Kitchen Capers

No sewing has been done. There have been some fabric purchases to assuage my soul, but Mike and I have been very busy packing up our kitchen. We are having our kitchen renovated! Last weekend we did this...

Mike was in charge of buying boxes. He brought home six... we packed 25...

Here's a little blog post about our kitchen renovation.

About 15 years ago, I built a two car garage, not-so-affectionately referred to as the Garage Mahal, a project of such epic proportions that I vowed I would move before attempting such an undertaking
again…

Earlier this winter, my husband and I started to toss around the idea of remodeling our kitchen. Our kitchen is small and impractically laid out. I’ve never liked the ugly brown cabinets and the homely Formica counter tops. Our discussion began with the necessity of having our hardwood floors refinished and quickly morphed into tearing down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. This would double our space and give us room to add an island so that Mike would have lots of room for food preparation. Mike also wanted a high powered exhaust fan that vented outside and a stove with higher BTUs for more cooking power. I was more concerned with the kitchen’s aesthetics and desired white Shaker style cabinets and a farmhouse sink.

Pug boys in the kitchen last weekend before the packing began. As you can see, we definitely need our floors refinished!

Since neither of us is a master of DIY, we hired a contractor who will oversee the renovations. We placed the order for the cabinets last month. We chose grey quartz for our counters and are still negotiating the color for our tile back splash. If all goes well, the kitchen remodeling project will start in mid-April. When my Mom asked me how long the renovations would take, I jokingly said, “about one hour with three commercials,” because I watch too much HG TV. Our contractor has assured us that the project will take 4-5 weeks; I’m secretly estimating 6-8.

My friend Jason has lived through two kitchen remodeling projects and offered me the following advice.

• Move our refrigerator and microwave into another room and set up a makeshift kitchen.
• To minimize eating out, order a large submarine sandwich and eat half for dinner on one night, and save the other half for the next night.
• Invite ourselves over to our friends’ houses for dinner with the promise that one day they can come over and dine in our new kitchen.

While I’m very excited, I’m also terrified. I’m worried about the mess and the upset of our normal household routine. In order to get to the other side, i.e., our dream kitchen, we will need to remove EVERYTHING from the three rooms on our first floor — furniture, knickknacks, and dog crates — so that the floors can be refinished. There is definitely a major spring cleaning in my future.

If you’re considering a kitchen renovation, you may find these articles helpful:

• How to remodel and keep your marriage together
• The (Don't Get Burned) Kitchen Remodeling Guide
• 10 Home Renovations With the Best Return on Investment | Spending 

Have you ever done a large scale renovation project? Do you have any tips? Would you like to have Mike and me over for dinner?

Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

P.S. Latest update: Construction was supposed to start tomorrow... we are still waiting for approval of our Home Equity Line of Credit and our contractor is waiting for the construction permits... I am camping out in the living room while Mike is visiting New Orleans for the French Quarter Festival.

P.P.S. One would think that having no kitchen would mean that you would have a lot more time for sewing. This doesn't appear to be the case yet...