"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave?" - Kathleen Kelly (You've Got Mail)

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Kitchen Update

It's been a while since I've posted about progress on the kitchen. Probably because it seems like this project is NEVER going to get finished! I've heard people say how incredibly hard and time consuming kitchen renovations are (especially if you're doing it yourself!) but I had no idea HOW hard and time consuming it would actually be.

It's the cabinets that have me going crazy! I ordered cabinet door and drawer fronts from a website I found and I am really happy with them! I primed, painted and polyurethaned them (sounds easy, right?? Ha!). The existing cabinet bases were degreased, sanded, primed, painted and polyurethaned. This took weeks!! It's not easy getting things done with a 1 year old crawling around :)

Next I installed the hinges and hardware (knobs on the doors, handles on the drawers) and when we went to hang them up, they didn't fit! They were all over lapping either other. After about 20 minutes of FREAKING OUT and wondering what the heck went wrong, we realized the hinges that the cabinet door company sent were the wrong kind. So...we spent more money and bought all new hinges. Ugh!

And I hate even admitting this but I completely forgot to order one of the cabinet doors! I don't know how it happened because I double, triple and quadruple checked everything before I placed my order. But it was my fault. I looked back in the invoice and this cabinet wasn't listed. I tried to go back and order this last door but the website will only take orders with a minimum purchase of $300. Thank God our good friend Eric was willing to make a door for us! He came over last week and took measurements...yay!

These are only a couple examples of the stress this kitchen renovation has brought on! I could go on and on! Not to mention my kitchen has been torn apart for months now. I feel like I'm never going to get it back! Right now about 1/3 of the cabinets doors are hung. This would have been finished a while ago but it's a two-person job and Randy hasn't been around much to help me out. He's leaving this Sunday and will be gone for a week and I made him promise to help me finish hanging all the doors and installing the drawer fronts before he leaves. We'll see! ;)

Another little dilemma I had was choosing a back splash. I was set on using these cool faux brick tiles because I really wanted a warm, cozy coffee house feel. The way the cabinets are turning out (bright and crisp) it just wasn't going to work. I even bought a few of the tiles and set them in the kitchen for a few days to see if I could make it work. It won't! So we decided to go with the oh-so-popular 1 inch glass tiles in "Salt and Pepper". It's going to cost almost twice as much as the brick would have but it's going to look a million times better! Here's a little sneak peek at it:



So anyways...that's the latest! I bought all the tile from Lowes today and I'm ready to go! This turned into a really long post. I haven't really had anyone to talk to lately so I guess I needed to "unload" somehow :) So thanks for listening. If anyone is actually reading this!


-Chloe

2 comments:

  1. I've been wanting to add knobs and such to the drawers/cabinets in my kitchen... and a nice backsplash. But I have zero time. I don't know how your doing it with your princess crawling around! Can't wait to see pics of the finished project. :]

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  2. Shawna "Oriam" from The NestJune 28, 2010 at 10:31 AM

    It will all be worth it when it's finished. You will be cooking in your beautiful new kitchen that you worked so hard on in no time. :)

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