Update Alert

6 new posts. I've gotten behind, but here it all is. Too much to take in at one glance, but have fun!

WAY Befores and Afters

Just thought you might be interested to see the before pictures back from when we bought our house nearly three years ago. Our construction is taking a long time because we are doing it ourselves in random spare time, but looking at these pictures makes me remember that it is seriously worth it! AND, we are nearing the end for the upstairs to be actually completed! So. . .

Original gross, brown, yellow nasty bathroom. We used it for a year, and then in 2006 we remodeled to. . .

This! I love our bathroom. It is about 6 inches longer because Phil moved a wall next to the tub, and our cabinetry makes the space there is much more usable. Oh. Plus it doesn't drip random yellow moisture from the ceiling like the old bathroom. That is always a plus.


Hello the Brown kitchen. Brown floor, brown cabinets, brown walls, and brassy brown light fixtures. It actually did have kind of a cozy, homey feeling, but I was not in love with it, by any means.

New, clean, modern (very modern on style, so for all you traditionalists out there, you may prefer the brown look).

Mostly Done Kitchen

New Wilsonart HD Bella Noche Countertop installed! I chose the dark color to tie in the floor, black appliances and silver hardware, and I think it works. You can see some of the details of the kitchen that still need to be finished, like the back of the bar and some doors, but it is fully functional, and I can COOK again! Hurray!


My very favorite IKEA thing is having mostly DRAWERS as our base cabinets. This is not a very traditional idea- go to any Home Depot Kitchen and notice all the regular doors, not drawers- but the drawers are awesome! We don't have a pantry in our kitchen, and so we needed lots of usable space to hold food, and its the details about IKEA design that I love.
The drawers are VERY deep, and hold every ounce of food we have, and because they are drawers, you can see it all, and don't have to rearrange everything to get the one item you need out. I can't quite tell you how convenient this makes it to cook!

The drawers are also deep enough to hold all my appliances, which once were stuffed in one tiny cabinet, where, if I wanted to use the crock pot, for instance, I would have to unload everything to get to it. Now I just lift the appliance out of the drawer, and Bam! Breadmaking in the Bosch in an instant! (Yes, I am a little obsessed, but I seriously love it!) This also makes unloading the dishwasher happen at lightning speed!

Ikea Cabinet Slide Show

Finishing Walls

Learning to mud. . .but Phil did most of it!

The mudded seams and screws

Primed walls! Hurray! It's starting to look like a room!

PAINT! By far my favorite part of remodeling. This color is Sherwin Williams Trusty Tan in Satin finish! Sherwin Williams has extraordinary paint!

PAINT FINISHED, and floor reinstalled. This picture was taken at 3:47 in the morning after we had spent all day reinstalling our floor. The purple patch was trying out a color idea for the backsplash, which I didn't end up liking.

Walls

This is the Kitchen sink/dishwasherwall with all new plumbing and electricity.. .

and this is the same wall with insulation (It backs the bathroom, so any insulation for sound is helpful, if you know what I mean).

Drywall beginnings

Drywall finished!