Jumping A Couple Seasons Ahead

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have seasonal boxes of  UFO's.  Fall is my all time favorite season and normally this time of year my sewing studio is a wash of browns, golds, oranges, and burgundys with just a little splash of green.  I'll get to those eventually but first I'm working on a cute little project to help out my daughter, Shelley at Cora's Quilts,

 

Aren't these the cutest snowmen ever? I love all of  Bird Brain Designs' Snow Happens line.  When I finish helping Shelley out, I just might have to do a few of these to add to the snowman brigade that camps out in my kitchen each winter. 

 

Kitchen Progress Report

Now that the floor is dry and the insurance company paid us a visit, it's time to get moving on the kitchen.  Having a handyman husband is a blessing and a challenge to one who lacks the virtue of patience . . . particularly when the handyman is somewhat of a perfectionist.

 

The first step ~ opening up the wall behind the frig, removing the studs,

 

 

moving the water and electrical outlet.

 

(View looking up into the wall cavity above the top of the frig)

 

 

The purpose of this?  So that the frig will be tucked in 4 1/2 to 5 inches more.  It was really ok before but someone (who shall remain nameless) will be a lot happier now.

 

Notice that little dark spot on the floor? . . . Water dripping from the new water valve (sigh). . . and that's all I'm saying about this step.

 

As happens every year in September my hubby sticks his finger in his mouth, holds his wet finger in the air and tests which way the wind is blowing or in other words asks, "So what do you want for your birthday?"  He is a sweet, sweet man who always buys something to honor me on my birthday.  This year I answered, "Please, absolutely nothing!  We will be spending a bucket of money on the kitchen."  I went about my usual Tuesday routine of being gone for most of the day.  When I asked about dinner plans, he wasn't available; "Too much to do!" he said. When I walked through the door that night, he greets me with "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

He made me a temporary sink area so that I didn't have to cart dirty dishes downstairs, thru the family room to the sink in the laundry room.  He overheard me saying I was kind of over the 'Little House on the Prairie' dish washing routine and never realized how much I could miss a garbage disposal.  What a thoughtful gift (I'm not being sarcastic)!  YUP . . . He's a keeper. 

 

Notice the dish pan under the sink? Storage? NOOOOO! The garbage disposal is now leaking.  REALLY?     (Big sigh) . . .  this water leaking thing is getting old!

 

One garbage disposal added to the shopping list.

 

Today:  Fabricator is scheduling delivery of the granite.
Tomorrow:  Drawings go to our cabinet man and I'll be shopping for sinks and cook tops. 
Friday: the cabinet finishing company is coming to give us a quote.

 

Making lemonade out of lemons: I keep reminding myself if it wasn't for an little itty bitty leak, I wouldn't be getting such an awesome kitchen upgrade.

 

 

 

 

All from one little Itty Bitty Water Leak

I consider myself a fairly competent housekeeper; not white glove quality, not even Better Homes and Garden, but "cleaned regularly and lived-in tidy" most of the time.  So it still baffles me that we could have had an itty bitty water leak from either the dishwasher or from the water line to the ice maker in the frig and not noticed any water on the floor.  And apparently it had been leaking for some time!  I don't know if we will ever unravel that mystery of which appliance was leaking but my hubby is convinced it was the dishwasher - three years new.

I thought it might be kind of fun to keep a log of our kitchen remodel project. 

On Labor Day weekend we thought we were removing the 25+ year old waffling linoleum floor in preparation for hardwood floors and we found this:

and by the end of the day this:

You can't tell from the picture but the drywall is spongy and we had the sinking feeling that the damage could have seeped under the cabinets in the kitchen and who knows how far beyond that.  Our insurance company called a restoration company and we went from this to:

The ugly truth . . . all the way to the corner and check out that ugly mold on the unpainted drywall.  Before all was said and done two sets of base cabinets, the kitchen sink, dishwasher and garbage disposal were gone and I realized we were in for much much more than just replacing flooring. 

The first step to 'restoring' the kitchen is to dry the floor out.  So for the next week and a half we had a giant tent in our kitchen and several large fans roaring non-stop.

 

Finally the  fans were turned off.  After a day of cleaning, the tent came down.  Can you believe the difference?

 

I don't have any before demo pictures of the kitchen so these will have to do.

View from the island to the sink

 

View looking across island to the pass thru into the dining room.

 

 

View of what I use to think of as the torture chamber (before the frig took possession of the area)

Formerly an "L-shaped" desk used at one time as the 'homework' desk.

 

The desk has nothing to do with the leak issue.  Now that we are beyond monitoring homework, have a recently finished office and our growing family of grandchildren, that desk area was just making the dining area a little too crowded.  The desk had to go before the new floor goes in . . . do you see how this escalates into a bigger and bigger project?

 

I do love my kitchen.  Years ago when we started putting our dream house on paper my hubby asked, "So what do you want in the kitchen?"  Oh my . . . really. I admit it, I'm spoiled!

 



Next post I'll share what we've gotten accomplished since the tent came down.

 

It's Never Just a Simple Little Renovation

I love doing DIY projects.  I joke with my hubby that I'm a cheap date . . . a mocha and  visit to Lowes or Home Depot makes me a happy woman.  So being married to a handyman is a good match!  With the discovery of Houzz and Pinterest, our Renovation Bucket List was created.  After some hemming and hawing and a waffling linoleum floor in the kitchen,  a decision was made.  Our next Renovation Project  is  to  replace the flooring of the middle level of our tri-level home with hard wood floors.  YES!!!!

 

"So what do you think of this kitchen?" I was asked as an ipad was thrust under my nose.   "Nice . . . but we need to get the floor done before I can think about that" I answer.  Not deterred by my answer,  my handyman continues perusing pictures of kitchens.  "What about this? We could do this?"  "Yeah, maybe some day" I answer. 

 

We got the delivery date for the hardwood flooring material.  Right after the Labor Day Weekend . . . perfect!  We'll demo the floor over the long weekend and be ready to lay flooring by the second week September. . . OR NOT.  That waffling linoleum . . . water damage from a slow leaking dishwasher (you'd think you'd notice water sitting on the floor if the dishwasher was leaking!)  So our simple little flooring project has turned into . . . Yup a kitchen renovation.  I know a couple of months from now I'll love my house even more than I do now!

 

Guess I'll just be sewing in the Aspen Glow Quilt Along  from Cora's Quilts at my own speed.  Sigh.