Kitchen

Our first goal in renovating the house was to get the second floor rental unit up to snuff. That goal was side tracked when we discovered a killer deal on Ikea kitchens and decided to upgrade our own kitchen first. Note- do not be hastily taken in by Ikea deals, they have 20% off promotions twice a year.

Here is the kitchen before- fine, but dated. I hate hate hated the vinyl tile and the layout was inadequate.

during the open house

Once we placed the order with Ikea, Dan and I with the help of a few friends got to demoing.  Note- do not begin demo unless you know you can complete the project in a timely manner.

  

 
Underneath the vinyl tile, we were hoping to find the original hardwood, but instead found a 2nd layer of vinyl, a layer of plywood, and a layer of asbestos tile. 

Following demolition, we lived in basic squalor for about two months, sans kitchen. You may have noticed a drop cloth dividing the kitchen in the pictures above. One half of the kitchen was the work zone, and on the other half we had our refrigerator.  We had no kitchen sink, so we survived on microwaveable meals and disposable utensils. 

This is our make-shift kitchen area, on a good day

Dan and I were able to get the drywall up and installed ourselves, but we quickly realized that with the few hours we had to work on the weekends we would be living like this for close to a year.

With my family coming to town for Thanksgiving, we decided to hire a crew to help us get the kitchen finished in one weeks time.

We were lucky because the crew was willing to work with us, so by Dan and I assembling some of the boxes, demoing the floors, hanging the drywall and painting ourselves, we were able to save a lot of money.

Here are the after photos

My one disappointment with the kitchen is the floor tile we selected. When I saw the sample tile, I loved it, but in a field, the pattern is too apparent. Lesson learned, don't just look at one tile, and carefully consider the arrangement.

I also need to give a huge shout out to my Ma, who flew in a week early and helped us paint, organize, and put our lives back together, she saved Thanksgiving!