Where Did My Kitchen Go?

The past two weeks have been busy ones and if I had to sum them up in two words, those two words would have to be…kitchen remodel! I knew when we started this whole process, it would take a lot of time and work, but even as I say that, I had no idea how much work it would actually be!

The "before" picture of the kitchen

The first week or so was spent shopping and picking things out like cabinets, countertops, lighting, appliances, flooring, and the hardest of all...paint color! I’m still working on that one but I only have a few days left, so I’m going to have to hurry! In the process of “shopping”, we also hired someone to do the kitchen demolition, the sheet rocking, the electrical, the plumbing and even someone to pull up the old flooring. I just wish we would have hired someone to take down the wallpaper too because that was one of the hardest parts of the kitchen demolition...and Hayden and I did most of it all by ourselves! I now know that I will never put up wallpaper again...and don’t even ask me to!

When it finally came time to get started on demolishing the kitchen, I thought I was ready for it...but I’m not sure I really was! Rod told me one day (Wednesday) that I needed to pack up the stuff in my top cupboards so that he could get them down and ready for the electrical guy to come on Saturday. I had some extra time that day, so by the time Rod got home from work, those top cupboards were completely empty and ready to go. Rod took that as a “go” and he immediately started taking my cupboards down. I thought I still had a few days to get used to the idea, but I guess not!

It's looking different without the cupboards

After the cupboards were gone, the electrical guy came and wired for all of our lighting. He even put in our new can lights and just with those, it already felt like we had a new kitchen. At the same time, Hayden and I had begun tearing down wallpaper and we quickly realized that it wasn’t going to be an easy process. In fact, it was going to take a lot of work...especially where there were double layers of the stuff!

Hayden helping me remove the wallpaper

This wall had the most wallpaper to remove

In tearing down the wallpaper though, we found a few treasures. Fourteen years ago when Rod and I put up the wallpaper and the wainscoting, the boys (and even me) signed the wall underneath where the wainscoting was going to go. Chris wrote “Alanis Morrisette rules”, Patrick wrote “Nirvana rules”, Jon wrote “Jon Mosher 1PP6” (he obviously didn’t know how to write his 9’s) and I just signed my name and the date, which was 9/09/96. It brought back some fun memories!

Somewhere in the midst of taking down the wallpaper, the electrical work got done and it was time for the soffits and the pantry to come out. We had hired a guy by the name of Rod (I named him “builder Rod”) to do that and the drywall part and he spent the last week working on the demolition and the drywall mudding and taping. With the soffits and the pantry gone, my kitchen suddenly seems really big...but it was also really dirty! I gave up on trying to keep it clean during the major part of the demolition, so we basically were without a kitchen for 2 or 3 days. Then on Friday night when everything was just about done, I took back my kitchen! With the drywall and the demolition part almost completed...I think the messiest part of this remodel is now over!

The kitchen with the pantry

The kitchen without the pantry

Remember that big wall with wallpaper? This is it after the wallpaper was gone!

This week we are having the shingles replaced on our roof and a new front door installed, so everyday my house changes a little. We’re also going to be preparing to start painting, and I’m not looking forward to that. The flooring is scheduled to get started on March 18^th, so I will have a kitchen until then…then it’ll be 2 weeks until everything is done! Thank heavens, we’ll be in Las Vegas with Rod for one of those weeks because he has to go down for a conference and we’re going with him. Then when we get back, we’ll get to be here to watch the cabinets be installed. It feels like the whole process is going to take forever, but I know I’ll be happy when it’s all done!

As for the boys, they’ve had fun being a part of the whole process...or at least Hayden has. Connor basically stays as far away from it as possible. Hayden has been right in the middle of everything though. He has helped me with the wallpaper, his dad with whatever he’ll let him do, and he was “builder Rod’s” right hand man! Jon has been a big help too, but he’s just not around nearly enough!

Rod decided to fix the Lazyboys - not our lazy boys, but the Lazyboy chairs

This chair improvised as our table for a few days

Aside from the kitchen, life has been going on as usual...we just haven’t noticed it so much because the kitchen has taken the majority of our time! The best part though, is that Spring is coming…and I can’t wait!