Kitchen remodel (update.1)

Here are some current photos of our kitchen remodel. I thought the process would go much slower, but we've accomplished so much in just a week. You can see "before" photos here.

Our Kitchen as of 3/12/11

Sheet rock removed off all walls except one. We found a hidden window...weird.

Took a wall out for the new kitchen entrance under the stairs. Now it opens up in to our family room.

The air ducting will need to be replaced.

This picture is taken from the family room into the kitchen. I'm so excited! We're going to keep it as a walk way & use the space under the stairs as a pantry!

We found that all of the walls have this 'brick' texture. We plan to sheet rock all the wall again after framing...except this wall. (the wall that is still papered & this space in the new walkway.) The texture is very decorative!!

NOW

Here is our kitchen as of today, 3/19/11

Sheet rock is now off ALL walls and the ceiling was ripped out.

We had the air ducting fixed yesterday 3/18/11. Its hard to tell, but its now closer to the wall & ceiling. It was just pushed up and over. Now we'll have higher ceilings and the dropped part of the ceiling won't got out into the room as far as before.

This is my new laundry room!!!! The framing is up all throughout the space now. So you can definitely see the 2 rooms and how big they'll be. We're still going to knock a little bit of the "stair wall" down to make the opening to the laundry room more wide. Then plumbing is on Tuesday and wiring next weekend I believe.

This is me standing in the kitchen. The big fridge is still in there and was in my way to get a good picture.

See! So much progress!! Its exciting! However, it is still hard eating out of my 2nd bedroom...and now my washer & dryer are sitting in the middle of my family room. Oh well, its just temporary. I have to keep telling myself that. Stay tuned for more updates!!

Furniture upgrade

With our kitchen "under construction," we're starting to realize each part of our home that also needs work. Joe upgraded his TV in late January and we 'manipulated' our current entertainment center to accommodate the bigger TV. However, I noticed how much larger everything looked once we brought in the larger TV. It was just so overwhelming. The room looked smaller, we had less a room in the sitting area. Joe said it had a "Gong" factor every time you sat down to watch TV. Well, "gong" factor or no, I hated it. Here is a picture of what the larger TV looked like with our manipulated entertainment center:

This entertainment center is actually part of a "corner" set. Meaning, its actually supposed to bend and meet in the middle. There was a bridge piece that went over the center section and connected both bookcases. Obviously we had to lay the sectional flat against the wall to accommodate the TV. Its just BULKY, CLUNKY and DISORGANIZED!! 

We spent tonight finally switching everything over. Here is a picture of what the wall looked like after removing the LARGE entertainment center and everything else:

This is an excellent picture of the room layout. Look the left of the wall; thats where the stairs enter the downstairs to the hallway that leads to either the "kitchen/laundry" or this family room. NOW on the right of the wall, this shows our new entrance to the kitchen going under the stairs. That used to be just a storage closet. This wall is the main center of our family room - not my favorite wall, especially with the ducting pop-outs that are uneven & not centered with the wall. (But that's my OCD talking and it IS something that we can fix when we decide to remodel this room.)

After briefly looking online for a more organized unit, I went to IKEA, not only to find just a TV stand/unit, but to find DVD shelving. The one GOOD thing about the above entertainment center, is the storage space!! Storage underneath all 3 major pieces, plus ample DVD stacking in the glass area of both bookcases. I was definitely in need of a 'less intimidating' DVD rack. (I was extremely picky in this area.) IKEA has great, cheap & organized ideas - we all know that, right? The shelves we picked out weren't 100% like the picture I had in my head, but they were the closest. Here is a picture of our new unit put together:

Much better, right? Plus it doesn't come off the wall very far, so it makes our room seem SO MUCH BIGGER! Plus, its all organized, same color of wood on each piece and [I think] more sleek looking. I know it isn't centered with the wall or the ducting units, but where our couches sit, its centered. We're going to play around with it more, once the house isn't so chaotic. Now that I've lost a lot of storage space with the smaller unit, I have to find a place for all the crap I had hidden away in there. Plus my house is still cluttered from the kitchen project... Still so much to organize...

What do you think?

Kitchen remodel

Joe and I have FINALLY decided to remodel our kitchen. We've lived in this house for almost 2 1/2 years and we've had to deal with many challenges. The kitchen has met our needs, don't get me wrong. It is just extremely small and crowded, plus all the appliances are out-of-date and I hate that it shares room with the laundry. The wallpaper is completely ridiculous to the times and our orange counter top (and lack thereof) gives me a headache.

We've added a few appliances along the way. Our small fridge & stove that came with the house are still here. The fridge is used for over-flow and our stove/oven (3 burner stove!!) doesn't fit our cooking needs very well. We we're lucky enough to get a [new to us] fridge and dishwasher from my parents when they upgraded. See blog here. But we were still left without counter space above the dishwasher and the fridge is monstrous with no real room.

Anyway, the only real plans we have set already, is to put up a wall to separate laundry area from kitchen and we'll knock out a wall to create an opening to the kitchen from the living room. (We have a closet under the stairs that we are going to cut into and make it a walkway instead.)

My mom & stepdad Kelly are helping us with the major projects. Kelly is going to be helping us in his spare time from work, so it will take a little longer than usual. I'm okay with that because I know it will be done right and he has a few 'connections' that will help us with some obstacles; like drywall, ducting and possible wiring.

Its going to be A LOT of hard work and inconvenience for both us and our room-mates, but I'm hoping it will be worth it. Not only to be better for us, but to help increase the value of our home for when we decide to sell. And since we are still NOT pregnant, I need something else to focus on. I'll be posting updates (pictures) as the time goes on. I'm posting pictures on facebook as well, so please excuse the repeats.

Here are a few pictures of the progress. Sorry the pictures show my messy kitchen.

Our kitchen as of Friday 3/4/11

Our 'smaller' fridge is in the corner - that's where the new kitchen entrance will be

This is the view from standing in between both fridges

And the view from in front of the dishwasher.

And this is our kitchen as of Saturday 3/5/11 - All Joe's hard work!

The new "wall" separating the 2 rooms, will be where the stove is now.

It will shorten the kitchen, but I think it will be worth it.

And this is my temporary kitchen. Got my fridge, microwave & toaster all hooked up and the fridge is stocked. All the bins are holding pots, pans, food storage...anything that was inside the kitchen cabinets.