Design
After Brandon and I sat down and discussed our desires and budget the budding architect in me got to work. We measured our kitchen and I began hand drafting our vision, searching for inspiration, and eventually modeling it in Revit. Once we had a set of preliminary drawings, our ideas on paper, we began the search for cabinets. There was a lot of flip flopping on which type of cabinetry would be best. A majority, i'd like to argue all of our budget would be spent on the millwork. First I spec'd out Ikea cabinets. WOW! There are so many hidden costs when you opt Ikea. Not to mention you A) either get to build them yourself or B) hire someone to built them (hidden cost.) After deciding Ikea wasn't the best option for us I spec'd out stock cabinets from home improvement stores. We even went as far as to talk to a "kitchen cabinet expert." Eventually we chose the most beautiful semi-custom cabinetry from the "kitchen cabinet expert."
HOLY! Roadblock!
As per Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." Misfortune struck, our water heater busted and flooded part of our basement mere weeks after we replaced our tenants water heater that had also busted. And if that wasn't bad enough our ancient A/C unit (which we were hoping to suckle another summer out of) kicked the bucket ALL IN THE SAME WEEKEND! We were preparing ourselves for those unexpected road blocks that always arise when one embarks on a home improvement project but nothing could've prepared us for a massive HVAC bill. What a road block it was we had already started demo a few weeks prior to our mechanical and plumbing upset so not following through with our remodel was not an option. Brandon and I weren't about to sacrifice living in 2017 without an A/C. Sadly we forked over our cabinetry budget to being comfortable and I got to kiss those beautiful semi-custom cabinets good-bye. We opted for the stock cabinets from Home Depot.
|
Stock photo of cabinetry we chose courtesy of Home Depot
|
Our FinishesFor those of you who aren't aware Brandon and I own a duplex, a rental property, in which we currently reside but eventually plan to move out of while still owning and managing said duplex. Owning and living in a rental property means you've got to make all your decisions as if eventually the most disrespectful people are going to live in your home. That's not to say that renters are disrespectful, as an owner it's just a matter of covering your bases by expecting and then preparing for the worst. It's been a bit of a learning process for me to adopt this mindset, especially when my heart desires "upgraded" finishes and conveniences. Because of this Brandon and I have been meticulously designing our remodel around durability and ease of replacement . With that in mind we have selected all our finishes from our local home improvement stores, Lowe's and Home Depot.
|
|
Finishes shown: white subway tile back-splash, stock laminate/Formica counter top, stock cabinet color sample.
|
Before Photos
Please forgive the mess. It didn't cross my mind to capture before photos until after we had already started to pack up our kitchen.
Week 1 - Demo
April 8, 2017
After months boycotting, dreading, and putting off the hard work that would eventually make our dream rental kitchen a reality we finally got up the gumption to demo. Fortunately for us (mostly me) Brandon's friend Mitch kindly volunteered to help us demo. He drove all the way down from his home in Wyoming! I was and still am incredibly grateful for his kindness and that extra man power. Mitch and Brandon just went to town and I tried my best to stay out of their way. Thanks again Mitch! You rock!
Goodbye cabinets
Hello junk. Is that water damage?
Goodbye laminate wood flooring. Hello hidden 70's linoleum.
Hello hidden gem "giraffe print" linoleum
Goodbye backsplash
We ripped the gypsum board open to the floor for easier mudding.
Goodbye built-in pantry closet. Hello exposed flue. The pantry closet was built like a bomb shelter! That thing wasn't going anywhere. It took Brandon half a day to tear it down. It was nailed every 4" and unfortunately he stepped on one during the demo process. I watched him pull it off his foot! Bleh!
|
Hello decades worth of dust and debris build up. YUCK!
We've got water damage. Thank you previous leaky dishwasher.
Goodbye hidden 70's linoleum.
Goodbye hidden gem "giraffe print" linoleum. You will be missed.
The easiest way to remove the backsplash was to rip open the gyp.
Goodbye gypsum board, hello easier drywall install.
Goodbye gypsum board. Hello new electrical layout.
|
Week 2 & 3 - Framing, Dry-walling, and Mudding
April 15th & 22nd 2017
Brandon and I have successfully accomplished all this work between the two of us with the exception of Mitch helping with some demo and my Dad's framing. I will personally speak for my skill level. There was no way I would be able to get those new walls square as I have never framed before. Thanks Dad! You are so talented.
We updated our sink's plumbing and flipped the dishwasher location. We removed the notch out and straightened the pipe.
|
We didn't realize it at the time of completion but because we flipped our dishwasher it and the drain pipe share the same home so we have to re-plumb the drain again by moving it over 9".
|
We removed the water damaged sub floor, attended to some minor mold, and replaced it with new sub floor.
|
The sink we ordered arrived we picked it up and took it all the way home before inspecting it. Got home opened it up and it was cracked! The crack continues down into the basin about 1/2". It immediately went back to the store and a new one was ordered as replacement, free of charge.
|
Week 4 - Painting and Lighting
April 29, 2017
It is absolutely amazing what a little paint can do to transform a space. If you're looking for a change without all the dust may I suggest painting your tired boring old space. Oh! And by splurging and installing LED lights! We did this and it totally transformed the space. Brandon and I made a dynamic duo when it came to painting and got all the walls primed and painted with (3) coats within 24 hours. Sanding has been the absolute worst part of this remodel. My house is covered in dust and I cannot keep up with it.
Range wall in "Pacer White". Range in its future home.
Fridge wall in "Pacer White". Appliances in their future homes.
Here's a comparison of our old CFL yellow lights to our new bright LED lights! The new lights mimic actual day lighting. They were a splurge but totally worth every penny!
|
Pantry wall: I CANNOT get over how amazing this looks now that is symmetrical. Still have demo and finishing to do. It's bottom of our to do list. We miss our sink!
Back wall in "Pacer" white. A pantry cabinet will be installed to hide the holes in sheetrock we saw no reason to fix. We will also be installing a "desk" area in which base cabinets with enclose and hide that weird build out which is the head clearance for the stairs into our laundry room.
|
Week 5 - Deliveries and Flooring
May 6, 2017
After finalizing painting we were ready to install our flooring, so we traveled to Lowe's to make our purchase. We were under the impression that they stocked the flooring we had chosen on their shelves and came to find that this was not the case. Unfortunately, we had to place an online order and were forced to wait for our order to be delivered to the store. No floor meant no cabinets. When you order cabinets online from Home Depot they give you a two week time frame as to when they will be delivered. Convenient right?! We were crossing our fingers that our delivery date would be in the second week. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Our cabinets were delivered in the middle of the week, on the first day of our estimated two week delivery, before we had received our floor.
When I received word the semi would be dropping our cabinets off at our home I felt like a little kid on Christmas! I was filled with so much excitement I exuberantly told my coworkers the good news. Talking to them about my personal life is something I rarely do, so obviously I was over the moon! The shipping company left all our cabinets in our carport. We were in for quite an exciting prize once we arrived home from work that evening. There were so many of them and so much cardboard! They filled our entire carport! And we spent the next several weeks filling our recycling bin with all the cardboard. |
Brandon and I spent the entire evening opening and inspecting each cabinet. Thankfully none of them arrived damaged. After inspection we filled every bit of clear floor space our home and shed had to offer to store them until we were ready for installation. My excitement of having cabinets delivered quickly faded as we wouldn't be able to install them for at least another week. Instead we got to walk and live around them. They became a disheartening obstacle that collected dust instead.
A few days after our cabinets had arrived Lowe's contacted us to let us know our floor was ready to be picked up. We raced to the store picked up our delivery and went to town installing it the following weekend...until the most frustrating and infuriating thing happened! My blood still boils (moderately) when I think about it. Pergo the company we ordered our flooring from via Lowes ships their product in varying lengths, meaning the six foot boards could be cut in half, in thirds, or in quarters. When calculating how much flooring we'd need for our space we over estimated, purchasing a spare box (you know just to be safe.) Once home from picking up our floor we open the first box and the very first board isn't even the right finish! That was a terrifying moment. My first thought was "Did we order the wrong floor? How could we do that?!" We immediately check the rest of the boards in the box they're all the correct finish. Crisis adverted! (Or so we thought!)
Once Brandon and I got past the installation of the first two rows we got into a grove. We were breezing through installation with no problems, going through box after box. But the more boxes we opened the more "randomly" cut boards we encountered. In one box more than half of the boards were cut in half. The pattern in our floor was designed completely around the full length six foot board, so these half-sized boards were becoming a bigger and bigger problem. As I said earlier we over estimated the amount of flooring we needed and bought an extra box. More than half of the product we had purchased came in varying lengths and we did our best to not cut full boards if we didn't have too. We were only able to floor 3/4 of our kitchen. We had two entire boxes full of boards cut to various lengths (by the manufacturer) that were essentially scrap. We couldn't use them and we were furious! We had no idea we would need to account for 2 additional boxes of completely worthless "scrap" boards. While we troubleshooted what to do to resolve the issue, because we honestly didn't think Lowe's would accept our return. We discovered the flooring we (but mostly me) had chosen was engineered hardwood. As I mentioned previously "Brandon and I have been meticulously designing our remodel around durability and ease of replacement materials." Originally it was goal to purchase a cheaper laminate flooring (but not the cheapest laminate flooring) So where did we go wrong?! Ultimately, Brandon who LOATHES shopping left me on the flooring aisle to chose the product we would eventually install. I being completely oblivious, made my selection based upon look. I selected a couple samples with Brandon's opinion we narrowed it down the flooring we walk on daily. |
Left board pictured = correct Sterling Maple finish
Right board pictured = incorrect finish Our beautiful engineered hardwood flooring.
|
Brandon and I were both under the impression that Pergo only sold the cheaper laminate flooring via Lowe's. Now we know better. A lesson we learned through our wallets. Cheap laminate flooring goes for as little as $1.50/SF and our engineered hardwood goes for $5/SF. That's more than double the cost! Thankfully, if asked both Brandon and I will tell you the favorite part about our remodel is our floor. We do no regret our decision of installing the Cadillac of wood flooring. Engineered hardwood is extremely durable, we have already beaten it up and it's still gorgeous.
As a follow up to frustrating issue of only being able to floor 3/4 of our kitchen we were left with no choice but to order more flooring from Lowe's and wait for delivery. This time around we over estimated the remaining SF and took various cut board into account. I also called Pergo to A) resolve the issue and B) to respectfully complain. We were able to return any/all full unused (manufacturer cut) boxes of flooring to Lowes. Once we had installed all our floor we had 3 1/2 boxes of scrap/manufacturer cut/unusable boards remaining. We returned the 3 full boxes for a full refund which also happened to reimbursed us for second order of flooring. With all the returns squared away and our stunning durable flooring installed we didn't spend a penny over what we had originally budgeted. Now I only mildly get aggravated when I think about what a disaster our new floor turned out to be. The labor was easy part.
As a follow up to frustrating issue of only being able to floor 3/4 of our kitchen we were left with no choice but to order more flooring from Lowe's and wait for delivery. This time around we over estimated the remaining SF and took various cut board into account. I also called Pergo to A) resolve the issue and B) to respectfully complain. We were able to return any/all full unused (manufacturer cut) boxes of flooring to Lowes. Once we had installed all our floor we had 3 1/2 boxes of scrap/manufacturer cut/unusable boards remaining. We returned the 3 full boxes for a full refund which also happened to reimbursed us for second order of flooring. With all the returns squared away and our stunning durable flooring installed we didn't spend a penny over what we had originally budgeted. Now I only mildly get aggravated when I think about what a disaster our new floor turned out to be. The labor was easy part.
Week 6 - Vacation
May 13, 2017
Brandon and I took the weekend off to vacation with our Terry family. We visited the windy city of San Francisco. While there we celebrated Brandon's mom's birthday and Mother's day. We met up with one of Brandon's best friends for lunch and to check out a dive bar. We took in all the beautiful sights and sites. And I caught several new Pokemon. It was wonderful to get away from our kitchen and spend some quality time together with those we love most.
|
Week 5 & 7 - Cabinets
After our relaxing get away and coming back to the obstacle course our house had become we went full steam ahead in installing our cabinets. (Truthfully we did install some of our cabinets before our trip because we just couldn't wait, but it fits better in the timeline on the page here so bare with me.) Up until this point we had only devoted our weekends to working in the kitchen. Both our Saturdays and Sundays always started with a trip to either Lowes, Home Depot, or both. And we always seemed to make it back to the store at least one more time each day. I'm shocked the workers didn't start greeting us by name, but then again I'm sure they were as thrilled to have us there as we were to be there again, for the umpteenth time! Once we started installing cabinets we worked EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. After I arrived home from work and we ate our family dinner together (something we both made priority after our wedding) we'd get to work. Installing cabinets is not easy. I hated it. Brandon hated it. The walls hated it.
As per usual with all our home and yard improvement projects something went wrong in this phase of the remodel too! This time a round it was entirely our faults. We miscalculated the cabinet sizes for the range wall. When we shifted the range toward the window to put a nine inch cabinet on the side, we tacked on an additional three inches the wall did not have. In other words if we kept the design and cabinets sized the way we had originally thought they'd have stuck out 3" past the wall. OOPS! (I'd like to inform you all this was not a CAD error, we changed the design after my CAD sketches and I never went back and updated the model.) Thankfully, it was an easy fix as the base cabinet we installed along that wall is a blind corner and can be placed as near or as far from the adjoining wall as needed. For the upper cabinets we stole the correct cabinet size from another location.
The frustrating part came when we tried to return the upper cabinet that was three inches too large. We sat at the return center at Home Depot for over an hour while their computers crashed and froze their systems. Apparently there was something wrong with our online order (their fault not ours) and the only way we could get the would be to call up the head corporation at Home Depot or something. We went from standing patiently waiting to receiving permission to chill on the motorized shopping carts while they tried to sort out the issue. Spending over an hour at Home Depot wasn't exactly how we hand planned spending our evening.
As per usual with all our home and yard improvement projects something went wrong in this phase of the remodel too! This time a round it was entirely our faults. We miscalculated the cabinet sizes for the range wall. When we shifted the range toward the window to put a nine inch cabinet on the side, we tacked on an additional three inches the wall did not have. In other words if we kept the design and cabinets sized the way we had originally thought they'd have stuck out 3" past the wall. OOPS! (I'd like to inform you all this was not a CAD error, we changed the design after my CAD sketches and I never went back and updated the model.) Thankfully, it was an easy fix as the base cabinet we installed along that wall is a blind corner and can be placed as near or as far from the adjoining wall as needed. For the upper cabinets we stole the correct cabinet size from another location.
The frustrating part came when we tried to return the upper cabinet that was three inches too large. We sat at the return center at Home Depot for over an hour while their computers crashed and froze their systems. Apparently there was something wrong with our online order (their fault not ours) and the only way we could get the would be to call up the head corporation at Home Depot or something. We went from standing patiently waiting to receiving permission to chill on the motorized shopping carts while they tried to sort out the issue. Spending over an hour at Home Depot wasn't exactly how we hand planned spending our evening.
Eventually the store associates told us to go home and leave the cabinet there (unreturned and in good faith that we would receive our refund) so they could finalize the return without us having to waste any more time. Needless to say we were grateful to not have to be sitting in limbo but we watched our bank account like a hawk for the return to process. Good news: our return processed and we proceeded with installing our cabinetry. Bad news: we were (and still are) missing a cabinet. Home Depot charges $100 for shipping on 1 cabinet and 5,000 cabinets. To save the $100 our Terry family graciously offered to order our missing cabinet when they order the cabinets for a remodel they're working on next door.
|
Impatiently waiting for our return to process in style. Obviously! Who doesn't want to hang out on the accessibility shopping carts?!
|
Stock cabinets are cheaply made. I have no experience to say if other cabinets are built to a higher quality but several of our cabinets were bowed. The walls of our home are neither perfect, nor square. Trying to align bowed cabinets to imperfect walls is a challenging task. Some how Brandon managed to make it look easy. And after hours of work our cabinets were installed.
Started install on the back wall
Both base cabinets in place.
|
We notched out all the base cabinets to hide that weird white box, which if you remember is the head clearance for the stairs into our laundry room.
You'd never know that white box is there now. It was definitely worth ripping open that wall to change the location of the outlet, phone jack, and thermostat.
|
Week 8 - Counter Tops & Plumbing
May 20, 2017
Counter top installation was LITERALLY the most difficult part of our remodel, every cut needed to be expertly precise and of course Brandon and I tackled the task ourselves (news flash neither him nor I are experts.) But as with every task through our team work and a little help from my dad and the use of his table saw we managed to make it work. I don't have much to say just know that this task was painstakingly difficult; my least favorite part of remodel (excluding living in a relentless amount of sheetrock and mud dust. )
I got to lend a helping hand in a new way. I acted as "dead weight" using my mass to weigh down the counter top as Brandon secured it into place with screws from below. I thought it was fun so I made him snap a photo. |
You guys I meant it, aligning the seams of the counter top to perfection was not easy! A couple of times we had to make multiple cuts shaving down the next piece to be installed and if we weren't careful the blade could have chipped the laminate finish. It was such a stressful task. I am counting my lucky starts that it's over.
|
Brandon's dad Kris came and taught Brandon how to sweat new fittings on our water pipes so we could install the sink cabinet and eventually the sink. I snapped a picture of the moment because this sort of things makes my heart gush <3. When Brandon saw it he asked me why the heck I'd take a picture of something like that. I love pictures. He does not.
Drum roll please! The moment we had been waiting 2 months for! THE INSTALLATION OF OUR SINK!!! Let's hear it for running water and more importantly BRANDON!!!! He plumbed it all and it works like a dream! Never thought i'd miss something so much. Now we can and do wash dishes! We were so excited about that and let's be honest here, who in their right mind gets excited about washing dishes? US!
Week 9 - Our One Year Anniversary
May 27, 2017
Brandon's driving force and ultimate goal was to get the sink installed. And through a tremendous amount of work and adrenaline he made that happen. That last little stretch he worked harder than ever before. We got the sink in days before our one year wedding anniversary so we decided to celebrate the best way we knew how, by taking the ENTIRE weekend off! We lounged around and did what we pleased all weekend long. Which did lead back to us working in the kitchen! I had been itching to fill the cabinets by unpacking our things and de-cluttering (and still dusting our home.)
For our anniversary we also celebrated by not cooking, which is weird considering we had a fully functional kitchen again. We enjoyed Sunday Brunch at the Grande American hotel. The food was delicious! It was my first time going and I have to say if you have not been you should go! The best part was the orange juice and I don't even like orange juice! Our weekend off didn't stop at our anniversary! We haven't worked in our kitchen since! We're not exactly close to being done but our kitchen is fully functional . Our main motivating force during our whole remodel process was to get our sink back. Since it's been installed all our motivation seems to have dissipated (as well as all our money.) So things are temporarily on hold while we tend to other things. Like not caring if we ever install trim. |
Mirrorfie at the Grande America Hotel where we enjoyed Sunday Brunch.
|
Can I just brag for a moment about how SPECTACULAR Brandon is? Without him our kitchen remodel wouldn't have been at all possible. He was the one who watched all the DIY videos on YouTube, the one who suffered the most injuries (which includes some notable mentions...stepping on a nail and hammering his finger,) the one who operated the "heavy" machinery, the one who solved majority of the problems, and the one who wired all the electrical. I could write a rather lengthy list but I'll spare you. It's because of him I am able to write about our adventures and share our before and soon to be after photos. That's not to say that I wasn't helpful, although sometimes I felt like wasn't. I worked along side him every step of the way. I was the one who watched some of the DIY videos on YouTube with him, I was the one who tended to his injuries, the one handed him all the "heavy" machinery, who worked along side him to solve majority of the problems, and I was the one who was flipping the breakers so he could check his wiring without electrocution. Our kitchen remodel was a joint effort that has strengthened our relationship. It was easier for us to find the motivation when working together.
He told me the only reason why he was able to remodel the kitchen is because he has me. To paraphrase he said because I make all the money he was able to spend it on our remodel, something he couldn't have done or afforded alone. Although that statement contains some false information (mostly about me making all the money) it does contain one strong truth! It is ABSOLUTELY 100% true that we both couldn't have done all the hard work without each other. Him and I are truly Better Together. B&T. Doesn't that just melt your heart? No? Well it does mine. Without each other we wouldn't have gotten to the point to where our remodel is today. Although it is far from over we are proud of the work we have done. I love to show it off! So if you're reading this THANK YOU for letting me share. That being said I am even more proud to have such an amazing man as my husband, a man working hard alongside me to build us a enriched and beautiful life. My heart is full and my motivation to work on our remodel has run dry.
He told me the only reason why he was able to remodel the kitchen is because he has me. To paraphrase he said because I make all the money he was able to spend it on our remodel, something he couldn't have done or afforded alone. Although that statement contains some false information (mostly about me making all the money) it does contain one strong truth! It is ABSOLUTELY 100% true that we both couldn't have done all the hard work without each other. Him and I are truly Better Together. B&T. Doesn't that just melt your heart? No? Well it does mine. Without each other we wouldn't have gotten to the point to where our remodel is today. Although it is far from over we are proud of the work we have done. I love to show it off! So if you're reading this THANK YOU for letting me share. That being said I am even more proud to have such an amazing man as my husband, a man working hard alongside me to build us a enriched and beautiful life. My heart is full and my motivation to work on our remodel has run dry.