Big changes

When we moved to M-town 2.5 years ago, we bought a well-maintained older house (built in 1982) that needed some updating. We knew it had potential because of the square footage and "good bones", but it had some drawbacks, like a galley kitchen and laundry area in the basement. The kitchen had plenty of cabinet and countertop space, but it was a major thoroughfare (walkway to the garage) and the children always wanted to be w/ me when I was cooking. (When I was in there by myself, it was quite nice. But how often did that happen?) It had a nice, big laundry room, but laundry day often became laundry week because of it being in the basement where I could easily forget about it. :) These were all things we could live w/, but about a year and a half ago we started seriously thinking about remodeling. And we also started saving money.

Fast forward to this past December when we finally saved up enough to actually start the process. We got a recommendation for a contractor from Doug's boss at work and he gave us an estimate we thought was reasonable. He had an opening in his schedule for us as long as we were OK w/ him leaving for California for 2 weeks mid-project. Well, the timing was right for us so we decided to go for it. We had a floor plan in mind, but then a few days before we were scheduled to start, Kirk (the contractor) called and said he had been thinking about things and suggested we move the kitchen to a totally new area of the house to open up the floor plan. When we had been designing floor plans, we had always kept the kitchen in the same general area (albeit expanded) as the existing kitchen, thinking it would cost big bucks to move it. Kirk explained it wouldn't really cost any more to move it since we were going to be knocking out some walls w/ lots of plumbing anyway for the expansion. So I excitedly got to work and came up w/ a new plan w/ the kitchen where the playroom used to be. The old galley kitchen became my new pantry and laundry room (there was already a washer hookup there).

Kirk started work on January 21. We set up a little kitchen and dining area in the basement. I had a single burner and toaster oven for cooking, and a ping pong table for a prep area. The week before I cooked up a storm and put a lot of meals in the freezer to minimize eating out. We basically lived in the basement for 3 weeks (except for sleeping). I was really dreading it beforehand, but it turned out to be not nearly as bad as I was expecting.

Before he left for his 2 weeks in CA, Kirk got us a working kitchen w/ base cabinets, countertops, a sink, dishwasher, refrigerator, and range. I didn't have any wall cabinets (the cabinet company's fault, not his) but we made do for 2 weeks. When he came back we had to wait another week for the wall cabinets, but by March 6 everything was finished. It turned out wonderfully and we are very pleased w/ the job Kirk did.

As I love to watch television shows about remodeling and construction (especially those w/ before and after photos), I took a lot of pictures before, during, and after the process. Here are a few.

My old galley kitchen the day before work started. We had already emptied all the drawers and cabinets and took down the ceiling tiles. That door in the back led to the garage so this was a fairly high traffic area. Notice how low that ceiling was (less than 7 ft.). All together now, can we say "claustrophobic"?






In the kitchen, looking out into the breakfast area. The window opening in the red wall revealed the playroom, which was to become my new kitchen. Beyond that was our family room.





The old playroom, aka real estate for my new kitchen. The room beyond that was the "living room" but would have been more aptly-named the "we don't know what in the world to do with this space so we'll just stick random stuff in it and run around in it even though it's the first thing you see when you walk in the front door" room. It had quite the hodge-podge of items, including a spare bed, the children's computer, an extra table and chairs, an old coffee table we needed to get rid of, and usually various and sundry toys that had made their way over from the adjoining playroom. Lovely, eh?





Work begins. Down came the wall w/ the beautiful window opening that my wonderful father-in-law made (sorry, Dad!). We decided to leave a "column" at the corner to conceal some pipes that would have been a big pain to move. The wall between the playroom and the hallway came down, too. Nice and airy!




My old kitchen w/ most of the cabinets torn out. 'Twill be my new laundry room! Don'tcha just LOVE that wallpaper there on the left?






OK, enough tearing down, let's start fixing things up. The old playroom has become my new kitchen. Notice the doorway between the playroom and old living room has become a window opening.




From the new kitchen, you can see the old kitchen, where we had a door put in. There will be a little office area just to the left of the new door. Notice that they raised the ceiling to a normal height. Feels more spacious already!




Jump ahead to installation of the base cabinets. This is how the kitchen looked for 3 weeks while Kirk was in sunny California and then the cabinet people had my wall cabinets on backorder. A little irksome (the cabinet people, not Kirk) but not too bad. We kept all our appliances and the kitchen faucet as they were in good shape.





Whoops! How did this vision of sweetness and cuteness get in here? Well, I guess it's OK since she is holding a tape measure.





My new kitchen! Doug and I decided to spend a little more and get a tile backsplash and we are super-glad we did 'cause we REALLY like it.





More after pics. Notice the room beyond the window opening over my sink. We moved the family room to the old living room and made the old family room the children's playroom/schoolroom. So all the mess is in the back of the house! If you walk in the front door you might think to yourself what a most excellent housekeeper that Carla is because we are able to keep it fairly toy-free. (I won't post a picture of the playroom in order to keep that delusion alive.)











Our office area near the laundry room door.




My new laundry room and pantry. I have a pantry cabinet in the kitchen where I keep the stuff I use on a regular basis. But since I buy lots of stuff in bulk, I have most of my old wall cabinets on the wall to the right for extra storage. I also keep my wheat buckets there. The washer and dryer are to the right of the garage door. My old kitchen sink is still in there, but we moved our upright freezer in from the garage and also moved the bench that was under the window in the breakfast room in here. I'm not too crazy about how the wall color turned out (my fault, not Doug's -- he warned me), but it's growing on me. We'll probably repaint it in a few years. I'm really digging having the laundry room on the main floor instead of the basement.




Our new family room. This was the cheapest part of the remodeling since we just moved furniture around. :) That doorway on the right is new, though.




The window opening is probably one of the children's favorite parts of the remodel. A little person (or 2 or 3) often pops their head in the window to watch me wash dishes. (They're standing on the back of the couch.) Little Miss Mischief Maker has even been known to turn on the kitchen sink by herself. Wheee!





Another favorite part: the island/bar. When Doug is not home for a meal, this is where we usually eat (since there are only 4 chairs). Here the children are enjoying a yummy breakfast of spelt pancakes.



Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed the tour. Now you know why I haven't been blogging very much lately.