Renovating with Dan

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I must say, as much as I love my job, I am happy that I have the next 2 days off.  Between a lack of sleep due to thunderstorms and a doggy that is terrified of them, and all the things that need doing around the house I could use a big kick of ambition and a couple days of sleep.  One of which is not going to happen.  It's hard to get anything done if you are sleeping and the project Dan and I started last weekend really needs to get finished before Abby graduates in July and we have a house full of  people!  What project is that you ask?  Or maybe you don't ask but I'm going to tell you anyway...we are doing a partial renovation of the kitchen.  With the appliances starting to go bad or parts on them breaking, it is time to start replacing them.  Since the flooring runs under the dishwasher, I saw no sense in replacing the dishwasher without replacing the floor which was damaged.  Did you know that laminate flooring and water do not mix?  A concept that some do not entirely grasp in this house.  I saw no sense in replacing the floor when I wanted to remove part of the cabinets and counter and move the location of the dishwasher.  I have a one butt kitchen.  By removing the "L"  part of my counters, my kitchen becomes at least a 2 butt kitchen.  But this would leave a hole in the flooring as they do not lay flooring under the cabinets.   So it only makes sense to remove the "L", change the floor, replace and move the dishwasher which is unfortunately going to involve new counter tops at some point.  Since I am replacing the dishwasher with black instead of white, the other appliances will also need to be changed sooner rather than later.  Since I am loosing 4 of the 7 drawers I have in my kitchen by chopping off the "L" I need to buy a new cabinet to replace them and so forth and so on...this is commonly referred to in these parts as The Snowball Effect.  I would love to replace all the cupboards.  I am so over orangey oak...you have no idea.  But, I cannot afford to do that.  So for right now, it will be a partial renovation and who knows, I may end up loving my orange cabinets!  NOT!

My kitchen before:

as you walk into kitchen from front of house

to the left

sharp left

from the dining room

see how tight?

another example of how tight it is

Me, on tiptoe trying to reach 2nd shelf

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Furniture Mart and chose new flooring for the kitchen.  This was not an easy decision. I knew I didn't want ceramic tile or stone, too hard on the legs, knees, hips and ankles.  I knew I didn't want hardwood.  Water + hardwood = warping.  I have already been there done that with the laminate, don't need to beat me over the head with a stick to teach me a lesson.  I knew I didn't want cork, sheet vinyl or linoleum.  Which I have to admit doesn't leave much to choose from.  And then I discovered a product called Armstrong Alterna Luxury Vinyl Tile.  Has the look of stone, but more give to it which means it is easier on the body.  You can soak it in a bathtub for a week and it won't be damaged, it can be installed over an existing vinyl floor (we have one of those lurking under our laminate) it can be installed with grout to make it look more like real stone and it comes in a ton of colors.  We chose  Mesa Stone in Chocolate.  

Got the bid back last night and are set up for installation on June 8th! Only 3 more weeks of hand washing the dishes!!!

We (and by we I really mean Dan) started the demolition by disconnecting the dishwasher and removing the "L".  I gave assistance by overseeing and telling Dan to shut the breaker off after he shocked himself.  Which he did but since he shut down the wrong breaker, he shocked himself a second time.  Hence the nickname Zap.

After a full day of demolition and clean up we now look something like this:

to the left

from dining room

Big difference already!  We've purchased a new dishwasher and the drawer base cupboard.  Dan will have to rework the drawer fronts to make them match the exiting ones.  He's gonna need a new tool for that and it's gonna cost me extra.  That's his mantra whenever I want him to do something.  I owe the man so much by now that it's not even funny!   
 
Up next is the pantry redo.  Oh, I guess I didn't mention the pantry redo before.  I have one.  It needs work. But I'll cover that in the next installment of...Kitchen Renovation starring Zapper Dan!   We should have our own show on HGTV!! :)


And now my fine stitchy friends I must bid you adieu as I need to go to Hobby Lobby to get some fabby and trim for some flat folds I am doing for customers.  Ya'll have a great weekend and...

Take Care till next time!

Julie