Thursday, July 21, 2011

More projects!

Inspired by all the re-decorating and re-modeling being done over at The Modern Parsonage, Scott and Bri's place, I have tackled the most hated room of my house, my kitchen!  I've looked at it for the past 11 years trying to figure out how to make it work without breaking the budget and come up empty.  I had a few brain storms lately, some I've tossed and had some more.  First before photos:
First, I've removed all the dark brown paneling and chair rail (thankfully, it was only nailed on!  I was afraid glue had been used which would have torn up the wall board behind it, so YEAH!)  Also, all the floor trim has been removed.

Second, I've removed the tiny and almost useless tall cabinet on the right of the last photo as well as the tiny cabinet to it's left.  The cabinets were built in place and are one piece on each wall, getting them out was a real chore!  The funky opening left there was created when my new frig didn't fit in the hole. (Yes, we measured-twice-and still lacked about a 1/4 inch of it fitting.)  The now open place will get open shelving to display my collection of blue glass canning jars (I use them to store food in.)

Third, I moved the one foot cabinet seen on the left of the frig over to the left of the stove.  The stove was directly next to the cabinets on the window wall and always made me feel closed in.  This little one footer in the space gained by taking out the tiny and almost useless tall cabinet makes me feel a bit less cramped!

Now, I'm working on removing the wall paper.  Unlike Scott and Bri's experience with that mine is coming off easily, I just don't like standing on the step stool!

Next up:  the dreaded chore of stripping all the cabinet frames.

Once that's done I'll order replacement doors and drawer fronts so all the cabinets have the same look and it will be painted white.  I'm adding a couple of drawer units to the place where the bookcase sits and a bookcase under the end of the island.  Above the drawer units I've a mind to put some shelving to hold my pretty bowls (I seem to collect those as well) and my teapots.  Haven't decided on the decor for the wall above the bench, yet.  If you look at the frig photo again you can see where I "auditioned" paint, I've chosen the green for the walls.  Bamboo flooring, all new white trim, a new sink and laminate counter tops plus a few new light fixtures and it will be a totally different place!

I like to cook and usually spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen but I've slacked off lately as I hate that room soooooo much!

I'm so anxious for it to be finished, but realistically it will take some time and quite a bit of effort before I finish.  It seems that everything I do adds some small detail to the list for me to deal with!

I'll leave you with one photo of the new stove wall (sorry, not a very good one):
Funny brown paint is on the dry wall from the back of the removed cabinets!

3 comments:

Bri said...

Scott told me you took off the paneling, but I had no idea you had such grand ideas! It looks FANTASTIC so far and I love your plan for it :) :) :)

sweet lemonade gal said...

It's going to look great Gail. At least you have something constructive(no pun intended) to do with the outside heat over 5 million degrees. Sure hope it doesn't come our way, though just last October it was over 105 degrees for days.

blessings, jilly

a good yarn said...

Kitchen renovations are challenging and often expensive so you are doing really well. It always looks easy on tv! I have ceramic tiles cemented to the walls in beautful 1930s green and yellow - not inspiring at all! Ann :-)