A Step Above

So it's Wednesday already, huh?  I know I promised no kitchen post today, so I'll just say one quick thing- a 1 day install has turned into a 3+ day install (we will need to wait for a filler piece that was ordered wrong for it to be completed), BUT it will be a usable kitchen once again by the end of the day!  I can live without an installed vent hood and cabinet for a few weeks, as long as I can use the kitchen. (AND that'll give me plenty of time to plan out my TILE backsplash that I decided to go with!!) Much to the kittens and Hubby's dismay (who for some strange reason don't enjoy living in construction zones and project explosions) I've been taking this opportunity between flips to tackle projects around this casa that have been put off/avoided for years.  Some have been easy(ish) fixes (like painting/staining the porch), and others are not so easy (can we say kitchen?), but I think my next one fits squarely in the "easy fix" category.

The stairs.  Oh the stairs.  This house is over 100 years old, but you'd never know when looking at the stairs since the railing looks builder-basic and straight out of 1998.  Since I'd like to channel a more 1908 vibe, this needs to change.  Pronto.  The first thing that will change is the horrific, ugly, dirty, dirt sucker of a carpet.  Can you feel the love?

I've vowed not to touch it until the kitchen is all done, but after that, ALL bets are off.  This suckers going down!  Do you like the cat scratcher decor in the first image?  (there's more at the top of the stairs too)  Yeah, that's to try and get Charlie to maybe NOT scratch the carpet on the stairs (to no avail) so that's one more big (fat cat) reason the carpet needs to go away.

Once the carpet lands itself squarely in the trash, the risers and spindles will get a coat of fresh white paint and the railing and newel post will get stained a more timeless shade darker.  Much like this staircase from Brooklyn Limestone (ya know, with the exception of the amazing floors and vintage newel post, but you get the idea).

As always, my To-Do list is about 5 miles long, so maybe I should focus on finishing projects before I move on to the next... but daydreaming about DIY is one of my favorite pastimes!

Who's with me?

Cabinets!

So this is totally happening as we speak.

I'm not giddy or anything though.  Not at all.  I enjoyed not having a kitchen or dining room for 2 weeks.  Enjoyed like one might enjoy a root canal or a termites.

Now that the cabinets are finally a reality, I'm starting to consider the backsplash.  I wasn't planning on doing anything about a backsplash since we already have a 4" silestone backsplash.  Here's a reminder of the counter we are reinstalling:

But I can't get subway tile out of my head.  A bit generic, I know, but add dark grout and you have a feature that honors the age of the house (113+).  Something like this drool-worthy space (via Lingered Upon):

BUT adding tile into the kitchen would add extra cost, so that's where the debate comes in.  Do I reinstall the countertop and backsplash as is, and maybe add tile on top at a later date, or have them just reinstall the countertop but not the backsplash and convince Hubby that tile's the way to go?  Such decisions!!

Don't worry, Wednesday I'll have a non-kitchen related post and hopefully post a reveal of the kitchen work on Friday.  Until then, what's your backsplash vote?  Tile, solid surface or both?

Reno Realities

Soon my kitchen renovation will be done and you won't have to hear about it anymore, I promise.  Until then, please forgive my one track mind. This kitchen is the first major renovation we've done in the house.  We've done a lot of small things, but nothing that completely displaced an entire room, and let me tell you- I was woefully unprepared.  I thought "I got this- I renovated an entire house, our kitchen will be no problem!"  Except when I was renovating Clark the flip house, I wasn't living there, AND I had direct access to a garage and walk-out basement to use as a staging area.  Our house is small- 1100sf- with no garage and no walk-out basement.  That's not meant to be a complaint whatsoever- I love our house and usually it's the absolutely perfect size for 2 adults and 2 cats.  Usually.

I'm sucking up a bit of my pride right now to show you the mess that is our house currently, to hopefully help you prepare if you are planning an upcoming reno.  You're routine will be totally turned on it's head, but knowing that it's temporary and that the end result is an amazing new kitchen is definitely what's propelling us through.

Here goes nothing:

When the cabinets got delivered, we had no choice but to have them brought right into the house.  Like I said, no garage or other staging space available.  I expected the cabinets to take up the entire dining room.  I didn't expect them to take up the entire dining room and the entire kitchen.

Immediately after the cabinet delivery, I called my sister who is going through her own kitchen reno in just over a month.  My advice to her?  Clean your garage first!  Trust me.  I WISH I had a garage right now.  The way Home Depot (and IKEA) work for installation is once everything's delivered, only then will they try and get you on the schedule.  Hopefully it'll only be about a week, but it all depends on how busy they are- so until their schedule opens up (and I don't like not having control here), we get to live in a fort of cabinet boxes.

This is our only path from the living room to the kitchen and basement.

The kitchen wouldn't be so difficult to deal with if I wasn't still trying to prep the walls, paint the ceiling, trim, and walls, AND patch the floor where the old cabinets were removed.

Unfortunately, I had to wait until the old cabinets were gone to do all this prep and we were trying to keep kitchen down-time to a min by removing them as late as possible, so now it's an obstacle course.

The huge box in the center will be our amazing pantry cabinet next to the fridge, but it's so large it couldn't fit into the dining room.  The corner base cabinet had to be unboxed to even fit through the door of the house.  I will say, though- I'm so pleased with these cabinets already!  The colors are perfect and boy are they made well, especially in comparison to the cabinets I took out.  Hubby took a sledge hammer to the old base cabinets (my original plan was to donate, but they were well beyond their usable life) and with literally one swing, each cabinet fell apart.  That's quality construction right there, I tell you.

But I've got my eye on the prize-

a completed, functional, stylish(!) kitchen- and its only a few weeks away!!

Are you planning to take on any renos in the near future?

kitchen image via Design Manifest