home remodel - part 2

Catch the first post of my remodel project at home remodel - part 1.

I decided to stop procrastinating and get the guest bathroom redone, honestly Linda it’s been years. As I mentioned earlier that I wanted to have tile flooring but with the bathroom off the hallway I had to make the decision of 1) tile in bathroom only to rip it out when I redo the whole house, or 2) bite the bullet and put tile in the whole house. After several visits to the tile store and discussions on what I can and can’t do it was a done deal – I was going to put tile in the whole house. It makes since to do it all at once, get it over with as they say. Bringing home tiles samples had started. I decided on porcelain and wanted a textured look without it actually be textured so no dirt can get into any grooves. I also wanted it to be multi-colored in a neutral tone that would not show the dirt nor force me into a certain color scheme for decorating.

I placed the tile samples around the house to see what they looked like in the different light of day. As I would sit in my kitchen, again drinking a mocha coffee, looking at the tiles in the kitchen I thought - if I wanted to change the footprint of the cabinets in my kitchen it would be easier to do it before laying the tile. Hmmm, that’s a thought. There really was a need to replace one of the bottom cabinets in the kitchen as I believed there was moisture behind it and potentially some mold. Hmmm, I wondered how much that would cost.

dining area

If you’ve ever done any redecorating or remodeling and you start thinking about more changes then was first planned it’s hard to go back to the original plan. Just putting new tile in the floor would be great but why not take advantage and put in new cabinets first. Ok, done, new cabinets. Oh there's that recessed area in the dining area that I've always wanted to put a hutch in, hmmm, would look really nice and pull the dining and kitchen areas together. Ok, done, a hutch too. Of course I have to put new cabinets in both bathrooms too so they match the kitchen, for resale purposes the cabinet guy says and I agree. Oh, I’ve always wanted to have cabinets in the laundry room instead of the shelf where everyone can see everything stacked upon everything. Done, cabinets will be added in the laundry room.

So I get recommendations from friends who’ve recently put in new cabinets and started getting quotes. After many hours a cabinet guy was chosen and then the real decisions were to be made. Walnut, pine, cherry. Stains, painted, distressed, not to mention if you want a glaze. Solid doors, raised panels, no panel, drawers, doors, pullouts, inserts, dovetail corners, quiet close, on and on and on. I was in cabinet hell. Yes, in the beginning it’s fun because it’s exciting and you have an idea of what you’re wanting. Then you realize what you want is in the custom line and is really pricy so you have to decide whether you want to pay the price or compromise…. I compromised. Raised panel – yes; quiet close – no; stain with glaze – absolutely yes; crown molding – custom in some areas and standard in others; drawers not doors – yes; dove tail – no; plain glass with no wood dividers on hutch doors. I’m sure there are others but I can’t remember them.

kitchen area

Ok, so I’m now putting in new tile and cabinets. Ok, I’m good with that. Well, actually there’s the small issue with that country blue carpet, you did see the picture in the first post, if not check it out here. I can't put in new tile next to that carpet, so I'll need new carpet in the bedrooms. Well, not originally planned but what can you do. It is what it is.

As I sit in my kitchen and work on the new cabinet layout in regards to drawer widths, etc. I now have to get a new stove. Since I’m getting new cabinets I doubt I will redo anything for a LONG time to come so if I was going to get the stove I wanted then now’s the time. Well, now the stove I wanted was actually a stovetop, a 5-burner gas stovetop with a lot of BTus to be exact. That’s fine and dandy but I don’t have gas piped into my kitchen. I have a gas water heater in the garage but currently no gas to the kitchen. Ok, so I have to have gas piped, shouldn't be a big deal, then I can get the 5-burner stovetop that I’ve always wanted. Oh to cook with gas, a dream come true. Now I guess I need to find a contractor. Since I was going to have gas brought in that also meant I would have the option of moving the location of where my current stove is located, there was something else I needed to think about, what about an oven?

After spending many a lunch hour and weekend online or in appliance stores I couldn’t find the double oven/microwave combination that I wanted that would fit under the gas stovetop. Hmmm, ok so now I needed to figure out where to put wall ovens which I really did not want. They took up valuable cupboard space. Once you see the pictures you will notice that my kitchen is galley style so I did not have too many options as to where they could go. So my choices were - give up my gas stovetop and get a gas stove/electric oven that slides between the cabinets or keep the gas stovetop and put in a bulky space hogging wall oven unit. Aargh, why can’t they make what I want…. I’m the consumer it shouldn’t be too much to ask for should it? For the amount these items cost can’t I find what I want? Well, I guess not so a decision must be made. Again the need to compromise but this wasn’t a hard decision, I was not giving up my gas stovetop no way, no how, over my dead body.

Ok, let’s recap:

Original Project - Guest Bathroom:

~tile floor

~paint

~decorations

Current Project:

~tile entire house

~carpet in bedrooms

~replace cabinets in kitchen & bathrooms

~add a hutch in dining area & cabinets in laundry room

~new stovetop & oven wall unit

~pipe in gas

home remodel saga continues...