Kitchen Remodel - Phase 1

View of the house from the driveway
What a weekend it has been!  This delightful house belongs to me now!  A dream come true!  Oh, how many ideas I have for it!  Built in 1941, it has sound bones though it could use a little TLC.  This little cottage home fulfills the vast majority of the items that I had on my "Forever Home Wish List"!

Basement bedroom
For a while, there won't be a lot of stitching on this blog as I focus on getting a few areas remodeled and get settled in.  Eventually, this room will be the sewing room for both my daughter and I!  Can't wait to get it fixed up!

Workmen Present
In the meantime, there have been lots of workmen at the house.  The house was vacant for a period of time, so there were lots of little things to deal with right away ~ like far too many spiders and crickets...

Workmen
and a phone line that no longer connected to the house.  There were also doors that didn't lock properly, light fixtures filled with dead moths and bulbs burned out all throughout the house.  All fixed now!

Boxes and a Sweet little Friend!
I've had a cute little helper during this time.  Skip is a dear friends little dog who has been keeping me company while his people are out of town for a few days!  He's a sweetheart, though a little bewildered by all the goings on!   When we did the walk through of the house Friday morning before closing, these boxes were already waiting for me!  Delivered several days early despite my request for delivery this coming week!

New Chairs
Inside those boxes were my new dining room chairs!  The cushions are coming later this week.

The built in cabinet
It has been a busy three days with the long list of things to do!  One of my accomplishments was to get the china cabinet all cleaned up and new shelf lining in place.  So glad to get rid of the awful sticky dirty contact paper that was on the shelves!  I had to fix some hinges - some were on upside down ~ so the hinge-pins fell out and the doors wouldn't open properly, as well as the doorknobs, which were on screws that were over an inch too long ~ so the when you pulled on the knob, it pulled out of the door!  The brass outlet plate was covered in thick layers of yellow and green paint.  It's all shiny again!  The tile counter also needed a deep clean ~ very grimy.  Eventually, the tile counter and back splash will be replaced with a painted wood counter to match the cabinets ~ probably when the main kitchen remodeling takes place.  But for now, it's nice and clean and ready for me to fill with dishes!

Beginning the Demolition
The first phase of kitchen remodel is underway!  This part is fairly simple, just removing the upper cabinets.

Kitchen Demo phase 1
How great it was to have help from my son's Zach and Jonathan!  They did a great job of getting the cabinets down neatly!

Kitchen after phase 1 demo
Having the cabinets down makes the kitchen feel so much more open.  Eventually this wall will have open shelves on it.   Until the electrician moves (removes?) the wires, I won't be able to do much to this wall, other than patch a few holes and maybe a light coat of paint to make it livable until the big remodel which is at least a couple months away.  It's so exciting to see it starting to take shape already!

The next few weeks are filled to the brim with all sorts of activity from more kitchen cabinet removal, closet remodeling, duct cleaning, chimney sweeping, tree removal (sadly, both of the huge trees in the front yard need to come down as they dying and starting to lose large limbs ~ must be taken down safely before they crash through the roof!), electricians and plumbers, piano moving and tuning, delivery of more furniture (a dining room table!), more cleaning and then... finally... moving in!

Comments

Anonymous said…
This is going to be so exciting for you as all of this comes together. I'm looking forward to see how things progress and I know I'm going to love the finished product:):) We will miss your stitching but somehow we'll manage.
In the above post you have really share fantastic tips for remodeling kitchen. Thanks for this brilliant post...
Kath said…
How exciting! I shall enjoy watching this project, having lived through 3 big refurb projects, it'll be nice to see how it all develops without being in the thick of it :-D
Laurie said…
I'm so happy for you Lisa! Your house is adorable, and I can't wait to see pictures as you go!
oh my - we lived through a kitchen remodel and vowed never to do it again. Living out of boxes and cooking in the microwave for weeks ceased to be fun. Our first meal in our 'new' kitchen?? - hot dogs and Kraft Dinner!
suz said…
Congratulations Lisa! I love old houses, they have so much character! I live in an apartment and when the owners renovated, they kept all the wonderful little things that make my home cozy.
Marty52 said…
How lovely this will be, Lisa. I do hope you'll take us all along for the ride as you change this little house into your home... I really love your built in dish cupboard. *sigh*

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