Kitchen Progress - The ugly truth

Monday, February 26th the installers came to install the kitchen in one day!  The weekend before it was time to demo!  I really wanted to do it like they do it on the Fixer Upper and take a sledge hammer to the cabinets, but let's be honest, it would create a bigger mess and we would not be able to put the cabinets on KSL.  But who would want these right?  That is what I thought, I told Geppetto let's just take them to the dump no one wants them!  He insisted on posting them and BAM! They were gone in 5 hours and they even paid us $50 for them.  I was impressed.  The couple was planning on installing them in their kitchen, I thought ..."Well, good luck and good ridden (about the cabinets not the people). "  Geppetto was right and I am glad I didn't take my anger out on the cabinets in the end.  

OK, going back to what I was trying to say.........We unscrewed the cabinets off the wall, broke the Formica back splash and broke the tile around the edges of the old cabinets.  I had never been happier to get rid of things like I have this kitchen.

Goal for the kitchen is to create a more open and brighter space where everything functions better.  Geppetto will build our own island with wheels to create a place to sit and store things.  We will also be having a computer area in the same corner where the old one was but a much smaller desk.

OK audience it's time to say GOODBYE....

 Goodbye cabinets that don't fit stuff in.

 Goodbye hovering microwave on top of the stove and goodbye pealing off formica,

Goodbye off centered sink.....

 but most of all goodbye pink cabinets with peninsula!!!!!

I didn't take pictures of the many boxes we had in the living room and parlor, it felt like we were moving again.  But trust we it was not fun.  The good thing is that we were able to get rid of a few things and find some we had forgotten.

It's time to tare out the tile, this process is really really loud and dusty!  Geppetto stopped going to the gym while he was taking care of this because let me tell you, it is a work out on it's own.

 I primered the walls and what a difference that makes!

 We didn't have counter-tops for a little over 2 weeks and we used this type of plywood as a counter-top.  I did the dishes  in the sink in the little service bathroom (which is too small to photograph), I was about to pull my hair out!

Ooops I forgot about the walls.....goodbye dark green wall!

Here are the counter-tops and the beautiful sink.  I will never complain about doing dishes.  

Subflooring before the tile goes on, it's like having to re flooring 2 times.

After the kitchen was installed it was really hard to think everything was beautiful, because the surroundings are still ugly, like the orange glue from the back splash.  The feel of the kitchen was great, it felt more open and these cabinets are more efficient than the others, we actually have more room.
  When it came time to paint I had a really hard time seeing the color come alive.  The color is Perfect Taupe by Behr. Both Geppetto and me loved it, but on the wall...I was not sure.  It didn't help that Geppetto was out of town either, part of the problem was the back splash orange glue and no flooring was throwing me off, but the more I painted the more it looked good.  It is a beautiful color.

This series of pictures is the ugly truth....

 about living in a house while you remodel the heck out of it.

 Everything gets moved to other areas....That blue thing in the middle of the room has been there for weeks!  It's the vanity I painted for the basement bathroom,  it was in the kitchen for a few months before that.  The desk does not belong there and the couches are being protected by the dust.  

At one point we had a toilet in this room, so the bird is an upgrade.  She used to be in the basement but she didn't have enough light so she is in the dinning room until it gets warm enough for her to enjoy the outside.

Going back to Fixer Upper, I would like to clarify that Geppetto is not Chip Gaines and I am not Joanna Gaines, this is not a show and all the work we do, we do it ourselves without a crew.  We live in this mess and Me in particular I am here ALL DAY LONG!  Sometimes it drives me crazy, because Geppetto has a job and things get done after work.

  I would also like to clarify that remodeling would be funner if we had someone do it for us and we directed. We get a lot of comments about how much fun it must be to remodel the house, but let me tell you that it is DAMN hard to live in it and even harder to do all the work.

  I will be glad when it's over and I can enjoy my house.  I do enjoy some aspects of the process but honestly it would be funner if I didn't have to live in it while remodeling.  Sooo... having said that, you can tell I have not enjoyed this kitchen remodel so far.  It has been long, hard and it is still going.

Disclaimer:  We love Chip and Joanna Gaines, especially their style, I watch their show, and I really do wish I could have a crew that came in to do it for us in a few weeks while I live somewhere else!