the kitchen, because there is no where else for it to be.  The previous owner had them in the kitchen as did I when I owned the house in another life, but in a side by side manner that took up a lot of what could have been valuable counter space and dishwasher space.  I stacked them and matched them to the appliances so it wasn't really so bad.

Looking back, it was quite the adventure, a ton of work, a huge learning experience and I wasn't even close to done.  I had no idea what I'd gotten myself into but it was too late, the reno bug had a hold of me bad and the more I did, the less I felt like I couldn't do.  My roommate moved out shortly after I officially moved in so I was on my own from there on out with help from my best friend at the time on major projects and decision making.

I never drew out a plan, I never knew what I was doing or how it was going to turn out - if I didn't know what to do, I'd just put it off til I thought about it long enough to actually have a plan.  There was a lot of googling for solutions and taking pictures on my cell phone to Lowes or Home Depot.

Victorias Secret had officially been replaced as my favorite store to spend money in, to Lowes and Home Depot or any store that sold tools at bargain prices.  Because good tools at bargain prices are almost as delicious as free food.  No joke.  I was officially crazy and in serious danger of my Woman Card being revoked.

More Adventures in Remodeling to come!