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Good-Bye Old Stove
Demo day three and now it’s starting to get serious. I packed up my dishes, spices and vitamins from the upper cupboards and watched as the guys tore out the cabinets. There’s no turning back…we are officially ripping out major parts of our kitchen…like this old wall oven. I think this oven officially qualifies as vintage…and not the good kind of vintage. Besides the smaller interior, this oven boasts a sill operational flip-down clock. I’m certain that’s not the official name, but you know the kind I’m talking about. It’s not a clock with hands, it’s not digital, the numbers actually flip down as each minute or hour passes. It’s…
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The Wall Comes Tumbling Down
And just like that the wall is gone! It’s hard to see in the picture, but the amount of light that we get in the kitchen now that the wall is gone…why didn’t we do this sooner?? Both rooms are significantly brighter. What looks like a total mess is actually a significant improvement. This was a huge step in confirming that our decision to open the space was the right choice. I don’t even mind the mess. Honestly, we are just amazed at what a huge difference this makes!
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And So It Begins…
Somebody pinch me!!! We just started ripping the kitchen wall apart, a messy job for sure. With our initial design in hand, we knew how we wanted the kitchen to look visually, but we needed to answer some questions first before we could put our plan into action. In order to open up the wall permanently, we need to determine if the studs were weight bearing or not, so Dan decided to make an exploratory hole in the wall to locate the studs. Once it was determined they were weight bearing, we had two options: leave the studs where they were or move them to the outer edges to be…
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Planning Stage: Addressing the Problem Areas
Anytime you invest in a remodel it is vital that you address the problem areas and come up with workable solutions. This was where we spent the bulk of our time in the first 6 months prior to demolition. We spent a long time up front developing a plan that addressed these issues and solved our problems. Okay, so I just need to get this out there before I go any further. I feel conflicted about what I’m about to say. On one hand, this is a perfectly great kitchen, it has a nice long counter, adequate storage and serves my family well. I should be perfectly happy, right?…but then…
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The Design Process
Our Kitchen Plans The design process is easily where we spent the most time…nine months to be exact. It was a long process and what I discovered in that nine months is that Dan and I are extremely indecisive and at the same time very detail oriented. This combination is hilarious. We frequently suffered from information overload. Having too many options can be a good thing for sure, but when you are type-A like Dan and I, our need to evaluate everything can often lead to analysis paralysis. The reality is, we’ve never tackled a project of this magnitude with so many moving parts and there were a lot of…
