At the end of May we remodeled our kitchen. It needed it. It was dark, ugly, and dysfunctional. It is now bright and beautiful and actually has places to work. We knew we were going to work on it this summer, but didn't have any dates down. When Micah's friend, Mike, told us he could help us at the end of May, we had about 3 weeks to get everything ready. We hadn't even bought anything for it yet! Yikes! It all worked out, though. We did a bunch of online shopping with store pick-up options and even ran into sales in the process.
Before Pictures:
You can see that everything is outdated. The countertops have places where there are holes. There is a half wall that has no cabinets. It had a countertop attached to it at one point, but that fell. There wasn't much counter space left after that. That was 6 feet of space we lost! The light fixture had a crack in it and didn't give off the best light. The ceiling of the kitchen also dropped down about 18 inches or so, leaving it feeling small and dark.
Mike and Micah everyday for an entire week. They started with the weekend. Mike would come over right after waking up and he would stay until late at night. They really only stopped working to eat. Then, Mike came over after work every night that week. The guys ate dinner and then got straight to work. I also helped with this endeavor. I was in charge of watching our kids. I was also in charge of sanding and finishing the countertops and sanding and painting the cabinets. Most of my work, I was out in the garage and had to work as fast as I could during nap times. I also used some of those 3 weeks leading up to remodel week to try to get ahead of all the coats of paint and sealant I needed.
Demo Pics:
Tearing down the ceiling:
Half wall removed:
Ceiling opened and framing of the drop removed:
It looked so much bigger with the half wall gone, I was tempted to leave it. In the end, I really wanted my 6 foot counter and extra cabinets.
Installing new cabinets:
New counters going in:
Micah preparing to put the insulation back in the ceiling.
Undermount sink and backsplash
After placing the cans and having the electrician wire for the new lights, it was time to re-drywall the ceiling. We had to leave a drop above the sink, because of the way the roof slants. We put a light above the sink, and it works perfectly.
They replaced the two cabinets that they had to take down when they opened the ceiling. I had painted them while they were in the garage. This is about the time that Mike left and we were on our own to finish.
We took the doors off of the rest of the cabinets in order to paint. The girls decided that this new kitchen without doors was the best playground around.
Newly painted cabinets didn't stop them from playing.
The almost finished kitchen. We still need to texture the ceiling, paint, put our light covers in, and then paint the walls. They will stay the same color, but there are many spots that need a touch-up after all of this. The hardware was added with the help of my dad. I don't think they'd look so nicely lined up if it wasn't for his help. We're so glad he was there to help.
1 comment:
We enjoyed our dinner very much--thanks!! ;)
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