Our kitchen remodel has been coming along slowly as we gathered the funds and made decisions. We had replaced the floor immediately upon moving in back in 2008 because it was, in a word, disgusting. The front hallway was chipped gray slate, the main kitchen area was greasy, peeling linoleum, and the back section leading out to the garage had a lovely covering of brown shag carpet. Needless to say I didn't even bother taking any before photos. We just ripped it out. CJ spent that Memorial Day weekend laying down snap together laminate in a pattern that resembles ceramic tile (without the side effect of cold feet!) and is a breeze to clean. Our only problem has been the slight buckling that it does every year when the humidity sets in. Putting in a whole house air conditioning unit has helped, and CJ also has been working to eliminate the problem areas by cutting and refitting some of the pieces. His other big endeavor has been to replace all of the woodwork with oak. It is a long process full of measuring, cutting, staining and nailing, but the end results are certainly worth it. Additional changes to the kitchen were the custom made bookshelf, garden window (both recently stained - will take pics soon!) and new patio door. We also updated the hardware, which was an easy way for me to contribute to the project,
and put in a new counter top and sink. The counter top has a breakfast bar which we can start using as soon as I buy some stools.
The final phase is to replace the ceramic tile behind the stove and install new back splash. Here's a photo of the old tile. It is all gone now and patiently waiting for a decision to be made on the new stuff. I know in my mind what I want, it's really just a matter of finding it at the store!!
Once the tile has been installed I will post finish product pics. And then the only room in the house that will need updating will be the boys' bathroom. We have big plans which involve taking down a wall and putting in an additional sink, but decided to wait until the boys outgrow the animal wallpaper. And learn how to not pee all over the floor. (Does that ever happen?)
