Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Rewind Wednesday - Kitchen Reno!

It's Wednesday, so I decided to join Kelly and Victoria at Design Ties for Rewind Wednesday. Kelly and Victoria understand how busy the summer months can be, so they are hosting an event where we can be lazy, er, more prudent with our time and re post a favorite from our blog archives. Not only is this a big time saver for me right now ( work has NOT slowed down an iota) but it allows us to share an older post with new friends who may not have seen it. This post was originally a Metamorphosis Monday post that ran in January. Hope you enjoy our kitchen renovation.! And when you finish, make sure to stop by and visit all the other participants in Rewind Wednesday at http://design-ties.blogspot.com/. If you haven't visited Design Ties before, what are you waiting for? Kelly and Victoria have a fabulous blog with some amazing design ideas and tips. You may remember Victoria from the late lamented Micasa Style web site. You will love their rooms and ideas. And besides, they are just fun! And wait until you see their new blog dress - it's divine!



In July of 2008, we returned from a wonderful and relaxing week at the beach. When we arrived home, we noticed a distinctly "musty" odor. Thinking that it was due to the house being closed up for 10 days in the Texas heat, we ignored it for a day. The next day, I went to pull an appliance out of a lower cupboard and discovered lots of wet and (horrors), the beginning of mold. After the initial screaming meemies, we set out to discover the source of the water. At first, we thought the washer had leaked as it was on the other side of the kitchen wall and we found water under the machine. Our trusty appliance repairman came out and gave the washer a clean bill of health. So we pulled the cabinet out (it was at this point totally useless) and discovered that the water was actually coming up through the concrete slab! So, away we went breaking up the concrete around what we thought was the source. Lo and behold, one of the pipes in the slab was set too close to the rebar, and a hole was eventually rubbed through. Apparently whoever built this house knew it was too close, as they had wrapped the pipe in - can I hear an amen - DUCT TAPE! Our plumber came out and repaired the leak, we repaired the concrete and then set out to renovate the kitchen. Our homeowners policy would not cover the repairs, as there was a sneaky little Texas clause in our policy that did not cover "leaks under grade". So, what now? We had been trying to decide what to do with this horrible, dated, UGLY kitchen for years. We just decided to rip everything out and start over! These are some before and after pix. We did all of the work ourselves, with the exception of the new drywall and the quartz countertop installation. It took us about 6 weeks from demo to new kitchen, during which time I discovered 3 important things: 1) It is no fun washing dishes in the bathtub 2) It's hard to have your kitchen and dining room in your living room (except DH loved having the frig next to his chair) 3) You know that you've been eating out too much when the man behind the counter at Wing Stop greets you by name when you come in! Hope you enjoy the change as much as we have. Stop in anytime for a cup of coffee and a chat.


The culprit

After demo and installation of new window

Old, low ceiling and everyone's favorite, a fluorescent light box

New raised ceiling and track lighting

Old high pass through and little used cabinet. We originally planned to remove this wall altogether, but it contains a large plumbing stack and alot of wiring. We (our budget) chose to remove the cabinet and lower the pass through to give a more open appearance.

The best part of any kitchen, the coffee area! Open shelve where cabinet used to be.


Old stove and pantry area. Lots of wasted space, and just ugly. Notice the lovely formica backsplash. The different paint colors were our attempt to get it right the first time. My husband swears that the rest of the house is held together by layers of paint.

Detail of the new backsplash, as well as the new stove/pantry area. We gained 15 inches of counterspace and a pot/pan organizer cabinet by getting rid of the old pantry "closet" and installing a new, narrower pantry.

The much more appetizing new view from our dining room.


Now stop by and say hey to Kelly and Victoria! You'll be glad you did.

23 comments:

DesignTies said...

Thanks so much for the kind words about our blog :-) And thanks for participating in Rewind Wednesday :-)

I love your kitchen makeover!! You really did a great job, and made much better use of the space.

Love your little coffee area with the red toaster & coffee maker :-) What make is the toaster?? I need a new one, and I'm undecided between copper and red.

I really like the small square accent tiles you used on the backsplash. And the new ceiling & track lighting is MUCH better!! :-)

Your kitchen really is wonderful. And you must be so proud that you did almost all the work yourselves :-)

Kelly

Robin said...

Awwwww, love the new look....but so sorry that it took a leak to get it that way! It's great to make lemonaid from lemons!!

{{HUGS}}

Robin :o)

Marty@A Stroll Thru Life said...

Oh Kat, you know how much I love this kitchen and how many cups of coffee we have enjoyed in there. I think you guys did the most fantastic job. I love everything about it. I still think about it when we have coffee in the neighborhood. Hugs, Marty

DesignTies said...

How fun that you're re-winding with us this week, Kathy! Thanks for playing along!! :-)

Thank you also for the wonderful things you've said about DesignTies, Kelly and myself. You're terrific!

Hopefully others will join our blog party... we all need a lazy Wednesday, don't you think?!

All the best,
Victoria

P.S. I've always loved your kitchen remodel! Fantastic!!

Shellbelle said...

What a great job you guys did on the kitchen, I can't believe you did most of the work yourselves. I am so impressed. I wish I had someone to help me redo my kitchen, not really a good reason to marry again though. :)

Thanks for visiting my plumeria "farm", I hoping it grows, but one of the planned postings is how to care for them in colder climates — like Texas!

Lynne (lynnesgiftsfromtheheart) said...

Oh sweetie, I remember these photos from before.. your kitchen looks wonderful, but what a way to have to redo things huh? I've yet to post the photos from our water damage.. I need to get serious about posting them.. thankfully that is behind us now..lol.. My Bailey is a cutie isn't he? Papa and I sure enjoy when he's with us.. He is such a joy and puts laughter in the house..
hugs ~lynne~

Lynette said...

It looks so beautiful and warm and inviting and contemporary but still like a house all at the same time - and all because of one pipe! Y'all would probably never done such a massive reno without that pipe!!

Happy Hump Day -

Pug1 said...

Your kitchen looks great! CHEERS! Michele

Confessions of a Plate Addict said...

Oh Kat...I'm enjoying this post all over again! And I am laughing out loud because I'm thinking about all that time at Micasa when I was in the kitchen all by myself with my coffee and all of the rest of the gals were gathering in your bathroom!! lol That was fun! Here's hoping things will slow down for you sonn!...hugs...Debbie

Gayle at Planet M Files said...

Wow! What a beautiful kitchen! I can see why you love your coffee area. It is so pretty!

Lynette said...

You may be onto something smarty pants!! I'm not telling anything though until MONDAY!! But, there will be a giveaway involved!

Confessions of a Plate Addict said...

Hi Kat and Sax...Thanks for the birthday wishes for Baby Kitty! He sends his fondest regards and a big hug for Sax. Is that too forward? lol Try to get in some "me" time, Kat!...hugs...Debbie

Bill said...

Great makeover! I think the change in overhead lighting is my favorite part.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving the nice comment, Kathy. Hope you get rain soon!

Bye for now,
Bill

Lori said...

Cathy,
Love your story and you kitchen... I saw this kitchen on RMS and i loved it then and love it now...
We redid our kitchen and i know what it's like doing dishes in the bathtub etc. It was worth it. Take Care,
lori

Lori said...

Cathy,
Love your story and you kitchen... I saw this kitchen on RMS and i loved it then and love it now...
We redid our kitchen and i know what it's like doing dishes in the bathtub etc. It was worth it. Take Care,
lori

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

Incredible! What perfect changes you made. I know you must enjoy your kitchen a lot more now. It looks so great! laurie

Lynn said...

I love looking at makeovers!!!
Yours is great!
Your coffee area looks especially inviting!

Cyndi said...

Hi Kat,now this does bring back the memories,feels like old times,always nice to be in the kitchen of a friend again :) I had to laugh a little about this event.I guess it's good everyone hasn't gotten as lazy as me in the blogging dept....or there would be no blog land! I do plan to returen one of these days.I'm so happy that when I do come back here all you faithful bloggers are still hard at it entertaining lazy gals like me! Thanks ((hugs)))

Happy To Be/ Gl♥ria said...

Oh Kat...what a beautiful job you guys did on that kitchen...WOW!! I had my upstairs toilet leak and did't even know it until I was sitting drink a cup of morning coffee and looked at my LR ceiling...Oh girl what a mess I ended up with...the mold partrol was here with giant fans tore out my walls, ripped up my floor, we ended up having to redo the whole LR after the toilet leak up stairs...7 weeks my house was tore apart that was in 08...Thanks so much for coming by my friend...and Yes I can't hardly wait to get my hands on all those sweet babies ha ha!! Len even got me a new camera a cannon sureshot so I can get some videos of the babies for him ha ha!!May you have a great time while I'm gone...Hugs and smiles to you my friend...Gl♥ria

easternsparkle said...

Great story board Kathy! I remember washing dishes in the bath between kitchen refits - I even took a bowl of dishes to a neighbour once, she really appreciated that I cleaned her kitchen for her at the same time!

Thanks for your encouragement - really appreciate it - looks like we'll be having a 1,000th visitor party soon!!
Heather

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Kat, this looks WONDERFUL! Great job! I hate leaks, but it looks like you made the best of it from the looks of this beautiful kitchen! I like everything you did!!!

Thanks so much for the birthday wishes. You helped to make my day complete!

XO,

Sheila :-)

xinex said...

I am glad something good came out of the disaster, Kathy. Your new kitchen is beutiful...Christine

Lori said...

hey cathy,you are correct i am at the beach... i hope you have a great weekend as well....
Lori