Beagle Shaming #3

Happy Mother's Day!

Thanks, Rosie.

Kitchen Reno: The Design Process

I'd like to take some time here to tell you about the design process we have gone through over the last few weeks.   It actually started a lot earlier with me daydreaming about the kitchen, thinking about what I liked about the kitchen (not a lot) and what drove me crazy.  Also, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted my new kitchen to look like and finding inspiration on Pinterest and other blogs.   Things that made me crazy:

• Placement of the fridge.  It was right up against a wall which meant that the fridge side of the appliance wouldn't fully open.  In truth, it annoyed me to no end so it HAD to change. 
• Trash out in the open.  I don't want to see a trash can.  Ever.
• Cookie Sheets.  I bake and need a good vertical storage space for my stuff!  

How I want my kitchen to look: Light & Airy  Check out a few of my "Inspiration Kitchens": Young House Love's kitchen:

And I have to mention the Bower Power Blog kitchen:

With these ideas in mind we started perusing cabinet options at places like Home Depot and Ikea.  And really, it's tough to get a good sense of cost from these places without really sitting down and talking to someone.  Ikea has a ton of options, but there were a few things I though we absolutely needed for our layout and they weren't options there, so Ikea was quickly eliminated.  Home Depot was a contender until I got a recommendation for a local kitchen/bath place.  

I made an appointment there to spend an hour or so with a real kitchen designer, Melissa.  Armed with measurements for our space and a few "must haves" she quickly clicked in a design for our kitchen.  It was amazing.  Our kitchen is a small space, but Melissa's years of experience helped her come up with a functional design that maximized work space, fixed our fridge problem, and included a pantry cabinet.  

We're set on the design now (hardware & counter top are still up in the air), and I couldn't be happier.  I can't say for sure that we wouldn't have been happy with a HD kitchen design (honestly we'd probably end up with something very similar), but I know that Melissa has a degree in interior design, 7 years of experience at this company, and has designed literally HUNDREDS of kitchens.  Throughout the whole process she asked me questions and made suggestions on how to save money, consider different options, and that really helped me feel more confident in the choices we made.  I'm sure that we paid more this way, but worth it in the long run, I think.

Springing Up the Front Porch

Well, this is more spring and summer (if I can remember to stay on top of watering and the plants don't die).

If you recall, last year I put out a few potted plants on the front porch.  I went cheap and got 2 plastic pots from Home Depot, drilled holes and put a bright pink geranium in each one. They were bright & colorful, but too small to be the star of the show on the porch.

This year, I needed to go a bit bigger.  I had spotted these pots at Ikea:

{source}

And I truly fell in love with that blue color.  Last year's pots were yellow and I really love a blue & yellow color combo, so I picked up 2 of these bad-boys.  They were pretty big without being ENORMOUS.  And at $15/each the price was right.

Planting up the big pots was pretty simple.  I drilled a few holes in the bottom of each pot to allow for drainage of excess water.  Then I put a brick in each one (to prevent tip-over).  A bit of potting soil and then a few flowering and green plants and it was done!

Here's how they looked:

I made matching planters for each side of the porch.  Here's the look from the yard:

I'm starting another bigger curb appeal project, so I'm holding off on any from-the-sidewalk photos until that's more done.

What kinds of outdoor spring spruce-ups do you have going on??

Kitchen Reno: Demolition!

I have two distinct feelings whenever we're in the demo phase of a project:

1. Excitement at taking out something we don't like/anticipation of the good stuff to come
2. Panic at completely destroying something that was otherwise "functional"

Yeah, I have those feelings about my trashed kitchen.  I am excited about what's to come.  I have been reviewing our plans and imagining what will go into each cabinet and drawer...but I am not looking forward to the next 6+ weeks with no dishwasher, sink, or kitchen cabinets.  We bought this house way back in 2007, the kitchen has been on the to-do list that whole time.  And now we're doing it and there is no going back.

So on to demo - we are going for a total gut job.  Depending on your plans for your renovation, you may not need to go all the way down to studs, but for us it seemed to make the most sense.  

• Plaster walls in rough shape from old wallpaper and formica paneling
• Tons of electrical work (adding outlets, under cabinet lighting, moving switches, etc.)
• No insulation

It just seemed like with these 3 big things, it might be best to just get the plaster out, do the work we want to do, then put fresh drywall up. 
The demo was done over 2 weekends.  And here's a few things we learned:  

• We should have covered the washer/dryer in the basement because they got FILTHY
• Termite damage in our home was NOT limited to the front of the house (structure was ok, just furring strips need to be replaced).
• Previous owners adopted the "layer it on" method for flooring.  There were no fewer than FOUR layers of flooring, plus luan.  So 8 million nails.  Yeah.  

Here's a few pics of how things went...
The Beginning:

The End:

\ It's pretty exciting to have this clean slate.  And we're not completely done with demo - the drywall on the ceiling is coming down because we are moving the lights a bit.  But we're mostly ready to move forward.  It's pretty awesome.  

Kitchen Reno: Down in the Dumps

If the first step in a kitchen renovation is planning, the second step is usually demolition.  Demo for a kitchen can vary depending on what exactly you are doing.  Maybe the cabinets are staying, maybe they're going but you're selling them or donating them, maybe they're junk but the walls are good.  In our case, it all goes.  Cabinets, walls, ceiling, floor.  So there's a good bit of debris.  And what to do with it all??
For smaller jobs, you might be able to get away with bagging it with your trash.  That would be a very small job though.
For bigger jobs you need to look at waste removal.  One good DIY, weekend warrior solution is a "Bagster".  These bags are heavy-duty bags, about the size of a full sheet of plywood (4' x 8'), and hold 3 cubic yards of stuff, according to the website.  All you need to do is hit up your local hardware store and buy a bag (about $30 here).  And then schedule a pickup when you're ready.  Pickup in our area would run about $160 making the whole Bagster process close to $200.  It's a great option for those who have just that much stuff to get rid of.
Unfortunately, one Bagster wouldn't hold it all.  So we had to go with the next size up solution - a dumpster.  We called up a local waste removal company and had a dumpster in our driveway less than 24 hours later.  On a Saturday!  It holds more than three times what a Bagster would hold for less than $400, so it's great for our total gut-job and definitely makes sense in terms of our budget.  Plus we have a chance to get rid of some things that have been hanging around:

• Concrete footers we dug out of the yard
• Old concrete downspout thingey (not sure what it's called)
• Crumbling bricks that line the driveway
• Old metal fence posts
• Rotten boards
• Old hardwood flooring
• Broken trash cans
• Random junk from the garage and basement
• And we have the thing for another week and a half!  I'm sure we can find more stuff to eliminate.