Well, we finally made it through, whew! The kitchen remodel is finally done and I can say without a single doubt… NEVER AGAIN! Wait, what I should say is, never will I LIVE in the house during a remodel, ever again, but, never say never, am I right?

Here’s where we started. I had lived with an old, falling apart kitchen for years while my husband, built a deck, pool pump house, storage shed and a pavillion with a fire pit. Yes, I love them all, our backyard is gorgeous, but I can’t cook a meal in the backyard. Then we put two kids through college, Joe lost his job during the recession of 2008 and I had to change career directions, and fast, to make some serious money. Joe went back to work, my start-up took off, and we started saving money for this desperately needed remodel. Then the pandemic hit, UGH! Our remodeler put us off for a year, and then tried to start again and the team all got COVID. Then the building materials, appliances and fixtures had supply chain slow down, and I do mean slllloooooowwww down, but we finally got everything on order and we had a start date of March 10, 2022!

Old Kitchen, Laundry and Living Room

Demo Day

Old wallpaper from the 50’s/60’s was uncovered at the back of kitchen (kind of a cute fruit pattern), and then the co$tly discovery, WATER DAMAGE, ugh! Our oak wood floors were ok condition but needed refinishing after 25 years of kids, animals and pool water. They are original to the house, but were covered in mauve carpet when we bought in 1997, so we ripped that atrocity out, and Joe refinished the floors before we even moved a fork in.

Old floral linoleum from the 70’s was found under the crappy linoleum that the owner had slapped down before she put it on the market in 1997… I lived with this gross slippery floor for 20+ years (boo hoo). Popcorn ceiling scraped and walls and ceiling got painted with Sherwin Williams Greek Villa white.

Tile and Cabinets

I chose a grey and white cement tile with a fleur de lis pattern for the fireplace hearth and dark grey long narrow porcelain tile (looks like slate but more durable) with grey grout for the kitchen and front door entry. Cabinets are a creamy white shaker style with Sherwin Williams Iron Ore painted on the island cabinets. Last minute design addition; a beautiful floral wallpaper from Anthropologie in the laundry room.

Counter tops go in. Dark grey quartz on the back counters and in the laundry, white quartz with a random grey veining on the island, and my large, fluted front, farmhouse sink gets installed.

Next lighting and floating wood shelves and then a move-out for 5 days while the oak floors get refinished. Refrigerator arrives… oh happy day!

Sliding barn door gets installed for the laundry room. Fisher Paykel dishwasher drawers finally arrive and get installed… oh how I love them so. The Kitchenaid Downdraft range finally arrives in week 12… after having to cancel the Fisher Paykel range because it needed a major downdraft installed that would have cost an extra 6k for ducting and connecting to the furnace, a small detail my remodeler sat on the fence about for 6 months, UGH!
Added a new front door and painted the outside Iron Ore and the inside Greek Villa. The fireplace brick was painted Iron Ore and my husband, son and I installed a new 55″ tv above it. Brass hardware installed everywhere.

Custom Features

Here are a few custom features I had the cabinet maker and remodeler add to my design. Knife drawer insert, spice jar insert, cutting board with a hole for dropping waste into the garbage, and a stacking cabinet next to the refrigerator that has garage style door cabinets, one with a slide-out bottom for our Nespresso coffee maker and frother and one for the microwave… and we added a pet food drawer.

Storage is always a concern and with no upper cabinets, I decided to take advantage of the long galley style kitchen we had to stay with and design floor to ceiling pantry’s on both sides of the door to the garage, our main path of entry. With the back counter, pantries and refrigerator all in this area, unloading groceries is super fast and easy. The living room side of the island provides extra storage for items that I don’t use everyday.

The existing beam in the living room was wrapped with wood and stained to match the floating shelves in the kitchen and laundry room.

We are now three and a half months into living in our new space, and we are loving it, and honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing! I put a lot of thought and planning into my design, materials and finishes. A lot of hours were spent watching HGTV, pinning ideas and pouring over my fave designers projects (Leanne Ford, Studio McGee, Jean Stoffer, AD Open Door) to get the look, feel and ease of use for us and for resale. I did have to reign it in a few times… i.e. a $2500 faucet I really, really wanted. However, I did splurge on a few things that I wanted from the start and could not live without (Fisher Paykel dishwasher drawers and the brass pulls from England), so yummy, so worth it!