Kitchen Demo: Day 1

We're one day in to our big kitchen remodel project, and so far so good. The men did stumble across a bumble bee's nest in our dining room floor, but if that's the worst setback along the way, I'd say we're doing pretty good. I hit the road shortly after 10am for my aunt's 50th surprise party up on a lake just north of the cities. While I had a relaxing time chatting with cousins, taking boat rides, indulging in treats, and trying to get some good pictures of the kiddies ...

.... Evan and Mark (the handyman) were tearing up the kitchen. You'd be surprised how much a kitchen echos without cabinets and how much bigger the space appears. Here's some pictures to give you an idea of the transformation:

This is what you see when you walk in the front door:

There's going to be a window straight ahead on that wall! If you look carefully you can make out the pencil drawing someone sketched. Can't wait to show the before, progress, and after pics of this shot! (To see our layout plan, check out this post)

A full kitchen shot, looking back at the door you just walked through. The cabinets were on there pretty good, so we'll probably have to sheet rock that wall again or else do some major patching:

And the dining room/addition. They worked down to the floorboard and discovered that yes, we'll have to add some more support. There is a definite slope/sinking as you walk out onto the addition, and when E and Mark both stood on those floor boards, they were spongy and sagged even more. Although it's tempting to find a quick (and cheap) alternative, we're going to do the right thing and fix the underlying problem. I think that's the goal for today, actually. 

Here's a close-up of the flooring we found underneath!

Here's the sight right when you walk in the door. Quite the convenient spot for the fridge, don't ya think? I hooked up our microwave, so we can heat up a sweet potato, leftovers, oatmeal or whatever. We moved most of our frequently used dishes to that small white buffet so it'll be easier to live sans kitchen for a while (not sure how long we'll be in this setup!). Oh, and in case you're wondering, we're washing our dishes in the bathroom sink and tub.

Today: reinforce dining room floor (this is pretty much an all-day affair)

I am headed to Lumber Liquidators with Mark's truck later this afternoon to pick up the flooring.

I'll try and update daily, so check back again soon!

To read more about our plan for the kitchen and why we decided to renovate now, read this post.