Kitchen Renovation~BEFORE and AFTER

This was a big project (as they all seem to turn out to be). We got the bulk of the work done in about 5 weeks where we were displaced from using the space for that time. At the 5 week point we had finished the floors and installed the cabinets, leaving the counter tops to be installed and the detail work to be completed (like crown molding, floor and door trim, etc.).

We started our Kitchen Renovation in July 2011 and were completely finished in October 2011.

PROJECT INFORMATION:

• Kitchen is a "U" shaped kitchen that is approximately 13' x 12'
• We had a new dishwasher given to us from our Home Purchase Electrical Inspection (Budd Electric) when one of the workers accidently blew out the old dishwasher. They are a company in Corpus Christi of high integrity; thank you Budd Electric- you all are top rate!
• We also had a fairly new refrigerator , so we didn't need to replace that either.
• We did however, purchase a new double oven/stove with a matching mounted microwave (which is included in our budget). The oven/stove is in the "before" photos because the previous home owners took their old oven.
• We took the room down to studs so we could add proper R-13 insulation.
• All outdated electrical and plumbing was updated.
• Wood Laminate Floors~ Lumber Liquidators
• Solid Maple Cabinets~ Kitchenpro.com (RTA, dove tailed, anti slam drawer feature, euro hinges, raised panel)
• Granite Counter Tops~ Corpus Christi Solid Surfaces
• Tumbled Travertine Backsplash~ DIY by Teri

BUDGET= $10,000.

ACTUAL= $10,037. (OVER by just $37.)

Our "sweat equity" value on this project had we hired everything out ... ??? We can only guess!

Since we have so many photos of this project,

I selected some of the highlights in this video.

Living Room Renovation AFTER PHOTOS (finally!)

We started this remodel quite some time ago, like over a year ago (November 2010)! We finished the remodel in April 2011. We have been very slow on getting our "after" photos posted since as soon as we finished this project we were immediately starting another room- our dining room and kitchen areas.

Just to re-cap the "Living Room Renovation" , as with every room in our fixer upper house, the renovation ended up being a much bigger project than we expected. We knew we would have to take the exterior facing walls down to the studs for the fact alone that this house has NO INSULATION and we want each room insulated. So as we took the drywall off the walls facing the outside, we discovered we got to 1/2 inch salvaged boards nailed to the studs under the drywall instead of exposed studs under drywall like in newer construction. This is a good and bad situation. Good that the boards add to a stronger structure, bad, that it's more time and challenge to get the walls insulated.

We took random boards off (numbering where they went) and got fresh insulation in, then replaced the boards. (this photo below shows before we replaced the random boards- you can see the insulation behind the boards)

Another time consuming project was getting all the electrical updated. We changed out all the old wiring in the walls, added several new outlets, and added recessed lighting in several places since there was no overhead lighting in the living room what so ever; a common situation in older home living rooms.

Dimmable recessed lighting

(both above TV cabinets and two separate pot lights)

The fireplace took a chunk of time as it was a major fire hazard and had to be eliminated completely! We considered replacing the old firebox that was broken in three places, but decided it wasn't worth the monetary investment especially since we live in south Texas and only have a week or two worth of winter that we would use the fire place. We decided to reconstruct the space for the "look" of a fireplace, but instead, make it a "candle place" that also has an electrical outlet for lighting and abundant storage (in cabinets) on each side.

This id after the demo.

Notice the burn spots on the wall?

YES... a fire waiting to happen!

PROJECT INFORMATION:

This Living Room is 11'2" wide x 17' long.

We budgeted $1,000. for this update.

We actually spent $2,413. (OVER budget by $1,413) Amazing how things add up!

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

BEFORE

This hearth was out of proportion for the space, blocking the door and making it awkward to walk by! A number of ceramic tiles were missing.

AFTER

Storage cabinet (18" wide x 24" deep x 80" tall)

(unfinished oak from Home Depot)

We used two total, back to back,

one on each side of the "candle place".

Dimmable recessed lighting, two lights on each side.

Wonderful storage for photo albums and crafts.

The other side houses our DVD's, CD's, video games and misc. electronics items.

BEFORE

AFTER

The multi-colored slate and two cabinets is part of what put our budget way over, but well worth it!

The mood of a fire (year around) without the heat or fire hazard.

Flicker Electrical Lights~ I simply plug in a discrete outlet and enjoy.

See THIS POST for more "In Progress" photos of early stages of this remodel or THIS POSTfor a few photos of us laying the laminate floor.

Master Bedroom Re-Do

My blogging on our Home Renovation progress has been quiet these days, mostly because the progress has been slow going and fragmented. Since November 2010 (over the past 6 months), Kirk and I have been working simultaneously on about 6 different areas of the house - a little bit here, there, and everywhere- very hit and miss! It has been a bit overwhelming and getting ANYTHING FINISHED with these six areas has felt like a far distant dream. There have been weeks where we are unable to work on any remodel projects because family and life events take priority; the kids have kept us busy with their school activities. Summer is here, and we're getting some time to press forward and get things done.

I'm thrilled to report that several areas ARE getting "FINISHED" (finally!) ... enough for me to blog before and after pictures which is like a "closure" of the project.

Here is our newly renovated MASTER BEDROOM:

BEFORE

Notice the window air conditioner unit? The previous owners used this to help cool this room on top of the regular central air that worked for the entire house. Three of the four walls in this room are hit directly by the south Texas sun most of the day and like the whole house, this room did not have any insulation in the walls, not to mention the single pan windows with poor caulking; it got VERY HOT & STUFFY in the summer.

DEMO

Joe loves to pound on the walls and demo! - even in his Sponge Bob P.J.'s! All drywall in this room had to be removed.

... a place where there at one time used to be a window! We found two other previous window openings that had once existed on the opposite wall. This room once had 5 different windows (three now covered by wall)! I wonder if it used to be a sun room at one time years ago?

R13 insulation in the whole room! ...and the brown door? It's getting replaced!

Here's the AFTER of this particular corner~ we have kept the walls all white to help it feel like a bigger room, crisp and fresh. And we love the new door!

MORE DEMO and repair... from another angle.

AFTER~

After adding insulation, we finished the walls with 1/2" drywall covered in "bead board" panels. To trim off the room we added crown moulding and over sized baseboards.

This Master Bedroom is smaller than what we're used to (because it's an older house), but we've managed to fit our things in it and make it nice and cozy.

Quilt set from The Company Store.

New bedroom carpet (professionally installed) meets up with our laminate wood floor (Kirk and Teri installed) from the hall area outside the master.

Close-up showing the bead board and crown. This room originally did not have any trim around the ceiling, so this crown and corner pieces are a nice added detail. The windows are new energy efficient double paned windows with 2" Bali (faux wood) mini blind.

Function, Practicality, and Common Sense

We are still in the progression of our home renovation with only about 40 percent of the interior complete. A definate "work in progress". When working on a particular room in our fixer upper, these three questions go through my mind when evaluating our space~

• Does this space FUNCTION the way my family needs it to? (storage has been an issue)
• Are the changes we're making to this space PRACTICAL to the construction and era of the house? (since it's a 1930's home we don't want overly "contemporary" features.
• Are we exercising a level of COMMON SENSE when updating the space not to "over improve"?

Over the past 4 months we've been working simultaneously on updating the living room and two hallways. The light at the end of the tunnel for these spaces is getting brighter to actually seeing completion!!! I hope to have some "AFTER" pictures posted very soon. I know, I know, I say that all the time. For now, here's some more "IN PROGRESS" pictures.

Kirk working on crown moulding in one of the hallways-
it's harder than it looks!

Our living room carpet in the process of being taken out. When you live in the space you're renovating it's a bit harder to get jobs done; many obstacles!

O.K.~ since we've never laid laminate floor before, "how do we do this"?
Kirk reads the instructions.

...we're on a roll, now! (I'm actually enjoying this)

The kids think it's a new play area to slip and slide on. Fun, Fun, Fun!

Living Room Remodel -"IN PROGRESS"

We started the living room in October and have slowly been making progress. Here's some "in progress" photos.

OVERVIEW

of BEFORE REMODEL:

Dark wood paneling, dated carpet, oversized fireplace...

...damaged ceiling. Notice the tape by the ceiling trim on the fireplace? This tape is covering a crack in the ceiling.

FIRE PLACE~

The "monster hearth" as we referred to it, is too big for the space. The living room is small (11'2" x 17') and this hearth doesn't make sense in front of this door way.

The monster hearth has to go! With our furniture in place, it's a tight squeeze to get through this walk way space.

Demo time!!! Joe loves to help demo!

As we took the fireplace out, our original intentions were to drop the existing firebox to the floor. As we took the fireplace apart, we discovered that the existing firebox was cracked in three places with a small hole on the back side.

The hole on the backside of the firebox created a burn mark (hot spot) on the drywall behind it. SCARY for the previous owners and for us with the high risk of a fire starting; we hadn't built a fire since we'd moved in, so we are thankful nothing bad happened.

After considering our options, we decided to get rid of the "real" fireplace. We covered the hole and damaged ceiling with a reinforcement piece of plywood with the plan to create a new unit that would serve as much needed entertainment storage, a "faux" fireplace, more lighting, a focal point for the room and a backdrop for our flat screen TV.

I (Teri) designed the plan and built the framing while everyone was at school and work. Notice the duck tape? Since I was working the framing project by myself, DUCK TAPE was my extra pair of hands. In the photo above, the tape is holding the 2 x 4 so I can screw my other corner piece to complete the soffit.
What a beautiful frame job! Kirk did the electrical on this job, adding another circuit to the breaker to accommodate the extra lights (in the soffit) and additional outlets.

We installed the dry wall together, I did the mud and texturing, and Kirk did the painting... WHAT A TEAM we are!!!
No longer a "fire place", I have created a "candle place". No more "monster hearth"... you can see how far it had come out (where the wood floor shows) compared to where we have it now. Also included, an electrical outlet inside the "candle place" to plug in a string of lights during holidays or when ever.

I love to tile!!! Kirk and I had a hard time agreeing on how we wanted to finish our fireplace. We ended up deciding on slate- a natural stone that will add balance to the room and be a smaller scale tile than what was previously there. (I'll post AFTER pictures later!)

ELECTRICAL & LIGHTING ISSUES~

Three light switches by the front door; one goes to the front porch light, one goes to the dining room light, and the middle was a "mysterious" switch that we could not determine what it went to (it had live wires going to it). Notice the OLD wiring that is frayed out in places?
We got ALL NEW wiring!!! And the middle light switch, now goes to our two new ceiling can lights. Beautiful!

And God said, "Let there be light".

Two soffit lights on each side around the "candle place"... they are on a dimmer switch that make it real nice for the times when we're watching TV and don't want bright lights, but have them on as mood lights.

INSULATION~

This wall had no insulation. I pulled down dry wall and everyother board to fit in R13 Insulation. As we do each room of our fixer upper, adding insulation has been a priority.

CEILING~

...time to replace? YEP! Hummmm? why is that tape there?
As we took the fireplace apart, we discovered the "gaping crack" that was taped at the top of the fireplace; that's o.k., we can fix it...

A nice, sturdy piece of plywood screwed securely in the ceiling studs fixes our ceiling issues and creates a nice guide for the soffit framing.

I continue to be amazed at what a new coat of fresh paint can do!