Before and After
Old entry way
We went from this . . .
Old entry
and this . .
New entry
To this!
Old entry from opposite end
And from this disaster . . .
New entry, opposite end
. . . to this. Much tidier. No more shoe mess!
Old entrance to kitchen from hallway
Once you manage to negotiate the old entry, you finally arrived in the kitchen. Old view . . .
New view from hallway
Much nicer, eh?
In the old kitchen
Inside the old kitchen, looking at the cabinets/range along the wall that divided the old entryway from the kitchen proper.
Voila!
That wall dividing the two areas is now gone. You're looking at the space that used to hold the washer/dryer and that ugly utility sink.
The long view of the old-and-not-lamented
Standing at far end of the kitchen, looking at the whole shebang.
The new and improved long view
And now you see this!
Old [useless] desk area
From this original, mess-making, space-wasting desk area . . .
New peninsula
. . . to this new arrangement.
The old useless fireplace
Need I say more?
The new and useful replacement
One picture says it all.
Fireplace from living room
We went from this . . . .
New view from living room
. . . to this.
Ugly, ugly, and uglier
We went from these ugly cabinets and hospital flooring (WHY would anyone put white tile in a kitchen?) . . .
New cabinets and floor
. . . to these vastly superior cabinets and cork floor.
Another view of cabinets and floor.
The old
Ugh.
The new
Wow!
Where We Began
The original laundry/mud room.
This is what we saw every time we entered the house. I took the picture from the doorway that leads from the garage into the house. Attractive, eh?
Another laundry room view
Seriously. How much did this make you want to keep going --- the other direction.
Laundry room from the other direction
Standing at the other end of the laundry room. The maddening thing was that to get to the kitchen required walking through this room, making a sharp left, then a sharp right --- just to get to the kitchen.
The kitchen itself
So once a person hiked through Laundry Room Hell, finally he/she arrived in the kitchen.
The full monty
Here's the whole shebang. Notice the lovely wallpaper above the lovely cabinet molding. How many ways can I say "UGH!"
Wallpaper
Seriously. Have you ever seen such LOVELY wallpaper?
Cubbyholes and Junk Central
One of the major space-wasters in the joint. Apparently I tidied things up for the photo, but usually this looked like it had been hit by seven tornadoes and a hurricane.
Your basic range and clutter
Need I say more?
Hospital floor
You have no idea how much I hated this hospital tile. The grout was disgusting (who in their right mind would put a white tile floor in a kitchen? Answer: some idiot developer trying to woo people with no taste.)
Fireplace begone!
A grand example of 1990s suburban excess. And a total waste of space, to boot. This is immediately to the left of the cubbyhole desk thing.
Another fireplace view
As you can see, it's one of those three-sided jobs. The living room is on the left, the kitchen on the right.
One final shot
Good-bye, kitchen. We knew ye all too well.
Week Two
The fun begins
Christian didn't waste any time.
Nearly naked kitchen
You're looking at the wall that used to hold the range. On the other side of the wall is the laundry/mud room. This wall is gonna go bye-bye.
The wall that will go
Laundry room on the left; the range was on the right. The wall between will go.
And . . . the wall begins to come down
I'm standing in the center of the kitchen, looking through what's left of the wall that divided the kitchen from the laundry room.
The shiny thing is ductwork: a laundry chute, to be precise, that ran from the laundry room up to the hallway on the second floor.
Another view of wall
A longer view of the wall that's going. The window on the far right will also be removed and replaced with a larger one.
Fireplace no more
The firebox is gone, as is the chimney. Eventually Christian (the guy in the photo) took out the platform as well. And yes, it was that dusty.
The bathroom
I forgot to take a photo of the bathroom before demolition began. But see the space here with exposed studs and pipe? One of those jacuzzi things used to sit there.
I hated it! I wanted to take it out when we moved in, but noooo, said the husband. We needed it for resale value.
To which I say: PTOOEY!
Another view of the bathroom
Take a good look at the countertop and sink. It, too, will disappear.
The living room
There's dust. A lot of it. So we covered pretty much everything in the house with sheets of plastic. This is the living room, which is adjacent to the kitchen, so it's a major dust bomb site.
Weeks Three and Four
Removing the wall
The wall was load-bearing, so removing it involved more than just applying a couple of sledgehammers. (Not, ahem, that Christian used a sledgehammer.)
More of the removal
See the ductwork encased in studs? That also had to be dealt with. None of us were sure what we'd find in that mechanical chase, or how we'd arrange new cabinets around it. So that all required some huddling and discussion.
No more wall!
A longer view of the now de-walled kitchen.
Guts of laundry room wall
What not's all that visible here is the brown gunk on the wall, courtesy of my cigar-smoking husband. (His office is on the other side of the wall.)
Wire City
While the walls were coming down, Jeff, Electrician Extraordinaire, was busy running new wiring. I had NO idea that an average house contains so. much. wire.
More wiring
We're replacing all the lighting and adding some new. So the wiring was fairly complicated.
The old window
The original window above the sink. The new plan involves moving the sink about eight inches to the left, which meant we had to move the window so it would still be centered above the sink.
But of course it's not that simple: If we just moved the window, we would have had to replace the siding. So, we took the easier, less expensive route, and installed a larger window (which meant we only had to REMOVE siding, rather than replace all of it.)
New window en route
We enjoyed one, count 'em one, sunny, sort-of-warm day in January (the temperature got up to 19 degrees...) so Christian seized the moment to replace the window. (This is the south side of the house, so it wasn't too horrible.)
I should add that this remodel took place during the worst winter in Iowa history: record snow, record low temps, etc.
The new window
Can't tell it's new, eh?
The temporary kitchen
We moved kitchen equipment to the basement for the duration. Our charming dining table. (With, you'll notice, a table of alcohol located nearby.)
More temporary kitchen
We moved the microwave and frig to the basement.
More of the basement kitchen
We bought a toaster oven and a two-burner hotplate. And I filled the freezer with lots and lots of food.
One last shot of the basement kitchen
Christian moved the old sink to the basement (we left it attached to its cabinet) and the plumber ran a temporary water line.
Weeks Five, Six, and Seven
The bedroom
It really is a bedroom! It's just full of furniture from the living room, and the bed (which isn't visible) is covered with plastic as is all the bedroom furniture.
The bathroom is right behind me, and the kitchen is out the bedroom door and down a hallway. Translation: the construction stretches from one side of the house to the other.
Painting clutter
I'm standing in the middle of the kitchen looking toward the back yard. The living room and old fireplace are out of view, to the right. Lots of paint clutter!
Where the fireplace once roamed
And all remnants of the fireplace are gone. Christian, our genius carpenter, did all the demo by himself.
Amazing, especially considering that the floor-to-ceiling span is, I dunno, eighteen feet? Twenty feet? On a ladder, yanking the chimney duct, etc. out. By himself. Did I mention that the guy's a genius?
Sheetrock with no fireplace
Man, but I'm glad that fireplace is gone!
Ceiling above old fireplace
You'd never know there used to be a chimney there.
Where that wall once stood
The new header and wall. Remember: there used to be a doorway on the left-hand wall, and a wall where there's now no wall.
The new header
The new header, now sheetrocked and painted.
Standing in the old laundry room
Not sure how clear this is, but I'm standing in what used to be the laundry room, looking at the wall where there used to be a door. That dark doorway leads into the half bath. The frig used to be against the wall with the long copper tubing.
Weeks Eight and Nine
An example of the old bathroom countertop
I neglected to take a good photo of the old bathroom before demo began, but the countertop there looked exactly like this one in the half bath: Ugly laminate, ugle sink, hideous fixtures.
Voila!
And here are the new countertop and faucets.
We used a solid surface material from a small company called Onyx. It specializes in what you see here: counter and sinks all-in-one. MUCH less expensive than buying a countertop and two sinks. And easier to clean. And this whole job is about creating an easy-to-maintain house.
Reveling in a non-ugly counter and faucets
Looks better, eh?
Countertop closeup
Another view. It's a sort of blue-gray color.
Remember the jacuzzi?
What, you wonder, was going to fill the space where that damn jacuzzi thing once stood? Wonder no more: the washer and dryer!
Yes, I do want a washer and dryer in the bathroom. Means I only have to carry clothes from the closet (which is on the other side of the bathroom wall) to the bathroom. Hey! It's my house. I can do what I want.
Cabinets!
Stacks of cabinets. Oh, joy! While Christian was busy demolishing, building, and painting, Tom and Jeff were back at the shop, building the new cabinets. And here they are.
Another view.
I can't get enough.
Two cabinet pieces
The guys brought the two largest cabinets into the house. The one on the left will hold the wall oven. The one on the right (we're looking at its side) will become the utility closet.
Cabinet doors
Stacks of cabinet doors in the living room.
Cabinets-- installed!
Christian wasted no time. Within hours, he'd built the first platform (aka the toekick) and begun installing cabinets. The tall structure will hold the refrigerator.
The other side of the first-installed cabinets
This is the other side of the previous photo. That open box will become a cabinet with pullout shelves, a good way to make use of corner space.
Weeks Ten & Eleven
The old laundryroom
This used to be the laundry room. Now it's a bright, open space with CABINETS! The "box" on the right will be the utility closet. The one off-screen on the left will hold the oven.
View from the laundryroom
Standing in the old laundry room, looking across the entire kitchen
View from the dining area
I'm standing where the dining table will soon return, looking in at the new cabinets.
View from living room
A longer view from another angle.
The general design
We wanted something spare, with clean lines and flat surfaces. Meaning: something that's easy to clean.
Matched grains!
Tom and Jeff, the cabinetmakers, are amazing. The grains are matched so that they become the "design" of the cabinet.
More matched gains
The base cabinets of the laundryroom set, with more matched grains. Yes, there ARE a lot of drawers: they're much easier to access than cabinets with shelves.
Week Twelve
The Monolith.jpg
The Monolith.jpg 2010-03-28
The Monolith, Part Two.jpg
The Monolith, Part Two.jpg 2010-03-28
In relation to rest of kitchen.jpg
In relation to rest of kitchen.jpg 2010-03-28
Monolith From Living Room.jpg
Monolith From Living Room.jpg 2010-03-28
Weeks 13, 14, 15
Entryway with counter.jpg
The dump-the-keys-and-everything counter in the entryway.
another entryway view.jpg
The old-laundry-room-cabinets (I don't know what else to call them). With, ahem, the countertop.
Sink and counter.jpg
The sink is in; the faucet is not.
Cooktop, countertop, and backsplash.jpg
My new food prep/cooking space.
another view of backsplash.jpg
Another view of the backsplash. It's glass. I'm taking bets on how long it will take me to break it.
Peninsula, looking into dining area.jpg
Looks good, eh?
Long view from dining area.jpg
What a large, lovely workspace! Oh, and the cocktail corner. This is also an especially good view of the "crown" molding along the tops of the cabinets.
The monolith, finished.jpg
Yes, that is the mother of all drawers you see there on the bottom (although you're supposed to be looking at the counter!)
Closer view of monolith.jpg
Again, the star of the show is the countertop!
The monolith and peninsula.jpg
One more view of the countertop as it curves around to the peninsula.