0 Door Prep Talk

Oh, boy was it a weekend. Or as the boyfriend referred to it, an I-can’t-wait-to-go-back-to-work-on-Monday-to-get-some-rest kind of weekend. More on what a trooper he is later.

Last I left you, the old linoleum floors were freshly removed from the construction site. 

 
But prep work was far from behind us. Before we could begin installing the new floor, the long awaited doorway connecting the kitchen to the laundry room had to be demo-ed. See that frighteningly patchy eye sore on the wall next to the range?

So long sheetrock.



Our Friday night was dedicated to clearing enough of an opening for a new door and rebuilding the door frame to size. Once the sheetrock was removed (true confession, I got a little hammer happy and took out more than I should have, but nothing that couldn’t be patched later), the exposed studs were sliced and diced.

Note to self: Give the boy a saw and he’s onboard from just about any project.


And new 2x4s were carefully secured in their proper places, with a lot of “wait a minute while I think about this for a second” and a little of “are we sure it needs to move 1/4 of an inch to the left?” Also known as the DIY language of love.

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0 New Year. New Project.

Last year around this time, I kicked off my kitchen remodel and two months and new cabinet doors/quartz counters/stainless appliances later, this culinary nook was really starting to take shape…but one terrible eyesore remained: The scary linoleum floors. For this January’s welcoming-in-the-new-year project, we are kissing the old floors goodbye.



Every good DIY project comes with a healthy dose of demo, so the quarter round and metal trim between the kitchen floors and hardwoods hit the curb.



Somehow in my mind, I envisioned that the linoleum would roll up nicely and we could haul it out in sizeable chunks. I knew better, but I just couldn’t ditch those rose colored glasses. After two hours of chipping, not even a third of the kitchen floor was up.



After a quick trip to Dad’s to pick up his floor removal tool, we were back in business.

(Insert precious puppy supervisor picture here.)



4 hours later, the floors were up and Michael was really starting to see the type of DIY monster he moved in with. Good news is that I think he’s catching the bug too.

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0 Breakin’ It Down

Over the past few weeks, with kitchen remodel on the forefront of my mind, my world has consisted of  researching, number crunching, color sampling, and timeline assembling. Enough with the planning already. It’s time to make full use of my favorite dirty little four letter word: demo, baby.

Very fortunately for me, the original boxes of my kitchen cabinets are still in great shape, so most of my cabinets will only have to be refaced with new doors and drawer fronts, eliminating the need for complete gutting. (Can I get a Hallelujah?!) However, since I am planning to create a new entrance connecting the laundry room to the kitchen, the section of cabinetry containing the wall oven/cook top has to be entirely annihilated and reworked to accommodate the new opening.

Nothing a screwdriver, jigsaw, and hammer couldn’t take care of on a Sunday night…



My hand to the home gods, I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.

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