Living With Our Less Than Perfect Kitchen

April 21, 2011, 8:17 pm | By cheryl

When Joe and I decided to renovate, the ideal situation would have been to get everything done before we moved in. Unfortunately, our budget didn’t allow for that and we will have to wait another two years or so before we can afford to renovate the kitchen. There’s nothing seriously wrong with the kitchen as it is – the appliances are all clean and no more than 5 years old – but its not the prettiest kitchen either. Most of my peeves are relatively minor…the floor is not totally level, and I’d LOVE to have granite counter tops rather than laminate. But my biggest issue is that the layout is really not the most efficient use of space. Its basically a square with one empty wall that is completely unusable space because the fridge door opens against it. The other problem is that once we put a microwave onto the counter top, we have about half as much usable counter top space for food prep. Here is my idea for how I would renovate eventually, to make the most efficient use of the space:

The kitchen as it is now:

This is my idea for the renovation:

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I’ve heard that it can be a bit more pricey to move gas and water lines, but I think it will be worth it eventually. The new design would have a mounted microwave to save counter space and I love the idea of knocking down part of the wall to open things up to the dining room. One restriction we have is that the fire escape is right outside the kitchen window, so we can’t put anything in front of it to block it (like having a sink or counter in front of the window.) But I should probably not get too attached to this idea until I talk with a professional. I guess I’d be open to having the stove by the side that opens to the dining room, but I feel like it would get in the way of the usefulness of knocking down that wall. Oh well…I can’t do it now anyway, but I do have some plans for a DIY update that will make it at least a little easier on the eyes and get me though these next couple of years. I’m armed with a deglosser, sandpaper, and buckets of paint, so be prepared for more before and after pics in the coming weeks!!

Getting started. When this picture was taken, I had just started sanding the cabinet doors.

Renovation Wrap Up: Before and After Pics!!

April 18, 2011, 12:46 pm | By cheryl

Other posts in this series: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Days 4-5, Days 6-7, Days 8-9, Days 10-11, Days 12-13, Week 3

We’ve been finished with our renovations for over a week now, but I’m finally getting around to posting the before and after pics now. Keep in mind that our contractor ended up getting really behind schedule and didnt actually finish until the morning that we scheduled to moved in. We had no time to clean before the boxes arrived, so the floors in the pictures are still really dusty looking. Regardless, Albert did such an amazing job documenting the results that I regret not taking more “before” pictures to more fully illustrate the changes. Some of the angles of the before and afters are a little different too, but hopefully this gives you an idea of how much things have changed. I’ll start with the less dramatic changes and save the bathroom for last.

First the hallway:

Renovation Wrap Up: Before and After Pics!! - >> joeandcheryl.com <<

I didn’t mention this in my previous posts much, but the hall between the livingroom and bathroom was completely lined with hidious mirrored sliding closet doors. You can’t tell in this picture, but they were not in great condition either.

Here’s the expanded master closet, before and after:

Our tiny master closet with terribly non-functional sliding doors

The new master closet, now triple the width of the old one with brand new bi-fold doors

Now the livingroom. We really don’t have good before pictures for the livingroom. I especially wish I got a picture of the ugly light fixture that used to be in the dining area. But oh well, can’t do anything about that now…just trust me that it looks much better.

Here is the livingroom before. The wall on the right is the one that now has the picture frame molding.

Here is the updated livingroom. We replaced the base molding, added crown molding and picture frame molding, skim coated and painted the walls, and refinished the floors (as well as the floors in the rest of the apartment). If you look at the far right, you can see the master closet expansion protruding into the livingroom space.

Our living space is kind of an ‘L’ shape with a dining area next to the kitchen. This is our new light fixture in the dining area, opposite the picture frame molding wall.

And finally, the bathroom! this was our biggest project because we basically gutted the whole thing and replaced everything (tub, fixtures, etc.).

Not only was the old bathroom ugly, it was dirty too.

Tada!! Since photographing this, we have purchased a shower curtain, curtain rod, and a bamboo wooden garbage can to match the bath mat. Nobody ever gets what this art is about. But I’ll give you a hint, its not a 12, and it is hanging in a bathroom.

The framed art is made from antique house numbers that I found on Etsy and mounted onto natural linen. No one ever gets why I framed a one and a two, but I’ll give you a hint – its not a twelve, and it is hanging in a bathroom.

Completed Renovations!

April 11, 2011, 4:25 pm | By cheryl

After a long month of renovations, a week of construction delays, and some recent drama with my contractor; we are finally done with renovations and we were able to move in this past Friday. I don’t have any “after” pics to show you yet, but be patient, they are on their way! I’ve complained MANY times on the blog about how my dinky point-and-shoot takes terrible quality photos. Well my good friend Albert was nice enough to take some professional wide angle shots for us. I haven’t seen them yet, but what I did see on the screen of his SLR makes the apartment look way better than it does in real life. haha.

It feels so nice that we finally have a place of our own as a married couple. We still have a lot of hard work ahead of us in order to set everything up at the apartment, but it will be so worth it. More pictures and project posts to come!

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Living With Our Less Than Perfect Kitchen

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Renovation Wrap Up: Before and After Pics!!

Completed Renovations!

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