Week One of Cottage Kitchen Renovation

Week One of Cottage Kitchen Renovation

Dare I Say, "I Want My Old Kitchen Back"?
 

 
Ok, ok. Before you go thinking I'm being ungrateful for my ongoing renovation (because really, I am immensely grateful), let me just preface this by saying I just cleaned a smashed, whole kiwi from a jute rug. How it got there, I do not know, but clearly someone stepped on it... and neglected to mention it to me... so I stepped on it, too. So now, having picked smashed kiwi off the rug and cleaned it off of my foot, I can finally write my post... but I'm not in the cheeriest of moods, to say the least.

I guess I wasn't mentally prepared for living through a renovation. I mean, I knew we'd have to shift some things around, etc., but I didn't realize how much it would affect our day-to-day routine. For instance, we are eating on the front porch. We are storing our food in the family room. We are using an absurd amount of paper products, and our trash is more full than it's been in years. We have no countertops on which to put food or tableware. We didn't have a sink for a while, but then my husband hooked up a utility sink, which has been a big help, but it's still not "smooth sailing" by any means. Maybe I was just basking in the success of getting our kitchen removed for free... or maybe I was just being ignorant. Whatever the reason, I wasn't prepared.

 

But here we are, approaching the end of Week #1 of our kitchen renovation, and I thought I'd give some updates on what we've accomplished (although it doesn't seem like a lot at first glance, my husband has been gotten an unbelievable amount of work done considering he's also working full time).

What We've Accomplished in One Week of DIY Kitchen Renovation 

• Dealing with Ikea Issues: Well, we were missing two major pieces in our Ikea delivery: the dishwasher and the sink! So we had to drive back to the store, load them into our car, and lug them into the house (ok, I won't pretend to take credit for all that). Then later in the week we realized we had too many cabinets for the space (at least to use it comfortably), so I had to go back to the store and return all the pieces for that.
  
• Removal of 2/3 of the Old Slate Floors: Want a good arm workout? Use a crowbar to smash up some slate tiles. Then carry them outside.
• Installation of 2/3 of the New Bamboo Floors: With a floating, "quick-click" system, this is an easy install. But the Laminate Installation Kit is definitely recommended (even though we had hardwood, the "clicking" process is the same. Ben put in some similar floors a few years ago and didn't have it. He said the process with the kit was dramatically better.
• Putting Together All the Ikea Cabinets: Ever put together a piece of Ikea furniture? Not quite as simple as it seems. Multiply that by 7, and you can imagine my husband's mood during that process.
• Leveling the Cabinets: This is a bit of a painstaking process, but totally necessary to ensure the counters don't crack later on.
• Converting the New Stove from Natural Gas to Propane: I'm not going to pretend I really understood this process, but I did run out to Home Depot to pick up an adapter and some tubing. I'll try to do a more detailed post on this one, but I'll need Ben's help.
• Cutting One Section of Counter Top: Actually, this wasn't part of our DIY plan for this week. We were supposed to have a contractor come and install our counters, but he flaked out on us.  But my husband promised to take care of it after a few days of contractor-no-shows, and he did a great job cutting piece #1. And he let me use the extra chunk for my stain samples!
• Experimenting with cabinet and counter top stain colors: Honestly, if I didn't get to play around with that, I don't think I would have survived the week. For some reason colors have a therapeutic effect on me.
  
  

But back to the title of my post.... No, I don't want my old kitchen back, and now that I can finally see the kitchen looking like a kitchen again, there's at least an end in sight. But I'm not about to pretend living through this is easy! The house is a mess, the kitchen is a danger zone, I need to go through an obstacle choice to pour milk for the kids... but we're making progress. And I'm excited at the same time.

Well, what do you think? Any words of wisdom for living through a renovation? Will I make it through another week?

This Headboard Will Be Gorgeous... but I Need Advice!

Vintage Caned Headboard in Need of a Makeover

I need ideas! What will bring out the best of this beauty?

This past week has been a bit of a blur. See, we're updating our kitchen. And for all this time that I dreamed of an updated kitchen, it never once occured to me (I know, I was totally ignorant) that for a period of time, I would be WITHOUT a working kitchen. Luckily my husband hooked up a utility sink, so at least we have some water in there, but we're still without countertops, there are tools everywhere, and our living room has become our pantry... needless to say I am in need of some DIY therapy.

But, I think someone was looking out for me during this time! I popped on the Free Craigslist section today, and I noticed a headboard that was listed two days ago. The ad clearly stated that they wouldn't hold it for anyone, so you had to get out there if you wanted it. And I wanted it! I emailed them just to be sure it was still there, and it was (in fact, I was the first to inquire-I can't even believe that)!

So I made the 45-minute drive this morning and picked it up. And now it's here. And I'm sure it will soon be beautiful, but I don't know what to do with it. What color? What kind of paint? How easy is it to paint the caning? Any special tricks?

I'm going to use it with the full bed in the guest room of the cottage. The walls are white beadboard, if that gives you a sense of the environment. I want it to be pretty and calming, all at the same time :)

Please, please, please, give me some ideas here! I fear I am out of my league with this one. I need some help!

How to Get Your Kitchen Demo Done for Free

Get Your Kitchen Demo Done for Free...

and feel good about it at the same time!

 

You're ready to put in a brand new kitchen... but what do you do with the old one?

 

Want to know how we scored a kitchen demo for free? Here's the background: we had secured the funds for some updates on our home. But even with a designated budget, we needed to be careful about how we spent every dollar. We realized that the most cost-effective option was to DIY-it, but we couldn't do all the work ourselves (esp. electrical, plumbing).  We decided to hire contractors for the bigger tasks, but still, we wanted to DIY what we could.

One of the tasks we decided to take on was the kitchen (e.g., new flooring, cabinets, counters, and a couple appliances). After pricing out a few cabinet and countertop options, we decided to use Ikea for the bulk of the updates (bonus: we waited until their annual kitchen sale to save 10%). 

Here was the plan: Ben would conquer the kitchen demo, build and install the new cabinets (and appliances), and lay the new floors (LOL did I say WE were doing the DIY?).  But don't get all judgmental, I did end up helping him out... especially with this part!

Because I hate to put good things to waste, (plan #1 was to rent a dumpster for the kitchen demo), I decided to take pics of everything we were replacing (cabinets, sink, counters, oven, dishwasher, microwave), and list them on Craigslist for free.  I didn't want to throw this stuff out, but I definitely wanted it gone, so I tried to take some decent pics for the listing, hoping I would entice someone. I posted it in the "Free" and "Materials" sections. Here's how it looked:

The CL text read: 

• We are renovating our kitchen and getting rid of our old cabinets, gas stove/oven, microwave, and dishwasher (basically everything but the refrigerator). You can even have the kitchen sink if you want it! It's all in decent shape. Certainly a bit dated, but it all works.
•  Only a few small issues: (1) Bottom of under-sink cabinet is warped, would need to be fixed; (2) Lazy Suzan shelves need to be fixed (3) Sometimes when the oven is on and you start the stove burner, it shorts out the oven and clock, but as soon as you turn the oven back on, it's fine. (4) Obviously, some cosmetic issues, but those just come with time.
• We want to get rid of it all this week so we can build the new stuff. Preference given to those willing to remove it all themselves.

As you can see, I listed the kitchen in its entirety, and because I wasn't sure if I'd get any response, I also listed all of the appliances separately. I had only gotten as far as listing the oven, microwave, and dishwasher when my inbox started EXPLODING (by the time I removed the ads 12 hours later, I had over 200 emails). 

I had offers to take everything, just certain things, offers to remove it all, even a couple offers from licensed contractors willing to remove it all. I was now in a position to be picky, so I immediately eliminated anyone who didn't want it all and/or couldn't do the removal themselves. I called the first person who met my criteria and talked with him for a few minutes (I think this step is REALLY important so you can get a sense of who you're dealing with), and we set up a pick-up date for the weekend. Unfortunately, he ended up flaking out on me (thus is the one of the many ups-and-downs of dealings on CL, especially the free section; ever see this hysterical CL post that kinda sums up the free section experience?).

After that fell through, we went back through all the emails and started going through the rest of the people who met the criteria. Still a very long list. But in the midst of that process, we got an email that helped us make the decision. We were contacted by a woman whose organization who was renovating a home to would be used as a halfway house for those recovering from addiction. Even though so many of the people who contacted us may have benefited from our stuff, we knew that we made the right choice by giving it to this group, and we're so happy that we were able to make some people's lives a little more manageable, even if just in this little way. It worked out perfectly. They showed up that Saturday with a truck, a trailer, and tools, and in a little less than three hours, our kitchen was gone!

Maybe now you're thinking, "With all that interest, why didn't you try to get any money out of it?" And the answer was simple: convenience. We wanted it gone, we didn't want to do the work. And as it worked out, we didn't have to rent a dumpster, hire anyone, or take up any more of the time that we had devoted to our kitchen improvements.  And, frankly, there wouldn't have been nearly as much interest if we were selling it, even if it was cheap (not to mention the fact that I did not want to deal with the hassle of negotiating with people and setting up different times to meet everyone to take a look at individual items). And, really, when you start thinking like that, you lose track of the point: we got our kitchen demo done for free! And we lucked out double in this case, because we know the organization who received it is going to make good use of it all, and we feel good about that.

I think the best thing to do when you approach a new project like this is to go with your instincts (in this case, think like a DIYer). Even though our cabinets and appliances were no longer going to serve our purposes, they could certainly serve someone else's. Maybe someone would love to paint your cabinets a pretty new color, or someone else is pining after their first gas stove, or even better, someone would cherish your old dishwasher after doing WAY too much handwashing... hey, like they say: One man's trash... yeah, you know the rest.