Kitchen Progress

We've now lived here roughly two months.  We've made so much progress and faster than I thought.  A major part of the budget had to go to the kitchen.  I mean, what's not to love here, right?  Just about everything...  I'd say this is a typical 1990's manufactured home kitchen and color scheme.

Should I start with the floor up or the ceiling down?  The floor is linoleum.  It's staying for a tiny bit longer.  We'll bring the same floor from the living room into here.

Those white appliances were sold.  Part of the budget was a new stove and dishwasher.  Something we would be happy with for many years.  The old dishwasher didn't work and the seller reimbursed us the cost of the new dishwasher off our purchase price.

You'll see the fridge is to the left of the stove.  This arrangement didn't work for me and felt like a galley kitchen had been installed in a square space.  

The new stove and dishwasher were installed.  I'll post detailed info about those later.  The faux oak cabinets on the bottom were torn out.  The dividing wall of "floating" cabinets was torn out.  

The counter tops and tile backsplash were torn out.  The sink is about 6 inches deep so it had to go, too.

The position and angle of the sink caused several problems.  I'm a shorty and it made it difficult to reach the upper cabinets behind the sink.  I didn't like the position of the sink and felt it should sit directly under the window.  The triangle space created an empty zone where something...made a yucky smell.  Another reason the cabinets had to go.  I think they absorb smells over time.

Here is the opposite wall.  Again we tore all of the cabinets and counter top out.  For a better flow we placed the fridge against this wall.

I think this works much better.

This is where things are today.  Same floor.  New cabinets.  We'll remove the upper cabinets and re-work that area later.  We've installed a new farmhouse sink.  Changing the angle meant bringing the kitchen out another foot.

That sink is huge!  I'll detail more in another post.

I'm looking forward to getting this back cubby area cleaned out and useable.  The microwave will move and we'll have a coffee area back there.

I picked up this small table for $10 at an estate sale with the intention of repainting and selling it.  I put it here for the time being and it has turned into everyone's favorite place to eat.

One of my prize possessions, the china hutch, is housing all manner of dishes.  It will be repainted to match the final colors.  Oh yes, I forgot to mention I'll be painting all the cabinets!  That will be a fun reveal.

Another view of the sink and dishwasher area.  There's also a tease of a chandelier I'm going to tell you about later.

So far I'm really happy with this update.  It's getting modern updates while also retaining some farmhouse/French details.

In case you thought I had forgotten to put counter tops... Those will be coming.  One of our largest single expenses was buying counter tops.  The ordering and install process is taking a little longer than expected.  I'm told we should have counter tops within the next four weeks.  I guess that will be a good time to give another kitchen update.

I think our next big project is putting flooring in our daughter's room.  See you then!


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Living Room and Flooring Reveal

Despite being hit with more rain from Tropical Depression Bill, we have picked up pace again on projects.

One thing I wanted to finish was the flooring in the living room so we could call it DONE! and move on.  Flooring is a major priority on our list.  Your floors might be in good condition and not so bad to look at, so it would be further down on your list of renovation projects. 

Right before we moved in we had the seller remove all the carpet.  I'm not a fan of carpet.  I can't ever get it truly clean if there's a spill, I hate having it cleaned, and we have enough outside allergens and muddy dog paws to definitely nix the carpet idea.  In our last house we had carpet and were astonished when we pulled it up to see how much dirt had made it through the carpet and padding down to the sub-floor.  Gross!

The Husband and I looked at samples and we agreed on a couple.  I brought the samples home and we knew right away which one we liked.  We chose a laminate because we've had it before, it's easy to install, is cheaper than wood, and stands up for a really, really long time (as long as you aren't a knuckle dragging Neanderthal).

We picked....Handscraped Antique Hickory.  I bought it at Lowe's and it runs $1.49 sq. ft.  Our budget allowed us to buy enough for 3 out of 5 rooms.  We finished the living room floor.  We'll put flooring in our daughter's bedroom and the kitchen.  The other 2 bedrooms we'll complete when we get to those room renovations.

Here's the reveal...

Pre-paint and lovely walls...blech!

Walls painted and getting ready to start flooring.  It's easiest for us to move everything to one half of the room and then move it the other side to do the other half.

I'm really happy with the color and look of this floor.

After paint and flooring.   I still need base boards.  That center console/cabinet thing in the middle will get a makeover soon.  Though I detest carpet, I like rugs.  The large living room rug here I purchased at
eSaleRugs.com.  I paid $99 and was brought from the old house, so was not part of our current budget.

Another view.  Yes my furniture is covered.  It's mud season here.  That cutie-patootie black schnauzer loves mud!  The curtains were found at Hobby Lobby.  I used their 40% off coupon instead of waiting for one of their 50% off sales.  It is sometimes incredibly difficult to find the exact shade and sheen that is imagined for a room.  I had to buy them on the spot.

This is the same view from the first picture.  I'm living with things stashed in odd places, boxes, and power tools strewn about.

This is something interesting I'll have to live with for now.  The dining room already had a laminate flooring so we chose to leave it till way, way, way down the project list.  This pic is where the new floor on the right meets up with the old floor on the left.  It was mighty convenient that we didn't have to cut anything or need a transition piece.  It's also a great example of too much orange or yellow in flooring.

Thanks for stopping by!  Join me next time where we'll take a look at how the kitchen is coming along.

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Dealing With A Flood

Most renovations are not going to go according to plan.  That's a given.  It's frustrating but usually expected.  That weekend project extends to a 3 month project, etc.  What most renovations don't expect are natural disasters.  Yep, we had one.  We had a natural disaster.  A flood of historic proportions.  And hail.  And tornadoes.  A harrowing week to be sure.

 This tornado was 2 miles west of our house

We had an idea the rain and bad weather were coming, but not this bad.  Worst of all it was happening at night.  As we watched the news and saw the constant emergency warnings, imminent danger, and take cover now scrolling across the screen, we were worried.  The husband was at work so we were also separated.  I was at home coming up with all sorts of crazy scenarios and picking which tree I would have to climb and eventually be rescued from by a helicopter.  I also changed out of my pj's back into regular clothes because I knew my helicopter rescue would also be televised and I thought being in pj's might be embarrassing. 

 Our front yard several hours after the worst of the rain

Terrible things happened that night.  Whole houses and families were swept away.  Some are still missing.  Whole neighborhoods were flooded and ruined.  Access to highways was closed.  Electricity, cable, and internet were cut off.  Our home was spared.  Since we had only moved in less than a month, we were completely unsure about water drainage and flood issues.  We could have just sunk all our money into something that was about to be washed away.

 A low water crossing several days after the rain.  The debris on the yellow barrier indicates the water came up this high.  Actually it rose up much, much higher.  They say this river rose 40 feet.

To add to our worry, the Walmart flooded and had to be closed.  No big deal?  Ha!  Walmart is next to the river that was currently washing everything away.  Our storage units which held 90% of our things, so we could renovate uncluttered, were next to the river next to Walmart.  So our house was saved but we were still in a position to lose almost everything.  The roads were closed so all we could do was wait.

 Walmart was closed for several days.  They partially reopened but could only shop the outer perimeter aisles.  The entire center of the store was closed off.  It looks massive compared to the size of the people in the picture.

Once the roads opened we headed to the storage to see what could be saved.  All the houses for several miles in both directions had been flooded.  The Red Cross was across the street from our storage helping residents.  It was grim.  People everywhere pulling everything out of their homes.  Ruined.

We pulled into the storage and expected the worst.  What we found was a miracle.  Everything was dry.  Our storage wasn't on higher ground.  Somehow all the water was diverted in a circle around the storage.  We recognized it for the miracle it was.  With more rain in the forecast we weren't going to throw this miracle away.  The race was on!

 Sad seeing possessions tossed out.  Sadder when it's toys.

We had a limited amount of time to rescue our things and keep it from getting rained on as we moved it.  We spent several days loading a trailer, a truck, and van and brought everything to the house.  Now the house is stacked with boxes everywhere.  As I move through the maze I realize we are blessed.  The renovation will continue a little late and a lot more cluttered than intended.  If that's the worst, then truly there is no room for complaint.

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