Saturday, July 21, 2012

It’s a wrap!

Well, here it is…my final entry in my Diary of a Kitchen Remodel, and I’m feeling a little nostalgic. It took six years to first think through what I wanted (resisting my normal penchant for making impulsive decisions) and then wait patiently for my contractor to become available. Then demolition day arrived on May 3 and I blinked and it was over.  I suppose it’s like a wedding. How often have I heard people marvel at their months of planning and fretting over the big day only to have it fly by in the blink of an eye?

David and his crew were definitely worth the wait. The project took 3½ weeks from the first day of demolition until the space was turned back over to me.  The experience, despite its brevity, posed one significant challenge for me –namely, the resurrection of my childhood asthma, thanks to the airborn dust, with an attack occurring almost every night. I was mostly concerned for my cats' well being during this experience. They survived just fine and, now, almost two months later, the loud noises and “scary men” in the house are but a distant memory for them (I hope!).
If you are interested in doing a remodel, room addition, or custom home, give my contractor, David Bohler, a call. You'll be glad you did.

Now for the "after" photos I've been dying to take and show everyone. Unfortunately, I don't have fancy camera equipment so these photos, while pretty good, just don't do the space justice. Enjoy them and I welcome any feedback you have.

View from the front door







Look at all that storage space!
Love the open shelves to the right of the range!


View from the back door
Creative use of space. Wine anyone?

LOVE my appliance garage!



Dishwasher. Need I say more?
Trash and recyclables hidden away!

Spotlight on my open shelves.



Love the location of my new microwave.


I love my dish drawer. No more reaching above my head.



Un Ricard? Oui!

Love my lighted display shelves.

Lighting was an issue before. Not anymore!
Glass tile reflects the undercabinet lights.


Great task lighting!











Monday, June 4, 2012

"It's a Beautiful Island!"

Looks pefect!
Until today, this comment was reserved for my tropical travels. But I have to say that this might be the most beautiful island I have ever seen. This piece is perfectly multifunctional - providing food preparation space, a drawer for food prep and serving utensils, and storage for trash and recyclables. I cannot even begin to convey the joy I feel at no longer having a trash bag hanging in my kitchen with the recyclable stuff I've collected over the week!

What makes the island even more cool is that it is a repurposed old sideboard that my designer found in an antique store in Upland (see picture below). Tim, who built my cabinets, also used his amazing craftsman skills to transform the piece. He cut 14" off the sideboard so it would fit in my kitchen and added some features (e.g. wainscoting) to fit the look of the rest of the space. I'm beyond excited!

A few doors still need to be hung to complete the space and the hood vent finally arrived at Pacific Sales and will be installed Wednesday. When all is complete I will post "final" pictures.

Trash and recycleables
hidden away
This past weekend was spent putting in some shelf paper and washing five loads of dishes, utensils, cups, etc. to place in the new cupboards. I also unpacked the living room, den, and bedroom boxes, dusting everything off before putting them back in their places. 

Lesson of the day: When packing up your kitchen in advance of a renovation, box up the alcohol and glasses LAST. When you are overcome with exhaustion from unpacking everything again, you'll want easy access to those for recuperation purposes. Trust me. Despite "go go going" all weekend long, I barely made a dent in my boxes. I was thoroughly pooped last night but couldn't relax with a glass of vino because the bottles and my glasses are at the bottom of the pile. Darn!






The island in its previous life

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Saturday, May 26, 2012

After two weeks of a crazy amount of activity here at the house, week 3 was relatively quiet, thanks to my error (chronicled in my last post), resulting in a delay in the installation of the countertop. Still, some progress was made. The kitchen walls were painted with low-VOC paint in a beautiful yellow ("Soleil" by Benjamin Moore), which has really brightened up the space. 


Thankfully, all systems are go for this coming Tuesday morning for the countertop install. I wish I could take some time off work to watch the flurry of activity that will take place between Tuesday and Friday, when the contractor anticipates wrapping up the work. To meet that deadline, not only do the countertops need to be put in, but so too the backsplash tile, garbage disposal, faucet, insta hot/cold faucet and filtration system, hood vent (if it arrives in time!), switches, switch/outlet plates, pendant lights, appliances, in-cabinet lighting, and cabinet shelves, doors, and hardware. In addition, the crew will be pulling up the carpet in the den, hall, and bedroom, patching the exposed hardwood where necessary, and installing new engineered hardwood floors in the living/dining rooms and kitchen. AND the walls and trim in the living/dining rooms will be painted. ("Mascarpone" for the trim and "Oat Straw" for the walls, both from Benjamin Moore.)  I imagine it will be quite hectic. Dimitri, my 18 pound scaredy cat, will be completely freaked. I keep telling him that soon the scary men will leave the house and his fear will be but a dim memory. Something tells me he isn't buying it.









Saturday, May 19, 2012

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men... (Day 14)

Week two turned out to be an interesting one.  I consider myself very lucky to have had as smooth a time as I’ve had thus far. After all, the crew is running a week ahead of their planned schedule. Nothing major has been found (other than three pesky little gas leaks under the house, which have been fixed). But, inevitably, something was bound to happen. Unlike other people’s horror stories, however, the snafu this morning had nothing to do with my contractor. He’s been a dream to work with and continues to maintain calm and flexibility when I, frankly, freaked out a bit this morning.  

Let me start with the GREAT news.  The cabinets were painted Wednesday through Friday and they are LOVELY!  (Color is “Mascarpone” by Benjamin Moore using their low-VOC paint.)  Today, some of the internal hardware was installed. The bottom drawers and cupboard doors will “soft close,” a nice feature that I believe will prolong the life of my cabinets. As you can see from the photos, I am going to have a tremendous amount of storage space and that is very welcomed in my sweet little bungalow.

The disappointment for today was that the subcontractor (of Home Depot) did not show up to install my countertops as planned. David called HD and they told him they’d left a voicemail message for me on Thursday, indicating if I didn’t pay that morning the sub would cancel the installation and a new date couldn’t be arranged until after Memorial Day. Seriously? If HD is acting as the "contractor," wouldn't you expect them to PROACTIVELY call the customer on Monday or Tuesday and say, "We noticed you haven't come in to pay so please do so by XXX so your install can take place as scheduled"????? I guess that is too logical and expecting too much. God bless David….he went to HD and discussed the situation with them and I have a strange feeling the install might just take place this coming week after all. We won’t know for sure until Monday, though. I’m hoping he can work a miracle (as he usually does!).

 In the meantime, this week he and the crew will continue installing the internal hardware and paint the kitchen walls. They may also get started on something outside of the kitchen, which leads me to my second sort-of-not-good news of the week, but something that will ultimately make the kitchen better.

 The other project planned for my home is related to the hardwood floors; specifically, pulling up the carpet in the den, hall, and bedroom and then sanding/refinishing those floors along with the living/dining room floors (which are in dire need of refinishing).  Well, on Thursday David consulted with the sub and the bottom line is that the living/dining room floors are not in a condition to survive another sanding and refinishing. Given this news I had to come up with a Plan B and quickly. Fortunately, David had already thought of my options. Ultimately, I decided to replace the living/dining room floors with engineered hardwood floors, and to leave the floors under the carpet as they are. As it turns out, they appear to be in lovely condition (though we won’t know for sure until the carpet is completely removed).

The challenge has been in finding an engineered wood in the same color as the flooring I’m keeping.   I spent last night and most of this morning visiting what seems like every flooring store east of San Dimas. Ultimately, I found two samples that look close and I just need to make the choice.  When I came back to the house this afternoon, David says, "Tim and I were just talking about the floor...." Whenever he says something like that, I know I'm in for an idea that I will have to strongly contemplate (because it is that good). He continues, "This is just a suggestion, but we think it would be better if you carried the new hardwood flooring through the kitchen to the back porch." Now, I had considered that option way back in my “vision stage,” but had decided to go with Marmoleum instead as part of my “greening” of the new space. David and I put the sample of the Marmoleum and the sample of the new hardwood next to each other, and it made me cringe. The transition would feel wrong to me. So, of course, we needed to talk further about their idea, my larger concern now being how a reddish/gold tone wood floor would look with the other colors in the room. I was thinking, "Clash!"  Lo and behold, I believe this flooring will actually look BETTER color-wise than the Marmoleum. The red in the floor brings out some reddish tones in the countertop and mosaic tile - something I hadn't noticed before.  It will bring more interest to the area and will - especially - make the island stand out more.  (The brown color in the photo below is the "Kona" color that the island will be painted.)




So, I’m canceling the Marmoleum order and may need to pay a restocking fee in doing so.  But, carrying the wood floor through the kitchen really does make better sense and will create a nice “flow” from the dining room into my grand new space.
The events of the past few days prove that I need not panic or sweat when my Plan A gets derailed a bit. In the long run, everything will continue to go well. As one friend wrote to me today, “It is looking beautiful so far and you will be sitting and admiring it with your glass of wine before you know it.”

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Day 8 - Cabinet Installation!

It's been a busy Saturday here at the house, with a crew working hard to complete the installation of my cabinets.  My contractor's brother custom-made them from FSC certified wood, which I am very happy about, as I've tried hard to make the remodel as "green" as possible. 

I am so thrilled with how the space is looking. There will be so much more storage space in this new design, even though the footprint of the kitchen - and appliance location - is essentially the same!


East Wall

In the first photo (left), you can see the new cabinets on the very right. The microwave oven and an appliance garage will be located here.

On the north wall, there is a new shelving unit, backed with beadboard, and cabinets - only 12 inches deep - below. 
The former breezeway is now a part of the kitchen.
Looking toward the dining room from the service porch. On the right is the cabinet where the counter-depth refrigerator will slide in.



West Wall
Can I just say how excited I am about the new west wall? There will be a dishwasher on the left of the sink, and the lower cabinet on the right will store my dishes so I don't have to reach up to get them anymore. Best of all, the sink will now be centered underneath the windows.






West Wall Part Deux
Notice the new recessed lights in the ceiling, which really help to make the former breezeway feel like part of the kitchen. When the crew is done tonight, there will be cabinets (pantry and broom closet) on the other side of the refrigerator cabinet.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Day 4

Demolition - check
Framing - check
Plumbing - check
Electrical - check
Recessed and pendant light ceiling holes - check
Tomorrow?  Drywall! Things are moving along at a quick pace. I'm so excited!


Picture for today (and easy pop quiz) - what do you think this vintage cabinet will be repurposed into?

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Day 2 Muse

Day 2 didn't produce as dramatic of changes (visually) as Day 1 but certainly very important ones. This day was spent reframing the entry to the kitchen from the dining room, as well as the transition to what was formerly a tight breezeway that heads to the service porch.


Looking toward the dining room
(Pihoto 1) This new expanded entry will create a much more open feeling between the dining room and kitchen. It will be trimmed out on both sides with craftsman-style detailing to coordinate with the rest of the house.













View from the dining room archway
(Photo 2) From the dining room, there will be a clear line of sight into the former breezeway. This will now be one L-shaped room!
















(Photo 3) Looking from the breezeway toward the dining room. This area will no longer feel like a dark cave.

















(Photo 4) "Times, They Have a Changed" - get this, a place for sale on Cahuenga Blvd, reduced to only $7000, and furnished apartments to "let" for only $60 and $75 per month! I haven't a clue how old this relic is, found at the end of Day 2 underneath the linoleum. If I use the cost of my parents first home (in Glendora) just before I was born ($13,000), I'd guess this to be from the 1930s or 1940s at the latest. 




(Photo 5) Toward the end of Day 1, the crew uncovered a "time capsule" of sorts behind the drywall above the doorway leading to the hallway. Tucked between the studs was the May 5, 1991, edition of the L.A. Times (Calendar and Real Estate sections), and the May 13, 1991, edition of Time magazine. Madonna and Tom Hanks were hot stuff at the time. LOL. 

Today, exactly 21 years to the day later, I purchased the L.A. Times and the latest Time magazine. I will seal everything in a large plastic bag along with my contractor's business card and a copy of this blog and have the crew place it all back in the same space.  I wonder who will be next to find these items?