The Kitchen - Demo begins...

The Kitchen - Demo begins…

For those of you who know Dan and I well, you know that we are NOT handy when it comes to house projects.  I like to watch Fixer Upper and pretend I know what I'm doing.  I know in my head what I want, but I have no idea how to get there on my own.  Although Dan has grown to enjoy my love of old homes, he would prefer a house that is maintenance free.

Here we are pretending we know what we are doing.  We decided to do some of the demo ourselves to save money.  I went to Home Depot and asked what we needed to remove the tiles and they gave me a crow bar and some safety glasses.  We were happy to say goodbye to the fruit and vegetable backsplash.

Next we removed all of the cabinet doors.  This took longer than we anticipated because the hinges were very old and had several coats of white paint on them. 

Although I am very happy to see progress, we have to live in this kitchen with missing doors for the next few weeks.  We have installed baby gates preventing Maddie from pulling everything out of the pantry, but Dan and Benjamin are always eating everything in sight…because it is there in plain sight waiting to be eaten.  

Do you remember the movie The Sixth Sense? "I see dead people"…Well, Every time I walk into my kitchen now I think of that scene where the ghost opens all the cabinet doors.  It really freaks me out! I can't wait for the professionals to arrive to really get this project rolling.  The rest of the demo (L-Shaped Cabinet, Counter, Sink and floors) will happen next week.

We have trusted Jim Sollberger http://sollbergerconstruction.com to do a number of projects on this house and our last house.  He knows all the area businesses and gives us several phone numbers of people we can call for our various projects.  Jim will complete the demo and will also do the backsplash, trim and baseboards.  We may even have him replace the kitchen window.  He specializes in old homes as well as new construction and knows how to build with the type of quality construction that was used back in 1910.

We will be using Showcase Kitchens http://www.showcasekitchensgb.com for the cabinet installation and white shaker style cabinet doors.  I changed my mind on the hardware last minute, so instead of the trendy pewter hardware I will be using a classic matte black iron.  This week we will take everything out of the cabinets, create a makeshift kitchen in the dining room, and paint the inside of the cabinets white. I have stocked up on paper plates and plastic forks.  Our sink, counter and stove will be out of commission for about a week.  Stay tuned for more demo.  It will get worse before it gets better.

Kitchen - The Island and Plan for Remodel Project

When we first looked at this house we knew the kitchen needed work.  Kitchen remodels often scare people away because of the cost, decisions, time without a kitchen, and the mess!  I really enjoy cooking and it makes a world of difference to have a functional kitchen.  The kitchen is where everyone gathers and is the heart of the home. This is the first time I have remodeled a kitchen and I'm a bit nervous about it.  I just have to keep in mind that all this hassle will be worth it in the end.

The kitchen at our old house had beautiful tile floors, black granite countertops, and a layout that made cooking easy.  I hope I can make this kitchen just as beautiful.  No matter how much I disliked the kitchen in this house, I didn't want to remodel it right away.  I needed to cook in it awhile to discover what I liked and didn't like about it. When the kitchen is done the entire first floor will be complete!

Here is a picture of the kitchen after we moved here. There are fruit and vegetable tiles on the backsplash.  The countertops are wood grain laminate. The cupboard doors were painted many layers of white paint. The flooring was probably black and white at one time, but now looks dingy and yellow.  It is cracked and beyond repair.  I actually lived with all of these things just fine.  The thing that bothered me the most in the kitchen was the L-shaped cabinet and no prep space or storage. 

Here is a photo of the L-shaped cabinet.  By the way, what on Earth am I supposed to put on those little shelves that my kids aren't just going to knock on the floor?  This whole L-shaped cabinet with shelves needs to go.  I can't even put the silverware in the drawers when the dishwasher is open.  My plan is to replace this cabinet with a straight cabinet that has several large drawers.  This will also allow for a larger walkway and easier access to the pantry.

To address the prep space problem, I found this yellow island on Craigslist. The Island has extra storage and a butcher block top! I can now prep near the refrigerator, stove and sink.    When we need a quick snack or lunch or weeknight meal we eat in the kitchen. We reserve the formal dining room for dinner. The only problem with the island was the color. I painted it black which will look great with the other changes I'm planning for the kitchen. There are two spots to sit at the island, but these stools were too tall.

I added some new industrial looking adjustable stools.  I painted the fruit and vegetable tiles because I couldn't look at them anymore. Ha! The backsplash will be removed and replaced with old looking wainscoting and trim. Ugh, that terrible florescent ceiling light!!!  I forgot to mention that I really dislike the lighting in the kitchen.

It is important to me to give the kitchen an old feel even though I will be putting new things in it.  This historic home deserves a kitchen that fits the rest of the house.  Here are a few photos I'm using for inspiration for the new kitchen:

Here is the plan for the kitchen remodel:

1.   Remove and replace backsplash

2.   Remove the flooring and refinish the hardwood floors underneath

3.   Remove the L-shaped cabinet and replace it with a straight cabinet with drawers

4.   Replace countertops sink, faucet 

5.   Replace all cabinet doors with shaker style white painted doors.

6.   Replace all hardware with pewter cup pulls and knobs

7.   Paint Walls Revere Pewter and the inside of the cabinets White.

8.   Add trim and tall baseboards

9.   Replace lighting above the island and above the sink

10. Enjoy a dinner in the new kitchen!

This process will take several weeks.  Our goal is to be finished by Memorial weekend.  I will make several posts about our progress.  Wish me luck!

The Office

***I recently re-named my blog americanfoursquare1910.blogspot.com

I couldn't think of a blog title when I first started this blog, but thought I would change it to incorporate the old house I'm always talking about. I hope you all continue to follow me.  Please feel free to make comments on my Facebook posts or in the blog itself.  I'm always looking for new ideas and appreciate your comments.  Thanks for reading my blog!

The Office

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've been super busy these last few weeks picking out items for the kitchen remodel.  More to come on that in May!  Stay tuned.

Our home office is also a mud room, storage closet and includes a half bath.  It is the first place we typically enter our home and quickly take off our shoes and coats and drop whatever we are carrying. You can imagine the things that get left in the office.

At one time, before the house was moved, the office was just a porch on the back of the house.  A new foundation was poured and it included a foundation under the porch.  Great idea!  By doing this, they were able to add heat and plumbing.  Down in the basement, we have a workshop area which is nice for all of our home improvement projects.

The office has hardwood floors, but the owners before us put down these stick tile carpets and used the space as a den instead of an office. They left some extra carpet squares in our basement. That's great! I can replace the squares when they get dirty. I just replaced 4 squares by the door this week. The box said they are from www.flor.com so we can easily order more when we need them. The hardwood underneath is damaged from years of snow, salt and rain.  Even if we did refinish the floors, it would be pretty difficult to keep them looking nice.  For now, we really like the carpet.

The office tends to collect all sorts of odds and ends, so my goal this week was to get rid of the clutter, hide the printer in the closet, and make the office a more inviting place to work. I will spare you the before picture of the mess.  I had to toss, file and throw out a bunch of stuff.  I found two lamps that I wasn't using and added them on each side of the window.  Now I don't have to work with a bright ceiling light all the time.  I just feel more calm and relaxed when I work under lamp lighting. I hid the printer in the closet and added a plant to the desk.

The long desk above isn't anything special, but I really like it because I made it myself!  I went to Menards purchased two 8ft boards.  I brought them home, stained them with stain I already had from another project, and placed them over my file cabinets.  Instant rustic-looking desk!  The stool underneath is adjustable and has metal legs and a wooden seat with a similar stain color.  We have two more stools like this by our kitchen island.

I centered the desk under the window so I could look out into the backyard while I'm working.  I can see the playground and our "sliver of the river" between the other houses.  That's what we lovingly call our water view. Ha! We can actually see the sunsets and water view much better from our second floor windows. Here is a picture of today's sunset.

The other desk is tucked in the corner because it has our computer on it and needs to be near the internet cords.  The big chair is for Dan because, like the recliner, he enjoys comfort over my design ideas. ;)  It was important to both of us that we each have a place to work in the office.  Hence the his and her desk situation. I actually work by the computer most of the time.  When we both have to work it is nice to have a second desk.

This other desk has an interesting story.  My Grandfather found it on the curb and gave it to me when I was just out of college.  My Grandfather was a really good "trash to treasure" kind of guy.  I think of him whenever I see something that could be repurposed. The desk is very heavy and solid wood.  It was dark redish-brown and probably a child's desk because it was really short.  Fortunately, I worked at a school and the students in the Tech Ed class were able to add to the bottom of the desk for me.  I painted it black and added new drawer pulls. This old desk has been with me for 15 years! 

The back door lets a ton of natural light into the office.  I placed a rug in front of the door to prevent some of the dirt from tracking in and onto the carpet.  I added a row of hooks for coats and things.

  We found the old looking key at a cute shop in Door County, WI.  It is nice to have our keys in one spot.  I also used some velcro command strips to hang our garage door openers on the wall.  We were always losing them.

On the other side of the office we have a large storage closet.  That is where I hid our printer and a bunch of other stuff we don't use very often.  We also have a half bathroom.  It is very small, but it's great to have a bathroom on the main floor.  I added the mirror and pretty chandelier light.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed the tour of the recently organized office.  I thought I would take pictures and share them with you before it gets all cluttered again.  Watch for my kitchen posts.  I've never done a kitchen remodel before and I'm excited about what this old house might be hiding under our kitchen floor.  Stay tuned!