Hey everyone. How's your weekend been so far? We've had a good weekend ourselves. We packed up some of the final few things out of cupboards, took pics off the walls, went shopping for appliances and pendant lighting. Since we are only 3 sleeps away from our demolition day I thought this would be a good time to share our "before" pictures of the kitchen renovation. We are in a 4 level split home and basically we are doing a total main floor renovation.... and then some.
I'll give you a 360* view of the kitchen.
1) Our house was built in 1988 and you would think that a house built only 22 yrs ago would have been designed a little smarter when it comes to storage. {{But you'd be wrong.}} The kitchen is a decent size for just the 2 of us but our last house, which was a 1960's bungalow, had more storage~~AND a kitchen island. An island is sorely lacking in our current kitchen and it's probably one of the things I am most excited about for our new kitchen.
See that wall that has the fridge and the stove on it? That is going to be torn down to open the kitchen up to the dining room and front living room. The contractor's engineer checked it out and he signed off saying it wasn't load bearing. Awesome.
2) The window above the sink is also being removed. I know alot of people's first reaction will be to think it's a crazy thing to do (I know that was my first thought when the designer suggested it) but it was a huge design problem and removing it really is the best solution. The new fridge will be going where the pantry is and the stove in the area of where the window currently is. The sink, dishwasher and microwave will go in the island.
3) We won't be missing any light when removing the window because we are south facing and get a ton of light from these back doors and windows. The window over the sink faces west but the only view is my neighbors front steps so we almost never open the shutters anyway.
4) Our kitchen had so much annoying clutter on the floor and on top of every surface since there was no where to put anything. This little microwave cart in the corner held some bowls, wine glasses and some bbq utensils etc.
5) The microwave cart is also where I took photos of my cards. Not sure where I will do that during or after the renovation as this entire wall will be custom cabinets. The closet will be torn out and a pantry will go there. Then there will be upper cabinets across and cabinets down the right side of the opening....that will be our bar area. And yes after this reno I am sure we will be in need of that bar. lol.
Our designer really wants us to close up that opening but we want to keep it. Mike and I chat alot through that opening and I think the TV room would be too cut off from the open plan we are trying to go for if we close it up.
6) This is just a random shot of the kitchen ceiling. The popcorn texture will be coming off the ceilings on the entire main floor. New pot lights and over the island lighting will be installed.
7) Here's a shot of the wall that is coming down from the other side. This picture is such a good example of how dark the front of our house is. See how bright the kitchen is? The dining room is always this dark. Good-bye wall. Hello sunshine.
8) This shows the 4 level split of the house. Bedrooms upstairs. TV room down one level and my craft room is down another set of stairs to the basement. Good-bye and good riddance to the brass mirrored sliding doors.
9) This is what you currently see when you walk in the front door (I used a flash and increases the brightness just to get this amount of light in the pic). The changes will include....knock down ceilings, all new trim, new chandelier (which we bought and have in the garage already) and new paint throughout. I am really tired of "dark" so we will be going very light in the paint colour dept.
Also, the hardwood is being removed from the main floor and the lower level and being replaced with new hardwood rather than sanding them and trying to match it into the kitchen. We are thinking of going with Walnut but we still have to go look at flooring.
The jury is out on the glass curio cabinet. I bought it about 11-12 years ago and I loved it then----in our 1960's bungalow. However, we've been here 5 years now and I have yet to fill it because I no longer love it. We have an on-going battle about getting rid of it. Mike had to cut the top to fit it in that space when we moved here so he's trying to make a point of how much I "had to have it". He thinks he's funny. BUT I am going to try painting it to see if that will change my mind on it. Ultimately I don't think it's going to suit the new kitchen....like at all.
So there you have it. That's our kitchen/living room in a nut shell. The storage bin arrives Monday, the contractor moves the furniture out on Tuesday and the demo is to take place this coming Wednesday.
We have decided to go to my parents for a few days (Wed - Sat). It's about a 5 hour drive so unfortunately we won't be around to see the daily progress of the demo but a friend is going to stop in to take photos for me. I have a feeling when we come home next Saturday it's going to be quite the shock to see our house in that condition. Of course I will share those photos with you.
Have a wonderful week everyone! Thanks for stopping in and taking a peek.
