The Kitchen Finale

I am so excited.  The kitchen work is just about complete.  It has been a long process.  No one could have told us that when we started this project in July that we would just be finishing up now.  There were many obstacles.  We were working with the existing space and trying to make it more functional, updated and eye pleasing.  We encountered many different obstacles along the way, including pipes where we never thought there would be any.  It made for some interesting and stressful moments but we've made it.  My brother has been the hardest worker on this project and I can't thank him enough for all the work-blood, sweat and tears-he put into it.  We could have had this without him.  

The entry way-half way through-will we gut this archway too?  He wasn't too sure.

 The back entry before we began

 back entry looking into our living/dining room before:

After

Kitchen before any work began-it certainly was in desperate need of work.  Unfunctional and cluttered 

 The beginning of the project where we tore down the first archway

 The before of the living room looking into the back entry to the kitchen

After

In the spring we will be repainting the living room.  New trim will be added around our windows similar to what was added on the kitchen windows.  We are also thinking of redoing our fireplace.  My brother has some great ideas and we can't wait to see what the final decision will be.  Stay tuned..

Completed kitchen-except for two heater covers my brother is building

I am so completely happy with our new kitchen.  It looks amazing.  So much easier to keep things organized. The space functions so much better.  Just in time for some holiday baking and treat making.  My family is looking forward to many goodies and treats.

A Craft~Finally

A while back my sister in law asked me if I could make her a pumpkin person.  She wanted me to use the pumpkin candy buckets as it's head but didn't care what else I came up with.  I thought about it for a little bit and decided that the easiest way to make this pumpkin person was to use toddler clothes.  Off to the thrift store where I scored some Calvin Klein jeans (couldn't believe it-only $1.99) and a cute shirt.  Brought it home and started to play around with what I had.  It was fun to be creating something once again.  With all of this kitchen work I haven't had time to play with fun things.

Here is our pumpkin boy~little witch hat came from Target for $1.  The shirt I purchased was short sleeved so he has some jeans for arms.  He is mostly stuffed with plastic grocery bags.  I thought it was too cute and she loved it.

 I was glad to see the final creation was to her liking.  Here it sits waiting to be picked up and taken home.  A very quiet house guest.

We finally had a bit a time to carve our pumpkins this past weekend.  Hard to believe but it was our first time ever doing it.  None of us had ever tried it before. 

While cleaning out our pumpkins I found these:

 I was a bit surprised to find seeds sprouting inside.

My daughter and I worked on this one:

 It's a bat.

The boys worked on this:

 Skeleton heads~this picture does not do it justice.  It looks amazing!!!

 The hutch decorated and ready for our Halloween get together.  

I am linking up with:

Today's Creative Blog

The Work Goes On

We work and work and work.  Someday this kitchen will be completed.  I am looking forward to that day.  It has been a long process but the end is in sight.  

There are so many wonderful changes.  The kitchen is much more functional.  My brother is a genius.  His help has been invaluable.  Our kitchen is always in use and he has always been mindful of leaving things useable until he can work again.  We started the kitchen remodel on the last week of July, these months have been a blur.  Many days of work, painting, plastering, etc.  Most of the work is done one day a week when my brother is off of his real job.

This is the back entry before we started.

The back entry after we took out the arch (it was identical to the one you see behind the open door).  I love this open wall. It is so much better. Love it all trimmed out.

This is the left side of the kitchen before work began.

 Right side of the kitchen before work.  The doorway opened to our bedroom.  I have wanted this doorway closed off since we moved in.

Some of the painted cabinet doors, hung and with hardware.  An idea of the final product.  There are still plenty of doors to paint. It takes some time to paint them top and bottom, letting them dry well between coats, and finding space to lay them all out without disruption.

This is the opening of the dining/living room to the back entry and kitchen (notice the archway).

Here is the opening now.  We have taken down the archway and the wall. It opens it up beautifully to the kitchen.  I love the openness. 

Left side of the kitchen.

Our granite counters have been installed.  All of the cabinets are now installed,  new faucet, sink, and lights.

The before of this left side.

Small desk area on the left side.  I am looking for new desk top set.  I don't like the big basket.  It is too large for this area.  

This side is almost complete.  I need to paint two more doors and the drawer fronts.

New lighting above the sink and fan.  There is new trim around the windows.  I love the cleanness of the windows now.

Finishing the wall to the living room is the assignment for this week.  I still need to pick a tile for our floor, that will be the last big project.  The end is in sight.

Little Bits

Time comes and goes so quickly.  The world spins on and on, days pass quickly, I blink and whole weeks have disappeared.  The first day of fall came and went, I didn't realize it until this afternoon.  Fall is my favorite season for many reasons.  Usually by this time gorgeous fall colors and decorations are filling our home.  We are not there yet this year.

Our summer was busy.  We had new dogs to welcome to our home and enjoy.  Our kitchen remodel was started.  We spent some days at the beach, walking the shore, enjoying the sunshine and dipping our toes in the cool water.  

Our school year is now well under way.  My daughter is a senior and there are many vital things on our "to do" lists for this year.  She will be taking her second round of SAT's in just a couple of weeks.  We will soon be attending some college open houses.  It is all very exciting but a bit scary, too.  Putting together her portfolio and finishing her transcript are huge undertakings.  


The kitchen project is still "under construction."  The cabinets are in except for one that we needed to reorder.     There is still a lot of painting that needs to be done.  The doors take a little while because I don't have the room to spread them all out and paint them at once.  The new cabinet doors are in.  Our original cabinet order came with the wrong style doors.  Trying to return just the doors and not the whole units was not easy but it was finally accomplished.  The counter has been templated and I can not wait for them to call me to install it.  I am holding my breath waiting to see how it all looks together.


The new window trim and the trim around the opening is complete.  The windows looks fantastic with the new trim.  I am loving it!!!!  The new lighting has also been installed and what a difference it makes in the room.  I hope to share pictures with you soon.  We are plugging away at it slow and steady.


I hope you are enjoying your fall season.  We enjoyed some gorgeous fall weather for a couple of weeks but this week summer has revisited us.  Tomorrow it is back to fall and some much needed rain for the upcoming week.  It is hard to imagine that we need the rain when in April we were completely surrounded with flooding for the first time in decades.  No one remembers a flood like that happening in our area.  It was quite a shock and surprise.

Some birthdays have been celebrated here.  My husband and my mom's birthday are just a couple of days apart. My parents went away for my mom's birthday.  They have a favorite get away spot that they retreat to whenever they can.  We enjoyed some good food and company for dh's birthday.  Fun times!!

Kitchen Remodel

We are living in a bit of chaos while this kitchen remodel happens.  The progress is a bit slow because my brother is working on it when he has time off from work.  It is exciting and scary all at once.  


The previous post contained many of our before kitchen pics.  I want to share some of our in progress pics.  I am loving it already and there is more to come.

This is the view from the living room to the back door entry and into the kitchen.  Notice the archway~there was one parallel to it about 5 ft away.  We took that down.  Previously this space was enclosed and too small.  I love how open it is now.

This is the opposite wall in this area.  We are considering taking it down, too.  It may require some extra work due to pipes for the heat, electrical outlets and the placement of our fireplace and chimney.  For now it's a dream.  We will see how the rest of the kitchen work goes before we tackle it.

The refrigerator will be relocated from this side to...

this corner.  There will be an 18 in x 84 in pantry beside it.  The cabinets that are currently on the side of the sink will move next to that.  A new dishwasher will be installed in their place. The portable dishwasher will be passed on to my sister in law.

The stove has been turned.  New sheetrock is up and we are well on our way.

Due to a small budget we are not able to purchase all new cabinets.  I was able to find extra cabinets in a style similar to ours.  I will be painting the old and the new cabinets antique white and applying antiquing glaze to the doors.  Our cabinets are on order and we have chosen our counter top.  It is a granite counter and I think it will the icing on the cake in this space.  


This is a large project and the rest of the house is a bit upside down while it houses the things that were in the kitchen.  Most of it is in storage in the basement.  The microwave and toaster oven are in the living room along with some dishes we use daily.  My biggest fear is when I lose the sink.  Doing dishes in the tub does not sound like fun.


This is a huge job and we are plugging away at it a little at a time.  I keep envisioning the completed kitchen.  It helps me to plow through.

Flying Summer

I'm baaaccckkk!!  Hope you missed me.  I've missed all the pretty and delightful inspiration in blog land.  

What have we been up to?  Where have I been?

Summer is always a busy time for us. Beginning with May, there are plenty of birthdays and throw some holidays in there.  It is all a whirlwind.  I feel like I'm spinning like a top.

From the time of my last post we have celebrated Father's Day along with our daughter's seventeenth birthday.  She was actually born on Father's Day and she loves it when they fall on the same day.  It is still hard to believe that she is seventeen.  One more year and she will be starting college.

We also celebrated my brother in law's birthday, followed by a Fourth of July party and our son's thirteenth birthday the following day.  Unfortunately, he was a bit sick and we kept it low key.  Tucked into all this excitement was my dad's birthday.  

Catching my breath does not seem to be on the agenda these days.  I have been painting the last of the trim and doors in our bedroom remodel.  It is almost done.  

And, drumroll please....

We started a kitchen remodel!!!!

Remember these pictures (I hate to have to share them again!!!!  WE DESPERATELY NEEDED TO DO SOMETHING!!!)

They are all changing!!!!!!!!!!!  

The open doorway from the kitchen to our bedroom has been closed off.  On the other side is our spectacular new closet.  

Unfortunately, these pictures are all looking into our kitchen.  The back entry way was very closed off  from the kitchen.  There was an archway identical to this one:

This living room arch opened into the back entry and created  a small area, about 5 ft by 7 ft., followed by another arch opening into the kitchen.  We have knocked down that arch and framed it to open the kitchen up.  There is now a much larger opening framed off.  The entire back entry is gutted.  There are even a couple of holes in the floor due to fireblock that had to be taken out.  We are doing this project with my brother, usually when he is out of work, one day a week and a little extra.  It is being done in stages so the kitchen is semi-functional.  Because of the closed off wall we are now able to relocate the refrigerator to the other wall.  There will be a tall pantry cabinet beside that.  The stove will be turned so it is facing out.  

This is so exciting and scary at the same time.  I have hated this kitchen since the day we moved in.  We could not afford to pay a contractor but thanks to my amazing brother it is finally getting done.

The theme this summer has been declutter.  When you are home, homeschooling and basically spend almost all of your time here you tend to accumulate clutter.  I have started getting rid of so many things that are unnecessary and not good to keep in a home as small as ours.  The kitchen was decluttered as I packed up almost everything to put in the basement.  We have had one yard sale and have piles started for another.   It will feel like a whole new place when this is complete.  I am anxiously awaiting the big reveal.  Holding my breath and waiting to share it all with you.