New skin for an old funeral - our home's renovation(s)

Snav

So we bought this house in 2005 - over the years we've tackled one room after another - and some not at all - and have yet to 100% complete a single one. (except the master bath) So instead of making post after post every time I finish something in the next few months I'm just starting a long one like others have done - and I'll add to this as I go.

Right now I'm working on the kitchen - so some kitchen photos of before (obviously none of these were of *the* kitchen just before demo. All those are lost - these are just photos that happened to have kitchen-items in them to give an idea of what it use to look like. It was a real serious POS)

First let me explain that our kitchen itself is a 13.5 x 13.5 room - the laundry room was adjacent to it and that was 13.5 x 9. We cut this large laundry room down to make a dining room - and a laundry closet.

This is the new floor layout with the soon to be cabinet layout of the renovated kitchen. Right now money and timing of this renovation is NOT what I wanted to do after all these years but the military pushed us into getting it done so I'm doing my best with my limited time and funds (I'll build a large island in the middle with lower cabinets next year). What is in this sketch is what will be built over this next month:


These before photos - as you can see - aren't just of the room itself. Most of those photos that I took before we started actual demo went poof with the old computer when it died so this is all I have - holiday and random shots of random things.

Wall A before and present:



Wall B before and present:
No good before photo. We cut out the wall, turned it into an archway which goes into the dining room - and where a door was (far left) we've built a wall which cabinets will occupy when we're done.


Wall C before and present
Where the fridge is - in this photo - is where the door is, now, in the following photos. We put the door in a few years ago when we built a deck in the back yard. Before building the arch two weeks ago we actually lived with a the exposed kings and nothing much else there. And forgive my fatness - just had a baby - I've lost quite a bit of weight since then.

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Snav

Wall D before and present
I can't find a decent before photo of this wall. I think I avoided having the cabinets in pictures at all costs - I hated it that much. And I'm a messy kitchen clutter person. The kitchen cabinets were all located here in this corner - it was a boring traditional L-shaped cabinet setup. Sink was in front of the window (on wall C) - stove was in the center of the adjacent wall and there was a fridge wall next to it which I enjoyed cutting out and getting rid of.

At present:


The floor before and after:
When we started the more serious part of this demo/reno in August our floor sunk from years of water damage and from undersized joists. When I started tearing it out I actually found layers of wallboard sandwiched between layers of sub-flooring when the previous owners tried to 'level it out' instead of just fixing it right. This area is located in front of wall D - this photo is where the stove use to sit - where the fridge will sit in the future:


We took out that area - jacked it up - fed in new full length and proper sized beams - and laid new subfloor - it's level as level can be, now.


Yes - that's me a few weeks ago - my husband took the photo when he came home from work.

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Snav

What next to show? We've done a lot over the years - but I don't want to repeat what I've already put on this forum. . .

The porch:


We put in brick lattice and let ivy grow - makes for awesome patriotic photos now


The front garden area - when my roses were at their best but now the ivy's taken them over - I'll have to relocate the rose garden:


A bit of the livingroom - just for an idea of what it looked like before:

Before and after of the same wall

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Snav

Yesterday I started construction on the kitchen cabinets. I've done furniture and shelving and everything else but never cabinets - because of our serious budget constraints I'm reusing the old cabinet wood and whatever scraps that will work - I did buy new wood, as well - so I'm doing my best to blend and hide the old wood (etc) if it's not visually appealing. . . hence the different wood species, here.

This cabinet in this picture is very narrow - 11" wide. Too narrow for usable drawers (etc) so I'm actually going to build a pull-out shelf that will be accessible from the side when it's fully extended.

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oh'mike

Nice---You sure aren't afraid to dig in and do whatever is needed to get a job done!

If you are looking for cheap hardwoods for your cabinets---consider buying from small local mills---I could post a link or two if you need oak,hickory or cherry ----Mike------

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Snav

There is a mill nearby - I went there hoping to find a good deal but their wood supply wasn't what I needed for the cabinets, unfortunately - they would have been a good source of true-cut joists like I've needed in the past among other things - a bit of regret that I didn't drop in sooner . . . however - when I get ready to do the doors I'll go there for slats.

Our doors will be something like the ones here:
http://www.besthomedesigns.org/wp-co...en-Designs.jpg

In fact - our kitchen has that same scheme to it - whitewash cabinets, slat doors, yellow walls and arches but our floor and counter will be darker for contrast.

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oh'mike

There are many companies that make doors and drawers---often cheaper than I can buy the wood for---

I do not have any suppliers---I still make my own doors---However if you want to go that route post a question at Woodworking talk and you will get an answer---(link at the bottom of the page)---Mike---

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Blondesense

I was thinking along the same lines. I was at a Habitat for Humanity Re-store this morning. They had used cabinets in good condition dirt cheap. I'm no expert, but it seems like it would be cheaper, easier and faster to re-front existing cabinets rather than build from scratch.

Snav

Yeah - for a while I looked around for used options from different places - I found some nice stuff but nothing in the quantity I needed - or the right size which would have left me altering things.

It's actually a little easier building from scratch - blank slate. No problems to solve.

So far so good - today I'll finish this one cabinet (final fill, paint, etc) and work on the next. . .repeat. The upper cabinets will come along more quickly.

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Snav

Here's this first cabinet so far without any touchup - it has a pull out shelving unit to make use of the small area - I'm going to use different glides. These bottom mount ones were recommended but seem not quite up to the challenge but I think they'll work fine for smaller drawers.



So far so good - I'll construct door and drawer fronts later - all at the same time to ensure all the wood and finish matches.

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DangerMouse

Gotta admit I'm impressed, but I still can't figure out the "funeral" part of the title....

DM

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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Click
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to see some of my original magic tricks and trick boxes!

Snav

Haha - It seemed fitting considering the condition of the home when we bought it.

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DangerMouse

OIC.... I thought maybe the place used to BE a funeral home or something.

DM

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to see some of my original magic tricks and trick boxes!

Snav

Haha - too funny.

Our joke about the house is that if we dig deep enough we'll find the wheels (it's a brick home but they used mobile-home supplies for everything)

Day 4 of cabinetry: 3 rough cabinets done - they've been filled and are ready for finish and skin - I was going to do them individually as I completed them but decided to do all of that after they're all built.

The one on the left will go in the upper left corner (with a spacer on the left to bridge it away from the wall for a clean door-opening experience.) and the shorter one will be next to it as it's pictured here - over the sink area.



This leaves me with 5 more upper cabinets and 4 lower cabinets (which includes two drawer units) to rough into shape.

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Snav

Day 5



I might do more work today but I'm feeling pretty sore - maybe I'll take tomorrow off.

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