Making progress

This weekend has been very rainy. That's weird for around here, since usually we get a passing shower and then it's done. Rarely does it just rain for the whole day (or weekend) unless there's a hurricane. Luckily for us, it's just rain (no hurricane), and being stuck inside with no temptation to go to the beach has made us very productive.

A lot has been done in the past week, but not much that has been really photo worthy. We've been patching, sanding, and painting the walls and ceiling, which is very messy. They look 100 times better though. The new holes for our lighting have been cut, and the old ones patched up. Soon we'll be done with the ceiling for good.

No more recessed fluorescent light! Woo hoo!

I thought I'd also share what the rest of our house looks like now that the kitchen is all pulled apart:

Most of the dishes now live in the front hallway. We also have the toaster on a little table in the middle of the dining room, and the coffee pot lives over by Vivian's dishes.

We also put our chopping block in the hallway. Good thing we're skinny.

Even with our prep table in the poorly lit hallway, it didn't stop Lisa from making bread!


And look at the progress we're making on the floor! We may have that done this week.


The vinyl is slowly retreating...

Ice cream on the grill

Even with all the stuff going on in our kitchen, it has for the most part remained usable. But the other day it was a little too messy which proved challenging for Lisa and her mom who wanted to make ice cream. So they made it on the grill. Thank goodness for our little side burner -- it worked like a charm and yesterday we enjoyed homemade vanilla with fresh peaches over top. Right now they are making more...

We finished putting the island together (except for the doors which haven't arrived yet) and it looks great. Tomorrow the building inspector comes to check our wiring, and then we can hook her up for real. Photos pending...

Here's a good one though:


When the steel back plate behind our stovetop was removed, we uncovered two mysteries. The porthole to the universe (or an old electrical outlet?) and the seafoam green wall. Our walls were green before they were pink. I can imagine the conversation...."that green is hideous! What were they thinking? This pink is going to make this kitchen look SO much better..."

Lisa and I are contemplating wall colors ourselves and are honing in on a color called black pepper. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Dumpster diving

Here is the story on our flooring:


Last spring, we heard in a roundabout kind of way that Camp Lejeune (the Marine Corps base near us) was renovating one of their gymnasiums, and the old flooring was just hanging out in a dumpster waiting to be pitched. The boards appeared to be in good shape, and although it would take some work to clean up, they were there for the taking. So Lisa and I, along with one other family, rented a U-haul and spent an entire day pulling floorboards out of a dumpster. Between our share of the U-haul, gas, lunch, and the steel-toed boots we needed for the construction site, we got about 250 sq. ft. of solid maple flooring for about $60. Not bad.

It has been a lot of work though, and is not easy to lay when there isn't a perfect piece in the bunch. Almost all of the work has fallen to Lisa's dad, who has spent many hours throughout the summer backing out nails:



...and sanding off the paint and finish:


This is what they used to look like:


...and this is what they look like now, in the small area that is already down:


We still have more sanding to do once they are all down, and we'll finish them (although we don't think we'll stain them) but so far I think they are beautiful. They definitely aren't perfect (there are a few areas where flecks of red paint are still visible) but that adds to their uniqueness. And what a great conversation piece! How many people can say they have Marine sweat embedded into their kitchen floor?

Off with your bulkhead

They always say things look worse before they look better....

The other day the hideous bulkhead came down. I hated how it never really matched the cabinets (it probably did back in 1872) and was a tad on the shiny side. They didn't even look like real wood. So, they've been torn out which unfortunately now just shows the dingy wall and ceiling it was hiding. But fear not, it will look so good when it all comes together.




Now we are working on building our new kitchen island. So far we have the base:


and here are the cabinet frames:

In order to put it all together, we need to have enough of the flooring down so we can start from the bottom up. A good chunk was laid today, but it is pretty slow going. It looks great though! Our flooring has a bit of a story so deserves a post all its own...

Going, going, gone

One of the first things Lisa said when touring our house for the first time was, "that wall between the kitchen and the dining room has GOT to go...." Our Realtor tried to tell us to live in it awhile before doing something so drastic. Although I would agree with such rational thinking, that wall really needed to go. We've waited 3 long years (not because we wanted to be sure; other things just took priority) and now the wall has come down. It has been liberating.

Lisa's parents are temporary residents of Carteret County this fall and are helping us with our kitchen remodel. Here are a few 'before' photos to give you all an idea of how badly our kitchen needs an upgrade. Ugly duckling for sure.

Love that pine paneling. The wall behind our little island is "the" wall...

Don't worry, although we plan to bring this kitchen into the 21st century, we aren't touching the pink enamel 50's style wall oven. We love her. She gets to stay, and is the main reason Lisa isn't getting her red kitchen.


If you can't tell in the photos, the countertops are pink formica. Classy. The vinyl floors have little flecks of pink in them too. When we first bought the place, the walls were pepto pink. Perhaps it was some weird diet gimmick to make your kitchen as unappetizing as possible?

Here she is mid-demo, and you can appreciate the improvements already!


Foreman Vivian inspects the work...

(I spy a monster cat...)