Kitchen & Menu Organization

Come join me at The Motivation Station Tuesday for some kitchen and menu organization.

Chronicles of a Bungled Real Estate Deal ~ Wood Floors

While the house is up for sale, the work never ends. These are the solid oak floors we installed in the foyer and kitchen. I did get them stained today, but they will need a new sanding and then touch-up and sealing. They are looking good though, if I do say so myself!

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House UPDATE ~ Chronicles of a bungled Real Estate deal ~ Kitchen continued

I'll probably be painting for another 2 years (at least it will seem like it) but every day we get a little further along.

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House Update - Chronicles of a Nightmare - Formal Dining/Parlor to Studio/Office Part 10

This is the realtor picture from before we bought the house.

This is the picture from when we first moved in.

The sheers were sun rotted so I replaced those and added blinds so that I could have a bit more privacy from the neighbors. The wall paper was really pretty, but quite old and worn. It was an embossed, almost flocked type of pattern. I didn't feel like stripping it though so tried painting it. Painting it worked great and gave it a new life, new finish and made my life just a bit easier. In the picture below you can see the difference if you look close.

Then I painted the wall below the chair rail to match the living room for a bit of color.

When we were forced to remodel the kitchen in this old house we expanded into the sun porch, giving us LOTS of room for a big kitchen table so we turned our formal dining room and attached parlor into my studio/crafts/office and it quickly became the most used room(s) in the house! The ceiling had a bad repair seam in the drywall and we're just finishing the patterned ceiling tiles this week. Look for the updated, finished pictures of this room soon!

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House Update - Chronicles of a Bungled Real Estate Deal - Part 11 - Kitchen Update

We're winding down finally!! Hopefully this was the last load to the dump.

I packed that truck as tight as I could! 800 pounds of construction debris.

Hubby and I are working hard on all of the finish trim molding in this old house, you know the little stuff that is more frustrating than the original demolition OR the subsequent rebuild!

This corner behind the refrigerator was one of the most frustrating due to an old wall and a new wall joining.

While we know this wall is plumb, it is also half 117 years old and half brand new, which always creates a little frustration. We wanted to keep it as original to the character from 1892 as we could. So, we chose to build the arch and then paint instead of stain for the ease of the kitchen.

Hubby finished the ceiling tiles and started the molding around the upper edges while I started painting the archway.

Next week we'll sand and stain the floors and finish the thresholds.

We carried the same theme to around the kitchen window. Even though it is two separate windows, we only put up one shade and set of curtains.

This was an old wall with super thick studs. So, the electrician put the outlet for this area under the kitchen sink. We will also be finishing the kitchen counters next week, but for now it is really nice to be able to hook up the coffee pot without cords all over the counter.

Now we get to start on the 4 doors in this room for the decorative corners and casings. The TO DO LIST is truly getting smaller, but everything still seems to take sooooooooooo much time. Our goal is still the 15th. Wish us luck!

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House Update ~ Chronicles of a Bungled Real Estate Deal ~ Kitchen floor continued again

We were hoping to get further today, but we're happy to have completed the kitchen at least. All we had left was a small portion, but it required unhooking all the appliances (washer, dryer, freezer and dishwasher) and then re-hooking them which was a super pain in the butt. Since these areas will ALWAYS be utilities, so we also spent a bit of time patterning out the ugliest pieces so they would be under appliances. I guess my quilting background finally paid off. This room has 4 doorway, so we'll still need to do the finish work on the thresh holds, but we'll do that after the sanding, staining and sealing.

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House Update ~ Chronicles of a Bungled Real Estate Deal ~ Kitchen continued

I was hoping to be able to tell you that this job was completed today, but alas, there will be one more day. The section left requires disconnecting the washer and dryer and a little more hassle.

We finished the last third of the larger side and then did under the stove.

One of the hardest sections was under the refrigerator ~ only because of the weight of the refrigerator and getting onto the new floor without damaging it. The heating vent that comes up from the floor was kind of a pain too!

The first view below is my favorite because it makes it look like it's already done. The second view below is all we have left to do so hope to be done tomorrow and then be able to do the foyer tomorrow too.

We going to let it set and settle for several weeks and then we'll sand and seal.

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