Kitchen Remodel-Part Three

Ew, June gloom. Seriously! Git outta here.



Our contractor came bright and early at 7 am ON. THE. DOT.
Best contractor, everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Daniel and I woke up around 6:30 am so we could get ready and fly out of the house so we wouldn't be caught in the middle of all the chaos. I dropped off McCrae at his puppy daycare while Daniel went to grab a couple cases of waters for the guys working on our home. (Shout out to Back Bay Vet where we board our crazy dog, btw. They are PHENOMENAL and thank God our pup loves the staff there to death. It makes him dropping him off that much easier.)

I went straight to my office to get some work done and was pleasantly surprised to receive an early delivery birthday package!

It was from my favorite mortgage lending group---The Ryan Grant Team! SOOO thoughtful of them to remember my birthday this upcoming weekend and extra thankful it was something that will come in super handy this next week---a bottle of red wine. FAVE! 

So that was a great start to this already terrific day. I spent some time prioritizing my schedule and then left to show some properties. (Picked up my fabulous open house signs on the way back----that's for another day. I mean---I'm talking SERIOUS signage.)

In any case, I pulled into the driveway, and checked out the work that the guys had achieved within the last 5 hours. Holy-open-space!!!!!!!!!

Kudos, husband, kudos.

I really have to give it up to Daniel. He was totes right about busting that kitchen wall open. I definitely had my reservations, but the way the house flows already is an INCREDIBLE difference. I'm sure once it's done, it'll be a feng shui game changer. (Curtis Chen--my certified feng shui specialist, can you please come over and verify this?)

We obviously haven't seen the final product, but I can already tell how awesome this team is going to be. (For anyone interested---I'll post a list of all our contractors at the end of this project!) In any case, I knew we would get along when the first thing they did before I stepped out of the house was they started covering up every open space not in use during construction with plastic...down to our little picture frames around the corner:

Albeit, this is our first time doing any sort of remodeling, I'm not entirely sure if all contractors take this extra step down to this detail? In any case, I was appreciative of their attention to this and left feeling the least bit anxious.

When I got home to check on the status, the difference by opening the kitchen was mind blowing. See for yourself!

Begin scrolling....

and scrolling....

the anticipation must be eating you alive....

TA DA!

Hey family room! <insert furious and giddy wave of hands here>



 I didn't expect them to take down the whole wall, but I was told that they're rebuilding a new wall to hold up the countertops. Also, they installed extra beams on both side of the wall just to ensure there would be no sagging from the 2nd floor. (This is pretty intense work, sheesh. Who knew!)

(The new support beam installed)



 So it looks like all of Daniel's hard work massacring the kitchen beforehand has paid off. They were able to clear out and finished a lot more in half a days worth than I had ever expected. Oh, and as for the bay window (mentioned in Kitchen Remodel-Part One), we've decided and just purchased a standard double pane window from Home Depot instead of installing a new bay window.

$109 Home Depot standard window > $1100 bay window

(Simple math, uh doi.)

AHHHHH!! I just got butterflies and got super excited. I can't wait to see the final outcome. (beaming)



Kitchen Remodel-Part Two

Our home is officially a hazardous, disaster zone.

Daniel had a couple of his manliest of friends come over to the house yesterday to finish as much demo in the kitchen. (A huge, special thank you shout out to Drew, Randy and Parker for lending your guns and our deepest apologies for having to carry away some battle wounds while doing so!) They sure did a number to it all, and it looks like there's very little left for the contractors to deconstruct. Living among the chaos definitely stirs up full fledged anxiety with dust and creepy critters openly exposed and free to consume the rest (or whats left) of our home space.

The contractor is coming bright and early tomorrow morning (7 AM!) to start working on the kitchen, and I'm praying this remodel is seamless and we don't run into any issues with the plumbing. On top of that, we have to get rid of all our appliances to make room for the new ones currently stockpiled in our garage.

Daniel started the demo shenanigans by ripping out some of the cabinetry...  

Our dear friend, Drew, offered to help last week.

The final demolition outcome:   

Our bare walls. Sigh. (Anyone need a used stove and cooktop? haha)

Dust and grime errrrrrwhere.

The most the boys could take out without ruining any plumbing lines.

The corner where our pantry used to be and where our new mini coffee station is going to go!

...Cant...handle...this...

 

Eek!

In the meantime, in the family room....(our whole kitchen----hangin' out here) 

We're super excited to get this going, but with the mess everywhere...I'm even more excited to have this all finished and behind us.

Wish us luck---fingers crossed. 

Kitchen Remodel-Part One

YOOHOO!!!!

First things first---
HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SUMMER TWENTY THIRTEEN!!!!

Woo! Woo!

Something about summertime in California gives me the happiest, giddiest feelings in the world. The hot weather quickly brings me back to my childhood, running around at parks, playing with my sister and tanning to a crisp. AHHHHH, summer I love you.

With Daniel starting his first week at Lehman Brothers combined with my super busy schedule selling real estate all over Orange County, getting our kitchen remodel process off the ground has certainly been challenging. Our off hours have been filled with packing up our kitchen and starting the initial demolition of our cabinets. The contractor we hired to take down a wall and re-plumb pipes charges by the hour/day, so we've insisted on taking it upon ourselves to cut a part of the cost by removing as much cabinetry on our own as possible.

Along with changing out windows and new flooring, we're also switching around our fridge and stove/cooktop entirely. You would think its a pretty simple procedure, but looking into what it entails (not to mention thousands of extra monies later) its a pretty hefty job. The home we live in right now in Eastside Costa Mesa is the perfect amount of living space for us, and we intend on staying here for at least 5 years. So, if we're going to be remodeling anything--we might as well do it exactly they we want so we can enjoy it.

Here are some current pics of what our kitchen looks like now (anticipating its facelift!):

See the gorgeous distressed wood? (Kidding.) That's all thanks to our crazy dog, McCrae, when he decided to bust open a can of paint and run throughout the whole house...basically destroying our lives. We had to get cleaners the next morning to use chemicals on the flooring, and it took off a lot of the finish on the hardwood. As Daniel likes to call it---"Shabby Chic Shabby". The new flooring is going to be a type of porcelain tile that resembles hardwood which is a super win since we get the look we want without all the maintenance!

 

The stove and cooktop corner which is going to be completely transformed once we throw the fridge to another side of the kitchen. (The new cooktop is going to be moved to where fridge currently is, and we're also going to cut back the wall to the right of the fridge. Also, the wall behind the stove right now is the wall we're cutting in half to open up the kitchen to the rest of the downstairs living! 

 

The other side of the kitchen. We're replacing the dishwasher with a new dishwasher that's concealed with the same cabinetry as the new cabinets. 

 

That giant white wall that you see is what Daniel and I refer to as THE complete waste of space. UGHHHHH. What were they thinking in the 80's anyway? Oh, and the little black box to the right of the dry erase board? Oh, yes, that would be a built in radio and intercom system. SWEET! (Too bad its gonna go!) This whole area is where we're throwing the fridge over to. The corner pantry will still have 'uppers' and a lower corner cabinet nook where our little 'coffee station' is going to go.  

 

The little bay window above the sink is going to be replaced with either a flat, standard window or a new bay window (if we can get the cost down on that. The last quote we got to completely replace it was $1100. ELEVEN HUNDO FOR A WINDOW???)  

 

The floors now. SIGH.

 

The old sink is being replaced with a new double, extra wide farm sink. (Dreams do come true!)  

 

The old coffee corner. P.S. That coffee grind and brew that auto brews at 7 AM? BEST. WEDDING. GIFT. EVER.  

 

Here's the wall view from the dining room into the kitchen. That wall with the giant mirror is going to be cut in halfsiez.  

Well, wish us luck. By this time next week...we should hopefully have everything knocked out down to the concrete. (Perfect timing for my birthday next Saturday!!) Have a great weekend y'all and have a perfect first day of summer! <3