Upstairs Hall Floor Painting

It's not quite done but I already love the change.

Old kitchen demolition

So far Sean has spent about eight hours just on demo of half of the old kitchen that will be turned into a much desired downstairs bathroom. Why is it taking so long? Three layers of sheetrock, four ceilings, blown in insulation, old clothes wrapped around pipes....
My husband is a champ.
We are also having a wedding shower here in April for my younger sister so the scurry is on!

DIY Funnies

I walked into the kitchen to find Sean running the liner for the woodstove up the chimney and this:

Tin backsplash scoop

Bell wrote and asked: "Just beautiful! I'd been waiting to see it. Is your back splash tin?"

So here is the backsplash, thrifty inside scoop: It looks like tin, feels like tin, but nope, it is not tin! We decided to do tin here to tie it into the existing tin ceiling in the room behind the kitchen and also because I am not a big fan of tile and grout in a kitchen. But tin is ridiculously expensive. So were the fake tin panels sold in the kitchen section of Lowes and Home Depot for this purpose.

What to do, what to do.... After searching online, being sent samples of flimsy plastic "tin" panels that would never hold up on a backsplash, I had a moment of inspiration at Lowes and checked out their ceiling panel department and found these. I believe the panels were $16 each for a two by two panel. It wasn't exactly cheap but it was the best option with the least expense incurred. The panels are thick, sturdy, washable and went up with liquid nails.

Lastly, here is the wall being taken down. Sean says it is not a good thing when your wife calls you at work and asks where the sledgehammer is. I cannot imagine why not....

More kitchen remodel photos

Welcome!
We (especially me!) are loving our new kitchen!

One of the nifty drawers...


I love the glass doors and plate rack. Must thrift some cuter plates for up there though...



Our sink is composite granite from Lowes. The faucet is from overstock.com.

Yippee! The wall is gone between the kitchen and diningroom!



I have to do a quick post on these lights. They were cheap-o lights from Lowes that I tinkered with for that Pottery barn on a budget look.


This original staircase is so very steep. I am getting used to it though. Upstairs will be the boy's bedroom and a family/playroom.



Our free fridge (credit card reward program) and free chalkboard that I pulled off a curb.

I love these deep drawers.

Sean says this is the supervisor's chair.

Another nifty cupboard!

There's something new...

Once upon a time we bought a house with a teeny kitchen and a big empty purposeless room. The said big empty purposeless room was also HIDEOUS. Brick red walls, gold trim, outdoor plastic green carpeting wall to wall. Weird walls and doorways... Luckily it had a door so I could close it off and sing a happy song.
And I had a dream....
Okay, so once upon a time was only a year and a half ago but that's two summers of canning in a small kitchen, five major holidays of holiday cooking and baking in a teeny space, fourteen elbows bumping each other constantly and nine months of being twice as wide in that small kitchen = a long time in a small kitchen!

Standing in our entryway, this is the view looking to the left. To the right is the living room, but to the left - well, that's where all the exciting fun is these days. Granted, the only people who use this entryway and its enormous set of double doors are neighbors at Christmas time and the porch is so dilapidated I'll have to put yellow warning tape around it soon.... but anyway, back to the left....


Past the table of birthday goodies....
Is that a counter top? A faucet? Be still my heart!


Beautiful, beautiful kitchen of my heart!

The agonies of bumping and tripping over other people you will save me! The lack of elbowing one another as we pass in the kitchen! The more than two square feet of space for kneading dough, rolling out six pie crusts, canning - oh, the room for canning!

The sweet little fridge that is pretty and has enough space for food for 2.1 people.
Since we are a family of seven, the massive monstrosity of a fridge that we use now will be housed in the garage to hold everything else and the twenty dozen duck eggs that are crowding us out. (They are de-lish btw.)

And this is my beautiful thrifted chair. Sean says it is my supervisor chair. I think it'll be great this winter with that wood stove roaring away on cold mornings, a cup of Earl Gray in hand.
Looking back the other way...
Lots of trim work/ veneer work/cabinet crown molding to be done but I am so excited! Love it.
(photos will enlarge if you click on them.)