We're at it Again

The thing about doing a major home renovation is that when you're finished, you see the rest of your house through a different lens. With our kitchen and basement updates, I began to get a hankerin' for changing other rooms too. So last week I got a bee in my bonnet and decided to update the upstairs bathroom. This is one one that all 5 of us use EVERY day.

It was a tired room. Old oaky looking cabinets that were nothing to write home about. Bland wall color that could be considered no color at all. And a dreadful mirror that was hung so high I can only see myself from the chin up and the kids cannot see themselves at all.

Here's the before....

And the after.

The before.....

And the after.....

Before....

And after....

It's like a whole new room. It's so much brighter and open in there now. In addition to the new paint, vanity, and wall cabinet, we also replaced the lighting and all the fixtures. The towel bars were a hideous gold color and now are a lovely chrome to match the faucet and light fixture. Oh...and the mirror is great. Kids can see themselves and I can see myself from the waist up!

We still need to replaced the toilet in there, but that is a project for another day!

Kitchen Update

It's been several months since we finished the bulk of our home improvement projects. We've been dealing with residual projects ever since and only in the last week do I feel like we finally got things back to normal. Well...as normal as things can be in our house.

The kitchen is wonderful. It serves our needs so much better than the old one...plus it's just prettier to look at.

We still haven't finished painting, but we're getting there. Slowly but surely - one wall at a time.

It was a huge financial undertaking but I'm glad that we were forced to make the changes. It's made life a lot easier!

Official Renovation Update #8

Because inquiring minds want to know, and because I am sitting here twiddling my thumbs until the crew downstairs finishes I thought I'd update.

With the kitchen out of the way, we turned our sight back downstairs. Jamie and dad worked hard to get the walls of the bathroom back up and painted.

Then yesterday....the magic happened.

Those are our AMAZING new floors. The are literally finishing up the last of the trim as I type so as soon as they vacate the premises I will be hauling all our stuff back to the basement. I have big ideas for the playroom....in fact, I've e-mailed said ideas to my idea guys to see if they will work. I want to create a little "book nook" for my girls and make sure Jamie and I still have room for the treadmill as well. Can't wait to get life back to normal....well...as normal as things can be for us!

Official Renovation Update #7

I have much to be thankful for this year, but right at the top of my list is a fully-functioning kitchen. On Friday, the countertop folks arrived around 11 a.m. They quickly got to work and had the countertops installed in no time. Then, the plumbers came at 3:30 p.m. We were really surprised because we were told they couldn't get to us until next week and possibly not until after the holiday. They were able to get the sink and dishwasher hooked up in less than an hour. It was funny because they hadn't been to the house since jackhammer day so they were quite impressed with the progress.

So here are the drawers pre-countertop.

And then after....

And here is the new set up by the stove and fridge before...

And after.....

I cannot believe it is our kitchen. Last night after dinner we ran the dishwasher. Dad and Jamie were also able to hang the shades I selected for the windows. We still have to paint in there, but that doesn't stop us from using the room. Now if we can just get the flooring laid downstairs, our house will be back to normal!

Official Renovation Update #6

With the kitchen (sort of) finished we can now turn our attention back downstairs. Yeah...remember that? The project that originally started this whole mess? In case you've forgotten or if you're like me and you *want* to forget....back in August we bought new flooring for the basement. The carpet was old and worn so we decided it was time. Little did we know, we had a leak from the kitchen causing all kinds of problems. Anyway....we have now repaired the kitchen situation and are closing in on the basement.

Some people (*cough* Betsy*cough) are going to want to know important things like wall color. Here's the test wall I did. Notice the dark green going up the stairs. No time to paint that now...maybe one day.

So the green is going and the den will be painted that color you see above. But here is the current status of the den.

Um, yeah....so we have some work to do. We need to clear out the last bits of furniture and stuff so we can paint.

The good news is, the playroom is already painted! Jamie did that last weekend. (The color is called ballet slippers for those keeping track.)

And the flooring finally was able to be delivered this week too.

It is patiently waiting in the playroom for us to get everything else ready so they can come install it!

Blogger's Note: The countertops in the kitchen won't be ready for 2-3 weeks so you'll have to wait for the final pictures until then.

Official Renovation Update #5

We are finally back in the kitchen (sort of). The countertop folks can't come measure until Tuesday and then the countertops will have to be ordered so it will be a while until we are "done" but for now, we are able to use the kitchen again. There's no sink right now but at least all our appliances aren't in the living room.

The cabinets really do look wonderful.

And my new ones over by the stove and fridge are so helpful!

The kitchen has lots of cool features that I'm really proud of. Like the pull out pot rack.

And my personal favorite.....a pantry!

But having a pantry has revealed to me an unhealthy obsession with Campbell's Tomato Soup. For some reason....I have 14 cans!

So up next....the playroom and downstairs needs to be painted and Dad and Jamie will finish the basement bathroom improvements as well. The flooring will be delivered tomorrow and hopefully (fingers crossed) we can have it installed early next week! Once that is complete we will finally be able to use the basement for the first time in three months! There's a light at the end of the tunnel. Yeah!

Official Renovation Update #4

Today was a busy renovation day, but thankfully not a loud one. Allie and I were able to be home all day. Which was fun because not only did I get a few things done, but we were also able to watch the kitchen come together.

Note the dishwasher!!!!!!!

I am seriously digging that large cabinet that will be our pantry. SO cool!

Now to the other side of the room where we didn't even have cabinets before.

The stove and fridge go there as well. I knew the new kitchen would be wonderful, but I am finally seeing just how great it will be. I give most of the credit to Jamie who has really designed a perfect kitchen for our family. I offered input on drawer pulls and little stuff but he did all the heavy lifting when it came to putting the design together. I can't wait for it to be finished. Tomorrow....grout and the rest of the cabinets and shelves!

Official Renovation Update #3

Big changes today! The tile floor is completely down.

The little blue things are just the spacers that hold it into place until the grout is in.

And do you know what happened this morning?

The cabinets showed up IN the kitchen! And as of 2 p.m. I can see our dishwasher in there! That's right....for the first time in 10 years of marriage...there will be a dishwasher in our kitchen. YEAH!

Official Renovation Update #2

It's Wednesday around lunch time....which means Allie and I are renovation refugees once again over at Nana and Granddad's house. But big things (GOOD things) are going on at home.

Yesterday the contractor and the plumber cut a hugemongous hole in our kitchen floor. And then they sealed it up again.

That's the wet concrete at about six last night. Everywhere that you see that concrete was actually jackhammered up earlier in the day. The offending pipes underneath were replaced. And then it was readied for the installation of the sink and dishwasher.

And let's not forget downstairs.....remember? That's where moldy chaos broke out and started this whole mess.

Now the pipes there have been repaired as well and the boards and insulation has been replaced. All that's left down there is to fix the drywall!

Today...the tile is being laid in the kitchen.

I am so anxious to get home later this afternoon and see the progress!

Official Renovation Update #1

The contractor arrived on Wednesday as scheduled. Things are going well if I do say so myself.

Here's a reminder of what it looked like before.

The picture below is the view from Wednesday afternoon around 3 p.m. looking at the same window.

Now here's a shot from 5 p.m. on Wednesday...this is post soffit. You can see where it was removed in the brown area.

And here's the latest view that was taken late on Thursday. They plastered over all the walls. It looks a lot better in person.

Today they will be back to start prepping the pipes and the wall for the plumbers who arrive on Monday. The plumbers will be jackhammering up the concrete slab that is the kitchen floor to access the leak. Needless to say we will be making ourselves scarce on Monday.

I spoke with the contractor (who I love, by the way...he's wonderful) before they left on Thursday evening and he brought me up to speed on everything. We discussed how we are updating the lighting and I have already picked out a lovely pendant lamp for over the kitchen sink. He said he pleased with everything so far and other than a few minor things, our home has not offered up any surprises that might set the project back. Good news indeed!

Renovation Update

After what seems like an eternity, things are really happening over at Casa Lamar. Our new roof is going up tomorrow (yeah!!) and it looks like kitchen demolition will commence early next week.

As a result, I've been trying to empty the kitchen of all its contents.

That means storing cookbooks in the linen closet and board games under my bed to make room for it all. But it's emptying nicely. Here's a part of the kitchen that will now have cabinets. There will now be cabinets on either side of the stove and over the fridge.

And then where the pointless concrete planter thingy is now...there will be a custom-made bench with underseat cabinets.

Meanwhile.....downstairs....Jamie and my dad have been working in the bathroom/laundry room.

They have sealed it to prevent future water seepage and are getting ready to put the walls back up.

So that's the view from here...it's total chaos and will likely be so for a few more weeks. But then..it will be time for the big reveal!

Home Renovation: Day ?????

I've lost track of how long this project has been going on. Which, in and of itself, should indicate that this has gone on far too long. Today...we had another contractor come as the last one is refusing to give us a line item estimate. Well, he isn't refusing to...he just hasn't done it despite our repeated asking.

So we like this guy today and he's coming back with a camera to check out our pipes and see *exactly* where the problem is. It means more waiting, but at this point, whatever. The contractor is looking at the pipes downstairs and says to Jamie, "Wow, you won the lottery. I've NEVER seen anything like this."

Little does he know, it's him. He's won the lottery! Heck, I figure our renovations are going to afford him a new Harley or a boat.

It's All Part of The Plan

So our kitchen renovation took a big step forward this week. We actually got to see a 3-d mock-up of Future Kitchen....or at least what we hope Future Kitchen will look like.

It's pretty awesome. For the record, Future Kitchen kicks Present Kitchen's butt. Especially that little dishwasher....

This is the other side of the room. All the cabinets and countertops there will be new. We have no existing countertops on that side. I love that feature!!!

We're in the middle of choosing our countertop color as well. Looks like we're on a roll and this may actually come to fruition!

Kitchen Update

So, we've met with two contractors in regards to our kitchen renovation. The first contractor's estimate gave me serious sticker shock. It's not that his estimate was that high, it's just that I was not prepared for the actual cost of home renovation. In other words...this ain't HGTV... where they show up, demo the room and leave two days later with the new kitchen in perfect working order. I haven't given up on the kitchen just yet though.

I have been pouring through catalogs and websites, looking for inspiration and to try and determine more precisely what we want to do. I found this picture of the bench I'd like to see in some form.

It not only is a practical, comfortable seating spot....it also has storage. In my dream kitchen, those under-seat cabinets house all our crafts supplies. Right now I feel like I am being taken over by crayons, glue and construction paper.

So each day I look through more books and get more ideas. It's really never ending.

There are so many cool features available that would make our kitchen more efficient. Most of them are priced well out of our price range, but it certainly is fun to look.

I'm not limiting myself to the typical Home Depot and Lowe's either. I've turned to some international inspiration as well.

I don't know what our next move is, but I prefer taking it slow. We've lived without a dishwasher in this house (or in either of our houses for that matter) for 5 years so we can hang on a bit longer. I want to make sure we do this right.