Conquering Zombies & DIY

I've got DIY ADD again.  Bad blogger!  I'm actively working on 5 not so little projects and haven't finished a single one yet.  The biggest one of that is, of course, the kitchen.  A week from today, the countertops are getting uninstalled (to be reinstalled later), and a week from Wednesday, the cabinets get delivered!  Unfortunately the cabinets will have to sit around for a few days to a week before getting installed (by the pros), but I'm hoping that'll give me the time to paint the empty room and ceiling. This week is for the prep work.  Prep includes removing the uppers and soffit, removing the venting from the stove hood (which will be replaced with new smaller ducts), sanding and prepping the walls, and making the "zombie closet" smaller.

Why yes, I did say "zombie closet."  It's a cabinet with 3 doors that open up to a cavity above the basement stairs.

I think Hubby named this space when we first saw the house with our realtor.  He commented that he felt like a zombie was going to grab him if he reached it.  Although a bit melodramatic, the name stuck. The previous owner used it as a pantry, but it was more important for us to have a dishwasher and tuck the fridge into this corner.  For the past almost 3 years, the zombie closet has sat unused behind fridge.  The reason I'm revisiting it now is that the top door and trim is in the way of my new cabinets.  Not cool, zombie closet.

With the new cabinets, there will be a cabinet above the fridge as well as a pantry cabinet next to it (meaning that this whole mess will soon be hidden!).  My original thought was just to drywall over the in-the-way zombie closet, but there's a hardwired light in there, and I also can't justify closing off storage space in this tiny house.  Instead my solution is to make the upper door smaller so that it hides completely behind the fridge.

I started by removing the doors and trim pieces so I could devise my plan and start reframing the door.

Since I don't move the fridge very often, I had totally forgotten how large this storage space was.  With our lack of an attic and our basement slowly filling up, I think this would be the perfect spot to store Christmas decorations that I only need to get at once a year.   Once I decided that, it helped me determine the new size for the door.  I'm keeping the door as large as possible that will still hide behind the fridge, meaning the new door will be approximately 24" x 24".

I only got as far as the planning and framing yesterday, though (and thankfully didn't get attacked by any undead monsters).  The new size is all framed out where the finish molding will be hidden behind the fridge and won't be in the way of the new cabinets.

Today's agenda includes patchworking drywall onto my new frame and cutting down and replacing the finish trim around where the new door will be.

Did I mention how excited I am for these new cabinets?  Do you have any cubbies in your house that you've given weird names?  It can't just be us.

Nice Knobs

I'm starting to get very excited about our impending new kitchen cabinets.  I got a superly duperly amazing deal on Kraftmaid semi-custom cabinets at Home Depot ($2000 off!), making them the same price as IKEA cabinets (and making me giddy).  I'm a little excited to finally work on the one room in this house that I've been ignoring for the past 2.5 years.  The new cabinets will effectively double the storage space in the kitchen and I'm so ready to get them organized.  In just over 2 weeks, they'll be delivered! (excuse the blurry iphone pic- I took this pic originally to text Hubby for his approval on the colors)

Inquiring minds want to know: DIY vs. Full install.  That's the million dollar question.

Because the cabinets will arrive all put together, but our floors are FAR FAR FAR from level, I opted to get the cabinets and the vent hood ducting that will be running through one run of cabinets installed by the pros.  I am able to save a TON of money, though, by doing the demo, floor protection, and all the other prep myself, so that's exactly what I plan to do.  By the time the kitchen installers arrive, the walls will be cabinet free, freshly painted, and ready for the cabinets to go up.  I'm hoping that even with all this work, the kitchen will only be out of commission for just over a week... 2 tops.  We're planning on lots of grilling and sucking up to our friends to have dinner at their places (hear that my wonderful friends?).

Until then I'm trying to get all the details ironed out so that once the cabinets arrive on Aug 7th, we'll be able to get it all installed in one fell swoop.  Which means that I need to make a decision on the hardware!

I'm leaning toward antique brass to add a little vintage pizazz (and I do have a thing for the cup pulls)

or do I do something a little more modern and traditional (that might be better for resale when we eventually move) with all chrome pulls and no knobs?

Very different options, but both could look absolutely amazing.  I'm torn- the brass are more stylized and what I'm kind of obsessing about digging right now, although the chrome might have a bit more lasting appeal.

Should I go with my gut and go brass?

Hardware sources: 1/2/3

At Long Last

I've been doing a lot of talking about projects and planning projects, but I feel like I don't have a lot of results lately to show for it.  It's all in the works, I promise!  I'm taking the opportunity finally to tackle some larger projects that I've been putting off for a long time. Now that the yard is ready for the summer, and I hope to get our front porch done by the end of the week, guess what the next major project in my sights is.

Yup, the kitchen!!!!!  The project that I've been dreaming about since the day we closed on the house 2.5 years ago  (I blogged about the kitchen here, here, here, and here).  I'm so excited!  Aside from new appliances and extending the countertop for a dishwasher, I have not touched this room.  It still has a non-working fan, light fixtures that I HATE are less than ideal, and cabinets that, although they look ok, are barely functional.  I'm just in the beginning phases now, pricing and planning, but I'm ecstatic that this is finally going to happen!!

I'm about 95% set on the 2-toned kitchen of dark stain on the bottom and white on the top. Like I've said before- we like wood cabinets, but the kitchen is petite.  Petite kitchens like ours can't handle all dark wood without getting dark- hence the introduction of some lighter cabinets like this kitchen:

image via pinterest via Design Manifest

Imagine my kitchen with these cabinets (ya know, minus the tile backsplash, gigantic island, floating hood, etc).  I think it'll totally work out amazing and although Hubby's not convinced hes finally smartening up and has decided to "defer to my judgement" on the colors.

We're hoping to get started on this end of July and bang it out in a few weeks or less.  AHH, my new kitchen's going to be awesome!!! (in my humble opinion)

Do you have any projects you've been dreaming about for years?