Kitchen re-model

He who walks with integrity walks securely. —Proverbs 10:9

Finally the kitchen is complete! We started in April, had a vision, and now it is done! Oh how blessed we are. John and I ( I say I lightly, I gave orders, I had the vision, John and Jim had the know how!) We did it all our selves, saving thousands of dollars. We met a drywall guy in the gym, who gave us a few hours of his time, to throw some mud on the walls, that helped tremendously. 

After

                                                                     
                                                                            Before

 We made a trip to Ikea, we ended up staying there 8 hours, designing the kitchen, purchasing cabinets, microwave, dishwasher and the sink. They have software to design, if you go there with your measurements, you literally get to design, to the T! Not one inch wasted…. And lucky us they had a sale 20% off, we spent $5,200, considering other quotes of $10,000 and up just for cabinets, it was a great choice for us. 

 No joke, we just got the keys, no less than 10 minutes…. John brought a sledge hammer, A fire place was in the middle of the kitchen, taking much needed space! We originally were planning on just painting the cabinets, getting new appliances, Hahaha, once we started we just kept going!

We placed the cabinets outside, and within a few hours, a lady asked to buy them. Perfect! 

While removing the fireplace we discovered that in the ceiling there were gorgeous beams, and about 5 feet of space up there, so in a split decision down came the drop ceiling, best choice ever! Made this tiny kitchen feel so grand! 

 Trying to save money on the remodel I looked on craigslist for our range, hood, and refrigerator, I found some great deals. Getting it upstairs was thee hardest thing to watch, after a few hours they got it in.

 Thank you Jim for taking your vacation here with us, your expertise and patients went so far!

 work seemed endless…..

 Oh my what a can of worms! One step at a time, many phone calls to Jim….
My babe John can work circles around any person I know, this guy is my super hero:)

 Finally things are coming back together, whats the saying, things have to get ugly before it's pretty?? 
Not my favorite part I painted every square inch of the house, no matter how high, I had to get comfortable on the ladder.

So relived, excited, happy when the kitchen started to come together

 Searched for weeks looking for a good vent, nothing…. So Jim fabricated one from the old fire place we removed

We stoped at this point for while, tired, low on funds, we had to build back up for counter tops. So ply wood counter tops it was for a few months. 

Not just any counters…Carra Marble! 

The kitchen went in phases, we lived with this phase for a long time, finally John found a way to do my open shelves. Seriously he laid awake many nights trying to decide which method would be best! 

We went with pipping/flanges. Then John drilled holes into our boards and slid them on. I hated the way our ceiling beams clashed against the dark floors and shelving so back up the ladder I went and stained them to match

A inspiration picture 

 Once the open shelving was completed, John thought phew done for awhile! So.. he thought that meant he could buy more tree's (His latest obsession) No, No, No, we made a deal No MORE TREES till kitchen is complete! So phase 3 started, subway tile. What a cheap, hard, tedious, job it was!

 Me grouting….Rule… Never ever let grout sit longer than 10 minutes!!!! 5 hours of scraping it off, one wall taught me a life lesson. Why I chose to wear all white with black grout, you got me??
The window seemed so bare, so we trimmed it out with wood, then stained it

 Love the way it dressed up the window

All the blood, sweat, and tears, it was all worth it, we all love the kitchen, it truly is the heart of the home.

Hope you enjoyed. Oh and guess who went out and bought two palm trees today!
Love you, Shirley