|
| hi, have only been able to lurk occassionally lately with kids out of school, demo in full swing and work being very busy but I wanted to let you know that our renovation officially began 2 weeks ago yesterday.
So far, very good progress. The demo of the kitchen and the basement room below it took two days. In the basement they found an enormous bee's nest underneath a wooden platform that always made me suspicious. They said it sounded like an engine starting when they started to disturb it. We discovered 7" joists spanning 19' so were required to put in a beam but it will be totally buried in the walls and unapparent. This lowers the ceiling height by 3" but I sort of knew going in that this was a possibility and ordered the cabinets accordingly - plus the ceilings are almost too tall (imo). We will still be at 109" since they ended up pulling down THREE ceilings during demo and many layers of flooring. I LOVE my 8' tall door. I felt with the height of the room and the fact that the door would be right next to the very tall refrigerator cabinet that we needed something tall. So far we've done the demo, framing, windows and door are in, siding put up, casings put on (my contractor had a knife made to match the casings original to the house), beam in, plumber is here today doing rough plumbing. The cabinets arrive in 3 weeks but we probably won't be ready for them. Our temporary kitchen is working out fine - we can do everything but boil water. Not a spec of dust is coming through to the rest of the house. We don't have laundry but I have been doing the wash and fold routine and keeping it to a minimum by having people reuse their towels, bathing suits, pajamas more than we normally would. But still we've spent $108 so far ... would be a lot less is i slugged it out in the laundry mat but i just don't have time for that right now. A couple of friends have offered for me to do laundry at their houses which i will take them up on. BUT, still we'll spend a lot less than the quote to have a temporary washer/dryer set up (over $1000). Right before the renovation - everything cleared out of the cabinets:
Our new beam:
New back door and new siding:
Bricked in hearth that was hiding behind the wall (by where the cooktop formerly was)
New windows from the outside of the house
Looking toward butler's pantry / dining room. The framing on the right is for the doorway and on the left is for the pantry to be recessed into the wall so it won't stick out so far in the room
This is an old door that had been covered over - it is where the convection steam oven and microwave will go - just on the other side of the pocket doors that will lead to our tiny laundry/dog room
|
Follow-Up Postings:
|
| Wow! That is great progress in two weeks. You must be thrilled! Keep us posted. |
|
- Posted by lavender_lass (My Page) on Tue, Jul 10, 12 at 15:53
| MamaPaige- That is so impressive! How exciting to be getting the old stuff torn out and the new windows and doors installed :) Looking forward to seeing your progress and I know your kitchen is going to be beautiful!
|
|
- Posted by francoise47 (My Page) on Sat, Jul 14, 12 at 13:59
| Hi Mamadadapaige, Somehow I missed your progress update from earlier this week. How exiting to see the reno in progress. We can't wait to see it all come together. Best wishes for the project! |
|
- Posted by notlazysusan (My Page) on Sat, Jul 14, 12 at 21:46
| It is so cool to see your project at the pre-demo and then demo state. We will probably be starting demo in about 3 weeks. I am in the "emptying cupboards" stage. Still haven't figured out where to set up temporary kitchen. Probably basement. Laundry should be interesting....probably sneak into my Mom's house about a mile away...thanks for the photos. Keep 'em coming! |
|
- Posted by mamadadapaige (My Page) on Mon, Jul 16, 12 at 21:13
| Thank you all for the support! it is all going really well. The electrical inspector stopped by tonight at 7 pm to sign off on the rough electrical. rough plumbing is done, waiting on inspector. Venting the sinks and washing machine in an 1850's house has been interesting but I went into it knowing this would be the most dicey part. We managed it without too much heartache (or should I say heartburn!). notlazysusan, i ended up setting up in the dining room (just on the other side of the white door seen in the pictures)... it was the closest place to haul the refrigerator. moving the fridge in was not easy - we did this during a heatwave and tackled it ourselves to spare my contractor and make things go a little smoother for him on the first day of demo. we had to remove the handles from the fridge to fit it through the doorway and we put a nice big scratch on the hardwood floors in the dining room but the rug will cover it. So far we are up to $154 on wash and fold laundry - we started 3 weeks ago today. i thought it would be worse. we are really trying!! (but I draw the line during the heatwaves we've had!!). I don't really have any scintillating pictures to share but will post when I do. thank you! |
|
- Posted by go_figure01 (My Page) on Mon, Jul 16, 12 at 21:54
| mamadadapaige, I have been following your posts and so excited for you that you have started your plan !! I look forward to seeing your posts as you progress. do you have an idea how long it will take to complete. what part of the country are you in? TG for the good weather! Best to you!!! |
|
- Posted by francoise47 (My Page) on Thu, Aug 2, 12 at 6:31
| Hi Mamadadpaige, I hope that all is continuing to go well for your renovation. |
|
- Posted by chris11895 (My Page) on Thu, Aug 2, 12 at 20:03
| Hi! I somehow missed this post. Glad to hear it's going well and can't wait to see more pictures! |
|
- Posted by francoise47 (My Page) on Fri, Aug 24, 12 at 11:50
| Hi mamadadapaige -- hope all is going well with your renovation! |
|
| Hi mamadadapaige...hopefully with school back in session now...or soon ... you will be able to post an update...we are all waiting patiently! Hope all is going well! beachpea |
|
- Posted by mamadadapaige (My Page) on Mon, Sep 24, 12 at 21:14
| Hi y'all, I will post some pics. It still isn't done! There have been little periods of it dragging on... The rough electrical and plumbing took so long - such an old house and it was difficult for the plumber to get the sinks vented (without dropping the ceilings another 3"... had to drop them to accomodate a beam). The floors are finished - countertops are coming on Thursday. Faucets arrived today. Painting will start in a week. I had wished that I got a modernaire hood but had ordered the wood hood and insert and already owned them so I took the wood hood to a sheet metal fabricator and am having them do a faux modernaire hood for me. have never attempted anything like this and think its a little dicey - but what the heck - gotta live on the edge, right? haha will post pics soon |
|
- Posted by mamadadapaige (My Page) on Mon, Sep 24, 12 at 21:25
| This is my recessed pantry. I love it ... the barn door goes to the basement. it was previously a swing into the space door so this is a huge improvement. I will post a before pic of this wall. |
|
- Posted by mamadadapaige (My Page) on Mon, Sep 24, 12 at 21:29
| Here is that wall before The doorway into the back stairwell area before was very narrow. By putting in the beam we were able to eliminate that load bearing wall entirely... makes a big difference. The walls in the photo above will be painted a soft gray. |
|
- Posted by mamadadapaige (My Page) on Mon, Sep 24, 12 at 21:33
| Here's a pic of the hood that will be modern(aire)ized. I had the guys put it up to make sure it was going to fit, etc. then they took it down and I took it to Medford for a make over. We'll see... not sure what is in my head is what I'll end up with. Again, the wall boards will be painted. I like the look of them natural as well but my intent for the look is a little different than this. |
|
- Posted by mamadadapaige (My Page) on Mon, Sep 24, 12 at 21:36
| Here are the red cabinets and walnut countertops in my butler's pantry. Also pictured is a sample of the wallpaper I am putting up in here. It is by Harlequin and the red branch is a spot on match to the red in the cabinets. |
|
- Posted by maggiebkit (My Page) on Tue, Sep 25, 12 at 11:54
| Looks great! Are your cabs inset? |
|
- Posted by mamadadapaige (My Page) on Tue, Sep 25, 12 at 12:36
| thanks maggiebkit. yes, they are inset but i omitted the rail between the drawers so that I could have a little bit more interior space inside my drawers. The 3 drawer banks on either side of the range have 3 equal sized drawers (rather than shallow, deep, deep) because I wanted the top drawer to the left of the range to have a 2 tier cutlery divider. When you open the drawer it looks like a normal cutlery divider drawer but if you push the drawer forward, there is a section below lined with pacific cloth and with little slots for my sterling silver. I have never had easy access to my sterling and therefore haven't used it much even though it is the most beautiful pattern I could imagine. It will be really nice having it handy. The 3 equal sized drawers will be nice I think as I am not sure I really needed the extra height for my colanders and tupperware, bread, etc. that are going in these other drawers. Across the aisle in my peninsula I have a 3 drawer bank with the top drawer being shallow for utensils and the two below it being deeper for my pots and pans. |
|
| Wow! Your kitchen is going to be beautiful! That red is such a great surprise, and I love the tongue and groove behind the cabinets. Can't wait to see more!! |
|
| Wow! Looking great. Is that fabric for a bench? |
|
| It's gonna be GAWJUS. |
|
- Posted by mamadadapaige (My Page) on Wed, Sep 26, 12 at 8:04
| thank you lake girl. a2gemini, that is the wallpaper - it is going just in the butler's pantry and there is very little wall space in there so not much of it so I felt i could go a little jazzier with the pattern. it was expensive - came from England - but i only needed two single rolls so it was okay. mjsee - that is a new one for me? what does it mean? |
|
- Posted by mamadadapaige (My Page) on Wed, Sep 26, 12 at 8:06
| mjsee, oops, i get it - Boston version of gorgeous, right? |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Kitchens Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.