6 Kitchen Remodel: Budget Breakdown

Before I officially start rolling into the home stretch of my kitchen/laundry room remodel, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane and revisit the budget to date. 

Although I’d been dreaming up this kitchen of mine in my head for months, before demo could march its happy little self into my casa, plans had to be finalized. The time had come to gather dozens of estimates and finalize plans & materials. Not to mention this is the time when the budget becomes very real and you have no choice but to mentally prepare yourself for the checks to be written. Yikes.

Hands down my favorite part of the remodeling process is demo. Mainly because there is no looking back once you start ripping a room to shreds, but also because if you are willing to swing a sledgehammer yourself, it’s 100% free…which is a four letter word we DIYers live for.

 
Now that plans were set, my kitchen was officially a train wreck and I was washing dishes in the bathtub, it was time to reassemble this space into a usable (and much more chic) kitchen. On to Phase 2.


Putting this bad boy back together required patience. With construction dust covering the entire house, cabinetmakers hammering away while I tried to take business calls, and a minor plumbing emergency that left me without water for over 36 hours, a little juggling and a lot of patience were needed.

But once the cabinets were reconstructed, refaced and painted…



Hardware attached…



Appliances in place (sort of)…



Countertops installed…

 
and backsplash tiled…



I was one happy DIYer. For one thing, I had fully functioning kitchen (click here for more after pics), which this house hadn’t seen in years and secondly, because I took on the role of onsite general contractor/handylady I saved oodles. Let’s talk about my final budget at this point in the game, shall we? 

 
Not a fun number to see fly out of my bank account but considering what kitchens run, I’m more than pumped. Pumped to have a kitchen. Pumped I saved bunches. Pumped I’m giving myself the week off of extreme DIY before I knock a hole in the wall and jump right into the final phase of this remodel.



Pumped. I may even do something girly this weekend like get my nails done or go shopping for clothes that don’t have paint on them.

Read more...

2 At Home in Arkansas: LTHL Kitchen One Month Recap

After a couple months of living through kitchen remodel madness, the craziness has almost become normal to me. With phase one of this reno nearly complete, it’s time to start phase 2: connecting the laundry room to the kitchen…but before I do, cruise on over to At Home in Arkansas Magazine’s blog to help me relive the first month of reno bliss…

One thing’s for sure, Cara Wilkerson of Live the Home Life isn’t afraid to lay all her cards on the table! Brace yourself for an intimate first glimpse at one of her biggest and most impressive home undertakings yet: her kitchen…click here for full post.

Read more...

0 Lessons from the Construction Site

Cabinet Construction: Day 1 was hands down the best day of 2012 so far. Not only was it the first day my broken down kitchen took off on its newfound journey to beauty, but it also brought with it a few self-awareness “ah-ha” moments:

Hold on tight and never let go. When you find a cabinet maker who doesn’t think you are insane (or at least controls his facial expressions enough not to show it if he in fact does think you need to be highly medicated) when you whip out your make believe sketch, you know you’ve found a winner.

 

Project envy is real. It kills me that I can’t join in on this phase of kitchen remodel, but glad I’m smart enough to leave this one to the pros.

Time is ticking. While I’m super pumped to check cabinets off of my to-do list, an increasing level of fear is beginning to creep up on me as I inch closer to the knocking-a-big-ole-hole-in-the-wall portion of this revamp. Maybe it’s the mess that awaits—as if my kitchen wasn’t already a mega disaster zone—or maybe it’s the fact that I’ve never taken on a hole punching DIY before, but I’m shakin’ in my work boots over here…don’t worry. I don’t actually have a pair of real work boots. That would just be a bit too far over the line.

Read more...