Thursday, December 13, 2012

Kitchen Rennovation Part I...

The moment my husband and I moved into our home, we talked about our need to remodel our kitchen. Four years, two children, and two jobs later we are finally in the process of rennovation!

Like any busy family we started to plan this process in advance. Our plan was simple, we do the reno in the the summer so that the kids could play outside, avoid the dust, we can cook on the grill- since every functionality of a kitchen will be absent, and have lots of picnics and walks in the park.  I would like my readers to please note the month of this post. As you will see, December did not quite make the summer cut and our reno just began a week ago.  Sooo...the reality of our plan turned into a complete demolition of the kitchen, freezing cold weather, two children that have both taken turns being sick and living and eating out of boxes in our living room for the next two weeks (one week down, in our three week reno hooray!). This has turned into a pretty hectic month.

With all that said, I have to admit how excited I am about the new kitchen!!! Our original kitchen was all white cabinets with grey counter tops.  And this wasn't just white pretty wooden cabinets, but the type that look like shiny plastic. To those that know me, they will quickly realize that white and I do not mesh. First nothing white stays white in our home for long, we are a very creative family. Second, I love color...orange, brown, green, I painted every room in our home some great shade...yet like a sore tooth just aching and aching, the kitchen was still there, white! It reminded me of a sterile doctors office. Ironically, as much as the kitchen bothered me, it was and continues to be the part of the house where all the action happens. We eat in the kitchen (yes, I am stating the obvious), do art and painting with the kids in the kitchen, we hang out there...its just the most social place that is located smack in the middle of our home. So now that the reno is here and we finally took the time to start the project the kitchen is an empty palette.

My husband and I decided to do IKEA, it definitely saves some money for us and we can create a kitchen exactly how we like it.  In fact we decided to put all the cabinets together ourselves and this has been an interesting project to balance on top of everything else in life.  Wake up, wake up kids, make breakfast, dress kids, run out the door, go to work, work like a dog, skip lunch, keep working, pick up kids, go home, make dinner, play with kids, put them to bed, make cabinets...wow! Yet, we're pro's now and can whip up these cabinets in less than an hour (yeah, we're good, we're very good!).  This whole cabinet building experience has been interesting. First, I learned a lot more about my husband. I noticed little things like his logic, how careful he is in drilling or hammering a nail...he is precise and thought through his steps before taking them (unlike me, I took a nail, a hammer, and smacked away!). Second, it was kind of a good bonding experience...before this every night we sat down and watched TV together as a way to relax. As much as I enjoy relaxing with a good movie, I loved this SO much more...this was something to do, where we can truly be together while we built, and not just be present in the same room but actually interact, talk, laugh, it's great! Finally, I guess its rewarding to know this is mine...I think my pride in my new kitchen will be even bigger knowing we put in the work to piece it together.

It's all worth it! Imagine...deep dark cabinets, green walls, funky subway tile backsplash, accented by granite counter-tops (am I drooling?). 

So far, the biggest (one of my biggest) setbacks is my silly indecisiveness...the story of my color choice dilemma soon to come...stay tuned.

   (this is what it feels like is happening to our home... nothing like a little chaos to spice up life :))

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