I just wanted to post an update, I know that I have not written in a while, but we haven't done a lot of remodeling. We have decided to fix some things with the house, and then put it up for sale. It is a sad decision for me, as I love my house, but in the long run it will be good. My husband and I want to buy some property and build our own house. We want to be able to raise animals and have a quieter life. I think it will be a great change, though scary at the same time, as I know nothing about raising farm animals. It will be a little bit before we are at that point as, we need to find the property first, along with paying off some bills. Hopefully that will come sooner than later.
We are going to add some garden beds to our garden area, in hopes that it will make it easier and nicer to grow our vegetables in. My husband is currently working on getting a compost bin ready, which will be great to produce our own compost and not have to buy it anymore.
Kitchen Remodel Pictures
Before Pictures
The Cabinets
The counter tops
The sink area
Old pipes found behind the wall.
Old wall-paper found behind the drywall.
MISC
The old wooden floor.The A mural someone
hole is where the vent for painted.
the old coal furnace was at.
After
Kitchen Remodel Finished.
The remodeling of the kitchen is finally finished. It only took about two and a half weeks to complete, which is pretty good considering all the things that were wrong in the kitchen. The primer that I used for the walls was Kilz 2, which in my experience is one of the best primers out there. I used Color Place 10831, Airy Himalayan Poppy for the walls and Color Place 10795 Dusty Powder Blue for the cabinets and woodwork. I wanted to have some contrast in the kitchen to make it interesting. Since the walls and cabinets were painted in an apricot color I had to use two coats of primer and paint to cover the color completely. The apricot was bleeding through really bad, therefore I ended up using more paint than I wanted to.
I decided to keep the wood floor that was in the kitchen, and gave it a good cleaning so it would look almost new. I also kept the cabinets and worked them over to get them looking newer. I used USG Mud to fill in the holes and gaps that were in the cabinets and on the doors, as well as the drawers. After I completed that, I used a hand sander with 220 grit sandpaper to give it a smooth appearance to paint over.
I replaced the old moldy kitchen sink with a stainless steel one, which in my opinion hides the scratches a lot better than the porcelain ones. The trick to installing a new sink is to make a pattern. Trace the sink on a large piece of cardboard and cut it out. Place the cutout where you want your sink to be and trace around it. Then you will want to use hole saws to cut into the corners with. Once you have cut out the four corners, you use a jigsaw to cut the rest out. You will then want to take a sand block and smooth out the rough spots. Once you have completed all of that it is time to test fit your sink. It should drop right in and be clamped in place.
A dishwasher was also installed, and in order to do that, one of the cabinets had to be taken out, which wasn't that hard. The hard part was moving the framework for the drawers over. After putting the framework in the new spot, a couple of supports had to be built to make them sturdier. I also decided that I wanted a garbage disposal installed as well since we were installing some new pipe for the dishwasher.
I also picked out new counter tops for the cabinets. I decided to go with a prefabbed counter, as I had no prior experience in using Formica. The only thing that I really know about using Formica, is that when you put it down on the glue you had better be sure that is where you want it as you can't move once it has touched the glue. The hardest part with the counters was getting the 45 degree angles to match. In order to make them fit together nicely, a little bit had to be sanded off at a time on each one. After a lot of sanding the counters finally fit and it was time to clamp them down.
Once everything was in place, it was time to use silicon to seal up any cracks. We used a clear and a white silicon. The clear was used for the counters and the the while was used for where the counter meets the wall.
I decided to keep the wood floor that was in the kitchen, and gave it a good cleaning so it would look almost new. I also kept the cabinets and worked them over to get them looking newer. I used USG Mud to fill in the holes and gaps that were in the cabinets and on the doors, as well as the drawers. After I completed that, I used a hand sander with 220 grit sandpaper to give it a smooth appearance to paint over.
I replaced the old moldy kitchen sink with a stainless steel one, which in my opinion hides the scratches a lot better than the porcelain ones. The trick to installing a new sink is to make a pattern. Trace the sink on a large piece of cardboard and cut it out. Place the cutout where you want your sink to be and trace around it. Then you will want to use hole saws to cut into the corners with. Once you have cut out the four corners, you use a jigsaw to cut the rest out. You will then want to take a sand block and smooth out the rough spots. Once you have completed all of that it is time to test fit your sink. It should drop right in and be clamped in place.
A dishwasher was also installed, and in order to do that, one of the cabinets had to be taken out, which wasn't that hard. The hard part was moving the framework for the drawers over. After putting the framework in the new spot, a couple of supports had to be built to make them sturdier. I also decided that I wanted a garbage disposal installed as well since we were installing some new pipe for the dishwasher.
I also picked out new counter tops for the cabinets. I decided to go with a prefabbed counter, as I had no prior experience in using Formica. The only thing that I really know about using Formica, is that when you put it down on the glue you had better be sure that is where you want it as you can't move once it has touched the glue. The hardest part with the counters was getting the 45 degree angles to match. In order to make them fit together nicely, a little bit had to be sanded off at a time on each one. After a lot of sanding the counters finally fit and it was time to clamp them down.
Once everything was in place, it was time to use silicon to seal up any cracks. We used a clear and a white silicon. The clear was used for the counters and the the while was used for where the counter meets the wall.
Kitchen Remodeling
The time has come for my kitchen to get a makeover. The kitchen has been slowly getting worse since we moved in about four years ago. The one counter was tile, and it was so moldy that after you wiped it off with Clorox, it still looked gross. The sink was put in crooked, so that water would run down the counter and collect in a puddle. I had a towel down there, but it still molded. The wall were painted this horrible peach color and so were the cub boards. Plus the cupboards you couldn't scrub to get clean, as the wood was pitted so bad.
I decided that I would paint my kitchen blue. I used two different blues, as I wanted my walls and cupboards to be different colors.
I have been taking pictures of the progress and will be posting them when the remodel is complete.
I decided that I would paint my kitchen blue. I used two different blues, as I wanted my walls and cupboards to be different colors.
I have been taking pictures of the progress and will be posting them when the remodel is complete.
Fireplace Final Phase
After working on the fireplace for a year and a half it is finally finished. It was installed and ready to use on Christmas Eve. It was exciting as it is something that I have wanted since we moved into the house. We lit our first fire in it and it was worked really great. There hasn't been a fire in that fireplace for over 70 years. After a lot of hard work and dedication, I can definitely say it was one of the hardest projects that has been done with the house. There is a removable ash pan at the bottom so I don't have to scrape the ashes out, which helps prevent the ashes from getting all over the floor. The insert was painted with a high temperature spray paint. I decided to go with black as that is the color that looked the best against the tile. The glass is a special tempered glass that had to be ordered in. I had my husband cut out the Celtic triquetra out of metal to put over the glass. I wanted something unique.
Fireplace Phase 5
The fireplace is almost complete a few more weeks and it will be ready to install. The mantel has been cut to fit and is ready to be stained. I decided to use pine for it, as it was one of the nicest woods that I looked at, plus it wasn't really expensive.
Since the wood was in good condition, I decided that I don't have to paint it beige before staining it. The wood was cut to fit the chimney and was sanded. After it was sanded, I wiped it down with a damp rag and let it dry for a couple of hours. After making sure that it was completely dry, I set up my buckets and got busy with staining. I used the Minwax brand in #215 Red Oak. Unfortunately, this stain did not have the polyurethane (varnish) mixed in with it, so I had to buy some. I only put one coat of stain on the wood, as the red oak went on pretty dark. After letting it dry for a couple of days, I used the polyurethane to seal the stain on the wood. I had to let that dry for a few days before I could hang it.
Fireplace Phase 4
Working on the insert has been extremely time consuming, as it has to be custom made to fit the existing firebox of the fireplace. The insert will have a heat exchanger in it and a fan will be located in the back of the chimney to help blow the air. The outershell of the insert is now finished and it is time to work on the inner shell and the heat exchanger.
Outershell of the insert:
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