I began planning this project in March, researching, visualizing layouts, and sketching. I started interviewing contractors and making plans back in June, thinking we could get the project done before winter, but I wasn't willing to sacrifice quality for speed. It took a while to visualize moved countertops with pencil drawn on the floor, and a floor plan that we discovered the draftsman had drawn out of scale (can we say "fired"?). We hired Sean (SNS Builders) who did the kid's bathroom before, had good ideas, and because we trusted him and his crews in our home and around our children. 
I refused to start demo until we had our cabinet plans up to par. I enjoyed customizing the space to our needs, but it did take a lot of patience and eye for detail. I wanted to make sure the silverware was going to be a good place with a drawer wide enough. And the trash can tall enough. And the pots and pans by the stove. And hot pads by the oven. And outlets in all the right places. You get the idea....appearance mattered, the flow had to be natural, but function could not be sacrificed. We also had some "snowball effect," mostly in that we retiled the ENTIRE floor (laundry room to front door / half-bathroom).
I packed boxes of all the unlikely to use items early on (china, baking stuff), then the week prior we rearranged the garage, set up the folding table, and moved pantry items out. The weekend before, we moved our fridge, microwave, and all the rest. We had to put on a jacket to go use our chilly makeshift kitchen for dinner, and it was cold enough that I had to heat up the jar of Nutella to make the kids' sandwiches for school. As organized as I was, I still had moments of searching for hours through boxes for things, or buying duplicate things like BBQ sauce because I forgot I had some tucked away somewhere. The "garage kitchen" was the most memorable part for the kids.
We began demo on Dec 14. Chipping tile to redo the floor was the dustiest part. Even with plastic bisqeen hanging ceiling to floor to separate the bedrooms and living room, there was still white powder everywhere. I ran errands with Marissa for as much as the day as I could to avoid the noise and dust. I vacuumed the hall and living room nearly daily. We wore flip flops/shoes/slippers at all times inside and out because of the debris on the floor.
Keeping the kids safe was effort in and of itself. Trying to tell Marissa she can't go through the work zone without an adult worked for just a few days, but then Lil' Miss-Help-Herself goes on to get a snack or whatever she needs and I pray that all the fuse switches are off with exposed wiring hanging out of the wall. We even used yellow caution tape to remind us all to stay out of certain areas.
The house was cold. Luckily we could semi-partition off that half of the house and run the heater in the bedrooms. We didn't bother to run the heater in the front half of the house since we had no insulation and had slabs of plywood for window and doors. We enjoyed our gas fireplace and used blankets (and slippers and sweatshirts) to stay cozy in our living room.
Now our kitchen was looking really BIG with no cabinets or appliances. Sound echoed in our house. We re-penciled lines on the floor to verify measurements for the cabinet builders. And it stayed empty for over a month. Seeing our icicle Christmas lights out the window shows a contrast between the fullness of joy and the stark emptiness of the room.
Living room french doors were installed just before Christmas. Tile was laid at the same time, and we had to give the kids strict instructions where they could walk. For a couple days, we exited the house through the half-bath and walked around to the patio doors to enter the living room or to the garage/kitchen. On the day we could tear the 30' plastic wall down from our living room, we had a dance party! Celebrating each small layer of progress kept us going, since our kitchen was still empty.
February--cabinet installation! It took hours just to unload the truck. Good thing our dining room table was in the computer room, because staging all the cabinetry pieces filled and overflowed the dining room. The cabinet guys worked for days puzzling it all together like magic.
The kids enjoyed seeing each new stage as they got home from school each day.
While we waited for final cuts on countertops, we prayed that kitchen window would come in (it was already delayed 3x) because we had an oh-so-attractive plywood square decorating the front of our house for just over one month. At least this was a fun stage for the kids to play.
Excited to use my (albeit incomplete) kitchen, I lined a section of the plywood tops with parchment and cutting boards and cooked in my crockpot. The appliances I bought on sale at Thanksgiving could finally be installed mid-month. And Sean even accommodated my request to get a functioning sink before the end of the month so I could host extended family for lunch, even though the project was not fully complete. We couldn't cook in it yet, but we could wash hands and utensils from out take-out buffet ;-)
The final stages came together beautifully. It looks great with the openness, shiny stainless appliances, and all the granite countertops in. I started organizing cabinet storage as soon as I could, and figuring out the best place for food and different sized items in the pantry. The first week was funny when the girls wanted a snack and out of habit waked right past and to the garage.
We were happy to park in the garage again after two cold months. We did park outside for an extra week as my handy husband reconfigured the old kitchen cabinets to build a bigger workbench and more storage in the garage. Cleaning them off the back patio was glorious too!
We are very happy with how it all turned out. The flow and function are practical and social. We get to use our real dishes again, and the kids love eating breakfast at the new island bar.
ADDED JULY 2016: (this was my facebook post)
It took me a while to make, but my painted glass backsplash is finally done and mounted. Thanks Sean and all your team at SNS Builders for helping my kitchen dreams come true!
The tree of life is deep with so many meanings; I hope I enjoy looking at it and pondering happy thoughts every day!
 |
| Painted glass backsplash behind range for easy cleaning. Made by spray painting over a custom made vinyl sticker stencil on the back. |
No comments:
Post a Comment