Kitchen Renovations - Part One

I came to the realization a few months ago that at big part of the reason that I have come to dread cooking and hardly ever bake is that I hate my kitchen.  I know that as long as we live in this house, I will never have a kitchen that I am totally in love with, it just isn't feasible, however, I need to have a kitchen that I can stand to be in for more than 30 seconds at a time without wanting to run away from home!

When we bought this house in late 2002 and started painting and making it ours, I was dead set on a blue and yellow kitchen.  And although I did, at the time, like the finished product, it was never quite what I had in mind when I planned for blue and yellow.  This time, I didn't know what I wanted.  We had dozens of paint chips stuck to the walls and cupboard doors for weeks, trying to decide.  And we changed our minds almost every week.  

My blue and yellow kitchen, getting ready for a makeover.

My blue and yellow kitchen, getting ready for a makeover.

Finally, we decided on green and tan.  We choose a light, sage green for the walls, and what Henry calls a coffee with too much milk colour for the cabinets.

Tennessee Haze and Onion Skin were the colours we settled on (third from the top on both cards).

Over the course of a week, we spent our time on the weekend and after work, painting.  Everything needed two coats of paint to cover up the old colours.  The cabinet doors had to be taken down to paint.  It was a big job but it was so worth it!

Newly painted kitchen!

Newly painted kitchen!

Newly painted kitchen!  Complete with Henry's latest batch of hard cider, fermenting in the white pail!

Newly painted kitchen!  So much brighter and enjoyable to spend time in!

Yesterday, Henry took down the old, very dirty ceiling fan and put up a nice new track light.  He also installed LED strip lights over the counter, sink and stove!  The lighting is so much better now!!

New track light!  Prettier and better lighting than the old ceiling fan!

We are still a long way from done, the kitchen still needs a new counter top, sink and floor.  Unfortunately, these renos have been put on hold for a little while as we have some outdoor projects that need to be completed this spring.  But as soon as the outdoor projects are done taking up our time and money, we will be back to finishing the kitchen!

Until then, we have done enough to make me enjoy my time in the kitchen again!  

It is DONE!!

Finally, our back deck project that was supposed to take a day, is finally finished after 3 full days (last weekend) and two afternoons (this weekend).  Woo hoo!!  I am so happy it is finally done, it was such a long, frustrating, project.  

And although I say that it is done, I know that it isn't really completely finished.  The main part of the deck is built and that's what really needed to be done.  We need to build new stairs and a small platform (8'x10') platform deck at the bottom of the stairs and a stone pathway from that to the driveway.  But the work that we planned to do and NEEDED to do this year is done!  The rest, including painting will probably wait until spring.  Although if the weather (and money) hold out we may try to do some of it this year.  Only time will tell.

We had another beautiful fall weekend to work.

This is where we started Saturday . . . 

. . . and this is where we ended . . . 

. . . but the hole is getting smaller.

Late Sunday afternoon and it is finished!

And it has stairs . . . 

I am so looking forward to getting a little bistro table and chairs set in the spring to sit outside while Liam plays trucks on the new deck.

Hey, have I mentioned that it is DONE???

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Deck Building Weekend

Our back deck has been in need of repairs for quite awhile, but we've had a busy summer and really, who wants to spend a weekend repairing a deck when you can do something fun, so we've been putting it off for ages.  Well, as we are approaching winter far too quickly for my liking, we decided that Thanksgiving weekend would be the best time to tackle this endeavor.  

Henry looked the deck over and felt that it could be repaired in a day so that would still give us Sunday to do the family Thanksgiving thing and Monday to relax.  All in all it seemed like a perfect plan.  It turned out to be anything but perfect.  

So, without any further delay, here is the picture story of our Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Deck Building Weekend.

Chapter 1 - Saturday

This is our back deck as it looked Saturday morning.  Although it isn't apparent in the photo, not only are the boards rotting and breaking, the whole thing was very wobbly and uneven.

See what I mean about broken boards?  Repair was very obviously needed, ASAP!

This is the underside . . . notice that there is nothing supporting the joist?  Yeah, that's not a good thing!

Speaking of support, exactly how is this post that doesn't even touch the ground supposed to support anything???

The demolition begins!

 

And continues!

This was the fun part . . . I especially enjoyed the reciprocating saw!

. . . until we determined that the deck was in much worse shape then we thought.  Henry made a run to the hardware store for more supplies . . . and I went to play with my camera!

Our big maple tree . . . 

Our little Crimson maple tree . . . 

We left this poor spider homeless, but isn't he cool???

Kali did not enjoy having her naps interrupted . . . 

Kruise liked supervising!

And that is pretty much the end of Saturday's chapter.  The day ended and the deck was not finished.  We knew that Sunday was going to start with a trip to the hardware store and end with Thanksgiving dinner, meaning that there would be limited time to work.  We had a bottle of wine and went to bed early.

Chapter 2 - Sunday

Sunday was a long, frustrating day.  We got two support beams up and fixed the frame at the end where the stairs attach.  Seriously, it looked like we had done next to nothing even though we'd worked our butts off all day.

Sunday's lunch . . . highly nutritious, I know!

Liam found bugs when he came home from Grandma's for a nap, so that was cool!

And after his nap, he attacked Mommy as she lay on the ground with the camera!  That was fun too!

Don't mess with the boy and his timbits!  You may not come out alive!

By late afternoon, it was time to turn our attention to Thanksgiving dinner.  Thankfully, we had opted not to go with the traditional turkey dinner, because, well, it just wouldn't have happened!  

Instead, we had grilled portabello mushrooms . . . 

 . . . and Jack Daniels marinated, cedar planked salmon . . . 

. . . the only traditional part of the meal, pumpkin pie for desert!

Chapter 3 - Monday

Thank goodness it was a long weekend, because we needed Monday!

Liam thought that it woudl go better if we would just let him help.

We even called in reinforcements for Monday . . . and look, we are making progress, joists, held up with proper joist hangers!

We were lucky to have beautiful weather all weekend!

All the joists are in place!  Yeah!

And slowly but surely, the top boards start to appear.

It is starting to look like a deck!

Liam decided to show us how to use the cordless drill.

It is looking so nice . . . 

But that's where the sun set on our deck building for the weekend.  

Yes, a one day project and we worked our butts off from three days and it's still not done.  Hopefully, Henry will work on it a little bit after work through the week and it will be ready to paint by next weekend.  

And guess what?  We get to do it all over next year for the front deck!  Yipee, I can't wait!