Our little renovation project began eight weeks ago and has been quite the effort. The work started outside with a new sewer line and the foundation for the addition and quickly moved on to framing the outside structure and putting a roof on it. Until that time we had full access to our existing kitchen, but three weeks later we had to say goodbye. We cleaned and moved our daily food, dishes, and supplies into the dining room. It’s been a roller coaster ever since.

The Good Stuff

Despite its challenges, there are a lot of things about this renovation that I enjoy. The first is the excitement we get from seeing progress each day. One day there is a hole, the next day there is a foundation, the next there is a floor, soon there are walls, and suddenly there is a roof. It’s exciting to come home every day and find out what has changed.

After removing the kitchen wall we were able to feel the full size of the space. We outlined the cabinet lines in chalk so that we could walk the new floor plan. Once the cabinets were in, we played with the drawers and visualized what would go where. Once the counter was in, we imagined what we could do with all of the new prep space.

Seeing each layer of our design come together is so exciting. Being able to choose that design is exciting too. As each part is completed we see our vision build piece by piece. While it can be overwhelming at times, it is truly satisfying to see our choice of layout, cabinetry, counter, floors, trim, hardware, appliances, lighting, and colors come together.

We’ve been fortunate to work from home frequently during this effort and I’ve often found myself marveling at the craftsmanship of everything. I really enjoy seeing how it’s all built – what the inside of a wall looks like, how electrical wires and plumbing are run, how floors are layered together.

The Rough Stuff

A renovation is not without its challenges and a kitchen is one of the most disruptive. Everybody told us it would be difficult and that’s been accurate.

Disruption

It can’t boil water in less than a decade so nobody’s been able to eat pasta

When we cleared out the kitchen we moved about half of it to the garage and the rest into the dining room. We set up a storage shelf and moved our daily dry foods, some plates/cups/silverware, plasticware, paper goods, sandwich bags, foil, and other items onto it. We put our over-the-range microwave on a table and brought our toaster oven and griddle in.

The table became our multi-purpose surface. It was a place for eating, food prepping, and storage. It got crowded very quickly and we started having to sift through it to find a place to eat. Bending down bothered my back so much that I started prepping food in a chair. The construction creates so much dust that every surface, tool, and utensil is dusty all the time. There are also construction items, gates for Holly, and art supplies taking up additional space and making it more difficult to move around.

The microwave died within the first week so we had to buy a smaller model that takes a lot longer to heat up. We use the grill to cook on but it can’t boil water in less than a decade so nobody’s been able to eat pasta. We have a pot that is grill-safe but it doesn’t always get hot enough to cook ground beef very well. Washing dishes in a bathtub is horrible.

Clutter

Clutter stresses me out and makes me difficult to deal with

I dislike clutter. I don’t like when things are dirty, I don’t like when things are out of place, and I don’t like combinations of things that don’t belong together. I want consistency and cleanliness. I’ve had to adjust since the boys were born but it didn’t prepare me for the amount of clutter and disorganization this project would create.

There is dust everywhere, all the time. It’s in the dining room and living room like I’d expect but it also wafts into the office, the mudroom, and up the stairs into the second floor. The basement is a mess because the floor of the addition isn’t finished and it’s still disheveled from the furnace/oil tank/water heater and sewer work. There are things everywhere – parts of our cabinets, trim, flooring, tools, lighting.

There was no tile and hardwood for a couple of weeks so we’ve been walking on a squeaky plank subfloor with gaps that see into the basement. They are covered with paper and cardboard which is oh so pleasant to glide across. Our backyard has dirt in it without grass and weeds are growing up around the piles of crushed stone that we haven’t moved yet. Clutter stresses me out and makes me difficult to deal with.

Choices

I was excited to choose everything for this new kitchen but I didn’t realize how many choices there were. I expected the basics – counter, cabinets, floor, backsplash, special lighting – but I didn’t expect the details. Where do we want the lights? What color grout do we want for the floor tile? How about the backsplash? Do we want any quartz backsplash below the tile backsplash? How high do we want it? How long should the pendant lights be? Do we want dimmable cabinet lighting? What direction do we want the hardwood to go? Do we want red oak or white oak flooring? Where do we want the thresholds to be?

Every time we made one decision, we had another to make. We are so analytical and so invested in choosing the best thing that each question turns into a multi-phase conversation about the pros and cons of the options and what we think will suit us best over time. We’ve spent many late nights debating seemingly small details. While I still love that we get to make them I am overwhelmed by the volume.

DIY Additions

Seeing all of this work happen in the house makes us anxious to do more. We’ve lived here for almost ten years and haven’t done much to the interior in the last nine. Our walls need painted, our trim is dingy, we need new furniture, and our fixtures need updated. We needed to choose a color for the kitchen and decided that we wanted to use the same color for the living room and hallway. It was time for the orange to go. It served its purpose but we are ready for something new. We settled on blue. If only it were that simple. Ten samples panted in four different spots later, we arrived on a final color. The kitchen is partially painted and now we need to paint the living room.

Once that is done, our other rooms will need updates, so it will be time to paint the mudroom, repaint the trim in the dining room, and paint the upstairs hallway. The kitchen ceiling is a beautiful bright white which made our living room ceiling look dirty. Guess what just got a fresh coat of paint?

The power was shut off to the outdoor light on the front of the house; what a great time to replace the brass fixture with something more our style. Since it no longer matched the other two fixtures on the front of the house we had to replace them too. Why not just go around the back and do the rest of the house too? Sure! I easily spent two weekends and four trips to Home Depot buying, wiring, mounting, and sealing six outdoor light fixtures. Oh and now the brass door handles on the garage doors don’t match so those have been changed too 🙂

During that time the boys have finished first grade, attended three different summer programs, gone camping, and traveled to Texas.

Notes from the Present

That was over seven years ago. This post was written before the subfloor leveling liquid leaked into our basement, before the contractor set off our security alarm and I screamed at him over the phone in front of my co-workers, before I complained to the owner multiple times about our project being seemingly abandoned in its final stages, and before I refused to pay until our final todo list was complete. It finished a little behind schedule, but it was eventually done to our specifications, and yes, I did pay them.

We’ve enjoyed the result of all of those choices and any pain or disruption was worth it. We love our design and get a lot of compliments about it. It’s still functional, modern looking, and fits us really well.